We thank the participants from 161 nations, the more than 70 ministers, as well as the 10.000 spectators from all over the world. A few of them have their say in the conference’s wrap-up video. It represent the Berlin Declaration, which was adopted during the conference.

The German Commission for UNESCO (DUK) and the German Federal Ministry on Education and Research (BMBF) jointly hosted the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). It kicked-off the new decade to implement ESD in all areas of education.

Already the opening remarks of the digital conference showed the importance of education for sustainable development on both the national and the international level. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasized in her opening speech: "education for sustainable development cannot be a privilege, but has to be accessible to everyone everywhere in the world." Astronaut Alexander Gerst shared his special perspective "We all are astronauts on the spaceship earth. We encircle the sun, like the ISS encircles earth. And this conference is about the highly vulnerable life support system of our common spaceship." After the key notes, Sumi Somaskanda, the moderator, led over to the first session out of 13. In the various following exchange session, participant form all over the world took the chance to report and exchange on their national strategies and personal efforts to implement the new UNESCO framework "ESD for 2030". German federal education minister Anja Karliczek highlights for the German programme: "We have a major common goal: to embed Education for Sustainable Development everywhere in the German education system." Singer-songwriter Dorin Ben-David performed at the "Berlin Night" to conclude the first conference day.

In his opening remarks to the UNESCO World Conference "Learn for our planet. Act for sustainability", astronaut Alexander Gerst reports on his personal impressions from his space expedition. He calls on all participants of the conference to protect our earth and invokes the importance of education for sustainable societal change.

The second conference day was characterized by extensive exchange between the international participants. The "ministerial roundtables" made the beginning: policy-makers from more than 70 countries introduced their perspectives and approaches to implement ESD. The "SDG Market Place" offered the various opportunities to get in touch with agents working in field to implement ESD. Under the motto "Meeting German Good Practices", fifteen initiatives and projects from Germany invited the participants to their own events at the end of the second conference day.

The third and last day included further exchange sessions and concluded forcefully by presenting the "Berlin Declaration". The more than 2.500 participants commit themselves to implement ESD into their respective education system. Education minister Anja Karliczek highlighted the global reach of the common declaration: "Berlin gives a significant worldwide impulse to Education for Sustainable Development with the adoption of the Berlin Declaration during the UNESCO-conference. It is about imparting knowledge to preserve a liveable planet und handle challenges like climate change."

The end of the international world conference marked the beginning of the National Conference with the title "Into the future with ESD – ESD for 2030" ("Mit BNE in die Zukunft – BNE 2030"). It used the momentum of the international conference to promote the implementation of the UNESCO-programme “ESD for 2030” in Germany. Christian Luft, undersecretary in the BMBF, noted in his welcoming address: "It is our duty to spread ESD as wide as possible. Now it’s done and now it really begins!" In a hybrid-digital panel with the topic "On to the future with ESD: How do we reach successfully the implementation for “ESD for 2030” in Germany?" spoke Wulf Bödeker (rapporteur to the conference of German State education ministers; ministry for schools and education of Nordrhein-Westfalen – and chair of Forum Schule), Dr Thomas Greiner (Under-department head, department of lifelong learnin, federal ministry of education and research), Prof Dr Gerhard de Haan (Scientific consultant to the National Platform on ESD), Minister a.D. Walter Hirche (international consultant to the National Platform on ESD), Dr Dietmar Kress (Greenpeace, Member National Platform on ESD), Amelie Paassen (youpaN, Member National Platform on ESD) and André Weiß (Zentralverband des Deutschen Handwerk e.V., Member National Platform on ESD). The closing question to the audience on what should be the next step for ESD in Germany, the most popular answer was: "DO!" ("Machen!").

The conference was embedded by multiple events of the ESD-Weeks (BNE-Wochen) taking place nationwide from May 1st to Mai 31st. They displayed possible ways to act sustainable to a broad public and created visibility to agents in the field and their successful ESD-activities.