BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT:

The Erasmus+ programme is one of the most important EU instruments to support training, employment, equity, sustainability and social inclusion, and 30% of its budget is devoted to green transition and behavioural change. The new Erasmus+ structure (2021-2027) encourages green travels, mitigation measures, but in general little attention has been paid to calculating & offsetting the carbon footprint that is generated by the daily work of project managers, the staff and learners’ movement, the event organisation, office consumption etc. In fact, according to the Cult Committee research (2020), the Erasmus+, European Solidarity Corps and Creative Europe programmes lack a baseline describing their contribution to environmental goals (financial/non-financial compensation/skills etc.) and a shared environmental accountability system that can be used by all the EU projects as an overall assessment tool that can enhance adult and youth participants as well as educators to raise awareness on the environmental footprint produced during the participation to Erasmus+ projects.

No shared analysis to quantify footprint data of the different decisions taken for the different phases of project management (networking, preparation, implementation, communication & follow-up) in terms of emails sent, energy consumption, hours spent in front of the computer, local movements with final targets, file upload, etc.

There is a lack of environmental accountability skills among volunteers/project managers/non-profit curators/adult centres/European project participants in the choices they make on an everyday basis about mobilities, resource usage, tech usage, virtual meetings etc. In other words, how project managers choose to green-audit themselves in terms of “project green-by-design”. No award is given to any EU project for environmental sustainability practices and recognition of novelties in green EU project management.

In this context, the project GREEN ADVISOR: “enhancing environmental sustainability of EU funded projects” aims to lower the environmental CO2 footprint that the Erasmus+ projects generate while implemented. Its main objective is to “mainstreaming green practices” in Erasmus+ projects looking at the whole arc of project management/implementation activities by developing a self-assessment and strategic set of tools, including training resources and calculators, designed for project managers and participants of Erasmus+ to measure their environmental footprint, and encourage them to acquire green transition competencies applied on EU project management to concretely put in place compensation/pre-emptive measures to balance the pollution/environmental impact produced in Erasmus+ transnational cooperation.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES & RESULTS:

• A Multilingual and Multilevel Project Website: available in English, Icelandic, Italian, Spanish, Turkish and Finnish.
• An Environmental quality assurance framework on European project management: aiming to contribute to embed a systematic way of “green by design” concept in all the phases of a EU project and define the specific CO2/pollution measurements according to the different choices project managers/adult educators do in the activities they pursue.
• Project Management Footprint Calculator and Orientation Online Tool: an analytical tool to assess EU project design sustainability as well as an orientation tool, and in this way encourage educators and other adult education staff to enhance critical thinking and concretely acquire new thoughts/opinions/valuable information that can set the basis of transversal green competencies for the development of present and future EU projects.
• A Blended Training of Trainers in Iceland for 18 Adult Educators/Project managers/Trainers, designed to test the project results and to transfer and share green practices among the participants in a multicultural environment.
• Green open badge system to introduce an Environmental Quality Assurance System for EU projects: implementation of a recognition system to award the best projects in terms of environmental footprint and sustainability is how we want to enhance quality assurance in adult education opportunities, and in this way commit participants to compete in a virtuous way as it is done for the European projects in general with the “good practices” badge.
• Final set of Multiplier Events in each Country: to reach approximatively 195 attendees in total, where also the final Green EU project management Booklet will be shared with the wider audience of identified target groups and relevant stakeholders to the project.

TARGET GROUPS

The development of the project GREEN ADVISOR was planned and will be organized in a way that the participation of the following target groups will be consistent in any phase of the project:

• PROJECT MANAGERS OF EU-FUNDED PROJECTS (they are the personnel which overlook the coordination of EU projects and are in charge of the correct project implementation or quality monitoring, so it is crucial to train them in acquiring full awareness on the different facets of green mainstreaming)
• ADULT EDUCATORS INVOLVED IN EU-FUNDED ACTIVITIES (either at the level of researcher, trainer, or of associated partners of EU projects)
• NON-PROFIT STAFF WORKING IN EU PROJECTS (either as financials or accounting, local facilitators, etc.)
• VOLUNTEERS/PARTICIPANTS PART OF EU-FUNDED MOBILITIES (any person who is part of a mobility or who has participated to different project activities, such as pilot testing, local research, etc.)
• NEWCOMERS of the Erasmus+ programme, to guarantee a tool that will make easy and simple for any organisation with no previous experience to improve their own environmental practices while developing the projects;
• STARTUPPERS OR OTHER ORGANISATIONS involved in H2020 or in research innovation projects

*Additional target groups will be identified and targeted alongside the project implementation and any other interested parties can also benefit from the freely accessible results, green methodologies and findings of the project GREEN ADVISOR.

PARTNERSHIP

P1-Coordinator) GeoCamp Iceland – ICELAND www.geocamp.is

P2)DOMSPAIN SLU – SPAIN www.domspain.eu

P3)APS Polygonal – ITALY www.polygonal.ngo

P4)OLEMISEN BALANSSIA RY – FINLAND www.olemisen.fi

P5)SMARTUP N.B. SYSTEMATIC MANAGEMENT S.L. Spain – SPAIN www.smartupsystem.com

P6)GAZI UNIVERSITESI – TURKEY www.gazi.edu.tr

Many educational e-tools and resources, including a Project Management Footprint Calculator and Orientation Online Tool will be developed and available in 6 different languages (English,Icelandic,Italian,Spanish,Turkish and Finnish) for free!

So, stay tuned for more news and do not forget to follow Green Advisor’s news on the project website: www.greenadvisorproject.comand official social media page!

@greenadvisorproject

Thank you!

This project has been funded with the support of the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Project No: 2022-1-IS01-KA220-ADU-000085530