The project aimed to strengthen sustainability competencies and promote carbon neutrality in higher education. Its objectives included measuring and reducing the carbon footprint of campuses, teaching modules, and mobility practices, while assessing the sustainability awareness of students and staff. By developing, transferring, and co-creating innovative teaching modules, immersive learning tools, and practical activities, the project integrated sustainable development and social responsibility into curricula. It also focused on benchmarking and sharing best practices, optimising methods, and ensuring international dissemination to foster broader adoption across Europe. Ultimately, the project sought to equip students, staff, and institutions with the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to actively contribute to the ecological and energy transition.
We applied for this project to actively contribute to the transition toward a low-carbon, low-energy, and resilient society, recognising the critical role of higher education in preparing students for the ecological and energy challenges of the 21st century. Our institution sought to address the need for students and staff to acquire knowledge and competencies in socio-ecological, energy, and climate-related issues, ensuring that future engineers and professionals can integrate environmental considerations into decisions with societal impact. The project enabled us to benchmark and exchange best practices with four European polytechnic universities, fostering innovation in teaching, research, and international cooperation. By participating, we aimed to co-create, experiment with, and optimise sustainability-focused curricula and learning activities, while ensuring their broader dissemination. This approach addresses our institutional needs to strengthen sustainability education, enhance capacity, and embed social responsibility and sustainable development across programs, thereby contributing to both local and European ecological transition.