OSCAR, THE WANDERING SNAKE is a school-based sustainable mobility campaign for primary schools in Romania. It encourages children and their families to choose healthier and more sustainable ways of travelling to school, such as walking, cycling, using a scooter, public transport or car-sharing.
The campaign is built around a simple and playful idea. For two weeks, children collect coloured dots every time they come to school using a sustainable mode of transport. These dots are placed on a large OSCAR snake banner, so the class can see its progress day by day. When children reach certain milestones, they receive small symbolic rewards, such as extra play time or homework-free activities.
The strength of OSCAR is that it turns the daily trip to school into something visible, positive and shared. It does not speak to children in abstract terms about climate change or mobility. Instead, it helps them experience, together with classmates, teachers and parents, that small everyday choices can make their school area safer, cleaner and more pleasant.
In Romania, the campaign is coordinated by Energy Cities Romania.
Case study profile
Project details
The project was initiated in response to a very common situation around schools: traffic congestion in the morning, many short individual car trips, air pollution, safety concerns and a stressful start to the school day for children, parents and teachers.
Many families live close enough to school to use more sustainable transport options, but habits are difficult to change. Parents may be worried about safety, time, weather or convenience. Children, on the other hand, often respond very well when the message is simple, positive and shared with their classmates. OSCAR was designed exactly around this idea: to create a small but meaningful change in the daily routine of going to school.
The main target group is primary school pupils, especially children aged roughly 4–12, together with their parents, teachers and school communities. The campaign also involves municipalities and local coordinators, because school mobility is not only a family choice; it is also connected to how safe and welcoming the local environment is.
The aims of the project are to:
- reduce individual car trips to school;
- encourage walking, cycling, public transport and car-sharing;
- promote healthier routines for children;
- improve awareness of road safety;
- reduce CO₂ emissions linked to school travel;
- help children feel more confident and involved in their city;
- open a practical conversation between schools, parents and local authorities about sustainable mobility.
The social need addressed by the project is not only environmental. OSCAR also responds to children’s need for movement, autonomy, safer streets and a more pleasant relationship with the urban space around their school.
The campaign is funded through a simple participation model. In the 2025 edition, schools registered through the OSCAR platform and paid a symbolic participation fee of 3 eur per pupil, which covered the campaign materials and access to the platform.
OER’s role is central in both the design and delivery of the campaign in Romania. OER coordinates the national campaign, provides the methodology and campaign materials, manages the OSCAR platform, supports schools and local coordinators, collects campaign data and communicates the results. OER also acts as a bridge between schools, municipalities and the broader sustainable mobility agenda.
Behavioural insights
The main behaviour the programme focuses on is the way children and families travel to school. More specifically, OSCAR encourages families to replace individual car trips with walking, cycling, public transport or car-sharing whenever possible.
The campaign uses several behavioural insights, even though it is presented in a very simple and child-friendly way.
First, it uses visibility of progress. The OSCAR banner makes the class progress visible every day. Children can see that their own choice contributes to something bigger.
Second, it uses social norms and group motivation. The child is not acting alone; the whole class is working together. When classmates participate, sustainable travel becomes normal, not exceptional.
Third, it uses positive reinforcement. The campaign avoids guilt or pressure. Instead, children receive coloured dots and small symbolic rewards when milestones are reached. The rewards are not expensive or material, which is important. The real motivation comes from participation, recognition and the feeling that the class is moving forward together.
Fourth, it uses commitment over a short period of time. Two weeks is long enough to test a new routine, but short enough to feel manageable for families and teachers.
One important behavioural insight from the campaign is that children can be very effective messengers inside their own families. When the activity is fun and visible at school, children often bring the conversation home. In some cases, they are the ones who remind parents to walk, take the bus, use a scooter or share the car with another family.
Another insight is that behaviour change is easier when it is framed as a shared challenge, not as a moral obligation. Families are more open to trying something different when the invitation feels practical, positive and doable.
Outcomes and impacts
The monitoring approach combines daily data collection at classroom level with campaign-level aggregation through the OSCAR platform.
During the two-week campaign, teachers record how pupils come to school each day. Children who use sustainable modes of transport receive coloured dots, and these choices are also reflected in the monitoring data. This allows the campaign to track changes in mobility behaviour during the campaign period.
The monitoring looks at indicators such as:
- number of participating schools;
- number of pupils involved;
- transport modes used for school trips;
- kilometers not travelled by individual car;
- estimated CO₂ emissions avoided;
- changes in the share of sustainable trips.
The 2025 edition showed strong results. In only two weeks, OSCAR involved 15 educational institutions from 5 cities, with over 2,500 pupils participating. The campaign generated more than 25,000 km not travelled by individual car and saved approximately 3.5 tonnes of CO₂.
The qualitative findings are just as important as the numbers. Schools report that the campaign is easy to understand, teachers can integrate it into the school routine and children enjoy seeing their collective progress. It also helps start conversations with parents about everyday mobility choices, which is often the first step toward changing habits.