High-level Dissemination Event of the Interreg Europe ENHANCE Project (EMAS as a Nest to Help And Nurture the Circular Economy), Regional Session Catalonia and Andalusia (15 September 2020).

On 15 September the Regional Session of the partners of Catalonia and Andalusia of the High-level Dissemination Event of the Interreg Europe ENHANCE project was held in online format through Microsoft TEAMS.

The Regional Session of the High-Level Dissemination Event will be held jointly by the Department of Territory and Sustainability of the Government of Catalonia, leader partner, and by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development of the Government of Andalusia.

The Interreg Europe ENHANCE project has identified measures of regulatory relief and incentives to encourage organisations to strategically implement EMAS as a highly competitive tool for the transition to a circular economy model. The ENHANCE project is therefore an incentive and an opportunity to encourage organisations, especially SMEs, to make the transition to this economic model.

This Regional Session, which had an audience of more than 60, was the setting for the presentation of the most relevant actions that the project has developed in the territorial framework of Catalonia and Andalusia. These actions will certainly be of great interest to other territories in order to increase the visibility and added value that EMAS registration brings to organisations, especially SMEs, in the framework of the Circular Economy.

The event was an opportunity to gain an insight into some of the actions that, both Catalonia and Andalusia, may have a future projection, that positions EMAS as a strategic and competitive management tool from an environmental and economic point of view.

On the Catalan side, two key stakeholders in the project have made a very complete presentation of the actions they are developing to promote EMAS registration. Thus, the Director of Strategic Planning of the Waste Agency of Catalonia, presented the actions implemented in favour of EMAS organisations in the Agency's sphere of competence, identifying where the accions are in their process of consolidating. The Head of Environmental Monitoring of the Service of Information, Inspection and Environmental Control of Activities, presented the actions carried out associated with the IED inspection Plan for EMAS companies and the possible synergies between the verification processes of EMAS systems and integrated environmental inspections. 

Representing the actions being developed in Andalusia, two of the most active stakeholders who have supported, through their actions, the implementation of the EMAS Action Plan took part in the event. On the one hand, the Director of Planning and Sustainable Development of LIMASA gave an overview of the prospective study for the launch of the EMAS Club in Andalusia, and on the other, the Head of Environmental Division of EMASESA, described the activities carried out to disseminate and visualise EMAS in Andalusia.

Representatives of the partners from Catalonia and Andalusia also took part in the Regional Session of the High-level Dissemination Event and presented the strategic lines of their EMAS Action Plans.

You can see the recording of the session through the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Jdl_LvVpQ&feature=youtu.be

The presentations of the Regional Session of the High-level Dissemination Event are available in the Library of the ENHANCE project website, where we can also find all the information about the project and the documentation it has generated,

www.interregeurope.eu/enhance/library/