1 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)

“Bressols pel Clima” Drafting work team
[Nurseries for Climate] strategy Maria Truñó, Commissioner for 
Data and information from municipal Publisher Education at Barcelona City Council.
sources may be reproduced, 
provided those sources are cited. Barcelona Municipal Institute of Jordi Sánchez, Manager of the 
Education at Barcelona City Council. IMEB.
January, 2023. Alícia Aguilera, Director of 
Management and coordination of Municipal Educational Centres at 
the publication the IMEB.
Directorate for Municipal Imma Bargalló, Head of the Infants 
Educational Centres, Education Department at the IMEB.
Children’s Education Department 
and Communication and Eulàlia Ramos, Officer at the Infants 
Publications Department Education Department at the IMEB.
at the Barcelona Municipal Institute Sergi Salvador, Head of the 
of Education. Technical Services Department at 
Barcelona City Council. the IMEB.
Design drafting and coordination Irma Ventayol, Director of Services 
support at the Climate Change and 
Ana Villagordo Sustainability Office.
Marta Vilar, Head of the More 
Design and layout Sustainable Schools programme.
La Page Original, SL
Printing
Tramatecnic
Text revision
Linguaserve 
3 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
We have a duty to 
each other and to the children that 
are too small to hold a pen or a microphone, 
but that will experience even greater challenges 
than we are. Movements of young climate activists will 
continue to rise, continue to grow and continue to fight for 
what is right, because we have no other choice.
We must acknowledge where we stand, treat climate change 
like the crisis it is and act with the urgency required to ensure 
today’s children inherit a liveable planet.
Adriana Calderón (Mexico), Farzana Faruk Jhumu (Bangladesh), Eric Njuguna (Kenya) 
and Greta Thunberg (Sweden) of Fridays for Future, in the foreword to the UNICEF 
report entitled “The climate crisis is a child rights crisis”
4 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Contents
1.  Why a climate strategy for Area 4. WASTE  4.4. BM Els Gats Generating 
nursery schools? 6 Reduction, reuse and and consuming renewable 
recycling  32 energy and passive heat 
comfort  54
2.  Looking after young children,  9. Waste exchange and       
the city and the planet  8 reuse markets  34 4.5. EBM Torrent                       
 10. More sustainable        self-managed         
2.1.  Climate change affects exchange spaces  55
young children unfairly  8 nappies  36
2.2.  Barcelona, an educating  11. Zero plastic 37 4.6   EBM Valldaura More 
sustainable and zero-
city in a climate 
 Area 5. FOOD                         plastic consumption  56
emergency  12
Healthy and sustainable      4.7.  EBM Germanetes 
food     38 Composting with 
3.  “Bressols pel Clima”  12. Healthy and sustainable the Germanetes        
[Nurseries for Climate] menus  41 community 57
strategy  14
 13. Zero food waste  41 4.8. EBM La Filadora 
 Area 1. NATURE                        Sustainable and healthy 
Green, open playgrounds      menu, inside and     
 Area 6. EDUCATION  
and green roofs  16 outside school  58
Environmental awareness    
1. Greening up playgrounds  19 and sustainable habits  44 4.9. EBM La Mar Training 
for nursery schools 
2. Open nursery playgrounds  19  14. Raising awareness       from  More Sustainable    
among the educational 
3. Green roofs  20 Schools  59
community  46
4. Looking after greenery  21 4.10. EBM Cobi awareness-
 15. Training for          raising and mobility   60
professionals  47
 Area 2. ENERGY 
Energy transition with    16. Sustainable mobility for the 
nursery schools consuming educational community and 5.  Bressols pel Clima impetus 
and generating renewable families  48 and monitoring  61
energy  22 5.1.   Strategy drafting      
 5. Generation of renewable process  61
4.  Good practices for nurseries 
energy and energy now in progress  50 5.2.  Implementation and 
communities  25 monitoring  62
4.1.   EBM La Morera Greening 
 6. More sustainable energy up a playground: 
consumption  26 automated irrigating, an Webography 64
allotment and a garden  51
 Area 3. TEMPERATURE 
Thermal comfort and climate 4.2. EBM Pau Open-playground 
shelters  28 experience: enjoying a 
play and culture space  52
 7. Thermal comfort  30
4.3. EBM Can Caralleu “Donem 
 8. Nursery schools within the joc al material de rebuig” 
climate shelters network  31 [We’re making use of 
waste material]  53
 
