The Union for the Mediterranean and the Green Growth Community organise two webinars about green and circular economy

The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the Interreg MED Green Growth Community, coordinated by the BETA Technology Centre, have co-organised two workshops with the aim of sharing knowledge on green and circular economy practices to address some of the most important challenges in the Mediterranean region in terms of sustainability of food systems and sustainable consumption and production. Participants in the two sessions, which were conducted in English with simultaneous translation into French and Arabic, were able to learn from the experience acquired by various organisations through cooperation initiatives, programmes and projects such as FAO, PRIMA, Interreg MED, ENI CBC MED SwitchMed and WES, among others.

The first workshop, which took place on 21 October, focused on food waste and the management of organic waste in the Mediterranean region. On behalf of CT BETA, Mercè Boy Roura welcomed the participants and introduced the work of the Green Growth community in this area. Afterwards, Sergio Ponsá explained the current situation regarding this topic at a global level, the challenges and opportunities to achieve the ambitious challenge of the EU related to the objectives of sustainable development. Furthermore, Joan Colón had the opportunity to explain how the DECOST project implements decentralised composting solutions linked to urban agriculture projects in order to close the organic waste cycle locally in different countries of the region. Colón also stressed the importance of the MED4WASTE project, which has recently begun, for the support it can offer in terms of transferring and capitalising on the results obtained in projects such as DECOST on the valorisation of organic matter in other Mediterranean territories.

The second workshop, which took place on Thursday 4 November, focused on how eco-labelling creates opportunities for companies to embark on the path of sustainability and for consumers to make more informed decisions when buying products or services. One of the speakers in this session was Joan Colón, who presented the results of projects implemented by CT BETA, such as Innotranslact and the calculation tool CalcPEFdairy, specially developed for the calculation of the environmental footprint of the dairy sector. In addition, Colón presented relevant experiences related to the eco-labelling of food products in the meat, dairy and alternative protein sources sectors.

The Green Growth Community and the UfM have been collaborating closely since 2019, when this intergovernmental organisation officially recognised the efforts of the Green Growth Community to advance cooperation in the field of green and circular economy in the Mediterranean region. Among the various collaborations, Mercè Boy Roura – coordinator of the Green Growth Community – highlights the contribution of CT BETA in the conceptualisation of the 2030 Agenda for a Green Mediterranean (Agenda 2030 GreenerMed) and the participation in the Environmental Working Group.

Video of the webinar 1

Video of the webinar 2