Green Erasmus 2.0

The background of the Green Erasmus project

Green Erasmus is a student-led project by the Erasmus Student Network, the European Students' Union, and Students Organising for Sustainability in collaboration with researchers from the Université libre de Bruxelles, the service design department of Technische Hochschule Köln and the European University Foundation.

A Greener Erasmus for Generation Climate Europe

With over 9 million young people benefiting from the Erasmus Programme throughout the programme's history, the programme has contributed to a more integrated and inclusive European continent, however it has also contributed to an increase of air traffic.

A recent study examined the carbon emissions associated with international student mobility on a global scale. It found that this mobility accounted for 14 to 39 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year based on 2014 figures. Emissions, including travel-related emissions and the change in emissions resulting from personal consumption whilst students are studying internationally, were rising at a greater rate than overall global emissions, doubling since 1999.

This poses a number of challenges for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), policy-makers and student organisations. The next generation of Erasmus students are unlikely to be content with a Programme which, for all its numerous benefits, at its heart includes travel, in most cases by air, that contributes to pollution and environmental damage. In a recent school survey carried out with nearly 3,000 primary and high school students in the UK, 85% agreed that all schools and colleges should be encouraging and helping pupils to take action to help the environment. It is important that HEIs and student organisations are addressing student concerns, if they want to attract students, and importantly tackle the climate crisis that we are currently in.

The aim of Green Erasmus is to improve the environmental sustainability of the Erasmus+ Programme, whilst also contributing improvements in environmental sustainability across Europe.

• To decrease the negative impact of the Erasmus+ Programme on environmental sustainability.
• To raise awareness across the European higher education sector about the importance of sustainable internationalisation.
• To empower students and student organisations to be the agents of change, pushing for improvements on the topic of environmental sustainability.

To do so, we need to research the impact student mobility has on an individual student's environmental impact. We aim to research the habits of international students during their period abroad, including their travel habits but also their consumption behaviour as well as their beliefs on climate change: does their engagement with fellow international students open their eyes to the global crises and risks.

Based on the research the project aims at publishing recommendations towards higher education institutions with regards to their institutional behaviour, partnership selection and student mobility, as well as to the European Commission regarding the carbon footprint that is created because of the Erasmus+ programme based on the Erasmus+ programme.

The creation of educational material for university practitioners (IRO’s) and Erasmus students in order to decrease their environmental footprint during their mobility and support the quality information available for the students to make changes in their behaviour.

The Project team believes that the Erasmus+ programme is a great opportunity for participants to learn more about environmental issues. Throughout the project we want to make sure that the Erasmus+ programme lives up to its potential as an Educational programme and increase the awareness on European issues and actions related to environmental sustainability and climate action. This will be done by creating guidelines on how to bring environmental sustainability into the classrooms and curricula and creating outlines for intercultural dialogue on environmental sustainability that will lead to local outreach activities on environmental sustainability, connecting international students to the local community.

• Date: 10 October 2020

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Habits during the exchange - Launch of the Green Erasmus survey

As ESN has written in the past, sustainable travel is a priority for the “Erasmus Generation”. An Erasmus exchange is not only an opportunity to develop your skills and meet new friends but also to pick up new habits. During the coming two years ESN, together with several partners, will be part of the Green Erasmus project, in which we look at how we can make the Erasmus+ programme more sustainable and green. ESN believes that the Erasmus+ programme is a great opportunity for participants to learn more about environmental issues, including learning from each other and learning from student organisations such as ESN. In the course of the project, we will especially focus on how Erasmus+ students behave before, during and after their exchanges.

However, in order to know how we can work on this, we need to know more about the habits of young people with regards to environmental behaviour during their Erasmus exchanges. We now launch the Green Erasmus survey and if you are a former Erasmus student who did your mobility during the last three years, we warmly invite you to fill in the survey. It is very important that we get as many responses as possible, in order to make our responses as representative as possible.

In the survey, We aim to research the travel habits of the students during their period abroad, including both their travels to their Erasmus destination, but also their leisure travel behaviour during their Erasmus+ mobility. We also want to see how their changing living conditions impact their ecological footprint; as their move might impede additional purchases in clothing, furniture and food.