5 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
1. Why a climate strategy 
for nursery schools?
According to data from the city residents register of 2022, there were 34,773 children aged 0 
to 3 residing in Barcelona and, after the age range had been raised to 6, the number came to as 
many as 72,257. That means 4% of Barcelona’s residents are young children, who need greater 
visibility, as do their rights, interests and specific needs.
Living in a sustainable and healthy city, now and in the future, is not simply a desirable 
feature but rather an essential, pressing need; for all city residents, and young children in 
particular, who are also less responsible for the environmental and climate crisis already 
having an impact today and which is going to affect them for the rest of their lives.
Municipal nursery schools cannot and will not stay on the sidelines here. And all the more so, 
when we note that their educational community consists of somewhere around 25,000 people 
including educators, young children and families; a receptive, proactive and involved public 
keen to improve the quality of life of children and their environment too. Some 9,000 young 
children move on within short periods every school year, given that the nursery stage lasts for 
three school years at the most; a few years of maximum family involvement and relations with 
the educational environment which enable foundational work to be carried for children to grow 
up as active citizens committed to more sustainable and ecological values.
The key role of nursery schools cannot be ignored in the current climate-emergency situation, 
given the social and environmental challenges of the future we are now facing. Every nursery 
school has so far acted in a rather isolated way, doing everything in its power to improve 
the environmental management of its spaces. The aim now is to act through coordination, 
by replicating experiences, sharing good practices, transferring knowledge… and with a 
common roadmap that sets out the necessary role of these facilities, public services and the 
community facing the climate emergency. That roadmap is the Municipal Nursery Schools’ 
Strategy for Climate Justice, known as “Bressols pel Clima” [Nurseries for Climate].
6 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Bressols pel Clima’s strategic mission
Bring visibility to young children, by ensuring their right to a present 
1 and future healthy and playable environment. As public services 
committed to caring for young children, in the city and on the planet, 
the Municipal Nursery Schools Network aims to strengthen the focus of 
young children’s rights within the framework of Barcelona’s climate and 
sustainability strategies. 
Systematically promote specific structural changes and 
2 commitments, as in a network, based on changes in every nursery 
school. The aim is to promote short-, medium- and long-term changes 
and commitments, with a shared and dynamic vision and roadmap, 
which boost powerful transformations, based on the recognition of 
interdependence, of young children in particular.
Reduce the negative environmental impact and ecological footprint 
3 of nursery schools. The proposal from the educational community, 
made up of over 25,000 individuals, including children, educators and 
their families, and with over 100 schools, is to analyse and mitigate their 
impact.
The “Bressols pel Clima” strategy 
establishes a series of initiatives 
to be launched up to 2030. The 
view is that the goal must be in line 
with that of the Climate Emergency 
Action Plan, the city’s framework 
roadmap for climate action.
7 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
2. Looking after young 
children, the city and 
 the planet
2.1.  Climate change affects young children unfairly
The climate crisis and its effects are no longer a problem solely of the future; they are now a 
problem of the present too. Climate change is having more and more effects on everyone. That 
is why necessary solutions and adaptations have to be immediately adopted and applied, given 
this global phenomenon’s increasing consequences on people, who are not affected equally or 
proportionately.
The groups most affected are the elderly and the very young, those in more vulnerable social 
situations and those living in environments and neighbourhoods with the least greenery. As 
UNICEF warns, children are being affected unfairly and disproportionately around the world, 
especially wherever there is more poverty.
There is an urgent need to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis given the unfair and 
disproportionate harm that young children from around the world are already suffering and 
given the fact, what is more, that young children are the citizens least responsible for climate 
change and those who will be worst hit by the consequences of today’s omissions for the rest 
of their lives. Whatever we neglect to do today will make Barcelona and the planet less liveable, 
and that is very unfair.
8 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Barcelona City Council has a long tradition of local-level commitments to energy and climate 
policies set out in both the EU and the international arena. This is why the city has been signing 
up to various international pledges (such as the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy) and 
implementing energy and climate policies for over 20 years (Energy Improvement Plan, Climate 
Plan etc.)
Barcelona City Council declared the city to be in a climate-emergency situation on 15 January 
2020 to alert the world and focus efforts, investments and strategies on mitigating the 
impact of climate change. The Climate Emergency Declaration subsequently led to the Climate 
Emergency Action Plan for 2030 which puts the most vulnerable, including young children, at 
the centre of climate policies. 
The Climate Emergency Action Plan approaches mitigation, adaptation, climate justice and the 
promotion of citizen action promotion in five areas of action which show, in a neat summary, 
that the big challenges affecting us now and in the near future are:
●	  Health and well-being. Where looking after everyone, in a system without cuts and 
where ensuring thermal comfort enable us to achieve a fair city for everyone, even young 
children.
●	  Energy saving and generation. Where better than new buildings and the possibility of 
reclaiming roof terraces enable energy renovations and the use of roofs as productive 
spaces. Where nursery schools require maintenance to be more energy efficient and 
their areas, inside and outside, used for generating their own clean energy. 
●	  Urban and mobility model. Where aspects such as urban climate transformation, much 
more greenery and the possibility of getting about properly in the city, among other 
things, affect the well-being of young children, who need not only a healthier and more 
sustainable school but also a city with more nature and a model that is less polluting and 
safer and more accessible. 
●	  Economy and consumption. Where a green and circular economy, responsible 
consumption, tending towards a Zero Waste and greater food sovereignty model all have 
their place in the consumption model that nursery schools have naturally incorporated 
so far and will continue to implement, from now on, in a more strategic and coordinated 
way.
●	  limate culture. Where the involvement of informed, critical, proactive, organised 
and empowered city residents is key to promoting a cultural action for climate and an 
internal organisation. Nursery schools have carried out considerable work over the last 
few years. They now need to do the same but through coordinated collaboration.
9 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
The five areas 1  2 3 
of action and 18 People first Looking Without Ensuring    
strategic lines HEALTH AND after everyone cuts thermal    
of the Climate comfort
Emergency Action 
Plan for 2030. WELL-BEING
Source: Climate 
Emergency Action 
Plan for 2030. Improving efficiency in buildings 4 5  
Better Reclaiming 
ENERGY than new roof terraces
buildings
SAVING AND 
GENERATION
6 7  8 
Climate Much Not a 
-based urban more greenery single drop 
Transforming public space into transformation wasted
a healthy, biodiverse, efficient 
and inclusive environment 
URBAN AND 
MOBILITY 9 10  11  
Renewa- Getting Protecting 
bles in public around easily the coastline 
MODEL areas and our rivers
Uncoupling economic growth from 12   13   
the people’s quality of life, with a Green Reponsible 
and circular consumption
circular vision that makes the most economy
of resources and avoids generating 
waste and emissions 
ECONOMY 
AND 14   15   
Zero   Food       
CONSUMP waste sovereignty
-TION
and the involvement of informed, 16   17 18 
critical, proactive, organised Cultural Climate Let’s get 
and empowered city residents action for Cooperation organised
CLIMATE climate
CULTURE
10 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Given the big eco-social challenges immediately facing us, what role are municipal nursery 
schools playing? What place do young children occupy? What can we do to face the future 
better in a more liveable and resilient city?
There is no single answer here. In fact, we need to pool a few here: from offering quality 
educational spaces with greened-up playgrounds and thermally comfortable facilities, to 
obtaining more energy self-sufficiency, a reduction in waste generation, more sustainable food 
and an educational project that raises awareness among not just young children but the whole 
educational community as well.
And even more: this is about going beyond educational spaces, in this case, nursery schools, 
and opening them up to all the city’s others residents, to offer shelter and thermal-comfort 
spaces, as well as green and pleasant environments for local residents. It involves reaffirming 
support, commitment and cooperation networks.
Young children need healthy and balanced meals, a thermally suitable space and pleasant 
playground not only for playing in and being in contact with nature but also for learning the 
importance of the consequences of the daily actions of human beings (what we do with 
waste, how we look after nature etc.) and, above all, growing up in environments that instil 
the values of justice and co-responsibility in looking after life, individuals and the city.
It is in this context that municipal nursery schools, as the 
public services, facilities and educational communities 
that they are, aim to play their role as part of the solution 
and co-responsible for transformations, to make a 
greener, more sustainable city committed to climate 
justice possible, putting the lives of young children 
at the centre.
The goal is to promote changes in every one of the more 
than 100 nursery schools in the municipal network, with the 
involvement of the entire educational community: a total of 
25,000 individuals, including 9,000 children, their families 
and 1,000 educators.
11 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
2.2.  Barcelona, an educating city in a                           
climate emergency
Barcelona is committed to building itself up as an educating city with a series of plans and 
strategies for improving the educational opportunities of young children so that the city can be 
a habitable and fair place for them to grow up in. Municipal nursery schools (EBM), currently 103 
schools throughout the city, need to determine what their role is in fighting climate change and 
bringing about a healthier, more sustainable and fairer city, for young children too. Three key 
regulatory and strategic tools for young children are briefly analysed below which have a direct 
relationship with and impact on the need for defining a climate strategy for municipal nursery 
schools. They are as follows:
●	  The Charter of Educating Cities.
●	  The Plan for Educating and Raising Young Children.
●	  The “Cuidem les bressol” [We’ll look after nursery schools] programme. 
Principle 14 of the Charter for Educating Cities, launched by Barcelona in 1990 and revised and 
updated in 2020, sets out a commitment to meeting the material rights and needs for people 
to maintain a decent life – food, water, housing, sanitation, energy, mobility, and a safe and 
healthy environment. To achieve this, it requires the city to organise itself taking account of 
the condition of inter-dependence among human lives and the planet’s physical limits, as well 
as by promoting participation and co-responsibility from every city resident in adopting fair, 
resilient and sustainable lifestyles, under the principles of sufficiency, sharing and justice. 
Precautions are also being taken within this framework for protecting common assets and 
guaranteeing a decent survival for present and future generations.
The Plan for Educating and Raising Young Children for 2021-2024 proposes a comprehensive 
municipal public policy aimed at advancing towards a fair, quality universalisation, 
diversification and coordination of resources for educating and raising young children aged 
0 to 3, starting with nursery schools. The plan is to guarantee the well-being and 
development of young children with equal opportunities, meet the different needs of their 
families, and strengthen the communal approach and democratisation of care. This is therefore 
about positioning young children’s education and raising as a key strategy for reducing 
educational, social and gender inequalities, on the basis that sustenance at this vital strategic 
stage is a common asset and a public issue that merits strengthening by every authority, with 
diverse permits, benefits, services and media.
Under the Plan, the Barcelona Municipal Institute of Education (IMEB) launched the “Cuidem 
les bressol” programme in 2022, with four work lines for incorporating more investment and 
strengthening the improvements, renovations and maintenance of facilities from the network 
of municipal nursery schools. Two of the four lines already started are initiatives clearly focused 
on nursery schools and the climate: green playgrounds and thermal comfort.
As for nursery school playgrounds, that is, their greening-up, this has been a reality since the 
summer of 2022. Playgrounds which, what is more, are becoming part of the programme known 
as “Nursery-school playgrounds open to the neighbourhood: play and culture in the open air 
for young children and their families”. A further example of the search for climate fairness and 
justice beyond the physical limits of nursery schools. In the case of thermal comfort, initiatives 
for improving climate control are already a reality that enable these educational facilities to 
generate renewable energy, with a preliminary revision of existing panels.
12 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
13 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
3. “Bressols 
 pel Clima” The “Bressols pel Clima” 
[Nurseries for strategy includes a total 
of 6 areas, 16 lines of 
action and 47 initiatives, 
Climate] up to 2030
Nature Energy Temperature
Green, open Energy transition with Thermal comfort and 
playgrounds and     energy-consuming and climate shelters
green roofs generating nursery 
schools
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
14 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Waste Food Education
Reduction, reuse and Healthy and    Environmental 
recycling sustainable food awareness and 
sustainable habits
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
15 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Area 1.  
NATURE.  
Green, open playgrounds 
and green roofs
16 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Justification and benefits
The benefits associated with urban nature for city residents and, in particular, young children 
in their first years of life, are hardly a new discovery. The benefits are numerous and all the more 
so in urban environments, given that city residents are subject to considerable environment 
pressure affecting their health (atmospheric pollutions, heat associated with rising temperatures 
from climate change and the heat island effect, noise, urban congestion and so on).
The 3-30-300 rule for creating healthier cities, proposed by the urban forester Cecil Konijnendijk, 
aims to highlight how greenery (whether trees, plants or vegetation on roofs) helps to mitigate 
high temperatures, prevent floods and improve the population’s health. This rule means having 
three trees in view from every home, living in a neighbourhood with 30% tree canopy cover and 
being no further than 300 metres from a park.
ISGlobal researchers explain that the study on this rule in Barcelona is the first to be measured 
in a city; in our case, only 4.7% of the population meet the three precepts of the green spaces 
rule. If we add to that the recommendations of the Catalan Paediatrics Society, which considers 
contact with nature to be more than beneficial for young children and recommends greening 
up playgrounds and transferring classrooms to natural environments, it is more than evident 
that Barcelona’s young children need to have more greenery close by, and in a fair, shared and 
accessible way.
Furthermore, these functions and benefits of urban greenery also make them one of the main 
strategies for adapting cities to take on climate change. This is why one of the main measures 
of the Barcelona Climate Emergency Declaration has to do with conserving and increasing the 
urban green infrastructure. Finally, we should also point out the unfairness of green spaces 
in the urban environment. These spaces are not distributed fairly among the city’s various 
neighbourhoods. As mentioned above, this is having direct effects on people’s health.
It is in this context that Barcelona Nature Plan for 2021-2030 aims to add a further 160 hectares 
between 2015 and 2030, the equivalent of an extra 1 m2 of greenery per resident. Increasing 
the city’s green infrastructure results in less need for services, above all those for adapting to 
climate change, and in improved access to urban nature for all city residents. This increase also 
includes the new green playgrounds in the network of municipal nursery schools, which are 
bringing greenery to young children from not just the same school but also the surrounding 
environment, by proposing playgrounds that are open to the neighbourhood. In addition, 
bringing nature to young children and other city residents increases their knowledge, 
enjoyment and care, making it easier for them to be involved in their surrounding’s 
conservation and improvement.
It is in this context that nursery schools, which have their own green spaces, are becoming 
cornerstones and connectors of the existing urban greenery and enjoying their benefits:
●	  healthy natural spaces for young children interacting there and for the entire 
educational community;
●	  thermally comfortable environments, as the thermo-regulating effect of greened-up 
environments demonstrates;
●	  besides enjoying the educating role of playing and learning in a natural environment, 
young children will have greater contact with nature, enabling them to understand, 
appreciate and conserve it (both inside and outside the nursery school).
Far from being “islands” in the city, these playgrounds are being incorporated into a structure of 
neighbourhoods that can enjoy them as “lungs” in the heart of the city. Hence the importance 
not just of greening up nursery school playgrounds but also of opening them up to all 
Barcelona’s citizens, as the City Council is doing in the city’s state schools under programmes 
such as “Transformem els patis” [We’re transforming playgrounds] and “Obrim els patis escolars 
al barri” [We’re opening up school playgrounds to the neighbourhood].
17 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Starting point and work goals
Projects Strating point (December 2022) Work goal
Greened-up 25 EBM have had gardens and plants Greening up playgrounds in 
nursery schools put in. all municipal nursery schools 
by having gardens, plants 
Preparation of irrigation and land and trees put in (wherever 
systems during the summer of 2022 possible) ensuring proper 
and introduction of 3,000 plants in the greenery maintenance 
autumn of 2022. throughout the year.
Every nursery school deals with 
greenery maintenance through 
gardening services or educational 
community work through its own 
independent management.
Playgrounds Pilot project of 14 playgrounds open Consolidating a quarter 
open to the to the neighbourhood on Saturday of the nursery schools with 
neighbourhood mornings throughout the 21/22        playgrounds open to the 
school year. neighbourhood.
25 playgrounds open to 
all families with children 
up to the age of 6, starting 
in January 2023, with 
their uses assessed for 
possible improvements and 
extensions in areas with more 
children and less playable 
public space.
Family              A third f municipal nursery schools  Extending afternoon family 
playgrounds are opening up their playgrounds  playgrounds to all nursery 
several afternoons a week; organised  schools, organised by student 
by families of children at the nurseries. family associations (AFAs).
Green roofs There is no school with a green roof. Starting with the first green 
22 nursery schools have been  roof in the new EBM Pere 
identified as potentially eligible for Calafell during the 23/24 
having a green roof installed, 13 school year.
of  which are located in areas with Installing green roofs in 10 
no greenery or at least 200 metres           EBMs and maintaining them 
from areas with no greenery. properly.
18 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Lines of action and initiatives
1. Greening up playgrounds
Greening up playgrounds involves introducing plants and trees and 
gaining greenery in the city by making the Nature Plan a reality. And doing 
all that subject to criteria, as it is about choosing the most suitable plants, 
preparing the land, introducing plants, preparing the irrigation system and 
keeping it constantly maintained throughout the year. Greenery needs 
to be incorporated into these recreational spaces, but carried out with 
common sense and planning and, above all, under sustainable criteria and 
by prioritising young children’s needs and special traits. The opportunities 
offered from incorporating more greenery into the city are enormous and, 
where available to young children, all the more so.
The “Cuidem les bressol” programme mentioned above includes four lines of 
work, one of which opts for determinant aspects in the climate strategy of 
municipal nursery schools: green playgrounds.
Greening up nursery school playgrounds has been a reality since the summer 
of 2022, with a total of 25 playgrounds benefiting in 2022. More than 3,000 
aromatic plants were also introduced during the autumn. The main aim of 
this line of action is to reach all schools while ensuring these spaces are 
maintained and looked after in collaboration with and supported by several 
projects and organisations.
The initiatives under this line of action are as follows:
initiative Prepare nursery schools’ playgrounds for introductions 
1 of plants and greening up.
initiative Introduce trees and plants in the nursery schools’ 
2 playgrounds.
2. Open nursery playgrounds
The last few years have seen the city implementing the “Obrim patis 
escolars al barri” programme, under which some 60 primary and secondary 
state schools are opening up to community and social uses for city 
residents during several time periods throughout the year. As set out under 
the Barcelona Plan for Play in Public Spaces up to 2030, which provides for 
the opening up of municipal nursery school playgrounds to gain spaces and 
facilitate outdoor play in contact with nature, which is one of the criteria to 
be advanced in the playable city.
Opening up municipal school playgrounds to the rest of the city meets 
the need, on the one hand, for having more public play spaces (globally 
in the city) and the importance, on the other hand, of local residents and 
nearby citizens having access to and enjoying the direct benefits of more 
greenery.
19 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Hence the commitment to opening up playgrounds under two categories: 
one, the new programme entitled “Nursery-school playgrounds open to 
the neighbourhood: play and culture in the open air for young children” at 
weekends, with the pilot during the 2021/22 school year organised by the 
IMEB. And, the other, the promotion and extension “Family playground” 
afternoon experiences which families promote and self-manage through 
AFAs in some schools. The aim behind this second category is to work 
on getting all nursery schools to offer families an opportunity to enjoy 
nursery school playgrounds, at least one afternoon a week, as a play and 
community-building space.
The initiatives under this line of action are as follows:
Consolidate the “Nursery-school playgrounds open to 
initiative the neighbourhood: play and culture in the open air 
3 for young children and their families” programme on 
weekends.
initiative Promote the afternoon “Family playgrounds” proposal, 
4 organised by student family associations (AFAs).	
Connect the greening up of outside spaces as an 
initiative opportunity for education and play outdoors in 
5 contact with nature and its care as part of the CEP                
(Centre education project).
3. Green roofs
Roofs, roof terraces and lightwells in Barcelona, a dense, Mediterranean-
climate city, a resource that is not currently being exploited, even though 
the highest part of the city’s buildings are usable for much of the year. 
Their use and renovation would bring numerous benefits. From the point 
of view of nursery schools and city, these spaces are becoming ideal for 
increasing greenery in neighbourhoods.
Following an analysis of the various roofs of the entire network of nursery 
schools, a total of 22 schools were identified as potential sites for 
installing green roofs. Those located in areas with the least greenery were 
the ones chosen, resulting in nine roofs. Another four nursery schools are 
located within 200 metres from parks or gardens. The rest, a further nine, 
are not included in areas lacking greenery.
The aim in this strategic line is to work, in accordance with the Municipal 
Institute of Urban Landscape, for the installation of green roofs in 10 
nursery schools, by prioritising the options found in areas with the least 
greenery or 200 metres from a park or garden. Work will be carried out, 
among other things, on achieving co-funding through EU funds.
The initiative in this line of action is as follows:
initiative Install and maintain 10 green roofs in municipal nursery 
6 schools, starting in the 2023/24 school year.
20 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
4. Looking after greenery 
It is essential that in this area of greening-up a line is provided for to 
maintain and promote the care of the greenery that is gradually put up on 
roofs and in playgrounds; that is why this has been provided for through the 
launch of a new service that can supplement the care work being carried 
out by the educational community itself and do so with social and solidarity 
economy organisations.
Work is being started in this line with the Education Consortium to 
encourage collaboration with higher-level vocational training cycles in 
designing new playgrounds or collaborating with the Institute of Parks and 
Gardens’ “All hands to greenery” programme.
Launch a new gardening service for maintaining 
initiative greenery which supplements the care work of the 
7 educational communities themselves collaborating with 
social and solidarity economy enterprises.
initiative Maintain and design the gardens of municipal nursery 
8 schools in collaboration with specialist vocational 
training centres and other forms of collaboration.
initiative Promote collaboration in the Institute of Parks and 
9 Gardens’ “All hands to greenery” programme which 
involves city residents looking after public greenery.
21 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Area 2.  
ENERGY.  
Energy transition 
with nursery schools 
consuming and 
generating renewable 
energy
22 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Justification and benefits
The energy-consumption and generation model we currently have, based chiefly on fossil fuels, 
is the main cause of climate change. Reversing this consumption model and transitioning 
towards a rational use of energy, based on energy saving and efficiency and renewable and 
local generation, where self-consumption and self-generation are prioritised, is essential.
One of the main challenges facing Barcelona is that of becoming more self-sufficient in 
energy and promoting self-consumption. It has been shown that energy dependence makes 
us very vulnerable and, in addition, forces us to consume sources of energy derived from very 
polluting fossil fuels. We need to promote a fairer, more democratic and renewable model.
That is why 76 nursery schools had been hiring Barcelona Energia, a public energy company 
launched by Barcelona City Council, since April 2022, opting for green and renewable energy, 
while helping to reduce emissions.
It is in this framework that municipal nursery schools are public facilities which also need 
to look for such energy self-sufficiency with thermal or photovoltaic solar panels which, in 
addition, enable their consumption surpluses to be shared with dwellings and communities 
within the neighbourhood itself, wherever possible.
Half of the city’s nursery schools currently have thermal solar installations, but need to audit 
them to analyse their use and establish an improvement plan. The approximate cost of this 
initiative is €50,000. On the other hand, an analysis has been made of the feasibility of installing 
photovoltaic panels on the roofs of some hundred nursery schools. It has been observed that 
half of these are possible spaces where new installations could be located. Such an investment, 
however, has been quantified at €4,000,000.
The Rooftop Revolution is therefore being incorporated into this area . In search of reducing the 
use of polluting, imported and unfair fossil fuels. Nursery schools are therefore positioning 
themselves by installing and maintaining panels and sharing the energy they generate.            
In addition, the aim is to launch an innovative initiative that involves creating energy 
communities in nursery schools which co-exist with other public facilities such as, chiefly, 
those shared with the Barcelona Municipal Institute of Housing (IMHAB). The aim is to start with 
the three cases of public housing buildings with nursery schools in their ground floors (in the 
Trinitat Nova, Sant Andreu and Marina del Prat Vermell neighbourhoods).
Starting point and work goals
Projects Starting point (December 2022) Work goal
Thermal solar There are 58 thermal solar installations Auditing all these EBM 
installations in nursery schools that were installed thermal solar installations 
years ago. for assessing their upgrading 
or replacement with 
photovoltaic panels.
23 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Projects Starting point (December 2022) Work goal
Installation Four photovoltaic solar panels installed: Progressively installing 
of roofs with • EBM El Vent. Self-consumption renewable-energy generation 
renewable generation, selling off any surpluses. roofs in half of the nursery 
energy schools. According to 
• EBM Els Gats i Espai Familiar the latest study, from the 
de Criança Municipal. Building Barcelona Energy Agency, 
shared with sports facility that 51 schools have the right 
has photovoltaic solar energy conditions for installations. 
installations. Studying co-funding 
• EBM Puigmal. Has photovoltaic formulas.
installations.
• EBM Germanetes. Has photovoltaic 
installations.
Generating No such installation is yet in place. Carrying out a pilot 
energy through generation test in nursery 
photovoltaic schools using photovoltaic 
textile textile.
Energy            There is no energy community so far Generating energy 
communities that is linked to a municipal nursery communities with the 
school. involvement of municipal 
nursery schools starting 
with the Barcelona Municipal 
Institute of Housing’s public 
housing buildings, with 
a shared self-generation 
and self-consumption 
photovoltaic installation.
Green energy 76 nursery schools have hired the Extending the service 
consumption services of the Barcelona Energia  contract with the municipal 
public green-energy company. company Barcelona Energia 
for the supply of green energy 
All nursery schools consume fossil      to all the network’s municipal 
fuel energy with natural gas for    nursery schools.
kitchens and hot water.
Advancing in the 
consumption of totally 
renewable energy 
consumption and steadily 
reducing the consumption 
of gas to decrease the fossil-
fuel footprint and make 
progress in decarbonisation.
24 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Projects Starting point (December 2022) Work goal
Consumption All nursery schools have received Installing remote control 
reduction signposting with various instructions for systems for reducing energy 
reducing energy consumption. consumption.
Launching awareness-raising 
initiatives which the City 
Council promotes in the city, 
such as the energy-saving 
marathon.
Lines of action and initiatives
5. Renewable-energy generation and energy communities
Every square metre of surface area in a dense and compact city like 
Barcelona needs to be made the most of if we are to reduce the adverse 
effects of climate change. Using roofs, walls and party walls as productive 
surface areas opens up new urban spaces for carrying out activities and 
diverse uses aimed at not just mitigating climate change but also adapting 
to it. More specifically, when it comes to installing solar and photovoltaic 
panels, these spaces are becoming key to the search for energy self-
generation and self-sufficiency.
A study was made during last quarter of 2022 by the Barcelona Energy 
Agency on the potential of the Barcelona Municipal Institute of 
Education’s various facilities (IMEB), taking account of the 58 thermal solar 
installations where an audit had to be made. The analysis identifies nursery 
schools available in the IMHAB’s public housing buildings and compares the 
electric consumption of these schools with their capacity for generation 
to determine the overall balance. Of the total of 103 nursery schools on the 
current network analysed, 68 have their own independent and insulated 
building, and 35 are located in shared complexes.
The first results of the study showed that renewable energy-generation 
installations would be possible in half of the existing nursery schools      
(51 out of the current 103). A study on the potential of these 51 sites 
calculated a potential area of 6,467 m2 (70% of the area of a football 
pitch), 1,387 kWp of installable power and 1,733,953 kWh/year of estimated 
generation (equivalent to the energy covering 500 flats a year).
The Energy Agency also points out the possibility of studying the 
functioning and cost-effectiveness of photovoltaic textile technology. It 
sees two possible locations for carrying out a pilot test and assessing their 
feasibility in nursery schools.
25 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
The initiatives under this line of action are as follows:
initiative Progressively install renewable-energy-generating roofs 
10 in half of the nursery schools (the 51 with potential) while 
studying co-funding formulas.
initiative Promote the creation of energy communities in 
11 municipal nursery schools, giving priority to buildings 
shared with the IMHAB’s public housing.
initiative Make an audit of the municipal nursery schools’ thermal 
12 solar panels, for assessing their future feasibility and 
deciding on whether to update or replace them.
initiative Conduct a pilot generation test through photovoltaic 
13 textile in two nursery schools.
6. More sustainable energy consumption
Close to 80% of the nursery schools have renewable-energy-supply 
contracts with the public company Barcelona Energia; the reason for 
those having no such contract is that they currently share their energy 
meters with other facilities. Work is being steadily carried out not just in 
schools with shared educational facilities but in newly built ones too, with 
the intention of gradually extending the consumption of renewable energy 
through the public company Barcelona Energia or from self-generation and 
self-consumption throughout the network of municipal nursery schools.
Meanwhile, and for the purpose of reducing energy costs, remote-control 
systems are expected to be installed and energy-saving initiatives 
promoted by the City Council throughout the city in schools themselves 
for raising awareness. The energy-saving Marathon or signposting in 
school rooms reminding everyone to make proper use of energy are 
examples that need to be replicated in nursery schools.
Finally, steady progress also needs to be made in commitments to 
decarbonising energy and, therefore, to consuming totally renewable 
energies, by gradually reducing natural gas and fossil-fuel footprints and 
advancing towards decarbonisation.
26 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
The initiatives under this line of action are as follows:
initiative Extend renewable-energy-supply contracts with the 
14 municipal company Barcelona Energia to the entire 
network of municipal nursery schools.
initiative Reduce energy consumption with the installation of 
15 control systems and the launch of initiatives raising 
awareness of energy efficiency and saving.
initiative Study how to make steady progress in cutting down 
16 natural gas consumption to reduce fossil-fuel footprints.
27 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Area 3.  
TEMPERATURE.  
Thermal comfort 
and climate shelters
28 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Justification and benefits
Six heat waves in the city have been recorded over the last eight years (2015-2022). The 
average annual temperature in Barcelona has already risen by 1.8°C, at a rate of +0.08°C per 
decade since 1780. Preparations therefore need to be made for tackling ever-increasing 
temperatures, with action taken on buildings and public spaces, and services and facilities 
incorporated and improved where intended for city residents.
High temperatures are having a direct impact on people’s health and affecting young 
children and elderly people in particular. In addition, it has to be borne in mind that they are 
having unequal effects in the area according to factors such as building condition, presence of 
greenery and the population’s socio-economic parameters.
Creating a network of spaces acting as climate shelters during periods of very high 
temperatures is becoming one of the most iconic initiatives being promoted in Barcelona. 
There were 203 shelter spaces in the city in the summer of 2022, representing 95% coverage of 
the total population, who were 10 minutes away from the space in question. Even so, we should 
point out that the number of shelters dropped in August, achieving 76% coverage in 10 minutes.
A climate shelter is understood as a building in an outside space whose features enable it to 
offer suitable thermal comfort, compared to other spots in the city. As for thermal comfort, 
this involves having heating and air conditioning, and good cross-ventilation. Having a network 
of thermally ideal spaces nearby puts alternatives within everyone’s reach for minimising the 
negative effects of high temperatures.
The aim behind the incorporation of some municipal nursery schools into the already existing 
network of climate shelter spaces in the city is to generate new thermal comfort spots within 
everyone’s reach, keeping in mind young children and their families in particular.
  
