Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environmental Affairs allocates 68 million euros to boosting job creation and the green economy

The minister also presented the new call for proposals for subsidies for this year, with an allocation of 8.9 million euros. In total, the ministerial department plans to allocate 68 million euros between now and 2023 in supporting green jobs through Programa Empleaverde.

Isabel García Tejerina highlighted that "this department addresses different matters and we implement policies that fundamentally seek to foster the competitiveness of our economy, creating jobs and caring for and protecting the environment. Programa Empleaverde is one of our initiatives to achieve this" and has exemplified these policies through this programme, which in its 2017 edition alone has led to the creation of 500 jobs and the training of some 14,000 people.

Commitment to jobs and green entrepreneurship

During the event, the minister stressed her commitment to jobs and green entrepreneurship to representatives of the 69 beneficiary projects of the 2017 subsidies, which were awarded to 62 entities. Isabel García Tejerina highlighted her department's commitment to "boosting Programa Empleaverde with the aim of creating 4,800 jobs, training 24,000 workers and supporting 3,000 companies and thus, together, caring for our environment and promoting a circular, sustainable, low carbon-emission economy".

Among the institutions that took part in the event, the Fundación Oso Pardo [Brown Bear Foundation] stressed its commitment to the "development of eco-tourism related to the presence of brown bears, improving the skills of 225 workers in the bear-related tourism sector", and the Santa María la Real Foundation undertook to "create 50 jobs and improve the employability of 165 unemployed people in sectors of the green economy through social innovation".

These are just two of the commitments of the 62 entities that will implement these projects, who have stressed their commitment and placed this on a symbolic mural in which each one has written out the actions that they are going to carry out thanks to these subsidies under Programa Empleaverde.

The projects to be implemented are focused on agriculture, with initiatives aimed at ecological and sustainable agriculture and livestock farming, in such specific crops as citrus fruits, apples and chestnuts, and forestry management. Fishing and aquaculture are also present, as well as projects related to the marine environment to fight waste at sea, or linked to the blue economy, for example, to foster sustainable coastal tourism, improve port management and the conservation of coastal salt waters.

Food and the agri-food sector also play a leading role and projects will be developed aimed at restaurants, fishmongers and establishments that prepare, distribute and sell ecological products.

Other projects are linked to the environment and related economic sectors. Accordingly, initiatives will be undertaken linked to energy saving and efficiency, transport, sustainable mobility, renewable energies, waste management and the development of the circular economy. Many of them are focused on the rural environment, sparsely populated areas and protected natural spaces.

Calls for proposals for subsidies until 2023

The minister placed great emphasis on the figures from Programa Empleaverde, which in its previous cycle committed 45 million euros and helped finance 300 projects, collaborate with 500 organisations and reach 1.3 million end users, creating 2,600 companies and lines of business in economic sectors tied to the environment.

"Fortunately, this work does not end here", stressed the minister; "it is just one of the rounds of subsidies which this ministerial department will put out on an annual basis within the framework of Programa Empleaverde until 2023". In total, this programme plans to allocate 68 million euros to 2013 with the aim of supporting more than 50,000 end users, 3,000 companies and training 24,000 people.

Of these 68 million euros, more than 10 million will be allocated to boosting the blue economy. The goal is to create 600 jobs and support 400 companies, as well as to train 3,200 people in their work related to the sea. All of this seeks to enhance the value of the potential offered by the marine Red Natura 2000 which "we should feel particularly proud of in Spain", underlined the minister.

An opportunity for priority groups

The minister took the opportunity to congratulate those entities which, as well as having the chance to boost the green economy, will offer opportunities to young people, women, residents in protected areas or in natural or rural areas.

Programa Empleaverde, co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF), seeks to create jobs, increase skills and the qualifications of workers and support the creation and consolidation of companies in the green and blue economies.

Since 2001, the Bio-Diversity Foundation has been the intermediary body of the ESF, taking part in the Business Initiative and Continuous Training Programme (2000- 2006) and the Adaptability and Employment Programme (2007-2013). This is the first call for proposals which the ministerial department has put out, on an annual basis, through the Bio-Diversity Foundation within the framework of Programa Empleaverde for the period 2017-2023 under the ESF's Operational Programme for Employment (Spanish acronym: POEFE), Training and Education.

Non official translation