At The British School of Barcelona we have started the new school year with a clear commitment to sustainability and the environment by installing a total of 440 photovoltaic panels on our three campuses in Castelldefels and Sitges. This initiative will enable us to considerably reduce energy consumption and emissions.

 

The 440 solar panels have been distributed among the BSB Castelldefels campus (260), the BSB Sitges campus (144) and the BSB Nexus pre-university campus (36). These panels will be of great benefit in environmental terms, as in total we will be able to generate more than 262,000 kW per year across our BSB campuses, a figure that would be equivalent to planting more than 2,500 trees each year, drastically reducing our carbon footprint by more than 70,000 kg of CO2 per year.

 

In addition, we also plan to install 91 solar panels on the new BSB City campus in Barcelona, which will be expanded with the new Main Campus building in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi from September 2023, thus covering all educational stages from Early years to Pre-University. This way all BSB campuses will be equipped with renewable and sustainable solar energy.

 

Environmental education as a tool for leading change

This is a decisive time when we need to accelerate the pace of implementating of measures to achieve the Global Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through individual and collective actions, at BSB we respond to this call to action by joining the change towards greater energy efficiency and greater use of renewable energies.

 

In doing so, at BSB we have made sustainability and environmental care part of our strategic priority agenda for the coming years, thus supporting our belief that education and awareness-raising among young people are essential tools to influence the sustainable practices of today and tomorrow. As Jon Locke, Executive Principal of BSB states, “It is essential to make our young people aware of the importance of making sustainability a priority in our everyday lives. Tapping into their passion and enthusiasm is simple, but it is also vital that we can demonstrate how responsible, sustainable measures can be implemented. We believe that this will enable our students to grow and then, in turn, contribute to the creation of a society focused on solving global problems that affect us all“.

 

In this sense, at BSB we have given the voice to the students themselves to lead projects that promote sustainable practices within the school. Among these initiatives is the promotion of the ecological rule of the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) to improve recycling habits in the school, as well as the creation of a working team made up of students and teachers, called the “BSB Green Team”, to implement collaborative actions with the aim of inspiring fundamental values such as respect for the environment, and encouraging the conservation and care of the environment that surrounds us. In this way, we want to convey the message of the power of individual and collective commitment in reducing our environmental impact through specific and measurable actions to the whole school community.