Starting points and work goal 
Projects Strating point (December 2022) Work goal
Plan for passive All the nursery schools have                   Making a thermal audit of the 
and active air-conditioning systems network of nursery schools 
thermal comfort for identifying improvements 
in nursery in the passive systems for 
schools thermal comfort (shading, 
ventilation and insulation) and 
planning initiatives under the 
Plan for short-, medium- and 
long-term thermal comfort.
Periodically overhauling the 
schools’ air-conditioning 
systems and providing them 
with suitable maintenance to 
keep them all up to date.
29 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Projects Strating point (December 2022) Work goal
Climate shelters None of the nursery schools is part of Incorporating the most 
network the climate shelters network. suitable nursery schools 
into the climate shelters 
network, given their features 
and location in priority 
neighbourhoods, starting 
with five nursery schools in 
the summer of 2023.
Lines of action and initiatives
7. Thermal comfort
Given the context of global warming and heat waves, it is important for 
public facilities to be adapted and consequently for nursery schools to be 
up to date if they are to guarantee healthy environments for young children, 
with an ideal temperature both inside and outside. Such thermal comfort 
has to be achieved through more and new climate initiatives with passive 
systems such as shading, cross-ventilation and insulation, and not just with 
active systems such as the air-conditioning devices that municipal nursery 
schools already have.
It is very important here for action to be taken to improve efficiency in 
the use of energy in the facilities themselves, with better insulation, 
appropriate air-conditioning devices used in accordance with 
recommended temperatures, and good guidance and suitable energy 
management by users. Energy renovation has to be a strategy, then, to be 
boosted, so that buildings consume less and less energy, generate more 
and more energy and are more thermally comfortable.
The initiatives under this line of action are as follows:
Make a climate audit (analysing passive elements such 
as cross-ventilation, shading, insulation) to find out the 
initiative 
17 network of school nurseries’ state of thermal comfort, 
for the purposes of short-, medium- and long-term 
planning and drafting the Plan for Active and Passive 
Thermal Comfort under the “Cuidem les bressol” 
programme.
initiative Overhaul, properly maintain and keep up to date the 
18 municipal nursery schools’ air-conditioning equipment.
 
