- A total of 64 training projects have been approved that are expected to allow the training of more than 13,000 people and generate the hiring of more than 350
- This is the first call for grants of the new period of the Empleaverde+ Programme, managed by the Biodiversity Foundation and co-financed by the European Social Fund Plus
- The next call, which is expected to be published over the next few months, will have an amount of more than 13 million
The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has resolved a new call for grants to promote the training and hiring of people within the framework of the Empleaverde+ Programme. This is the first call for the 2021-2027 period co-financed by the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), of which the Biodiversity Foundation is an Intermediate Management Body, which has been resolved with 64 projects, with an overall budget of 29.7 million euros, which will promote training actions that facilitate access and adaptation to the labour market, the promotion of professional recycling and green entrepreneurship. This call responds to the training needs detected in the study “Employment and ecological transition. Sources of employment, labour transformation and training challenges in the sectors related to climate change and biodiversity in Spain”, published in 2023 by the Biodiversity Foundation and the Spanish Office for Climate Change (MITECO). PROJECTS THAT PROMOTE THE ECOLOGICAL
TRANSITIONThe beneficiary projects of the call will be executed by 126 entities, including companies, public administrations, associations, foundations, NGOs, the academic sector, business and professional associations or trade unions. Of the 64 initiatives, 31 will be developed in groups made up of several entities, which reinforces the involvement and collaboration of different actors in the promotion of a green economy. Of the 64 beneficiary projects, 39 correspond to line 1 “training for the acquisition or improvement of skills for green employment” while the other 25 correspond to line 2 “practical training for unemployed people ‘learning by working'”: 20 of these initiatives are practical training for unemployed people promoting methodologies “learning by working” and the other five are training projects in alternation with employment. Thanks to these initiatives, more than 13,000 people will be trained, of which more than 7,500 are workers and 4,800 are unemployed, and more than 350 new hires will be generated. The themes of the projects respond to the transformative priority axes identified in the study, among which are circular economy (18 projects), sustainable agricultural holdings (13 projects), urban renaturation (6 projects), management of natural heritage and protected areas (5 projects), sustainable or nature tourism (5 projects), ecological restoration (4 projects), sustainable forest management (4 projects) or energy rehabilitation of buildings and energy efficiency (3 projects), among others. Urban renaturation projects stand out; learning methodologies by working to restore, promote and protect river ecosystems; actions focused on promoting the sustainable blue economy; initiatives that will respond to the growing environmental challenges facing the forestry sector in Spain; actions aimed at improving skills and entrepreneurship in ecotourism; training in sustainable agriculture and livestock; training aimed at young people at risk of social exclusion or women in rural areas; or to facilitate generational renewal in different sectors through the circular economy, among others.
NEW EMPLEAVERDE+
PROGRAMMEThe Empleaverde+ Programme aims to move towards a climate-neutral and regenerative economy, efficient in the use of resources and circular to generate new employment and business opportunities. To this end, it seeks to support transformative projects with learning by working methodologies and training projects for the ecological transition. In this call, the synergies between projects initiated by different funds have become particularly important, reinforcing their coherence, potential and impact. In addition, in training, the focus is on the practical, professionalized component aimed at responding to current and future demand, with only training projects and training and hiring projects or training in alternation with employment. In the new period 2021-2027, the Empleaverde+ Programme is endowed with 44 million in total, which will be granted through new calls for aid, the next one will be published in the first quarter of 2025 and will have an amount of more than 13 million.
