We are excited to share that the Greening Education Partnership Secretariat, based in UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, have confirmed that the Earth Charter & ESD School Seal is aligned with the Green School Quality Standard that they published in 2024. This quality standard is a comprehensive framework designed to help harmonize the criteria of school accreditation schemes, so these can incorporate a whole institution approach for sustainability, with an emphasis on climate action in the day-to-day running and decision making of the school, the teaching and learning taking place in and out of the classrooms, and the school’s interactions with the community.
The GEP Secretariat invites organizations that have accreditation schemes or quality labels (for example us, as Earth Charter International) to revise their schemes against the green schools standards. We started the revision process and happily, more than one third of the green schools indicators are present in the EC & ESD School Seal. We submitted the evidence and the GEP Secretariat confirmed that our EC Seal is aligned with the green schools standards, this is great news!
What does this recognition mean?
It means that Earth Charter Schools will be recognized as Green Schools as well and will be featured in a global dashboard where the Greening Education Partnership will be presenting the number of schools aligned with the Green Schools Standards, showing those institutions that are committed to combat climate change and move towards being sustainable.
The Green Schools standard and the Earth Charter & ESD School Seal complement each other in a very positive way, where the Green Schools offer a large range of action-oriented suggestions to improve the environmental management of the schools, and integrate aspects such as disaster preparation, sustainable commute and many other actions associated with climate action. The EC & ESD School Seal supports schools to rethink their education practice in ways that would help them to integrate values and principles associated with sustainability in an integral way, such as promoting a culture of peace, pluralism and awareness of the interconnectedness of all things.