30 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
8. Nursery schools within the climate shelters network
Several determining factors need to be taken into account for the 
purposes of incorporating nursery schools into the climate shelters 
network, which already includes over 200 spaces. Their location, 
installations and other aspects should be assessed by the Office for Climate 
Change and Sustainability at Barcelona City Council and by Barcelona 
Regional, the Urban Development Agency. These will be in charge of 
assessing the suitability of considering a building or public space to be 
a climate shelter. This is the starting point: which neighbourhoods are a 
social priority because they have more children, more precarious dwellings, 
less greenery and fewer available air-conditioned facilities. We will then 
need to take into account how the use of these spaces is to be managed as 
climate shelters designed especially for families with children, though open 
to all city residents, in line with the functioning of the nursery educational 
service, in other words, by taking account of school opening times and 
calendars and the uses of the nurseries’ educational service.
The open-playgrounds programme offers an opportunity for incorporating 
school playgrounds into the shelter spaces network in the city’s most 
neglected areas.
The initiatives under this line of action are as follows:
Make a study of the municipal nursery schools and 
initiative their potential and geographic suitability for meeting 
19 the need for expanding spaces in the climate shelters 
network taking account of environments for young 
children.
Incorporate open nursery-school playgrounds, into 
initiative the climate shelters network, which have the best 
20 conditions when it comes to location and opening times, 
with the aim of adapting them wherever necessary       
(as from 2023).
31 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Area 4.  
WASTE.  
Reduction, reuse 
and recycling
32 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Justification and benefits
The best waste is the kind that’s not generated. Its management actually represents around 
10% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing it, then, is key to drastically reducing its 
associated impact. In addition, the circular economy is here to stay. Under the new economic 
model, waste is moving on to feed the system. Everything is usable, reusable and repairable. 
And this vision where linear processes are moving over to interconnected and cyclical 
processes promotes efficient uses of resources, responsible consumption, waste prevention 
and reuse.
As established by the Barcelona Zero Waste Plan, among other goals, we need to promote a new 
consumption culture. Making the most of resources is hugely valuable for educational activities 
in municipal nursery schools, which have been proactively working on this for some time. 
Heuristic play with non-specific and reused material is a fundamental part of the nurseries’ 
educational projects, as is decoration of spaces with artistic creations based on waste 
materials.
On the other hand, exchange markets for diverse children’s clothes, toys and utensils are held 
in four out of every 10 nursery schools, an activity promoted by the educational community 
and intended to meet the material needs for raising young children. This, then, is about 
systematising and strengthening these good practices so they can be extended to all schools, 
through shared experiences and knowledge with diverse formulas.
In addition, reducing waste, which is closely connected to reducing consumption, has a 
strongly educational component that enables work with messages as clear and powerful as: 
buy and throw out less and reuse more. And separate better too, given that, whether we like 
it or not, there is waste that cannot be used on site and which needs to be selectively collected 
and transformed into new materials and products. In that regard, Barcelona Commitment Zero 
Plastic.  Goodbye to the culture of using and throwing away, as set out by the Zero Plastic Board, 
whose aim is to make headway in developing an effective strategy for reducing single-use 
plastic in the city.
  
