Why CSKC was interested to join the Go Green Project
The fight with climate change is and will continue to be one of the main priorities for the EU in the coming years.Regardless of the criticism that EU is too focused on the green deal and the undertaken measures are too anticipatory, compared to the rest of the world, this priority will always remain a keystone of the European policy. However, what is more important is how and to what extent business perceives the goals of sustainable development as own.
It is clear to us that whatever the level of corporate social responsibility of a business is, its behavior will always be dominated by the pursuit of profit.
Therefore, it is more important for us to search for, offer and introduce sustainable and innovative business models in the activities of enterprises, where the business interest does not oppose the measures for sustainable and environmentally friendly development, but rather the business activities draw energy from the "the green thinking" and "the green innovations" for achieving higher efficiency. So, it is clear that training the main players in "the green game" such as owners, managers and employees can be one of the key factors in achieving the sustainability tasks in sync with the business performance at all. We believe that training can be a central component for the achievement of the European Green Deal, as only knowledgeable and responsible human capital will seek opportunity in the application of innovative business models and green practices.
With these understandings, in 2022 we started the GO GREEN Project. It is an Erasmus + KA2 Strategic Partnerships project focused on developing innovations for vocational education and training to help achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and fight climate change. We prepared the project with the clear awareness that climate change requires a whole new set of skills, from technical to soft/transversal skills, following the EC lifelong learning initiatives and the developed European competence framework for sustainability, GreenComp. According to the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), green skills, environmental responsibility and sustainable development should be integrated transversally into the learning outcomes (knowledge, skills, attitudes and values) of formal, independent and non-formal learning of all ages of learners in every education sector, in apprenticeships and in employee training schemes in and outside the green sectors. In July 2020, the European Commission, through the renewed European Alliance for Apprenticeships (EAfA), called for new commitments on digital and green apprenticeships, focusing on the economic sectors that will be at the forefront of the transition to neutral climate Europe.
Therefore, the partners in this project saw the need to train the personnel in all industries so that they can understand and comply with the goals of sustainable development and green economy.
Vocational education and training (VET) is an enabling area where business and education can work closely together and prepare apprentices for new green skills and requirements. Thus, through direct training and the exchange of experience, practices and ideas between managers, trainers and mentors, green innovations will happen and have a real positive impact. By building on GreenComp through this project we will be able to support educators and learners to embed themes of environmental sustainability and green skills into workplace training and apprenticeships.