Artemis Education is building a network of international schools and is dedicated to improving access to outstanding education by designing, delivering, opening and operating new schools.
Combining the best educational traditions with cutting-edge innovation, sustainability is a key topic for Artemis Education, who wants to leave a great legacy to the next generation. That’s why the group has plans to develop four new schools in the MENA region with the ambition for these schools to be climate positive by 2030. “We believe that education for the next generation includes a responsibility to leave our children a better planet. As educators, we must equip our students for life in the 21st century with an understanding of the impact that we as individuals, collectively as communities and broadly as society has on our planet,” explains Lexi Lloyd Owen, Head of Sustainability and Design at Artemis Education.
To reach this sustainability goal, the education group have partnered with Earthly to lead a positive change and become climate positive. “We chose Earthly for a number of reasons but primarily because we believe in Oliver and Lorenzo [Earthly’s co-founders]. It has given us the opportunity to learn far more than we expected about nature-based solutions and the impact that we can make,” says Lexi.
Together with Artemis Education and the school builders, Earthly works on calculating the footprint of the construction and ongoing running costs to create a carbon removal strategy that meets the sustainability goals. The entire construction of Artemis Education’s Northview International School in Qatar has been certified as climate positive, after a carbon removal strategy based on science-backed nature-based solutions was put in place. The footprint of the construction of Artemis Education’s new school, the Lisboan International School in Portugal, is now being calculated as well as their second school in Qatar.
But that’s not all! Artemis Education headquarters have also been certified Climate Positive from 2019 to 2021, and they’ve just finished the calculations for 2021-2022. Protecting nature is a core value for the education group. Lexi explains, “As an organisation, we must continuously strive to minimise our impact on the environment, embed sustainable practices and learning in our schools and integrate them into the communities in which we operate.”
To engage the student body and parents and make sure that they fully understand the power of nature-based solutions, Earthly has developed Artemis Education’s immersive 3D island that calls out not only the carbon removed and protected but other co-benefits such as social improvements and biodiversity. This immersive tool breaks down the complexity of sustainability strategies by gamifying climate efforts so that students and stakeholders can learn more about the projects that are being invested in and the co-benefits that are being supported. “For us, the social aspect is as important as the environmental impact. As we grow and the number of projects we invest in increases, we will strategically create a diverse portfolio of projects that protect, regenerate & restore,” continues Lexi.
Because being climate-positive and enriching children’s education with knowledge about nature is vital, Artemis Education is now actively pursuing a B-Corp certification that would solidify its commitment to our planet and leave the best legacy to the next generation.