Strating point and work goals
Projects Strating point (December 2022) Work goal
Exchange Four out of every 10 nurseries are Incentivising the organisation 
markets and either taking part in or organising some of exchange markets within 
Renew clothes form of exchange market. community incentives of 
nursery schools promoted 
A total of 39 municipal nursery by families jointly with the 
schools are organising some type of school to be a regular practice 
self-managed market exchange at the at all nursery schools with a 
schools themselves and in collaboration handbook and other media.
with their family associations.
Starting a pilot municipal 
Five municipal nursery schools are project focusing on young 
taking part in clothes exchanges children entitled “Renew your 
or collections managed by several clothes”.
organisations.
 
 
33 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Projects Strating point (December 2022) Work goal
Nappies Reusable nappies are hardly used in Introducing and promoting 
cups nursery schools and on the initiative of the use of reusable nappies 
the families concerned. in the daily nursery school 
activities, providing the 
logistics to the entire 
educational community and 
studying a feasible public-
promotion formula for the 
entire network.
Reusing waste Nursery schools are reusing several Introducing and promoting 
materials in their everyday activities for the use of reusable nappies 
heuristic play, as well as for decorating in the daily nursery school 
and giving new uses to obsolete activities, providing the 
furniture, thereby prolonging their logistics to the entire 
useful lives in school rooms. educational community and 
studying a feasible public-
promotion formula for the 
entire network.
Zero Plastic me schools have stopped using single- Ridding nursery schools of 
use bags or plastic cups and have been single-use plastic bags and 
instructing families to reduce their cups.
napkins, bags and cups.
Lines of action and initiatives
9. Exchange markets and reusing waste
Waste prevention includes several strategies for reducing the generation 
of any waste material from source: from consuming less to repairing, 
exchanging and reusing. This is about reducing as far as possible the need 
for buying new resources by making the most of existing ones.
An analysis is being considered here on how these exchange markets 
have been run and organised from the community itself, with the aim of 
systematising the various categories and thereby being able to share the 
experience with all the schools. We are talking about creating a handbook 
document for promoting exchange markets in nursery schools.
On the other hand, two centres have also been identified for launching 
a “Renew your clothes” pilot focusing on young children and open to the 
neighbourhood. The “Renew your clothes” project is an exchange network 
for clothes we no longer use but which are in good condition. Organisations 
and facilities can join in the project, which is held twice a year.
34 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Finally, account needs to be taken of the huge experience already found in nursery schools 
resulting from the creativity applied by educational teams and families to giving new uses 
to materials and obsolete furniture (cradles turned into children’s sofas, carpets made from 
paper, toys from recycled materials and so on). The goal, therefore, is to share knowledge and 
creativity for reproducing, reinventing and extending this universe of resources resulting 
from reuse. The aim is to work on this line within the framework of educational routes and tours 
for sharing among the nurseries’ educational teams and graphically documenting the creations 
and solutions for using and reusing waste and reject materials.
The initiatives under this line of action are as follows:
Promote the organisation of exchange markets for 
inititative clothes, toys and children’s materials (prams and so 
21 on) in every nursery school, along with the drafting 
of a handbook based on a systematisation of existing 
experiences.
Boost the existing of spaces established in EBMs for 
inititative exchanging materials relating to education and bringing 
22 up young children (books, clothes, toys etc.) both 
within the educational community itself and for making 
donations to the neighbourhood’s social organisations.
Launch a pilot “Renew your clothes” project focusing on 
inititative
23 young children.
inititative Reuse packaging and different materials as game, 
24 creativity and decoration elements in EBMs.
35 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
10. More sustainable nappies
Single-use nappies are a reject plastic waste and cause for concern 
owing to their impact on the environment and young children, hence 
the need for nursery schools to look for solutions to reduce their use. 
Given that every newborn can end up using 7,000 single-use nappies 
before they are potty trained, we need to think about how to reduce 
their environmental costs and the ecological foot of nursery schools and 
see this as an opportunity for studying how to reduce financial costs 
for families. But while it is clear that we need to find feasible cloth-nappy 
alternatives, it is still hard to establish the most suitable strategy, with a 
viable and properly resolved system that works, which can be replicated 
throughout the network beyond individual cases of nursery schools and is 
acceptable to a sufficient critical mass of the educational community.
The initiatives under this line of action are as follows:
Enable, as a network of municipal nursery schools, the 
inititative
25 use of reusable cloth nappies for any family that so asks.
Raise awareness among the educational community 
(families and educational team) of nappies as the main 
inititative
26 waste to come from nurseries and of their impact 
and reusable cloth alternatives as part of the city’s 
commitment to zero waste and through outreach 
workshops in collaboration with experts in the field.
Study a formula for steadily and proactively 
inititative
27 incorporating services for reducing single-use nappy 
waste and promoting more sustainable nappies 
throughout nurseries.
36 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
11. Zero Plastic
The goal behind the Barcelona Zero Plastic Commitment is to make 
headway in the development of an effective strategy for reducing single-
use plastic in Barcelona. As for nursery schools, this would involve reducing 
the use of nappies or other products such as wet wipes, bags for dirty 
laundry, cups and plates, and single-use plastic packaging.
Specific measures are required which focus on prolonging the useful life 
of projects, as the longer their durability the more sustainable their use 
and less demanding their management (not just financially but in terms of 
space and time) will be. The intention is to work to ensure nursery schools 
are free of single-use plastic bags and cups.
The initiatives under this line of action are as follows:
Use reusable cups in municipal nursery school parties 
inititative and ceremonies with the “Bressols pel Clima” [Nurseries 
28 for Climate] image to reduce the use of single-use 
plastic while carrying out an awareness-raising 
initiative.
Get municipal nursery schools to encourage families to 
inititative
29 use reusable bags for dirty laundry and reduce the use of 
wet wipes for young children’s hygiene.
Draft clauses in future tender specifications for food 
inititative
30 services to reduce the generation of waste in kitchens 
and improve their environmental and air-conditioning 
management.
Review circuits for maximising selective collections 
of all nursery service waste and promoting the 
inititative
31 use of School Mobile and other Green Points in 
neighbourhoods, for special waste (toner cartridges, 
toys etc.) not just by cleaning teams and staff but among 
families too.
37 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Area 5.  
FOOD. 
Healthy and 
sustainable food
38 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Justification and benefits
Food is another key issue regarding the health of the planet and people. Sustainability of the 
food system is one of the central challenges requiring change if we are to tackle the current 
and future climate, ecology and health crises. The agri-food system overall is responsible for 
between 21% and 37% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, a percentage, furthermore, that is 
expected to rise over the coming decades.
In addition, the impact on ecosystems and their proper functioning is already affecting food, 
leading to a change or reduction in food production, as well as its prices and availability, and 
impinging on nutritious states and the health of children and adults.
The Strategy for Healthy and Sustainable Food for 
2030 Strategy for Healthy and Sustainable Food 
Strategy	for	
Healthy	and	 for 2030 is aimed at all city residents and the city’s 
Sustainable		 various players, linked directly to the food system 
Food	for	2030 (chefs, schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, 
distributors and retailers, consumers, fisheries 
professionals, restaurants and bars, preparation and 
farmers, political and expert representatives of public 
authorities, organisations and so on) and opting for the 
transformation of the food system in Barcelona and its 
metropolis.
This strategy starts with a very clear message: “Food 
is essential for people’s health and well-being, besides 
being a fundamental part of our lives. We are a city that 
celebrates connections, communities and diversity 
around a table with food. Our kitchens, municipal 
markets, neighbourhood shops, school dining rooms, 
fairs and festivals, and even the farmers who feed us, are 
everyday snapshots of our city.” Once again, schools are 
one of the key players in promoting a more sustainable, 
healthier and fairer food system.
The Healthy and Sustainable Food Strategy accordingly sets out 9 strategic goals, 54 work 
lines and 265 initiatives. One of the third goal’s leading projects, focusing on “Promoting 
healthy, sustainable and safe food for everyone” is that of Healthier and more sustainable 
school dining rooms, an initiative based on the reality of the public procurement of healthy and 
sustainable menus for municipal nursery schools and which is a benchmark for other primary-
education schools. In addition, this project continues to introduce improvements in school 
menus to reduce their impact with regard to emissions and to be not just healthy, in accordance 
with the Barcelona Public Health Agency (ASPB), but also sustainable and, therefore, local and 
seasonal and based on organic products wherever possible.
Food is a staple product, but Barcelona consumes rather than produces it. Access to local or 
organic products is still difficult in a dense, urban environment like ours. But such food is 
becoming considerably important when it comes to feeding young children in municipal nursery 
schools, where this aspect has been actively worked on for years. Promoting distribution and 
contact channels with local producers is therefore a key element for going ahead with this from 
nursery schools. Seasonal, organic and local products have been a regular presence for some 
time, despite the ever-growing challenges and need for increasingly drastic solutions.
39 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
The aim here is to opt for increasing vegetable protein in children’s menus at nursery schools, 
as recommend by  Barcelona Public Health Agency. Nursery schools are currently offering 
over 8,000 meals a day, 90% of which are from local and/or organic produce. This figure 
has improved very significantly over the last few years, having started at 3% in 2008. This 
transformation of school menus has involved increasing the consumption of fresh greens 
and vegetable protein, promoting the use of olive oil and reducing the consumption of animal 
protein, including local and seasonal products.
Raising awareness of food waste is also a key aspect, as its aim is to reduce as much as possible 
the generation of such food waste with a high environmental impact. The data gathered so far 
from nursery schools do not include amounts of waste; even so, it is estimated to be little, with 
leeway in action for reducing it to practically zero.
Finally, the aim is also to highlight the importance of having sustainable food outside the 
nursery school, that is, at home, given that young children have to continue eating healthy and 
sustainable menus when they’re back home. As a result, conveying knowledge and information 
to families, according to the ASPB’s recommendations too, is essential if we are to ensure 
healthy food for young children even when they are not at school.
 