The research, which will be the first of its kind, is led by researchers at Université libre de Bruxelles. Other partners in the project are the European University Foundation, the European Students' Union, Technische Hochschule Köln, and Students Organising for Sustainability. The results of the research will be published and available free for anyone on the partners’ websites. They will also be presented at a conference in Brussels in October 2021 (or online if the Covid-19 situation requires it).

Please fill in the survey here. We thank you very much for your participation in advance

• Date: 8 March 2021

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Sustainable travel, a priority in the new Erasmus+ programme

With more than 9 million young people benefiting from the Erasmus Programme, the Erasmus programme has contributed to a more integrated and inclusive European continent. However, this has an impact on the travel behaviour of young people. ESN believes that more efforts are required to support environmental travel opportunities for students on mobility.

In May 2020 a snapshot survey to understand the travel behaviour of Erasmus+ students during their mobility was carried out amongst the members of the Erasmus Student Network by Eurail. A total of 1,967 former Erasmus+ participants from 20 different European countries took part. The most used method of transport was by plane, both for their move to their Erasmus destination (75%) and return from their mobility at the end (79%).

Most respondents (92%) went on several leisure trips while on their mobility, with an average of 7 additional trips during their stay abroad. On average respondents returned back to their home country 1 time, 4 trips were taken inside the host country and 3 trips were taken to other countries during their period abroad. The average amount of trips decreased to 6 trips if students spent less than 3 months on exchange, while it increased to an average of 8 trips when students spent more than 6 months abroad. When the modes of transport for leisure trips were surveyed, an increase of the use of busses (77%) and trains (59%) was noticeable, most probably due to the proximity of the locations explored inside the host country and the countries around. Still 50% used an airplane for one or more of their leisure trips. Most of the respondents considered their leisure trips essential to become more open to different cultures, and considered the impact of their capacity to adapt to unexpected situations and their comprehension of the world.

The Erasmus+ grant covered up to 50% of the costs of half of the respondents - with local transportation taking up to 11% of their budget. 9% of respondents indicated they received a bonus to cover mobility costs.

Driven by cheaper and faster means of transport, only 15% of respondents factored in environmental factors in their decision about transport. While many liked the concept of Interrail or an adapted version for Erasmus+ students that would allow students to travel across Europe by train with one single ticket, respondents further indicated that train options are considered expensive, and students struggle with planning a complete itinerary on European train networks.

ESN believes that the Erasmus+ programme remains an important pillar to improve the Higher Education sector in Europe. With this first snapshot research in mind, ESN’s goal is to continue working in making the Erasmus+ programme more sustainable and transform the Erasmus+ programme as a tool to educate young people about the importance of sustainability. In order to achieve this, ESN has recently launched a project, and joined another one on the topic.

Green Erasmus: this project is led by ESN and it will start with developing further research on the lifestyle of students abroad and beliefs of Erasmus+ students towards environmental sustainability. This extensive research will serve as the basis for a handbook on sustainable internationalisation, an educational portal, campaign and petition to support a change in behaviour of Erasmus+ participants. It will be supported by an educational framework set up to include environmental sustainability and sustainable skills in the curricula, and include a toolkit for environmental sustainability outreach activities.

Erasmus Goes Green: this project is led by the University Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University (UVSQ). Similarly to Green Erasmus, this project will tackle the topic of Erasmus and environmental sustainability. While Green Erasmus focuses on students themselves, this project is more about how to improve the Erasmus+ programme. One of the things it will do is to develop a measuring tool where students, universities and the European Commission can easily see the carbon footprints of, for example, the travel to the host university.

In 2020 ESN joined Generation Climate Europe to advocate for more solutions and contributed to the European Parliament’s efforts in making the Erasmus+ Programme more environment friendly.

• Date: 15 July 2021

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The challenge of sustainable mobility: the launch of the Green Erasmus survey report

On the 3rd of February 2022, the Erasmus Student Network will host the first online event of the EU-funded Green Erasmus project to present the findings of two research activities carried out by Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and the European University Foundation (EUF) within the project’s framework and in cooperation with the project consortium: a study to compare over 10.000 students’ consumer behaviour, travel behaviour, and daily life habits while at home and during their mobility, and a report about good practice amongst Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to support students on international mobility in adopting more environmentally sustainable behaviours. The findings of the Green Erasmus research activities will contribute to making Erasmus more environmentally friendly and developing students’ green behaviours and skills.

