Von der Konzeption zur Umsetzung der BNE VISION 2030 in der Landeshauptstadt München

In November 2018, the Munich City Council decided to develop an ESD concept in a participatory process in order to strategically align the state capital's long-standing commitment to ESD with targeted measures in all areas of education. After completing the concept development process and presenting the results at a public symposium in the summer of 2022, the City Council of the State Capital of Munich (LHM) approved ESD VISION 2030 in November 2022 and allocated initial resources for its implementation. Since then, an implementation report has been submitted to the City Council annually. In 2023, city council approved additional human resources for the area of non-formal education for children and young people. 

Since 2021, we supported the conceptualization process for Munich's “ESD VISION 2030”. Asya Unger from the ESD department of the City of Munich answered a few questions for us about how things have progressed since then.

You have completed the conceptualization process for ESD VISION 2030 and are now in the implementation phase. What is your core focus in implementing ESD VISION 2030?

Our ESD VISION 2030 comprises almost 350 measures in seven educational areas and four crosscutting themes. The measures are primarily aimed at structurally and permanently embedding ESD in various areas of education. In addition to resources and structures in the administration, this also requires public relations work, good networking between education stakeholders, and concrete practical ESD offerings in educational institutions. The whole process should be needs oriented, which is why we are constantly reviewing the measures developed during implementation and adapting them as necessary. 

What changes have there been in terms of the structure and coordination of both process phases (conceptualization and implementation)? 

To ensure cross-sector networking in education, regular exchanges take place between the coordination offices. We also discuss strategic issues in the ESD monitoring group. This advisory body supports the ESD office in implementing and updating ESD VISION 2030 and provides constructive guidance throughout the process. With the ESD monitoring group, we also want to continue the proven cross-departmental and participatory approach from the conception phase, which is why the committee includes not only people from the administration but also people from organized civil society and academia. A description of the tasks and composition of the ESD monitoring group is available on our website.

What resources are available for the implementation of ESD VISION 2030? 

In addition to the administrative personnel resources already mentioned, weekly teaching hours for ESD officers at municipal general and vocational schools have been approved. This means that, at least in municipal schools, more resources are available for ESD projects in practice.  A total of 9.5 new ESD positions have been filled so far, plus the credit hours for teachers, which correspond to a total of 5.3 full-time positions. 
We are able to finance selected ESD flagship projects with funds from the municipal Department for Climate and Environmental Protection, enabling us to gain important experience and provide impetus—these include a flagship project on “Structural anchoring of ESD in daycare centers” and a flagship project on “Competence center Whole Institution Approach.” In addition, we can finance further projects through the Department for Climate and Environmental Protection grant program. 
Overall, however, the financial resources are not sufficient to implement all measures as planned. Nevertheless, projects can still be implemented through cooperation with other agencies, such as the Zero Waste Department of the City of Munich. 

What are the key milestones and successes that you were able to celebrate in 2022, 2023, and 2024?

One of the most important milestones was the city council's resolution in November 2022, which gave us the mandate to implement the ESD VISION 2030 and approved important resources.

It is great to see how the various activities are having an impact in schools. This is evident, for example, in the lively and constructive exchange of ideas about completed and planned projects at networking meetings of the schools' ESD officers, which are organized by the ESD coordination offices. Some schools now have their own climate council.

Other highlights included the “National ESD Award 2023/2024” presented by the [former] Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Commission for UNESO in 2023, and the ESD VISION 2030 awarding the URBACT Good Practice Label in 2024. With this award, the EU funding program URBACT recognizes exemplary local initiatives from across Europe that contribute to a livable, sustainable, and inclusive city. With these good practices, the EU aims to encourage knowledge transfer between cities. We were also delighted to receive the “National Prize – Education for Sustainable Development 2025” in the category of educational landscapes. The award, which is endowed with 10,000 euros, is presented by the [former] BMBF and the German Commission for UNESCO.

What challenges have you faced in the last three years? What solutions have you been able to implement or initiate? What obstacles are still there?

The biggest challenge is undoubtedly that we have no long-term planning security in terms of financial resources and that some of the funds for implementing measures from the BNE VISION 2030 have not been approved. Like other areas that mainly implement voluntary services provided by a municipality, we are dependent on reliable political support to ensure that the measures can be implemented. Good communication and public relations help here. Even though this is not always easy when working on complex structures, we try to present concrete development and success in a clear and understandable way, e.g., with our so-called measure profiles [example for the vocational area in German here] or flagship project posters [example for the implementation of the Whole Institution Approach in German here]. 

What do you pursue in the area of public relations?  

In terms of public relations, it is very helpful that ESD is not only located in the departments but is also a major issue for Deputy Mayor Dominik Krause, who is present at the symposiums and writes an introduction to each newsletter.

Our most important project in terms of public relations is the development of a digital ESD platform. In addition to information on ESD, the platform will primarily bring together offers, stakeholders and learning locations in Munich and is intended to contribute to better findability and networking. After many organizational and technical hurdles, we hope that the platform will go online by the end of 2025 at the latest.
 

It's great to see everything you've already achieved. Looking to the future, what are your hopes for ESD in Munich? 

We are about to launch a scientific evaluation of the implementation process in cooperation with Munich University of Applied Sciences and Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) Munich. We expect this to provide us with important insights into the effectiveness of the process, which will then be incorporated into the update of ESD VISION 2030 planned for 2027. In addition, as part of the “Bildungskommune” program, funded by the Federal ministry for Education, Women, Seniors, Families and Youth, we are currently working on setting up an ESD monitoring system so that we can base our work even more effectively on data in the future. And, of course, we continue to hope for political support, sufficient funding, and continued good cooperation with Munich's diverse educational landscape.

[The interview was conducted by Dr. Angela Firmhofer. Translation from Lea Schütze, supported by DeepL.]