makingAchange: Work packages for CO2 balancing at schools

makingAchange is a cooperation project between science and school. The CCCA - Climate Change Centre Austria, together with the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, invites all secondary schools to participate in the project on "Climate Change and Sustainability" in Austria. The aim is to contribute to the transformation of society and to integrate and perceive the topics of climate protection and sustainability as a matter of course, both in the school environment and in everyday life. The students participating in the project are called upon to deal with the topic independently and to find solutions, not only within the school, but also in everyday life. Experts or, in the course of time, the students themselves, who have been trained as peers, provide assistance with questions relating to the topic. The aim is to acquire competencies in the field of climate protection, to think ahead and to deal with one's environment in a responsible manner through the communication of the latest findings from the field of climate change research by experts. The motivation here is to strengthen the willingness, both personally and collectively, to perceive climate-friendly action as a matter of course and to see the implementation of knowledge gained outside the school environment, in everyday family life, as a matter of course. The central concern of "makingAchange" is the implementation and observation within different projects by the students themselves, as well as stabilization in the area of climate protection among the participants, subsequent dissemination and use of the knowledge gained in their environment. Educational and research institutions can provide necessary impulses for social changes. In order to equip graduates with the necessary competences to cope with the Global Grand Challenges, a paradigm shift with new ways of thinking and working, commitment and attitudes is needed to make sustainable development possible. The ZGWN is instrumental in this process by teaching greenhouse gas accounting skills at various participant schools.