The event is aimed at Higher Education Institutions, students, European Institutions, and civil society organisations’ representatives to discuss the challenges of sustainable mobility and internationalisation. What factors hinder sustainable behaviours among students on mobility and how do we tackle those? What does good practice for sustainable internationalisation within HEIs look like? Where are the obstacles and which additional actions should be implemented? What can stakeholders at national and European levels do to make Erasmus mobility more sustainable? These are the questions that the event plans to address.

The Green Erasmus project strives to improve the environmental sustainability of the Erasmus+ Programme by raising awareness across the European Higher Education sector and empowering student organisations to be the agents of change. An analysis of the potential environmental impacts of individual Erasmus+ mobilities, a handbook and an educational framework for sustainable internationalisation, and toolkits and activities for sustainable practices by and for students are the ambitious outputs of this project that aim at offering a holistic approach to the complex challenge of aligning internationalisation with sustainability.

The Green Erasmus consortium consists of Erasmus Student Network (ESN), European University Foundation (EUF), European Students' Union (ESU), Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Technische Hochschule Köln (TH Köln), and Students Organising for Sustainability UK (SOS UK).

The event will take place on the 3rd of February, from 2 PM to 4 PM (CET) on Zoom. Registrations are open until 1st February 2022.

Click here to register.

• Date: 21 January 2022

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Launch of the Green Erasmus petition and portal

On the 29th of June, the Green Erasmus consortium launched the petition “INCREASE SUPPORT FOR GREEN TRAVEL IN ERASMUS+” to ask EU institutions for more funds to travel sustainably. Specifically, the petition’s demands are

• Increasing the current €50 to a universal top-up of up to €250 for green travel, proportionate to the distance covered
• And increasing the current 4 days up to 7 days of additional individual support covering additional subsistence costs and/or accommodation needs linked to green travel - for the round trip

The goal is to collect 5000 signatures and make green travel a possibility for all students by creating favourable conditions. The Green Erasmus research on the habits of Erasmus students reveals that “although most of the students seem concerned about climate change, […] the cost/price emerges again as a big limitation when it comes to consumer and travel choices and greatly affects students’ decisions and possibly hinder the development of more sustainable habits’’.

The Green Erasmus consortium acknowledges that systemic changes are immediately necessary but their implementation requires time and massive infrastructural investments, whereas immediate action is needed. That is why the petition’s demand focuses on the reform of the current green top-up, the 50 euros students can get if they travel by sustainable means of transport, which is insufficient to cover the cost difference between a standard and green travel ticket.

The petition is featured on the recently published Green Erasmus portal, which provides students with informative content to have sustainable behaviours in the different aspects of the Erasmus exchange’s life cycle. Besides gathering educational material, the portal conveys information interactively through the use of games and a quiz. Higher Education Institutions are welcome to use this openly accessible online educational tool to raise awareness of the relationship between Erasmus exchanges and environmental impact among their students.

Sign the petitionand surf the Green Erasmus portal.

• Date: 29 June 2022

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Going Green with Erasmus: The Final Conference You Can't Miss

The conference will focus on the educational dimension of learning mobilities, discussing how Higher Education Institutions, National Agencies, and European institutions can better enshrine sustainability in the learning experience of students taking part in Erasmus+.

The event will also be the opportunity to present the project’s results conceived to be used by a wide spectrum of Higher Education actors who will get the chance to find out:

• a self-online learning tool for students
• a sustainability handbook and an education framework for Higher Education Institutions and curricula designers
• toolkit and activities for sustainable practices for student organisations

The event is aimed at anyone in the Higher Education sector, European Institutions, and civil society organisations who wish to know concrete and replicable good practices to make Erasmus+ green.

The conference is free of charge and it will be held in person, on Friday, 16th of June, in Brussels at the Nelson Mandela Room of the Sleep Well hostel, from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm.

