Climate changes schools

Climate change poses new challenges for schools. At the same time, schools are key venues for social education, participation and shaping the future.

This call for proposals is based on a holistic understanding of climate education in the sense of a whole-school approach. Funding is available for projects in Germany that view climate education as an integral part of school development, participation and institutional embedding. The aim is to combine learning, participation and concrete action, and to support school development processes over the long term.

Schools should develop into spaces for learning and action where pupils understand climate issues, take responsibility and work together to shape concrete change.

The funded projects are intended to have an impact on several interlinked levels:

• At the individual level, the aim is to strengthen pupils’ sound understanding of climate issues, their sense of responsibility and their confidence in dealing with complex issues. Pupils should be empowered to contextualise information, weigh up different perspectives and develop their own positions in a reflective manner.

• At the social and democratic level, the focus is on collective engagement. The aim is to facilitate participation, highlight different viewpoints and strengthen collective negotiation. Learning and decision-making processes should be designed cooperatively so that pupils can gain practical experience of democratic procedures, opportunities for co-determination and collective responsibility.

• At the structural level, the focus is on changes that go beyond individual activities or people and are permanently embedded in everyday school life. These include, for example, clearly defined responsibilities, permanent participatory formats (building on existing school bodies or newly established ones), the systematic integration of climate issues into school development and teaching, the establishment of school committees, or binding processes for planning, prioritising and implementing measures. Structural impact is achieved when such elements become stable components of school routines.

We support projects that have a profound and long-term impact. The focus is on sustainable school transformation rather than on isolated, one-off measures.

In particular, projects at secondary schools are eligible for funding if they

• combine climate knowledge with climate action,
• strengthen pupils’ self-efficacy and democratic participation,
• involve multiple groups within the school community whilst simultaneously building up internal school multipliers (e.g. pupils, teachers),
• initiate structural changes within the school,
• are compatible with existing school structures and processes,
• relieve the burden on schools through suitable methods, materials or process support,
• produce approaches, procedures or materials that are available and usable beyond the project schools and
• promote the exchange of experiences and the transfer of knowledge between schools.

Eligible for funding are pilot projects for new approaches, the further development of existing formats or the scaling up of tried-and-tested concepts.

Note on the funding focus

Funding from the Munich Re Foundation focuses on providing content-related and process-related support for school development and transformation processes in the field of climate education.

Structural or technical measures are not eligible for funding. They may be considered in justified cases if they are closely linked to the educational approach and the school development process. A prerequisite is that their scope is plausibly demonstrated in relation to the overall project.

Projects with religious or party-political content or objectives are not eligible for funding.

Eligible applicants are tax-exempt bodies, in particular non-profit organisations such as NGOs, educational initiatives, universities or similar organisations. Applications may be submitted by individual organisations or by project consortia comprising several organisations.

The projects will be implemented in collaboration with secondary schools in Germany that demonstrate an openness to and willingness for change. Schools act as project partners but are not themselves eligible to apply and do not need to be a formal part of a consortium.

It is envisaged that projects will generally work with several schools to enhance impact, exchange and transfer. The involvement of different types of school is expressly encouraged. 

Funding is available for projects with a budget of between 50,000 and 150,000 euros and a duration of 18 to 24 months.

Applications may be submitted for projects of varying sizes:

Smaller projects: €50,000 to €80,000
Larger projects: €80,000 to €150,000

An appropriate contribution from the applicant organisation(s) is expected. As a rule, this should amount to at least 10% of the total project costs.

Overhead costs are eligible for funding to a reasonable extent and should generally not exceed 15% of the total project costs.

Application deadline:                                   19 July 2026

Selection of funded projects:                      September 2026

Project start:                                                  From October 2026

The evaluation criteria for project selection include, in particular, relevance of content, impact orientation, quality of the concept, feasibility and potential for transfer.