Climate Protection in Agriculture: How Students from Bad Segeberg Experienced the Educational Project

After extensive preparation in the preceding months, the educational project “Climate Protection in Agriculture” was able to take place at the regional vocational training center (BBZ) in Bad Segeberg from November 11 to December 1, 2024. During this period, students engaged intensively with the topic of climate protection.

In total, students answered over 1,300 quiz questions throughout the project, with nearly 63% of them answered correctly. On average, each participant viewed 9 out of 13 guides, resulting in the use of over 700 educational materials. Additionally, 483 climate-friendly challenges were successfully completed.

A Strong Signal for Integrating Climate Protection into Agricultural Training

The 45 participating students actively engaged during the three project weeks and developed a profound understanding of what climate protection in agriculture means and what measures can contribute.

The project, organized by 2zero, aimed to raise early awareness of climate protection among young agricultural vocational students. In addition to conveying a basic understanding of climate change, the project also presented practical solutions to promote sustainable action.

With 45 first-year students from two classes at BBZ Bad Segeberg, the project sent a strong message about integrating climate protection into agricultural education.

Raising Awareness for Climate Protection and Adaptation

When 2zero learned in June 2024 about the tender “Educational Project on Climate Protection and Climate Adaptation in Agriculture for Agricultural Vocational Schools”, including Lot 1: Climate Protection Project for First-Year Students, the potential was immediately recognized.

2zero’s goal is to inspire as many people as possible to engage with climate protection. In the past, many citizens and employees from municipalities and companies were informed, motivated, and encouraged to take climate action.
The opportunity to now prepare this content for students presented an exciting challenge. The necessary structures were already in place through the existing app and years of content creation experience.

The initiative also perfectly aligned with the goals of MLLEV, which emphasized that “farmers should be sensitized to the topics of climate protection and adaptation and possess expertise in these areas.” It also stated that “the agricultural sector must contribute to climate protection.”

Teachers involved in the project also saw it as a valuable addition, stating that they “believe it is fundamentally very difficult and will become increasingly difficult to address the topic of sustainability.”

Minimal Preparation Effort for Teachers

As part of the tender, agricultural vocational schools in Schleswig-Holstein were to be directly approached to find potential partners for the project. 2zero contacted all relevant schools. BBZ Bad Segeberg showed particular interest and was immediately convinced by the project idea. The first contact was established with Mr. Jansen, Head of the Agricultural Department.

During the preparation phase, Mr. Jansen, the responsible teachers, and 2zero collaborated closely to plan the logistics, content, and details. The entire conceptual and organizational implementation was handled by 2zero, including the scheduling, workflow, and creation of diverse materials such as articles, quizzes, and challenges. This kept the workload for teachers intentionally low while leveraging 2zero's expertise.

Virtual Kick-off for the Project

The project officially began on November 8, 2024, with a virtual kick-off event in the school’s auditorium. The 2zero team introduced the content, app, and structure of the project. On November 11, 2024, the first of the three project weeks began.

Each week focused on a specific theme, while also linking to the others to reinforce and connect learning.

Overview of the First Three Weeks:

• Week 1: Introduction to the basics of climate change, the role of agriculture, and political funding options.
• Week 2: Focus on greenhouse gas emissions: types, sources in agriculture, and strategies for reduction.
• Week 3: Animal production: sustainable feeding strategies, impacts of livestock farming, and efficient barn management.

From Monday to Friday, either a guide or a quiz was provided daily. The guides in the 2zero app are short articles grouped under overarching topics. Quizzes typically consist of around six related questions.

Sample Guide Excerpt

Sample Quiz Question

The content was designed to be educational yet motivating. By alternating formats, students were kept engaged. Adapting the language of the content to the target audience was key.

Additionally, each day included a challenge encouraging students to implement climate-friendly actions in their daily lives. One example was the “Food Lover” challenge, which motivated participants to avoid food waste and use leftovers creatively—raising awareness about everyday climate protection and linking it to agriculture.

Fostering a Sense of Community Through Linked Activities

To offer a hands-on experience, three challenges—one per week—were directly connected to school activities:

• At the EuroTier trade fair, students collected materials on sustainable agriculture
• During a visit to a dairy farm, they observed existing climate protection measures
• A vegetarian breakfast was organized and enjoyed together at school

These activities fostered a sense of community and brought the focus on climate protection to life.

At the final challenge, the support of teachers Mr. Harder and Mr. Berger was crucial—they took over on-site organization based on 2zero’s instructions and successfully motivated students to participate.

At the end of each week, the app provided a recap, reviewing the key points and deepening them with targeted questions. This ensured clear separation of weekly topics and a high learning effect.

90% of Students Satisfied with the Structure

The expected daily time commitment was 10–15 minutes to allow for easy integration into school and work routines. This structure was well-received: 90% of participants said the amount of content was just right and easy to fit into their day.

Content remained accessible for seven days after release, giving students flexibility to catch up.

Mr. Harder described the app-based format as “low-threshold and well-suited for the target group.” He especially praised the use of guides, quizzes, and challenges, calling them “very well designed.”

However, he also noted that the “lack of mandatory review questions somewhat limited the learning effect.” 2zero takes this feedback seriously and will work on solutions to address this in future projects.

Motivation and Ambition Through Climate Points

To increase motivation and reward engagement, students could earn climate points throughout the three weeks.

Climate points are part of the 2zero app’s scoring system and are awarded for completing challenges, reading guides, and answering quiz questions correctly. These points offer an overview of how much content was consumed.

To encourage friendly competition, students formed teams of 3–4 people. A leaderboard in the app displayed current rankings at all times.

As an extra incentive, BBZ Bad Segeberg awarded thermal mugs with the school logo to the winning team. The team format was very well received by the students.

After the third week, 2zero hosted a virtual closing event similar to the kickoff, allowing everyone to review results and end the project on a positive note.

A Successful Project Enriching School Life

Based on internal evaluations and the successful implementation of ideas, 2zero considers the project highly successful.

This was also reflected in the students' feedback, who rated the overall project and especially the content very positively.

It became clear that climate protection in agriculture is a highly relevant topic for many and that they would like to see more commitment from their own workplaces.

The supervising teachers also praised the project and saw it as a valuable addition to school life. Mr. Harder described the collaboration as “very positive, extremely straightforward and relaxed—excellent!”
Overall, the project can be considered a great success by all involved parties.

Highlighting Opportunities and Solutions

Thanks to the participation, motivation, and engagement of the students, the important topic of climate protection in agriculture was successfully conveyed. Crucially, the project not only addressed challenges and necessary changes, but also highlighted opportunities and concrete courses of action.

The project goal—“to show first-year agricultural students ways they can contribute to climate protection in agriculture”—was thus successfully achieved according to 2zero.

The “Climate Protection in Agriculture” educational project provides an excellent opportunity to motivate students to engage with climate protection topics independently and interactively.

We are therefore looking forward to continuing the journey with these students in their second year and building on the themes of the first. Continued close cooperation and professional input from BBZ Bad Segeberg will again be central to raising awareness among future farmers in Schleswig-Holstein of climate change impacts and agriculture’s potential.