  
Starting point and work goals
Projects Strating point (December 2022) Work goal
Healthy and 90% of the produces offered at EBMs Consolidating healthy 
sustainable are organic, with priority given to local and sustainable menus 
menus food. with the same quality in 
all the schools, following 
updated recommendations 
under public health and 
sustainability criteria, and 
instructing families with 
proposals for nutritionally 
complementary meals for 
supper.
Zero food waste There are no initiatives featuring in       Reaching an agreement with 
this line. the educational community 
on the use of small surpluses 
of cooked food that have 
been left over to avoid waste, 
following public health criteria 
(ASPB).
40 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Lines of action, initiatives and good practices
12. Healthy and sustainable menus
All municipal nursery schools have their own kitchen for preparing menus 
every day. This facilitates the use of fresh seasonal, local or organic 
products. In addition, a good part of the products served at nursery 
schools come from organic farming, as is the case with milk, some fruit, 
bread, cereals, rise, potatoes, pasta, legumes and most greens: lettuce, 
broccoli, onions, carrots... besides chicken and beef. We nevertheless 
need to continue making progress by increasing even further the variety of 
organic products that reach schools while reducing the quantity of animal 
protein served there.
The initiatives under this line of action are as follows:
initiative Maintain the percentage of existing seasonal, organic 
32 and local products in school menus, while guaranteeing 
the same quality and quantity in all nursery schools.
Increase the presence of vegetable protein in school 
initiative
33 menus, following the Barcelona Public Health Agency’s 
guidelines.
Offer families suggested healthy and sustainable menus 
initiative
34 for complementing their young children’s other daily 
meals.
13. Zero food waste
Food waste involves treating as waste, food that has been discarded for 
financial or aesthetic reasons or because of the imminence of its best-
before or expiry date, despite maintaining its nutritional value and being 
perfectly suitable for human consumption.
Each resident in Catalonia throws away an average of 35 kg of food every 
year, totalling an equivalent of 720,000 kg a day. This needs to be prevented 
and where better than at nursery schools, being educational facilities with 
their own kitchens; representing, what is more, a strong awareness-raising 
component for the entire educational community.
The Public Health Agency has several recommendations for safe use 
of food, which nursery schools can incorporate. This is a tool box with 
information and material for helping social catering centres (schools 
hospitals, residences etc.,) in safely using prepared meals that have not 
been consumed.
41 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
There is no systematised collection and reuse of food in this line in nursery schools, though 
there is not enough product surplus to justify designing a made-to-measure project. Another 
proposal considered suitable is working for zero waste under the Public Health Agency’s 
guidelines, while offering families recommendations on preventing waste at home through 
workshops and educational proposals.
As for use of organic leftovers, some  or so nursery schools have received compost bins over 
the last few years. Work needs to continue on his aspect, as does the policy of establishing a 
direct relationship with existing neighbourhood compost bins.
The initiatives under this line of action are as follows:
Adapt to obligations and recommendations for 
preventing food waste in municipal nursery schools. 
initiative
35 Where there are leftovers, all the schools should be sent 
instructions from the ASPB for safely using prepared 
food that has not been consumed or other tools that can 
be created.
Hold workshops aimed at families on how to avoid 
initiative throwing out food at home or how to buy to reduce food 
36 waste.
Establish a direct relationship with neighbourhood 
initiative compost bins and sending food leftovers to generate 
37 compost. Part of this compost can be recovered for 
maintaining greenery in playgrounds and sent it as well 
to families who want some.
42 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
43 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Area 6.  
EDUCATION. 
Environmental 
awareness and 
sustainable habits
44 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Justification and benefits
Nursery schools are educational environments where children aged between 4 months and 3 
years spend their first few years of life with other children and their educators. All the learning 
they acquire will become essential for their personal, physical, emotional, cognitive and 
social behaviour. Learning that is not solely focused on how to relate, move about and live in 
community, play etc., but which also involves more sustainable and healthier life styles.
We need to extend knowledge and facilitate awareness of the changes that have to be made 
in the climate-emergency context in every person, organisation and institution, for everyone 
to assume their own responsibility individually and collectively as city residents. Education, 
communication and promotion of citizen action are becoming essential tools for advancing 
towards a more aware, sustainable and habitable city.
Nursery schools have been central players and an example of initiatives for environmental 
education and sustainable habits. Under this strategy, the roadmap will be extended with 
several areas where they can all have an educational and habit component to be conveyed to 
the educational community.
Here, More Sustainable Schools is becoming an ideal framework for working on this area of 
the Strategy. This programme of Barcelona City Council, which has over 20 years’ experience 
behind it, is providing a consistent, stimulating offer of support to the city’s schools for 
accompanying specific changes and putting sustainability at the centre of its work.
Strating point and work goals
Projects Starting point (December 2022) Working goal
More Sustainable 28 EBMs are part of this network. Incorporating 100% of the 
Schools EBMs into the Commitment 
for Climate Justice with 
specific initiatives within their 
centre educational projects 
and annual plans.
Good A total of 68 nursery schools identify Generating and sharing 
practices themselves as good practices: markets, knowledge based on 
zero plastic, greening-up playgrounds, documents and systematising 
collecting material for heuristic play, good practices for their 
converting furniture, collecting toys, extension to the entire 
donating material and so on. network with different 
formats.
Workshops and One-off workshops and training Incorporating, under the 
training sessions sessions have been within the IMEB’s training plan, annual 
framework of the More Sustainable cross-cutting training on 
Schools programme. climate and sustainability.
45 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Projects Starting point (December 2022) Working goal
Climate manager Schools that have been part of More Having a person with the 
at nursery Sustainable Schools have had climate role of climate manager in all 
schools managers, normally the Management municipal nursery schools.
itself.
Mobility There are some practices for promoting Ensuring that all nursery 
Food the use of bicycles among the schools have parking spaces 
educational community as a means of for large and small bicycles 
transport. and for scooters.
All nursery schools have a space for Improving pram spaces.
leaving prams in.
Lines of action, initiatives and good practices
14. Raising awareness among the educational community
The “Nurseries for Climate” strategy is becoming a good guide for 
jointly thinking and launching environmental initiatives in the heart of 
the educational community and promoting involvement from the entire 
team of educators, cooks, cleaning staff and members of the families 
themselves.
Families of young children at nursery schools have association spaces 
for launching initiatives which would otherwise be hard to carry out: 
markets for exchanging toys, clothes and items; parties and celebrations; 
playground and thermal-comfort improvements etc. To maintain a fluid 
relationship with student family associations (AFAs) is key to conveying 
much of the learning from nursery schools to households, with proposed 
workshops and training sessions linked to the subject of health and the 
environment.
The initiatives under this line of action are as follows:
Specify changes in the nursery schools’ educational 
initiative
38 projects and extend the number of municipal nursery 
schools making up the More Sustainable Schools 
Commitment.
Inform the educational community of the environmental 
initiative initiatives that have been carried out at municipal 
39 nursery schools.
46 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Organise workshops for raising awareness in the 
subject of the environment, inspired by the Nurseries 
initiative for Climate’s areas; in particular, as for education and 
40 outdoor playing in contact with nature and community-
building activities (festivals for welcoming in the spring, 
Sant Jordi/St George’s Day book exchange market etc.)
Put up environmental advice in the various rooms 
initiative
41 in municipal nurseries relating to every area of the 
strategy.
15. . Training for professionals
Professionals in nursery schools need to continue making progress in 
awareness of not just the new existing environmental challenges but also 
the way in which municipal nursery schools can tackle them. This is why 
we need to consider specific training sessions with a common thread: 
Nurseries for Climate. Having climate managers in every nursery school 
for sharing experiences and having gatherings is becoming essential, as 
it enables a link to be maintained in a network that is to be connected and 
proactive.
The initiatives under this line of action are as follows:
Present the “Bressols pel Clima” strategy to the 
initiative
42 educational community and to all citizens and 
establishing an annual meeting for sharing the network’s 
advances, good practices and possible improvements.
Offer climate and environmental information aimed 
initiative
43 all schools, more specifically at their directors and 
educational teams.
Have a person in each centre who takes on the work of 
initiative
44 Nurseries for Climate manager.
initiative Document good practices, disseminate them and 
45 generate spaces for sharing knowledge and encouraging 
their reproducibility.
47 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
16. Sustainable mobility for the educational community and families
UA specific environmental vector that needs to be worked on is how 
families travel and get to nursery schools, as this also involves opting 
for a sustainable city and mobility model. How we relate to the urban 
environment before and after we get to nursery school with our children. 
Mobility is becoming a space for working on many environmental as well as 
social and life-style aspects.
The initiatives under this line of action are as follows:
To guarantee that all nurseries have parking places for 
initiative
46 large and small bicycles and scooters to enable their use 
by families and educational teams, inside and outside 
the school grounds.
initiative To promote the use of sustainable transport models 
47 for getting to EBMs, among the entire educational 
community.
48 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
49 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
4. Good practices for 
nurseries now in progress
Municipal nursery schools have been working for years to offer a quality education service to 
young children, with sustainable, healthy and accessible options for everyone. In many cases, 
the limited resources have led to a search for creative solutions based on use, promotion of 
durability and reuse. Contact with nature and the importance of establishing a relationship based 
on knowledge and respect are also a common aspect in many nursery schools, especially in those 
with high-quality outdoor spaces.
Families with young children can find a space for opportunity in the educational community of 
nursery schools for building a community, establishing learning relations and mutual help, and 
support too when it comes to using different products: from prams, changing rooms, tricycles, 
bathtubs and so on, to toys, clothes and books, and even time. Prolonging the useful life of many 
of the products that are part of young children’s everyday activities is a common denominator at 
numerous nursery schools, which find many other related benefits in these dynamics: meeting 
other families, sharing concerns and knowledge, establishing links and trust etc. We are talking 
about very important values for building a fairer and healthier society, not just for young children 
but also for their families.
Food often becomes the highest valued and prioritised aspect in many families when another 
member is born. Nursery schools are becoming the first spaces where young children are fed 
outside home and this is becoming a concern for families, who are finally discovering very 
healthy, ecological and sustainable options which they wish to maintain at home. In such cases, 
schools are becoming a benchmark for incorporating healthy habits in the everyday lives of young 
children and their surrounding environment.
The best way to understand how municipal nursery schools have been working for a long time in 
line with this strategy is to find out a few good practices as well as their potential for achieving the 
transformation not just of schools but of society too.
50 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
4. 1. Greening up a playground: automated 
irrigation, an allotment and a garden
 EBM La Morera (el Congrés i els Indians, Sant Andreu)
The La Morera Municipal Nursery School in the Congrés i els Indians neighbourhood in 
the Sant Andreu district opened an allotment during the 2022-2023 school year, as part 
of the Bosquet de Can Ros project. This is a plot of land next to the school provided by 
the district and managed by the La Morera AFA, in collaboration with the Sants Innocents 
Special Education School, whose aim is to bring nature to young children. Crops were 
planned for the allotment, paid for by the La Morera AFA and maintained by a grandfather 
of a student at the school. The two schools’ young children and educational teams were 
responsible for the planting and harvesting.
More than 3,000 aromatic plants and shrubs were planted in nursery schools under 
the “Cuidem les bressol” programme and with the aim of improving the greening-up of 
playgrounds, making them even greener and more pleasant for young children. In the case 
of the La Morera nursery school, the water supply was brought to the Bosquet for the 
automated irrigation’s subsequent installation, several aromatic plants were planted 
by the fence all around the allotment and support flower stands put up in the school 
garden.
Related areas of action:
51 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
4.2 . Open-playground experience: enjoying a 
space for play and culture
 EBM Pau (Sants, Sants-Montjuïc)
Theatre and story-telling activities (musicals too) are being promoted in collaboration 
with the Municipal Libraries Network under a project entitled “Nursery playgrounds 
open to the neighbourhood: outdoor play and culture for young children and their 
families”. This is an activity aimed at children up to the age of 6, provided they are 
accompanied by adults. Admission is free of charge and open to all.
The activity started at the EBM Pau, located in the middle of Parc de l’Espanya Industrial, 
in the Sants neighbourhood, during the project’s pilot test in the 21/22 school year and 
the experience was very well received, with families taking part, not just from the school 
but from the rest of the neighbourhood itself who use the park. Users appreciated in 
particular the opportunity to enjoy a safe and welcoming play, meeting and culture 
space designed especially for young children.
Related areas of action:
  
