Erasmus+ : Building a sustainable future together
Main Info
TCA Description
Environment and fight against climate change is an overarching priority of Erasmus+ since 2021. At the midterm of Erasmus+ 2021-2027, numerous projects have been financed through all 5 educational sectors. Good practices, results need to be shared in order to maximize the impact and the response to the global ecological challenge to build a sustainable future together.
Build up with the SALTO Resource Center on Green Transition, the 2 French national Erasmus+ Agencies in charge of Education and Training and in charge of Youth, Sport and ESC, the Finnish Erasmus+ National Agency and under the umbrella of the LTA Sustainability, the conference will bring inputs from research and projects on the topic as well as the opportunity to exchange during workshops and network with European organisations.
The conference will focus on the role of Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps as powerful tools to design education and new mindset on the topic of the ecological transition:
- What are the skills needed for the green transition and how education organisations are adapting to the challenge? What are innovative policies and actions at the French level and elsewhere in Europe?
- How can Erasmus+ projects and participants can respond to the impact of mobility and carbon neutrality?
- How can Erasmus+ support agroecology and deal with agricultural and food transition?
- In order to succeed in accompanying greening of skills and jobs, the challenge is also adapting to green guidance. How can guidance counsellors integrate these new developments to better prepare work transition?
- How, by aligning with youth action modalities and fostering supportive environments, Erasmus+ and ESC can empower young people to become leaders in building a sustainable future?
- What is the GreenComp Sustainability competence framework? How can learners, guidance counsellors, teachers, and educators use this skill framework for their projects?
- Education and training have a key role to play in helping citizens move from awareness to individual and collective action for the environment. What are the tools, existing platforms and resources to support professionals, teaching staff and youth workers in addressing environmental issues?
Format of the conference: from December 3 lunch to December 4 lunch
Social event on December 3 evening
Conference is building around networking: a dedicated app will be open to organise business meetings between participants, thematic corners to get information on Erasmus and ESC opportunities, networking breaks.
Information corners: on Erasmus+, European Solidarity Corps, EPALE, Euroguidance, etc.
All the round tables and workshops will present examples and testimonies from Erasmus+ and ESC projects.
The whole conference plenary and workshops will be translated into French and English.
Participants will have the opportunity to discover and share practises with peers, and meet with European counterparts.
Supporting participants to get to grips with tools/approaches/platforms relating to the Green priority.
Recommandations from the workshops will be shared with stakeholders and national agencies.
More information in the attached document “practical information”.
- Arrival expected on Tuesday 3 December 2024 before 12:00 (12h00-13h00: registration, lunch booked and paid for & coffee)
- Departure on Wednesday 4 December 2024 after 14:00 (lunch included, booked and paid for)
Travel arrangements should be made accordingly to avoid arriving after the start of the conference and leaving before the end.
Accommodation (only for EU participants and NA Staff):
- Optional overnight stay from 2 to 3 December, depending on the coordination of sustainable transport from Europe. This option can be selected on the event platform.
- For all, overnight stay from 3 to 4 December 2024.
Conference is held in the heart of the city of Marseille, close to the Vieux-Port.
Conference venue : World Trade center Marseille Provence, City Center Vieux-Port », 2 rue Henri Barbusse, 13001 Marseille
Hotel : Mercure Marseille Centre Vieux-Port 1 rue neuve Saint-Martin 13001 Marseille (direct access from the hotel to the conference venue)
Travel to Marseille: to reach the hotel and Conference venue
- By train: TGV (high speed train) https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/ 3h00 from Paris Gare de Lyon to Marseille Saint-Charles Railway Station, and then metro Line M1, stop to Colbert station. Direct TGV trains to Marseille from some European main cities.
- By plane: Airport Marseille-Provence. www.marseille-airport.com , between 25-50 minutes (depending on the traffic) public bus shuttle to Marseille Saint-Charles Railway Station €10 and then metro Line M1, stop to Colbert station
Public transport Marseille (bus, metro, tramway) www.rtm.fr/en
Partners and participants
Erasmus+ project leaders and participants or organisations intending to participate to an Erasmus+ project on the ecological transition or to share their practices on the topic.
Stakeholders and experts willing to share good practices, and learn from Erasmus+ projects results.
Pending booked places
Accepted places
TCA Participant Application
Long-term Activity Info
The new programme generation Erasmus+ starts off in a challenging time.
