The main objective of SUSTAIN E+ has been to develop guidelines addressed to professionals involved in the development of ERASMUS+ projects that help them in the design and implementation of sustainable projects by reducing the carbon footprint and other environmental impacts of the project activities. Thanks to Sustain E+, the staff working with ERASMUS+ is able to evaluate the environmental impact of the projects and know sustainable alternatives to make decisions to decrease it. To achieve this main objective, the activities of SUSTAIN E+ were focused on three specific objectives: SO1. Awareness raising from the professionals from the sector about their environmental impact, so that people working with ERASMUS+ projects be more concerned about their own impact and become more responsible when designing their projects; SO2. Training these professionals in the field of circularity and sustainability of EU projects to know the particular solutions that they can applied to reduce the impact of the project activities; SO3. Increasing the digitalisation of educational solutions, which was boosted by the COVID pandemic, and was proven to be a very effective way to reduce the carbon footprint.
ERASMUS+ programme is one of the main achievements of the European integration. Every year the programme supports more than 1M learning experiences abroad and funds more than 25,000 projects. But what is the environmental impact of those activities and mobility? How to reduce it? This is the core subject of SUSTAIN E+. Many professionals are involved in the development of ERASMUS+ projects. These professionals have different professional profiles; most of them learnt how to work with ERASMUS+ on the ground. Nowadays the programme insists, among other priorities, on the sustainable development and fight against climate change. SUSTAIN E+ arise from the need to train professionals in the implementation of sustainable ERASMUS+ projects. First, there is a need to evaluate the environmental impacts linked to the projects to be aware of our starting point and the alternatives will help us make better decisions. Then, increasing the level of knowledge and competences of the project staff in fields such as project efficient management, digital solutions, sustainable mobility, water and energy efficiency, circular economy, etc. will tackle the main areas of educational lacks to reduce the impact of the projects on environment.