Nyköping, Sörmland (S), 23 August 2013
“It is a great pleasure to host, in my region, this year’s Summer School. This major AER event gathers more than 120 participants from 18 countries and counts no less than 7 workshops!” stated Mr Viking Jonsson, Chair of Sörmland (S) Regional Council. “’Green growth – regions towards a resource efficient Europe’ is very closely linked to the current European ten-year strategy ‘Europe 2020’ about smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and responds to different flagship initiatives, in particular the one on ‘Resource efficient Europe’” stated Dr Hande Özsan Bozatli, President of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) at the Summer School opening.
What’s a green job? How can we create more green jobs?
Green jobs are all jobs that depend on the environment or are created, substituted or redefined (in terms of skills sets, work methods, greened profiles, etc.) in the transition process towards a green economy. This sector, according to the European Commission, could be the driving force to face unemployment:
- Job potential from renewable energy sector development is estimated at 3 million jobs by 2020
- Full implementation of the EU waste acquis would create over 400 000 jobs by 2020
- By recycling 70% of key materials, the EU could create over 560 000 new jobs by 2025
Notwithstanding the potential of this sector, with the financial crisis that we are facing, Europe is partly losing its leadership on green jobs and investments. Regions are a breeding ground of projects and experiences which should be followed by the States and the EU.
Some examples from our workshops
During this week, we have discovered different regional good practises that succeeded in greening jobs. Bruxelles-Capitale (B) brought us numerous examples of green actions undertaken in buildings and shops; Flevoland (NL) presented the Floriade project implemented in the city of Almere; Olomouc (CZ) explained the concept of regional branding in order to promote rural areas and their cultural heritage; and with Vienna (A) we discovered the smartest city in Europe for the fourth consecutive year. All presentations are available on AER Summer Schools 2013 website, as well as the final Summer School statement.
Success stories from Sörmland
Öknaskolan Sörmlands Naturbruk: this is an agricultural school specialized in natural resource management and sustainable development. With more than 240 students, this inspiring school is at the frontline of green industry.
City of Eskilstuna: they use a new way to recycle by using optical colour sorting which is able to filter organic food waste and produce biogas.
A short video of this week will be available soon on the AERegions youtube channel.
The region of Vojvodina (SRB) will host the next AER Summer School 2014.
Members of the Summer School Organizing Committee: Azores (P), Bruxelles-Capitale (B), Flevoland (NL), Friuli Venezia Giulia (I), Jönköping (S), Maramures (RO), Olomouc (CZ), Østfold (N), Thurgau (CH), Wallonie (B), Wien (A), Vojvodina (SRB), Mordovia (RUS) and Sörmland (S).
The Assembly of European Regions (AER – aer.eu) is the largest independent network of regions in wider Europe. Bringing nearly 230 regions from 35 countries and 15 interregional organisations, AER is the political voice of its members and a forum for interregional co-operation.
For more information: info@aer.eu
