The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment, Isabel García Tejerina, today presented the beneficiary projects of the 2017 call for subsidies of the Empleaverde Programme, endowed with a budget of 7.7 million euros, and whose objective is to promote initiatives that promote employment and the green economy. The minister also presented the new call for subsidies for this year, to which 8.9 million euros will be allocated. In total, the Ministry plans to allocate 68 million euros until 2023 to support green employment through the Empleaverde Programme.
García Tejerina stressed that “in this Ministry we address various matters and implement policies whose main reason for being is to promote the competitiveness of our economy, creating employment and caring for and protecting the environment. The Empleaverde Programme is one of our initiatives to achieve this” and has exemplified these policies with this Programme, which only with its 2017 call will allow the creation of 500 jobs and the training of 14,000 people.
COMMITMENT TO EMPLOYMENT AND GREEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP
During the event, the minister signed her commitment to employment and green entrepreneurship together with representatives of the 69 beneficiary projects of the 2017 call for subsidies, in which 62 entities have been awarded. Isabel García Tejerina has signed the Ministry’s commitment to “promote the Empleaverde Programme with the aim of creating 4,800 jobs, training 24,000 workers and supporting 3,000 companies and thus, together, take care of our environment and promote a circular, sustainable and low-emission economy”.
Among the entities participating in the event, the Brown Bear Foundation has signed its commitment to “develop ecotourism linked to the presence of the brown bear by improving the skills of 225 workers in the tourism sector in bear areas”, and the Santa María la Real Foundation has committed to “generate 50 jobs and improve the labour insertion of 165 unemployed people in sectors of the green economy through social innovation”. These have been just two examples of the commitments of the 62 entities that are going to execute the projects, which have signed their commitment and have placed it on a mural
symbolic in which each one has contributed the actions that they are going to carry out thanks to this call for the Empleaverde Program.
The projects that are launched have an impact on agriculture, with initiatives focused on ecological and sustainable agriculture and livestock, on specific crops such as citrus fruits, apple trees or chestnut trees and forest management. Fisheries and aquaculture are also present, as well as projects related to the marine environment that fight against litter at sea, or linked to the blue economy, for example, to promote sustainable coastal tourism, improve port management or conserve coastal salt flats.
Food and the agri-food sector also play a prominent role and projects will be developed aimed at restaurants, fishmongers or establishments for the preparation, distribution and sale of organic products.
There are also projects linked to the environment and related economic sectors. Thus, initiatives linked to energy saving and efficiency, sustainable transport and mobility, renewable energies, waste management and the development of the circular economy will be developed. Many of them have an impact on rural areas, depopulated areas and protected natural areas.
CALLS FOR GRANTS UNTIL 2023
The minister placed special emphasis on the figures of the Empleaverde Programme, which in the previous period committed 45 million euros and managed to support more than 300 projects, collaborate with 500 organisations and reach 1,300,000 recipients, creating 2,600 companies and lines of business in economic sectors linked to the environment.
“Fortunately, this work does not stop here,” stressed the minister, “it is only one of the calls, which this Ministry will launch annually within the framework of the Empleaverde Program until 2023.” In total, this Programme plans to allocate 68 million euros until that year with the aim of supporting more than 50,000 recipients and 3,000 companies and training 24,000 people.
Of the 68 million euros, more than 10 million will be used to promote the blue economy. Thus, it is intended to create 600 jobs and support 400 companies, as well as train more than 3,200 people linked to the sea. All this to highlight the potential offered by the marine Natura 2000 Network of which, as the Minister has highlighted, “we should be especially proud in Spain”.
AN OPPORTUNITY FOR PRIORITY GROUPS
The minister took the opportunity to congratulate the entities that, in addition to having the possibility of promoting a green economy, are going to offer an opportunity to young people, women, residents of protected areas or in natural and rural areas.
The Empleaverde Programme, co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF), aims to create jobs, increase the skills and qualification of workers and support the creation and consolidation of companies in a green and blue economy.
Since 2001, the Biodiversity Foundation has been an intermediate body of the ESF, participating in the Entrepreneurship and Continuous Training (2000-2006) and Adaptability and Employment (2007-2013) Programmes. This is the first of the calls that, on an annual basis, the Ministry has launched through the Biodiversity Foundation within the framework of the Empleaverde Programme for the period 2017-2023 within the framework of the Employment, Training and Education Operational Programme (POEFE) of the ESF.