52 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
4.3 . Donem joc al material de rebuig [We’re 
giving waste material a new use]
 EBM Can Caralleu (Sarrià, Sarrià - Sant Gervasi)
One of the goals set by Can Caralleu for making the most of resources and creating as 
little environmental impact as possible is, on the one hand, to minimise the use of single-
use material and, on the other, to reuse and recycle the waste material generated inside 
the school itself.
This has led to the concept of giving a new use and life to waste material, with two 
aspects taken into account, basically: play and aesthetics. The following are used, for 
example:
•	 Cardboard boxes, which have come to the school containing different materials 
and products, and which are used, once painted by the young children, are used as 
decorative elements or for psychomotor-activity sessions.
•	 Demijohns from the kitchen, used as decorative elements for creating various 
shapes once cut up or filled with material collected by the young children themselves 
depending on the season (leaves, stones, logs and so on).
•	 Milk and baby-food bottles for newborns and yoghurt packages for creating small 
percussion instruments or as heuristic-play elements.
•	 Resistant plastic packaging from the kitchen, used as containers for daily-use 
materials in the school. They are also used as pieces of heuristic play and also as 
material for playing in the garden making water channels with various elements, such 
as sand and water.
Related areas of action:
  
Related areas of action:
 
53 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
4.4 . Generating and consuming renewable 
energy and passive thermal comfort
 EBM Els Gats (Sants, Sants-Montjuïc)
Nursery schools aim to become centres for generating and consuming renewable 
energy. The new EBM Els Gats, which opened during the 21/22 school year, signed a 
contract with a renewable-energy supplier and received a 30.24 KWp photovoltaic-energy 
generator for the school’s self-consumption, which it is expected to expand so that it can 
supply the La Sagi municipal sports centre, which its shares the facility with.
Passive thermal-comfort initiatives have also been made with shading, cross-ventilation, 
insulation and air-conditioning equipment.
Related areas of action:
  
54 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
4.5 . Self-managed exchange spaces
 EBM Torrent (les Roquetes, Nou Barris)
A new activity is being held at the EBM Torrent de Nou Barris divided up into several 
spaces and initiatives:
●	 A quarterly exchange market for clothes, shoes and toys; managed from the 
municipal nursery school in collaboration with the AFA.
●	 A permanent space for exchanging and loaning stories; managed by the 
municipal nursery school.
●	 A space self-managed by families for offering every kind of material to do with 
raising children and which is no longer used (prams, cradles and high chairs). It’s 
called “Wallatorrent”. Families send a photo together with a contact reference, 
which is put up on a school board, so anyone interested can contact them directly.
Related areas of action:
  
Related areas of action:
 
55 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
4.6 . More sustainable and zero-plastic 
consumption
 EBM Valldaura (Horta, Horta-Guinardó)
The Valldaura nursery school has been committed for over years to sustainability and the 
importance of working outside. Supported by the Agenda 21, it was an environmental-
education project for play without toys, for which it received a Zero Waste prize in 2011.
It is currently running an outdoor education project. Children spend 90% of the day in 
outdoor spaces, thereby using all the resources and materials offered by nature.
Another aspect being worked on is the reuse of materials, in search of ways for giving a 
second life to items, such as creating furniture or toys by reusing different materials.
Reusing water is another key element, a habit acquired at this school. For example, as 
soon as children finish their lunch, they go and water plants with leftover water.
As for waste removal, single-use wipes and plastic bags are no longer used for nappy 
changes. Instead, these products have been replaced with others that are reusable, such 
as fabric bags with plastic interiors, to put dirty laundry in. Use of reusable cups have 
also become popular with families during parties.
 
Related areas of action:
 
56 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
4. 7. Composting with the Germanetes 
community 
 EBM Eixample (la Nova Esquerra de l’Eixample, 
l’Eixample)
The entire school (young children and adults) is collaborating in collecting the organic 
waste that is brought to the Espai Germanetes’s community compost bin, under the 
Revolta project, a local-neighbourhood community-management project. It involves 
collecting all the organic waste and taking it to the machine which speeds up the 
composting process for obtaining organic fertiliser. The compost is later used in the 
school itself as fertiliser for its garden.
In addition, the school has also prepared information posters for presenting the recycling 
project to families, and organising a visit with young children and families to the Espai 
Germanetes for introducing the compost bin and promoting its use.
Related areas of action:
 
Related areas of action:
 
57 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
4.8 . Sustainable and healthy menu, inside 
and outside the school
 EBM La Filadora 
(Sant Andreu de Palomar, Sant Andreu)
The La Filadora nursery school values and shares the Barcelona Municipal Institute of 
Education’s commitment to achieving a more sustainable and healthier menus, clearly 
opting for increased vegetable protein, which will match animal protein. The goal is to 
achieve food that is more suitable for young children and more sustainable and prevent 
food waste as far as possible.
The school provides families with weekly menus for breakfast, lunch and afternoon 
snacks, as well as weekly balanced supper recipes for the home.
As for breast milk, La Filadora facilitates its use, by encouraging mothers either to 
produce it on site (in peaceful spaces created inside and outside school rooms for 
mothers to breast-feed their children), or to keep it refrigerated (if produced earlier), for 
their child to be given later by the school.
La Filadora’s director is a member of the IMEB’s food subcommittee, which sees to the 
monitoring of the service and to the constant improvement of the children’s food.
Related areas of action:
 
58 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
4.9 . Training at More Sustainable Schools 
nursery schools 
 EBM La Mar (la Barceloneta, Ciutat Vella)
The EBM La Mar de Ciutat Vella has been committed to sustainability for over fifteen 
years and actively taken part in the Agenda 21 project. It is currently part of the More 
Sustainable Schools project, under which it has carried out, during all these years, 
various training sessions relating to environmental issues, such as: agro-ecological 
allotment management, composting and vermicomposting, garden management, as well 
as rethinking and transforming school playgrounds.
Related areas of action:
     
Related areas of action:
 
