Photo: David von Becker
Press Release 2 October 2024
Futurium Receives Award for Sustainable Educational Work
On 1 October 2024, Futurium was awarded the “National ESD Award – Education for Sustainable Development” by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Commission for UNESCO. In Bremerhaven, a total of 24 initiatives were honoured for their outstanding commitment.
Photo: David von Becker
Education for sustainable development at Futurium
Dr Stefan Brandt, Director of Futurium, accepted the award in person at the Klimahaus Bremerhaven. Expressing the joy of the entire team, he said: “We’re delighted to receive this award, which recognises our dedicated educational work in the field of sustainable development. Futurium sees itself as a place of lively learning, where scientific insights and concrete possibilities for their implementation are conveyed in a realistic manner. In doing so, we also highlight controversial positions and conflicting approaches and encourage our visitors to engage in an open exchange of ideas. Above all, we aim to strengthen our visitors’ futures literacy – in other words, their ability to use their imagination to envision different scenarios for the future and to help shape a sustainable future with confidence.”
Futurium offers a wide range of educational formats and in this way helps ensure that future-oriented education is accessible to all. The various activities on offer enable visitors to engage actively with issues relating to the future, including mobility, democracy and raw materials. Since 2024, the outreach project “Mobile Futurium” has placed an additional focus on schools in rural areas.
About Futurium
Futurium in Berlin is an innovative museum that focuses on the question “How do we want to live?”. It opened on 5 September 2019 and is one of the five most visited museums in Berlin. This year, it is celebrating its fifth anniversary. Futurium sees itself as a place for reflection and exchange on the major challenges and opportunities for our future. The permanent exhibition is divided into three main areas: Human, Nature and Technology. This year’s focus topic, “Treasures of the Future”, deals with raw materials and their use. In addition to exhibitions with fascinating scenarios, a Lab to try things out and a Forum for collaborative dialogue, Futurium also offers a wide range of digital formats, as well as the Mobile Futurium for reaching schoolchildren throughout Germany.
About the “National ESD Award – Education for Sustainable Development”
As part of the UNESCO ESD 2030 programme, the “National ESD Award – Education for Sustainable Development” recognises those German organisations, networks and municipalities that are committed to shaping a liveable and sustainable society. Sustainable development means ensuring human dignity and equal opportunities for all in an intact environment. Education plays a key role in this regard. It enables people to make informed decisions and to better understand and assess the impact of their actions on future generations and other regions of the world. The implementation of education for sustainable development is enshrined as a global goal in the United Nations 2030 Agenda. The UNESCO ESD 2030 programme launched in 2020 aims to anchor ESD structurally in the education system. In Germany, this process is being pursued on the basis of the National Action Plan on Education for Sustainable Development.
Further information
ESD Portal
Education for Sustainable Development
National ESD Award – Education for Sustainable Development
Federal Ministry of Education and Research