Sustainability transition requires responsible decisions and actions. Change is not feasible without having a better awareness of the state of the environment and a more profound knowledge of humanity’s role and personal responsibility.
For a viable future, the Blue Planet Climate Protection Foundation pays special attention to environmental education and implementing the sustainability perspective in teaching. Our mission is to support education for all age groups, with a special focus on the younger generation.
Climate and Sustainability Lectures
János Áder, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the Foundation, personally brings climate protection closer to young people and the wider audience. He holds presentations at universities, secondary and elementary schools, conferences, and NGOs, discussing climate change’s consequences, human responsibility, and how crucial adaptation is. He discusses everything needed for a more environmentally conscious, sustainable life: perception shift, waste management, energy safety, human greed, the dangers of overconsumption, the circular economy, the protection of our natural resources, the value of water and soil, conserving biodiversity, and the importance of using common sense. During the interactive presentations, the students participate in varied ways, depending on their age. They can help demonstrate experiments, express their opinion by voting, test their knowledge with quizzes, and ask questions about a topic. Following his example, coworkers of the Foundation also hold special presentations motivating people to adopt a sustainable mindset.
Sustainability Thematic Week and Research
Our Foundation is a key supporter of Sustainability Thematic Week, an event held annually since 2016, with over 1,800 schools from Hungary and the Carpathian Basin participating. The aim of the thematic week, organised by the Alapértékek Nonprofit Kft., is to promote sustainability among elementary and secondary school students. More than 25,000 teachers and over 420,000 students participate in the programmes held around Earth Day. With the support of professional partners, schools can invite speakers, visit external venues and organise competitions. Teachers receive lesson plans, supplementary materials, and videos to aid them in organising their activities and sustainability lessons. They can also share their experience and feedback on the programme’s website. Each year, Sustainability Thematic Week revolves around a few specific issues. In 2025, on the 10th Sustainability Thematic Week, the main themes are soil, biodiversity, green energy sources, AI, waste, environmentally conscious consumer behaviour, and consumer protection. Every year, the opening presentation of Sustainability Thematic Week is held by János Áder, the main patron of the event, to hundreds of students on site and to even more participants who join the event via online streaming or watch the presentation later.
Connected sustainability research with the questioning of students and teachers supports the development of educational programmes and measures their effectiveness. It is conducted in collaboration with universities, professional organisations and research companies. Over the past 5 years, the feedback of more than 70,000 students and thousands of teachers has been recorded, and the results have been published in numerous works and studies.
Green Planet educational programme
The Foundation provided significant support to produce and implement the Green Planet textbook series and the associated educational programme. We aim to help students learn about sustainability, equipping them with up-to-date, authentic knowledge and competencies in an age-appropriate way by well-prepared teachers. The programme and the book also support skill development, motivate them to act, and help them learn by sharing practical knowledge relevant to their life experiences. The entertaining and playfully engaging textbooks and workbooks to stimulate students’ interest were produced after the sustainability curriculum for grades 9-10 and 11-12. Digital content and a mobile application were also developed to complement certain parts of the books.
Students were first allowed to take an exam on sustainability during the secondary school leaving exam in June 2024, based on the knowledge acquired through the Green Planet Programme and the Green Planet textbook series. Students were tasked with completing a complex written project over several weeks, drawing on their creativity, independent thinking, and problem-solving skills. They also had to follow a structured process with pre-planned stages that could be monitored. As an oral exam, they needed to present and defend their thesis project before the examination committee.
During further development of the programme, 25 supplementary booklets have been produced for vocational and trade schools. They can follow the 9-10 grade introductory textbook, presenting sustainable solutions for a specific vocational field. The primary school curriculum, textbook, workbook and teacher’s guide are being prepared.
The Green Planet book series and the teacher’s guide are available in English HERE.
Green Planet Further Education and Training for Teachers
The Green Planet textbooks and workbooks are accompanied by a teacher’s guide with a methodology booklet. Interested teachers are provided with in-person and online in-service training, which was initially financed by the Foundation and later became self-funded.
The sustainability education postgraduate course has also been introduced in cooperation with multiple universities. This four-semester programme leads to a degree in pedagogy, focusing on “teaching the complex application of the principle of sustainability”. The Foundation launched the Green Planet Teacher’s Scholarship for teachers enrolled in this postgraduate course to ensure the Green Planet Programme can have as many well-qualified teachers as possible.
Currently, discussions are going on about including Green Planet’s material in general undergraduate teacher courses so that sustainability can become an integral part of education in Hungary.
PLANET Budapest
PLANET Budapest is a sustainability expo and an extraordinary experiential learning programme. The region’s unique educational event addresses professionals, industry players, investors, and developers and also offers informative and entertaining programmes to a broader audience involving every age group. In the 2021 and 2023 expos, we presented practical and feasible solutions that can be easily incorporated into daily routines to promote sustainability and the conservation of natural resources.
The pillars of PLANET:
- presentations of renowned sustainability experts
- professional roundtable discussions
- Planet Expo: a trade fair and business forum on the latest Hungarian sustainable solutions, developments and innovations
- Your Planet: an interactive exhibition on our shared future, showcasing ideas on how to make our lifestyle more sustainable through dynamic and engaging experiences
- Heroes of the Future: The programme takes younger participants on an adventure, inviting them to try the “Heroes of the Future” sustainability group game, which features stunning digital effects and theatrical elements for an immersive experience.
More information on PLANET:
Hello Planet Start-up Camp
Since 2020, Hello Planet camp has aimed to enable participating secondary school students to learn experientially about sustainability. They can gain first-hand experience in sustainable entrepreneurship and value creation.
The campers work in teams led by mentors to implement their ideas.
Community building and hands-on learning play essential roles in the Hello Planet programmes.
In the previous camps , students have become familiar with the use of jigsaws, 3D printing, stop motion animation, and smoke machines (for photo manipulation) and could participate in several group activities.
PLANET LENS International Photo and Film Festival on Nature Conservation and Sustainability
The international nature and sustainability film festival, which has been organised for a decade, has become a highly prestigious event. This year, it will take place in Veszprém between 15 and 16 May under the name PLANET LENS. The film festival aims to showcase the work of the best Hungarian and international photographers and filmmakers so that through the lens of their unique, creative vision, we can present the treasures of nature, initiate a discussion on the need for their protection and raise awareness on endangered species and ecosystems. The festival pays special attention to the younger generations and tries to attract them with the help of visual arts.
More information on PLANET LENS:
Blue Planet Podcast
János Áder started his sustainability podcast while he was still in office as the President of Hungary and has been continuing it as the Head of the Board of Trustees at Blue Planet Climate Protection Foundation. The episodes are released every second week when János Áder and his expert guests discuss various areas of our lives that are harshly affected by climate change. The podcast series is listened to and watched by thousands; the topics include water crisis, alternative agriculture, lifestyle, adaptation and the need to work together as a community. The news articles and summaries written about the episodes reach tens of thousands more, delivering our messages on sustainability to a larger audience. At the end of 2024, the 117th episode was released, in which the President had an insightful conversation with our strategic director, Csaba Kőrösi. https://planetbudapest.hu/en/home/
The episode is available in Hungarian here: https://www.youtube.com/@kekbolygo-podcast
Greendex
Greendex.hu is the foundation’s online partner. The magazine shares articles on sustainability from environmental, societal and economic perspectives reflecting on current events. It has professional content for those with academic interests and more accessible articles concerning everyday matters.
