Guide: Sustainability

Economically sustainable projects create jobs, strengthen local business development, and use resources efficiently .

✅ Examples of initiatives:

• Support for local businesses : Develop products or services that benefit the local economy.
• Circular economy : Reuse materials and minimize waste.
• Collaboration : Create collaboration between businesses, associations, and public actors.
• Long-term financing : Ensure that the project's effects continue after the support period.

📝 Real-life examples:
A farm starts a farm café with local ingredients and collaborates with nearby producers to create a shorter supply chain.

Environmentally sustainable projects use natural resources responsibly and reduce negative environmental impact .

✅ Examples of initiatives:

• Energy savings : Install solar panels, reduce electricity consumption, or use sustainable building materials.
• Biodiversity : Plant meadow flowers, preserve natural areas, or promote organic farming.
• Sustainable travel : Promote public transport, bike-friendly solutions, or carpooling.
• Waste and reuse : Reduce waste, reuse materials, and use recyclable products.

📝 Real-life examples:
A project establishes a nature trail with information about biodiversity and training in sustainable tourism.

Write briefly:
✔ What sustainability initiatives the project is undertaking (social, economic, environmental).
✔ How the project impacts participants, the community, and the environment in the long term.
✔ If there are collaborations or measures that strengthen sustainability efforts.

🌱 TIPS: You don’t need to come up with something new – often you are already making sustainable efforts! Write concretely what you are doing and how .

📞 Questions? Contact us and we will help you!

Once you have mapped what you are doing today, think about how the project can strengthen this work .

📌 Questions to ask yourself:

1️⃣ Social sustainability: How does the project benefit the local community and inclusion?
2️⃣ Economic sustainability: How does the project create long-term benefits for the economy and employment?
3️⃣ Environmental sustainability: How does the project reduce its impact on the environment?

📌 Example:

• Social sustainability: The project creates a meeting place where young and old can socialize and learn from each other.
• Economic sustainability: The project strengthens local production through collaboration between producers and restaurants.
• Environmental sustainability: The project only uses reused materials in constructions.

Now you can start identifying opportunities to strengthen and develop sustainability work through the project.

✅ Questions to explore:

• Can we collaborate with more actors to strengthen sustainability?
• Are there new ways to reduce environmental impact?
• How can we include more groups in the project?
• Can we use the project to test new sustainable solutions?

📌 Example:
💡 A festival wants to reduce its climate impact . Instead of disposable items, they introduce a system with reusable cups.

💡 An association is building a new venue . They are reviewing energy use and installing solar panels to reduce their climate impact.

A sustainable project creates long-term change – even after the project is completed.

✅ Checklist for sustainability:
🔲 Are the sustainable solutions long-term or one-time efforts?
🔲 How can we finance sustainable efforts even after the project's end?
🔲 Can we create a structure to continue working with sustainability?

📌 Example:
🏡 A Leader project creates a local market for small-scale producers . After the project's end, the actors form an economic association to continue running the business.

🌱 A network for sustainable agriculture educates local farmers in regenerative farming. After the project's end, the network continues to share knowledge through workshops and social media.

When you describe sustainability in the application, be concrete and avoid general statements like ”We work with sustainability.”.

✅ Instead, write like this:
🚫 ”We will work sustainably in the project.”
✅ ”We will reduce waste by only using reclaimed building materials and engaging youth in sustainable renovation methods.”

📌 Example of a strong description:
”Through the project, we will reduce food waste by collaborating with local producers and cooking with surplus vegetables. This will become a permanent part of our operations through education and local collaborations.”