59 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
4.1 0. Raising awareness and mobility
 EBM Cobi (la Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, Sant Martí)
Facilitating and promoting the use of bicycles as a sustainable means of transport is one 
of the EBM Cobi de Sant Martí’s lines of action as an education community. Making the 
most of the bicibús meeting point at the corner of the school, a space has been put up in 
the school for families, young children and staff at the school to leave their bicycles and 
scooters, promoting and supporting sustainable mobility.
Related areas of action:
 
60 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
Related areas of action:
 
61 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
5. Bressols pel Clima 
impetus and monitoring
5.1.   Process for drafting the climate strategy
The “Bressols pel Clima” strategy was drafted on the basis of several work spaces:
●	 Drafting work team made up by:
○	 Maria Truñó, Commissioner for Education at Barcelona City Council.
○	 Jordi Sánchez, Manager of the IMEB.
○	 Alícia Aguilera, Director of Municipal Schools at the IMEB.
○	 Imma Bargalló, Head of the Infants Education Department at the IMEB.
○	 Eulàlia Ramos, an officer at the Infants Education Department at the IMEB.
○	 Sergi Salvador, Head of the Technical Services Department at the IMEB.
○	 Irma Ventayol, Director of Services at the Climate Change and              
Sustainability Office.
○	 Marta Vilar, Head of the More Sustainable Schools programme.
●	 Participatory work session at the Young Children’s Board. A Young Children’s Board 
work session was held in November 2022 with some 30 members taking part, including 
organisations, benchmarks in the world of education, the IMEB and university and 
research environment as a space for testing out the strategy’s approach. This session 
identified some of the key ideas that have enriched this strategy. A few experiences 
were also shared that were regarded as good practices that ought to be copied.
62 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
●	 Several meetings with departments and other players involved in Barcelona City 
Council’s strategy, besides the IMEB’s teams: 
○	 Climate Change and Sustainability Office.
○	 Barcelona Local Energy Agency.
○	  Renova la teva Roba [Renew your Clothes] Technical Secretariat.
○	 Climate Shelters Network.
○	 Department of Energy and Environmental Quality.
○	 Municipal Institute of Urban Landscape.
○	 Barcelona Municipal Institute of Housing and Renovation.
○	 Municipal Institute of Parks and Gardens.
○	 Department of Education.                                                                                                                     
○	
●	  In collaboration with these other institutions:
○	 Barcelona Regional Agència de Desenvolupament Urbà.
○	 Post-Compulsory Education Department Education Consortium.
●	 Systematisation and collection of good practices and experiences from the 103 
nursery schools during the first quarter of the year, through a form filled in by every 
school’s management.
Given all this information, the context and the various existing plans and programmes in 
Barcelona – the Climate Emergency Action Plan, the Nature Plan, the Sustainable Food 
Strategy, the Zero Waste and Zero Plastic Commitment Plan, and the More Sustainable Schools 
programme (among other city programmes and strategies relating to urban planning, mobility 
and renewable energies) – a roadmap has been established and designed for sorting out the 
work carried out so far and still in progress; although it sets out, above all, the big challenges of 
the coming years within the framework of municipal nursery schools.
Now that this strategy has been established, along with the various areas, lines and initiatives, 
we need to continue working by supporting the initiatives that arise from the nursery schools’ 
educational community, using the long tradition as driving forces for initiatives, as reflected 
throughout the document, but above all by making them co-responsible in adapting and 
incorporating a flexible roadmap that will have to adapt over time to the needs that arise.
5.2.   Implementation and monitoring
The “Bressols pel Clima” strategy includes some 50 initiatives, whose monitoring will 
show whether or not their basic qualitative goals are being achieved. The creation of a 
new Bressols pel Clima work group is being proposed, with the direct involvement of the 
educational teams, for making progress in the strategy’s six areas. The goal is to identify the 
initiatives that can be promoted from nursery schools with the aim of sharing knowledge 
and empowering the educational community for making headway in the face of the climate 
emergency, putting the needs of young children at the centre.
To assess whether or not the initiatives envisaged in the strategy, as well as those eventually 
resulting from the work group, have made progress, an annual monitoring is expected to be 
made of the state of the initiatives and the results presented in an existing meeting space 
such as full nursery-school management meetings or the city’s Young Children’s Board.
63 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
As for checking the Bressols pel Clima programme’s development, the proposal is for 
monitoring based on two types of indicators: results and implementation level. The results 
indicator, which is quantitative, would enable assessments of the level that the numeric target 
set out in some (but not all) of the initiatives has been achieved and the availability of input data 
which will be steadily updated, enabling each indicator’s development to be monitored.
Given that not all the initiatives can be measures with specific results indicators, assessments 
will also be made of the Strategy’s performance according to whether the initiatives have or 
have not been carried out (implemented/not implemented). A system has been proposed, as a 
means of more precise monitoring, for identifying the state of implementation that the various 
initiatives are in: finished, advanced, consolidated, started, not started and rejected.
State of Value Description
performance
Rejected - The initiative that had initially been considered was 
discarded and will not continue to be implemented.
Not started 0%-10% The initiative has not been put into operation (0%) or 
is at a very early stage (10%).
Started 20%-30%-40% The initiative has been launched in its design aspect 
(20%) or has also begun to be deployed (30%). Its 
deployment is still initial so it is hard to assess its 
reception or the impact it will generate (40%).
Consolidated 50%-60%-70% The initiative is at an intermediate implementation 
stage (50%). The deployment is satisfactory and 
the assessment is that it will progress (60%) or its 
results are already considered to be positive (70%).
Advanced 80%-90% The initiative is at an advanced stage of 
implementation (80%) or almost complete (90%).
Completed 100% The initiative has been fully implemented and is 
considered finished and closed (100%).
 
A monitoring report will be made every two years for identifying the state that each area, 
line and initiative is in. That way an analysis can be made of the level in which the “Bressols pel 
Clima” strategy is making progress and the strategy is being updated - and at the same time 
enriched - as a lively and dynamic roadmap.
64 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
 Webography
•	 Barcelona Public Health Agency. Caixa d’eines per a un 
aprofitament segur dels aliments. [Tool box for a safe use of food.]                                                                                                                          
https://www.aspb.cat/arees/seguretat-alimentaria/aprofitamentaliments/
•	 Barcelona City Council (2020). Barcelona climate emergency declaration. This is not a drill        
https://www.barcelona.cat/emergenciaclimatica/ca 
•	 Barcelona City Council  (2021). Climate Emergency Action Plan for 2030.  
https://bcnroc.ajuntament.barcelona.cat/jspui/bitstream/11703/123710/1/Pla_accio_
emergencia_climatica_2030_cat.pdf
•	 Barcelona City Council (2021). Plan for Educating and Raising Young Children for 2021-2024. 
Government measure.                                                                                                                                           
https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/educacio/sites/default/files/210422_mesuradegovern_
petitainfancia_def.pdf
•	 Barcelona City Council (2021). Nature Plan for 2021-2030.                                                                
https://bcnroc.ajuntament.barcelona.cat/jspui/bitstream/11703/122958/6/Pla%20
Natura%20Barcelona%202030_digital.pdf
•	 Barcelona City Council (2022). Healthy and Sustainable Food Strategy for 2030. Executive 
summary. Barcelona Metropolitan Strategic Plan.  
https://www.alimentaciosostenible.barcelona/sites/default/files/2022-11/Dossier%20
resum%20executiu%20Estrategia_dAlimentacio_Sostenible_BCN%202030%20DEF.pdf
•	 Barcelona City Council. More Sustainable Barcelona. Barcelona 
Zero Plastic Commitment. Goodbye to use-and-throw-away culture.                                                                                               
https://ajbcn-decidim-barcelona.s3.amazonaws.com/decidim-barcelona/uploads/
decidim/attachment/file/11871/compromis_plasticzero_.pdf
•	 Barcelona City Council. More Sustainable Schools programme.   
https://www.barcelona.cat/barcelonasostenible/ca/escoles-sostenibles
•	 Barcelona City Council (2019). Play in Public Spaces Plan for 2030.                                            
https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/ecologiaurbana/ca/que-fem-i-per-que/espai-public-de-
qualitat/barcelona-dona-molt-de-joc
•	 Barcelona City Council. Zero Waste Plan. Cleaning and Waste.                                                      
https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/neteja-i-residus/ca/presentacio/residus/pla-residu-zero
•	 International Association of Educating Cities  (1990). Charter of Educating Cities.           
https://www.edcities.org/ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2014/03/CARTA_catala.pdf
•	 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (2023). Draft general comment No. 26 on 
children’s rights and the environment with a special focus on climate change. Draft version.                
https://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/crc/concept-note-general-comment-childrens-
rights-and-environment-special-focus-climate-change
•	 Herrero, Yayo (2022). Educar para la sostenibilidad de la vida. Barcelona: Octaedro.
•	 IPCC - Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Climate Change (2022).  
Climate change 2022: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability.  
https://www.ipcc.ch/languages-2/spanish/
65 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)
•	 ISGlobal (2022). Vivir en zonas más verdes se asocia a mejor salud mental y menor 
consumo de medicamentos. Cited study “The evaluation of the 3-30-300 green space 
rule and mental health”.                                                                                                                                                                            
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935122017145
•	 Societat Catalana de Pediatria (2020). Posicionament sobre salut i medi ambient de la 
infància i adolescència en temps de COVID-19.  
https://lnxacademia.cat/files/204-10026-FITXER/Posicionamentrevisatnovembre2020.pdf
•	 UNICEF (2021) The Climate Crisis is a Child Rights Crisis. Introducing the Children’s Climate 
Risk Index. 
https://www.unicef.org/media/105541/file/UNICEF_climate%20crisis_child_rights_crisis-
summary-ES.pdf
66 Ajuntament de Barcelona Bressols pel Clima (Nurseries for Climate)

BRESSOLS PEL CLIMA January 2023 Municipal Institute of 
[Nurseries for Climate] Education of Barcelona
Strategy of Municipal 
Nursery Schools for 
Climate Justice