09-05-2025
733 schools across Ireland receive Green Flags for sustainability
Over 700 schools across Ireland are set to receive Green Flags in honour of the sustainability goals they've worked on in recent years.
733 schools were awarded Green Flags in recognition of the sustainable practices they've introduced in their schools acorss themes such as water, energy and biodiversity.
Now in its 27th year, the Green Schools Programme, which is organised by An Taisce and hands out the Green Flags, is a long-term, whole school, action-based programme and award scheme for both primary and second-level schools that covers a whopping 92 per cent of Irish schools.
The programme kicked off its award season today at the Clayton Hotel in Galway today, in the first of 12 ceremonies taking place in nine locations throughout the month of May.
At each ceremony, schools will be awarded Green Flags for their work on 10 themes in the Green Schools programme, and the various projects they've developed in their schools.
First, each school must work on five themes: Litter & Waste, Energy, Water, Travel and Biodiversity. They then move on to Global Citizenship themes of Litter and Waste, Energy, Marine Environment, Travel and Food and Biodiversity. Each theme needs to be worked on for two years before the school can be awarded a Green Flag.
If the hundreds of successful schools wasn't impressive enough, this year 15 schools are being recognised as Primary Climate Ambassadors, having completed all ten themes over the course of at least 20 years.
The number of schools awarded for each theme were:
Litter & Waste: 57
Energy: 1
Water: 77
Travel: 97
Biodiversity:116
Global Citizenship Litter & Waste: 112
Global Citizenship Energy: 75
Global Citizenship Marine: 70
Global Citizenship Travel: 70
Global Citizenship Food & Biodiversity: 42
Primary Climate Ambassadors: 15
Speaking about the initiative, Joanne Scott, Manager of the Green-Schools Programme, said: "Green-Schools is just one part of the global Eco-Schools initiative of more than 60,000 schools in 82 countries. That's school children around the world working towards a common goal.
"So every journey to school on foot instead of the car, every tree planted, every reusable water bottle makes a huge difference when looked at on a global scale. These actions are just inspiring to see."