The conference will be preceded by an informal talk and drink on the 15th of June, Thursday evening on “How to make Erasmus+ (much) more carbon neutral” within the framework of the Erasmus+ Salon organised by ESU in cooperation with EUF and ESN. The talk will start at 5 pm and will take place at the ESN office in Brussels.

Registrations for both events are mandatory and possible through the registration form below. Spots are limited, confirmation of participation will be provided on a rolling basis.

Check out the agenda for the conference.

Register

Please do not register if you cannot be physically present.

• Date: 15 May 2023

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Over 5000 students and education sector staff support changes to make Erasmus+ mobility more sustainable

The Erasmus+ Mobility programme can be a life-changing opportunity and experience for the hundreds of thousands of students who participate in it every year across Europe. It has contributed to a more integrated and inclusive European continent. On the flip side, it is important to recognise the potential challenges of the programme, such as its environmental impact. It's been estimated that between 2014-2020, the Erasmus+ programme generated between 414,000 and 672,000 tonnes of CO2 (or equivalent), and with the intention to increase participation, the footprint is likely to increase further unless significant action is taken.

The Green Erasmus project wants to see significant changes in the mobility patterns of university students going on Erasmus+ exchange to reduce the environmental impact of the programme.

During the course of the project, we ran a petition calling for:

• Increasing the current €50 to a universal top up to individual support of up to €250 for green travel, proportionate to distance covered
• And increasing the current 4 days up to 7 days of additional individual support covering additional subsistence costs and/or accommodation needs linked to green travel - for the round trip

Introducing this support will allow students from all destinations to travel to their host country, and return back home via greener land or sea transport, without being out of pocket. At the same time, students will be able to experience more of Europe and what it has to offer – it’s about the journey, not just the destination! Only if we start to consider the way we travel can the growing damage to our natural world and human health be tackled.

The petition was signed by 5257 people, demonstrating the strength of support for these asks, and more broadly the desire to see a greener Erasmus+ programme.

Next steps

The petition was closed in July 2023. To work towards achieving the calls the Green Erasmus project:

• Will publish a policy recommendations report which will be sent to policymakers at DG EAC - European Commission, European Parliament, the Council of European Union. It’s also been published on the Green Erasmus project website.
• Has held a conference in Brussels in June 2023 to discuss issues related to the asks of the petition. This was attended by 70 stakeholders including representatives of EU institutions, such as the Directorate General for Education and Culture and the Joint Research Center, NGOs, HEIs, and student organisations volunteers. You can view a recording of the event online.

Why are we asking for this change?

According to Green Erasmus research, 75% of students choose to travel to their Erasmus destination by plane, seeking to benefit from very cheap and convenient air travel compared to greener alternatives that are often more expensive and time-consuming. Flying is the most climate damaging form of travel: planes emit massive amounts of damaging CO2, nitrogen oxides, aerosols and water vapour. For example a flight from Barcelona (Spain) to Cologne (Germany) would emit 0.16 tonnes of CO2, however a train ride would only emit 0.01 tonnes of CO2. However, concern about climate change amongst students is widespread; according to our Green Erasmus research, 94% of students said that they are concerned about it.

Systemic change of our infrastructure is needed to decrease air travel and therefore carbon emissions across Europe:

• Cheaper train, bus, sea travel instead of subsidies on air travel
• Better high speed train connections across Europe
• More integrated train and bus networks throughout Europe including an integrated booking platform
• More accessible network fit for purpose for disabled travellers

These changes would all support Europeans to make more sustainable travel choices and are the ultimate goal. But we need action now! Green Erasmus is calling for improved support and incentives for university students to choose greener alternatives to air travel when travelling to and from their Erasmus+ destination. The current Erasmus+ guidance is starting to recognise the programme’s negative environmental impact by including sustainability among the programme priorities and providing extra funding to students who opt to travel sustainably - the “green top-up’’, a compensation of €50 and 4 additional days of individual support to cover travel days. This however does not go far enough.

