CLIMATE CHAMPIONS’ project partners met in Thessaloniki last week from Wednesday to Friday, 14-16 June, for a three-day-closing event of the European project ERASMUS+ KA220-ADU – Cooperation partnerships in adult education.
17 project partners, adult trainers and professionals in climate change from Ireland, Portugal and Bulgaria took part in three meeting sessions on the first and last day to present and discuss the main outcomes of the project. The presentations took place in the Research Dissemination Center in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and in the Alexander Innovation Zone Center in the heart of the city.
The CLIMATE CHAMPIONS team visited the Environmental Management Office (EMAS) in the University of Macedonia and the Workshop Circle by InCommon non-beneficiary group on the second day of the meeting. Pericles Hadjinakos, head of the EMAS, informed the group on the vital activities of collecting, recycling and proper management of municipal waste that EMAS is implementing under the scope of circular economy. The team learned about the initiatives and challenges of the Workshop Circle environmental activities and witnessed the local community organic waste management system in practice: a compost bin in the middle of the square that receives organic waste from the neighbors’ kitchen.
The three main objectives of the CLIMATE CHAMPIONS project are as follows:
- to empower and equip members of the local community and voluntary groups with skills and knowledge to become empowered climate action and biodiversity changemakers in their communities. The adult trainees learn about 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (SDGs) that are directly linked to biodiversity and climate change (DELIVERABLE 1).
- To inspire community groups to replicate and improve on best practice biodiversity and climate action community initiatives from Europe through a unique compendium of 32 transferrable community best practices (DELIVERABLE 2).
- To provide a replicable model of community training which will lead to the climate proofing of communities and a multitude of biodiversity action plans realized at a community development level (DELIVERABLE 3).
