“GreenEURproject” – A Targeted Step Toward More Sustainable European Projects
The objectives of the European Union’s Green Deal are shaping not only environmental or industrial policy, but also the implementation of international education, research, and cooperation projects. Increasingly, questions are being raised about how to realistically assess the environmental impact of projects and how to ensure that sustainability principles are not merely declarative. In response to these challenges, the Erasmus+ project “Assess and label the green sustainability of European projects” (GreenEURproject) is being implemented in 2024–2026. Its main objective is to develop a reliable and practically applicable system for assessing the environmental sustainability of European projects.
The project addresses a pressing issue: until now, there has been no unified and clearly structured tool at the European level that would allow for an objective assessment of the environmental impact of different projects. GreenEURproject aims to enable project developers and implementers to plan activities more consciously, apply solutions with lower environmental impact, use resources more efficiently, and contribute to long-term sustainability goals. The project is coordinated by the Université de Lorraine (France), and the partner consortium includes Vytautas Magnus University, Eskişehir Technical University (Turkey), the University of Vigo (Spain), and the European University Foundation.
A key project outcome is the Environmental Impact Calculator. This digital tool enables a structured and systematic assessment of projects’ environmental impact. The partners have agreed on the calculator’s architecture, which includes a general project description, qualitative and quantitative assessment components, and a final evaluation. Based on this evaluation, a project sustainability certificate is automatically generated. During the project’s implementation, solutions were aligned to ensure that the calculator is not only scientifically sound, but also user-friendly and adaptable to different types of projects.
The objectives of GreenEURproject go beyond the development of a technical tool alone. The project seeks to promote a broader change — fostering a culture of sustainability in project planning and implementation processes. By the end of the project, a publicly accessible Environmental Impact Calculator platform will be available, the GreenEUR Label — an environmental sustainability label — will be introduced, and methodological guidelines and recommendations will be prepared for project implementers and institutions. These outputs are expected to provide practical support to organizations striving not only to meet formal requirements, but also to make a genuine contribution to environmental objectives.
An important role in the project is played by the Agriculture Academy of Vytautas Magnus University, where the implementation of GreenEURproject activities is coordinated by the head of the VMU project component, Dr. Dainius Savickas. The team under his leadership actively contributes to the development and refinement of the environmental sustainability assessment methodology, ensuring that the proposed solutions are scientifically grounded and applicable to different types of European projects. The contribution of VMU Agriculture Academy is based on its long-standing scientific and applied experience in sustainable development, environmental protection, and natural resource management. Active participation in the development and testing of environmental sustainability assessment solutions ensures that GreenEURproject results are consistent, comparable, and applicable across diverse project contexts. These activities contribute to overall project quality assurance and strengthen the role of Lithuanian higher education institutions in shaping more sustainable European project implementation practices.
