To mark UN World Environment Day on June 5th, International Polar Foundation Executive Director Andreas Wagner presented the Gemeentelijk Technisch Instituut, in Londerzeel, Belgium with our annual award for initiatives that make a significant impact against climate change.  The school won the award for its project 'The Climate Crisis: Do Something About It! ' at the 9th Belgian Energy and Environment Awards, held in the Brussels landmark venue Tour & Taxis.

The International Polar Foundation has been a partner of the Belgian Energy and Environment Awards since its very first edition in 2006; since then the initiative has honoured about 1700 projects developed by citizens, corporations, institutions, associations, schools and administrations that have provided exceptional contributions to the construction of a sustainable future, at a local, regional and national level. At this year’s ceremony, the jury awarded a total of eight prizes and two special mentions.

Gemeentelijk Technisch Instituut Londerzeel, recipient of the International Polar Foundation award, is a secondary school specialising in technical education. Its project resulted in the collaboration between students and teachers under the coordination of teacher Wim Van Buggenhout, and consists in several climate actions: a polar day was organised at the school during which visiting polar scientists and climate experts talked to the students, an awareness campaign on climate change was launched, students learned to calculate of the amount of CO2 captured by a tree. They also  brought together a series of educational lessons in a website and developed a solar tracker as a basis for an international project. The school is currently involved in a European project titled 'Melting away for the climate' . The prize rewards the school's continuous work over the past years to demonstrate concrete activities to deal with climate change.

Many very interesting projects were presented at this year’s awards. Read about the other laureates on the dedicated Website (in Dutch - and in French).

Next year, the Energy and Environment Awards will celebrate its 10th anniversary. The organisers and partners encourage everyone to participate by submitting a project. They are already looking forward to reading about your innovative and creative projects towards sustainable development.

Congratulations from the International Polar Foundation to all the 2014 laureates!