The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment, through the Biodiversity Foundation, has published the first annual call for subsidies of the Empleaverde Programme, an initiative to promote and improve employment, entrepreneurship and the environment. For this call, 7.8 million euros will be allocated to projects. The Programme is co-financed by the Operational Programme for Employment, Training and Education (POEFE) of the European Social Fund (ESF), the EU’s most important instrument for promoting employment and social inclusion.

This call seeks to support projects that promote entrepreneurship and the green and blue economy. Understanding a green economy as one that contributes to the emergence of new models of sustainable production and consumption, in turn generating social and environmental benefits in the territory and favouring the creation of new jobs. The blue economy, as indicated by the European Commission, recognises the importance of the seas and oceans as engines of the economy due to their great potential for innovation and growth. In the entrepreneurship projects in the blue economy, Empleazul, special emphasis will be placed on those initiatives that are based on the potential offered by the marine areas of the Natura 2000 Network to undertake and create employment.

The call is aimed at public or private entities, with or without profit, that are based in Spain. These entities may submit a project to each of the seven lines of which the call consists. The deadline for receiving proposals will be open until May 8.

Depending on the recipients of the call, which can be unemployed people, workers and entrepreneurs, various axes have been established to which the projects can choose. Depending on the axis in question, the actions that will be developed within the projects include training courses, advice, accompaniment, training stays and meetings. In all axes, social innovation actions may be proposed, which test novel and innovative solutions to achieve the objectives pursued in each of the axes and that, in addition, can be replicated and serve as a model for other organizations or companies.

The minimum amount that can be requested per project is 100,000 euros and the maximum is 300,000 euros. The amount includes both ESF co-financing and that of the beneficiary and potential partners. The maximum duration of the projects will be 12 months.

Projects must pay special attention to priority groups, such as women, people over 45 years of age, young people under 35, immigrants, people with disabilities and those who live in protected areas and/or rural areas.

Applications must be submitted through the Biodiversity Foundation website and there is an email address available to answer questions about this call: empleaverde@fundacion-biodiversidad.es.