The Irish Republic Minister for Education, Norma Foley, has announced investment of over €450,000 for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) projects in 105 primary and 84 post-primary schools across the country.

Funding of between €1,000-€2,500 has been given to schools who successfully proposed their 2024/2025 sustainability projects for funding under the second National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD to 2030).

Included in the funding is the development of school gardens and outdoor classrooms and learning spaces, forest school projects, harvest festivals, biodiversity projects, training workshops and teacher CPD, local air quality, weather station and local river monitoring, marine conservation, rainwater harvesting, building a sustainable city through STEM, composting, waste management, and recycling projects.

ESD to 2030 aims to ensure that all learners have the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development.

The strategy has five priority areas: aligning policy, transforming learning environments, building capacity of educators, empowering and mobilising youth and accelerating local level action.

Foley said: “I am delighted to see so many excellent ESD projects taking place in schools right across the country again this year.

“Education for Sustainable Development is a key priority for the department and we are committed to supporting schools to address the transformation needed to make our schools places and spaces for sustainability.

“We want schools to promote sustainable development and to empower their students to take action.”

The ESD to 2030 funding can be used by schools to further support ESD projects and/or capacity building of teachers and so implement their Sustainability Policy Statements.

The Sustainability Toolkit for Schools, published in September 2023, is supporting schools in implementing the School Sector Climate Action Mandate, in particular in developing and publishing their Sustainability Policy Statements.