Green Erasmus is a project on the topic of the environmental impact of the Erasmus+ Programme, in particular the higher education part. While the benefits of the Programme are well-known, it must be recognised that it also has a negative impact on the environment. The young people who were protesting in actions such as Friday for Future in 2019 will be higher education students soon and many of them will take part in an Erasmus+ exchange within the coming programme period (2021-2017). It is important to make sure that the programme is as environmentally friendly as possible. The aim of Green Erasmus is to improve the environmental sustainability of the Erasmus+ Programme, whilst also contributing improvements in environmental sustainability across Europe. The objectives are: 1. To decrease the negative impact of the Erasmus+ Programme on environmental sustainability. 2. To raise awareness across the European higher education sector about the importance of sustainable internationalisation. 3. To empower student organisations to be the agents of change, pushing for improvements on the topic of environmental sustainability. The results which will lead to the objectives will include: 1. Students use more sustainable modes of transport before, during and after their mobilities. 2. Students become more responsible consumers during their exchange abroad. 3. University staff support a “sustainable Erasmus” as a carrier for environmental sustainability 4. Sustainability is at the heart of activities organised by student organisations. In order to reach these results, six project partners from Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and the UK have joined forces. The above-mentioned results will be reached through a combination of a comprehensive Green Erasmus research report (IO1) on the environmental behaviour of Erasmus students, Handbook for University staff members on sustainable internationalisation (IO2), Educational Portal for Students on Sustainable Internationalisation (IO3), A petition to highlight the major believes and expectations of the Erasmus Generation in the field of environmental sustainability (IO3) an educational framework to include environmental sustainability and sustainable skills in the curricula and a Toolkit for Environmental Sustainable outreach activities that will cause many intercultural dialogues between international students and their local communities. In the course of the project, we will reach, among other things, 10,000 respondents to the student survey, 20,000 visitors to an online portal for sustainable internationalisation and 100,000 people through a social media campaign. The project main results will be presented in two conferences in Brussels in October 2021 and October 2022. Green Erasmus will run for 28 months, from September 2020 to December 2022.
The Green Erasmus project strived to improve the environmental sustainability of the Erasmus+ Programme and raise awareness across the European Higher Education sector about the importance of sustainable internationalisation. Specifically, its goals were to decrease the negative impact of the Erasmus+ Programme on environmental sustainability; raise awareness across the European higher education sector about the importance of sustainable internationalisation; empower student organisations to be the agents of change, pushing for improvements on the topic of environmental sustainability. The consortium provided Higher Education Institutions, local students, and outgoing/incoming Erasmus+ students, with concrete tools to start their journey to a sustainable exchange.
The Erasmus+ Programme is one of the most successful European initiatives, providing great opportunities to study and live abroad for many Europeans. As an educational programme, it also impacts students and their hosting local communities. Nevertheless, although generations benefited from it socially and culturally, the natural environment has been negatively affected by the increasing number of Erasmus+ exchanges, predominantly done via air travel. The Green Erasmus consortium decided to embark on this project journey to improve the environmental sustainability of the Erasmus+ Programme and raise awareness across the European Higher Education (HEI) sector about the importance of sustainable internationalisation. The project also answered the need of the young generation that has the environment at its heart (e.g. Fridays for Future movement), will join or joined higher education within a few years and a noteworthy proportion of them will embark or already embarked on their own Erasmus adventure. Therefore, the Green Erasmus project not only perceived the need of environmentally aware people - but also promoted sustainable internationalisation among the ones who do not prioritize climate issues yet.