• The financial incentive doesn’t cover the often high costs and longer duration of land travel
• Issuing the top-up requires additional administration by Higher Education Institutions
• Guidance on when and how the top-up can be issued is unclear

The tables below show in more detail who signed the petition:

Petition signatories by stakeholder type
Stakeholder	Number of signatories
Student	3999
Working in the higher education sector	724
Other	389
Working elsewhere in the education sector	155

Petition signatories by country (top 10 countries)
Country	Number of signatories
Germany	822
Italy	524
Belgium	434
France	381
Spain	361
Czechia	276
Netherlands	268
Portugal	212
Poland	187
Greece	166
Hungary	146
Austria	143
Romania	136
Turkey	106

• Date: 6 July 2023

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United for Green(er) Erasmus

Discussions, recommendations, and visions for a better, more sustainable future of higher education filled the room of the Green Erasmus project final conference on the 16th of June, in Brussels.

The conference gathered representatives of EU institutions, NGOs, HEIs, and student organisations volunteers who had a diverse and fruitful discussion about the future of sustainable internationalisation and education on sustainable development. The presentation of initiatives and good practises across Europe, of the GreenComp framework - one of the sector’s key documents, especially in the light of the European Year of Skills - and a lively panel discussion accompanied the introduction of the Green Erasmus’s project final results such as:

• The research on students’ consumption and travel habits
• The Green Erasmus Portal, an online self-learning tool that provide tips and tricks to live a sustainable Erasmus exchange
• The petition for a revamped green top-up
• The Handbook for sustainable internationalisation
• The Guidelines for Environmental Activities
• The Educational framework on environmental sustainability (to be published soon)

Agenda

Check out the agenda to see the speakers and their contribution.

Towards the end of the conference and through a breakout session, participants engaged in passionate discussions to share visions and propose concrete solutions to build a greener Erasmus experience at the campus, teaching&learning, and community levels. Those inputs will inform the policy recommendations that the Green Erasmus consortium is currently finalising.

Subscribe to the newsletter

Subscribe to the Green Erasmus newsletter and stay tuned to read the Green Erasmus policy recommendations.

The conference was preceded, on the 15th of June, by an informal get-together focusing on transport and sustainable travel options in Europe within the framework of the Erasmus+ Salon. A panel discussion with representatives from the student and transport sector stimulated the debate among the attendees and touched upon the transport dimension of the Green Erasmus project.

Photos from the event are available on ESN International's Flickr.

The Green Erasmus Project, started in 2021 and headed to its end, strives to improve the environmental sustainability of the Erasmus+ Programme, raise awareness across the European Higher Education sector about the importance of sustainable internationalisation, and empower student organisations to be the agents of change. The Erasmus Student Network leads the project’s consortium composed of European University Foundation (EUF), European Students’ Union (ESU), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Technische Hochschule Köln (TH Köln) and Students Organising Sustainability UK (SOS UK).

• Date: 10 July 2023

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Green Erasmus 2.0 officially launched in Brussels

In March 2026, partners of the Green Erasmus 2.0 project gathered in Brussels for a dynamic and inspiring kick-off meeting, marking the start of a three-year European cooperation initiative dedicated to making Erasmus+ mobility more environmentally sustainable.

Coordinated by the University of Poitiers, the project brings together universities, student organisations, and policy stakeholders to address one of the key challenges in international mobility: translating strong environmental awareness into concrete behavioural change. By combining research, educational tools, and institutional frameworks, Green Erasmus 2.0 aims to foster long-term sustainable practices among students while embedding sustainability into higher education internationalisation strategies.

The meeting provided an opportunity for partners to align on objectives and begin collaboration, including the development of a behaviour change model, a challenge-based learning framework, and a European Green Erasmus Label to recognise sustainable practices in higher education institutions.

A highlight of the meeting was the intervention of Bérénice Kimpe, Head of the SALTO Green Resource Centre, who shared valuable insights on sustainability in internationalisation and opened perspectives for future collaboration with Green Contact Points across Erasmus+ National Agencies.

The consortium also emphasised the importance of building a strong Community of Practice and a network of Green Erasmus Ambassadors to amplify impact across Europe.

With the support of EAIE, the University of Jena, Grand Poitiers Municipality and the active engagement of all partners, Green Erasmus 2.0 is set to play a key role in driving systemic change towards more sustainable and responsible mobility in European higher education.

• Date: 13 May 2026

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