Covid-19 is still dominating discussions on education, mobility and European
cooperation as well as accelerating the demand for smart digital solutions throughout
the European Union and its programmes.
Even though these issues still capture the attention (and time) of most
NAs, we are all finding our paths towards the so-called “new normal”. Part of
this new normality is to recollect and revive long-term goals as well as
introduce new ways to thrive in the upcoming future.
The important discussion on sustainability and greening Erasmus+ is one
that survived Covid-19 and even gained in relevance. Already before Covid-19,
it was announced that Erasmus+ will entail a new priority on sustainability. Therefore,
we as NAs are at the core when it comes to make sustainability a priority
within our organisations and to enable beneficiaries to engage into
transnational cooperation among each other to improve qualitative
implementation of the programme even further.
Nevertheless, the formal tie of sustainability and greening as a
priority in the Erasmus+ program is relatively new. In 2020 the horizontal
priority “environmental and climate goals” was introduced. However, other
already existing frameworks show that we can tackle the climate topic in a
holistic approach, namely sustainability.
The European Commission hopes to link the two topics – coronavirus and
the climate. It is proposing a €750 billion recovery package entitled “Next Generation EU”, with funds going towards the ecological
transformation of the economy – charging points, the renovation of buildings
and the hydrogen economy.
The European Commission also presented its industrial strategy in
connection with the Green Deal in March 2020. One of its focal areas is
decarbonising energy-intensive industry and establishing a hydrogen economy. The
aim is to produce the gas with the aid of renewable energy and use it to make
sectors such as steel production or heavy vehicle traffic more
climate-friendly. It also comprises a right to repairs, the recycling of
batteries, replacing disposable packaging with reusable alternatives, and
collecting and recycling more textiles and electrical appliances, or ensuring
that they last longer.
In March 2020, the European Commission presented a proposal for a new climate regulation as a central element of its Green Deal. This entails
the EU achieving net climate neutrality by 2050, meaning that climate gases may
still be emitted, but they must be offset elsewhere.
In April 2021, a deal on the European Climate Law has been reached,
making legal obligations of the goals stipulated by the European Green Deal to
create a climate-neutral Europe by 2050 and reduce net greenhouse gas emissions
by at least 55% by 2030.
During its Presidency of the Council, Germany has taken up the
discussion on sustainability in education and research. The German federal government’s website provides details of its work. One of the main developments of Germany’s
council presidency is the Osnabrück Declaration, which defines vocational
education and training as an enabler of recovery and just transitions to
digital and green economies.
Sustainability should be a guiding
principle for all Erasmus+ projects
Future projects should be designed in an eco-friendly way and should
incorporate green practices in all its facets.
Organisations and participants should have an environmental-friendly
approach when designing the project, which will encourage everyone involved in
the project to discuss and learn about environmental issues, reflecting about
what can be done at different levels and help organisations and participants to
come up with alternative, greener ways to implement project activities.
The new programme aims to support, across all sectors, awareness-raising
about environmental and climate change challenges. Priority will be given to
projects aimed at developing competences in various sustainability-relevant fields,
developing green sectorial skills strategies and methodologies, as well as
future-oriented curricula that better meet the needs of individuals. The
programme supports the use of innovative practices to make learners, staff and
youth workers true factors of change (e.g. save resources, reduce energy use
and waste, compensate carbon footprint emissions, opt for sustainable food and
mobility choices, etc.).
- Increase of the (potential) impact of Erasmus projects regarding sustainability practices
- Development of a strategy to reach beneficiaries and encourage them to engage with sustainability
- Facilitation of exchange and discussion between beneficiaries to help them develop their own approach to green initiatives
- Communication of the benefits of working on sustainability at both the European and national levels to the Erasmus community
- Communication of the significance and urgency to act on climate change in all parts of society
- Creation of a common understanding of guiding principles in sustainability. (emissions, food produce, less resource use, less waste, more local produce, reproducing crops, less plastic, less use of pesticides..)
- See connected activities
The LTA sustainability aims at encouraging more potential programme participants to engage in mobility or projects to increase their knowledge on principles and models of sustainability, and to facilitate more national engagement in the long-term perspective. The LTA should create a space for shared insights and experience sharing on green initiatives. The participants of the activities in the framework of the LTA sustainability should also include experienced beneficiaries to share approaches and talk about their motivation to work on green initiatives. The LTA will focus on capacity building and green initiatives, especially in Education for Sustainable Development.