Polish Ecological Club Pomeranian Branch since November this year implements the project “Baltic Youth’s visions, innovations and initiatives to Green Deal implemented in local communities”. This project received funding from the Project Support Facility (PSF) of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS). Our Partners are: NGO Peipsi Cooperation Center from Tartu, Estonia, Lithuanian Fund for Nature (LGF) from Vilnius and Air Pollution & Climate Secretariat (AirClim) from Gothenburg, Sweden.

The idea of the project is to facilitate the understanding of the Green Deal – a package of European Union policies, and how the principles of such a Green Deal can be applied in everyday life.

The main aim of the project is to encourage young people in the Baltic Sea region to undertake more eco-innovative actions for implementation of the European Green Deal at the level of (and with) local communities. The basis for such involvement is a broadened multidisciplinary knowledge gained in the preliminary steps of the project and exchange of experiences of partnering organizations in further steps.

The project focuses on mobilizing the participation of young people in creating visions of a feasible future (at the scale of households, their surroundings as well as in their future professional work) and scenarios of their realization through appropriate attitudes and skills of choosing solutions. We implement the project in four main, logically related phases together with partners from Sweden, Estonia and Lithuania.

In the last days of November (November 29-30, 2022), as part of the first phase, a two-day kick-off meeting of Partners was held in Gdańsk. The first afternoon we spent visiting Gdańsk and discussing many interesting common issues. Great, warm atmosphere, despite the cold evening, allowed us to get to know each other. The next day, during a working session held at the European Solidarity Centre, we exchanged experiences and worked creatively on jointly developing ways to implement the planned initiatives.

After the initial presentation of Tomasz Rozwadowski (PKE OP President) showing the general idea of the project and intended to inspire participants to creative work during the Meeting with some key questions, the presentations of partners specific activities followed, delivered by:

• Agnieszka Fiszka Borzyszkowska (presentation on Polish Ecological Club Pomeranian Branch activities)
• LFN director – Edmundas Greimas (presentation on the activities of the Lithuanian Fund for Nature)
• LFN project manager – Inga Labutytė-Atkočaitienė (presentation of the youth project about climate actions and Lithuanian Fund for Nature activities)
• project manager – Ederi Ojasoo (presentation of the main activities of the Peipsi Center for Transboundary Cooperation)
• Managing Director of Airclim – Marko Reinikainen (presentation of the scope of activities of Air Pollution & Climate Secretariat)

The second point of the meeting were presentations on the European Green Deal (EGD) seen from the different points of view, and “organizing” somehow our knowledge about the issues to be taken in the project.

• Prof. Marek Rewizorski presented the EGD from the perspective of European law and selected political aspects of its implementation,
• Jacek Lendzion presented the essence of the EGD concept and conditions for practical application on a local scale, as a part of green, pro-ecological modernization of local communities.

In the working part of the meeting, thanks to the workshop conducted by Adrian Michalczuk, it was possible to develop and agree on a common vision of activities in the project (preliminarily planned in the project description at the stage of the application for funding). The discussions were passionate, and allowed us to understand slightly different concepts and needs in individual countries, as well as to develop a “road map” with key conditions for the implementation of subsequent stages. Thanks to the discussion and joint arrangements, we got to know the Partners and their needs in terms of the expected results of the project (attached is the program of the two-day meeting and the posters created as a result of the workshop: project Visio and project stages).

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We are currently working on the formula of a series of 5 multidisciplinary workshops addressed to students. At the same time, we are preparing the “knowledge pills” necessary in the process of workshop work. They deal with four separate but interrelated complexes of issues covered by the Green Deal:

• climate neutrality and energy transition;
• biodiversity and agro-food complex;
• “industrial symbiosis” and the circular economy;
• sustainable mobility and smart cities.

“Knowledge pills” concerning key problems as well as possible eco-innovative solutions in these areas will be signaled on information posters used during the workshops, and their broader references will appear on our platform www.ekoagora.pl based on the knowledge resources and ideas of our experts. We invite them to cooperate!

The workshops will create a unique opportunity for students of various faculties to collaborate creatively on given topics. The exchange of experiences and expanding knowledge in various fields will provide the basis for eco-innovative activities on the scale of individuals, families and local communities. In addition, we expect to work out some contribution to effective methods of promoting pro-environmental attitudes.