London, 7 December 2023 – BNP Paribas, Teach First and Gemserv are excited to announce a new lesson in their Leaders for a Changing World programme. “Sustainable Cities for a Breathable Future” marks the one-year anniversary of this partnership which has already reached 25,000 children with GCSE-compliant lessons focused on understanding the transition to a sustainable and just society.
The ‘Leaders for a Changing World’ programme, launched in November 2022 by BNP Paribas, will enable Teach First to support 14,000 young people over 3 years through the recruitment, training, and placement of 110 teachers across Teach First’s partner schools, which specifically serve disadvantaged communities across England. The programme also centres on delivering a series of four sustainability lessons in partnership with Gemserv.
The lessons aim to widen access to high quality climate change and sustainability education that is aligned to the GCSE curriculum, to make it easier to teach climate change through comprehensive lesson resources, and to make these lessons available to young people and teachers free of charge. To celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the partnership, and its success in reaching an estimated 25,000 students through the delivery of two lessons, “Renewable Energy and Electricity: Powering a Net Zero Future” and “Sustainable Financing a Net Zero Future”, we are pleased to announce the launch of the third lesson in the series called ‘Sustainable Cities for a Breathable Future’ available for free on the Times Education Supplement or TES.
“Sustainable Cities for a Breathable Future” aims to support students in Years 9, 10, or 11 (13-16 years old) with their learning for GCSE Geography, focussing on the sustainable urban development sections of the curriculum. This 1 hour lesson is a series of fun, interactive and informative activities will help pupils to learn about the sustainability challenges cities face, strategies for improving their sustainability, the role of governments in setting regulations, frameworks for improving the sustainability of cities and how efforts to improve the sustainability of cities impact different groups. The lesson takes an in-depth look at air pollution as an applied case study and how critical to making cities more sustainable is the role of businesses. The lesson was developed in partnership with BNP Paribas Real Estate and mobility specialist, Arval UK, accompanied by a video animation.
Will Taylor, Senior Consultant Low Carbon, Gemserv emphasised:
As cities grow, and more and more people live in them, making cities more sustainable places to live is more important than ever. Delivering core needs for people living in cities like good jobs, healthcare, housing and safety in a low carbon and sustainable way remains as difficult as ever. Chief among these challenges is tackling air pollution. Making sure that we address the economic, health and climate impacts of poor air quality is critical. Giving young people an awareness and understanding of the issues will be critical to a better future in more sustainable places. Gemserv is proud to bring our expertise to the partnership to help educate future generations and to help build the sustainable cities of the future.
Emmanuelle Bury, UK Country Head, BNP Paribas highlighted:
We are passionate about giving young people every opportunity to thrive in life, and that starts with education. Our partnership with Teach First and Gemserv is making it possible for more teachers to be placed in the schools that need it the most, with our sustainability-focused lesson educating and inspiring young people on Net Zero and the energy transition. This partnership is completely aligned to our ambitions to have a positive impact in society, and leave no-one behind on the road to a more sustainable, fair and inclusive future.
Will Douthwaite-Hodges – Partnerships Manager, Teach First explains:
With this lesson pack, we hope to inspire more young people to become future leaders in sustainability, and to take action in their personal lives and future careers to protect our planet for generations to come. We know full well that wider access to quality education is key to driving positive change in our society, and that’s why we are making this lesson plan freely available to our entire teacher and ambassador networks, and any teacher who wants to access it on TES.
Notes to editors:
Press Contacts:
BNP Paribas UK:
Lucinda Kemeny
0207 595 1253
Lucinda.Kemeny@uk.bnpparibas.com
Teach First Press and Media team
0203 841 8483
Gemserv:
Jordan Shuttlewood
+44 203 934 3565
jordan.shuttlewood@gemserv.com
About Gemserv
Gemserv is at the forefront of developments in the energy and environmental sectors, focusing on delivering meaningful impact and market transformation supporting the journey to a low carbon economy. We deliver impact working across a wide a range of projects, from implementation and policy delivery and management of trade associations through to education and communication about the environmental benefits of technologies.
Gemserv has a long track record of working with BNP Paribas to great effect, developing the hugely successful Fuel Cells Education Pack alongside Arval and BNP Paribas. This collaboration saw over 46,000 lesson downloads with a 5* rating from teachers. We are excited at the opportunity to build upon these previous successes as BNP Paribas looks to take its work in education to the next level alongside Teach First. Drawing on our industry knowledge, we are working with both organisations to develop learning materials to support teachers and students.
About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas is the European Union’s leading bank and key player in international banking. It operates in 68 countries and has more than 193,000 employees, including nearly 148,000 in Europe. The Group has key positions in its three main fields of activity: Retail Banking for the Group’s retail-banking networks and several specialised businesses including BNP Paribas Personal Finance and Arval ; Investment & Protection Services for savings, investment and protection solutions ; and Corporate & Institutional Banking, focused on corporate and institutional clients. Based on its strong diversified and integrated model, the Group helps all its clients (individuals, community associations, entrepreneurs, SMEs, corporates and institutional clients) to realise their projects through solutions spanning financing, investment, savings and protection insurance.
In Europe, BNP Paribas has four domestic markets: Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg. The Group is rolling out its integrated retail-banking model across several Mediterranean countries, Turkey, Eastern Europe as well as via a large network in the western part of the United States. As a key player in international banking, the Group has leading platforms and business lines in Europe, a strong presence in the Americas as well as a solid and fast-growing business in Asia-Pacific. BNP Paribas has implemented a Corporate Social Responsibility approach in all its activities, enabling it to contribute to the construction of a sustainable future, while ensuring the Group’s performance and stability.
About Teach First
Teach First is an education charity which is fighting to make our education system work for every child. Backing the schools facing the toughest challenges, the charity finds and trains teachers, develops their leadership teams and plugs them into networks of diverse expertise and opportunities to create real change. The charity has now placed over 15,000 teachers and leaders, has over 100 head teachers in their Training Programme alumni and has supported over two million pupils. Those on the Training Programme commit to a minimum of two years at their partner school – gaining a fully funded Postgraduate Diploma in Education and Leadership (PGDE) and earning a salary whilst they train. More than half then stay on for a third year, where they have the option to top up their qualification to a master’s. Over 60% of all the teachers who’ve completed training since 2003 are currently teaching. As well as recruiting new teachers into the profession, the charity provides a range of support for schools, including programmes to help develop teachers at every stage of their career. Teach First currently operates in all regions across England: London, West Midlands, East Midlands, Yorkshire the Humber, North West, North East, South East, South Coast, South West and the East of England.
