ACROSS: Aligning public and CoRpOrate Sustainability goals
Project
The European Green Deal aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. Many actors are key to achieving sustainability goals at European level, such as cities and businesses. Local authorities face the challenges of climate change and make enormous efforts for adaptation and mitigation, as well as for the conservation of natural values, ecosystem services and biodiversity. Decision makers are committed to achieving the EU's ambitious goals by setting meaningful sustainability targets, as well as interventions and measures accordingly in urban development policies. The ecological crisis has brought attention to the need for greater socially responsible behavior by the public and private sectors. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept whereby companies voluntarily integrate social and environmental concerns into their core business operations.
Project in the Grant Agreement processing phase
Partnership
City Alba Iulia (Romania - network coordinator)
EDC Debrecen Urban and Economic Development Center (Hungary)
BURST Nonprofit Limited Liability Company (Hungary)
City of Kekava (Latvia)
Razvojna agencija Sjever – DAN (Croatia)
City of Milan
City of Hannut (Belgium)
Aims
Align public and corporate sustainability objectives and establish long-term strategic cooperation between economic actors and local authorities of participating regions, inspired by an effective inter-regional knowledge exchange process
Actions
The Municipality of Milan, as a partner, is called upon to support a collaboration with stakeholders and businesses in the Milan area aimed at co-creating a strategic process that leads local actors to contribute to the development of the Municipality's sustainability objectives, through the creation of innovative forms of collaboration between the public and private sectors to achieve the objectives of the Air Climate Plan with particular reference to the Climate Alliance, as a strategic framework of collaboration between the private sector and the city in which to achieve the objectives of decarbonisation, air quality and climate neutrality.
Participation in the ACROSS project is also consistent with the programmatic mandate lines contained in the Single Programming Document 2023-2025 which in Mission 8 indicates the implementation of urban regeneration interventions among the Administration's aims, giving priority to the related aspects to the quality of living in the different areas of the city, with particular attention to the implementation of temporary projects through tactical urban planning interventions, supporting their implementation in public spaces, with the aim of experimenting with new redevelopment approaches at low costs.
Expected results
The implementation of these interventions contributes not only to the improvement of citizens' well-being but, in the long term, also to the improvement of air quality, the reduction of air pollution, the prevention of climate change, the transition towards an "emission-free" city zero”, in pursuit of the objectives of the aforementioned Air Climate Plan.
Thanks to the ''ACROSS- Aligning public and CoRpOrate Sustainability goalS” project, the Municipality of Milan is called to participate in meetings, project tables and city visits, benefiting from the exchange of experiences and good practices between the partners in order to improve the own policy instrument and develop small-scale pilot actions within the city.
Press releases
1) Title: Promoting CSR Initiatives Through the ACROSS Project
Subtitle: Interreg Europe ”ACROSS” project launched for the improvement of local development policies by establishing long-term cooperation between economic actors and local authorities
The ACROSS project was officially launched during an online kick-off meeting, hosted by the Lead Partner, Alba Iulia Municipality, on April 18th. The event brought together project partners to outline and discuss the project's framework and goals. The kick-off meeting stimulated a live exchange of regional perspectives and purposes, enabling participants to share ambitions and territorial insights about the project's common objectives.
The topics covered were the project, financial and communication management, methodology, and workstreams for the next three years. The importance of the Thematic Expert Team (TET) was emphasized for advancing public-private partnerships and enhancing local Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
During the 3 years, Alba Iulia Municipality with seven partners will be working together to achieve the project's objectives: EDC Debrecen Urban and Economic Development Center (HU); BURST Nonprofit Limited Liability Company (HU); Kekava Municipality Local Government (LV); North Development Agency (HR); Municipality of Milan (IT); City of Hannut (BE); University of Liège (BE).
The European Green Deal has set a target of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. To this end, a collaborative effort involving various actors, such as cities and enterprises, is necessary to achieve sustainability targets at the EU level. Furthermore, regulatory incentives, including the taxonomy regulation, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), will require designated companies to publish non-financial reports on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability.
In light of these challenges, the ACROSS project aims to align public and corporate sustainability goals by establishing long-term cooperation between economic actors and local authorities. The project seeks to enhance local development policies to mitigate the effects of climate change, promote responsible use of natural resources, and achieve the EU's carbon neutrality goals by 2050. To achieve this objective, the project is establishing a comprehensive interregional learning process that incorporates study visits and knowledge exchange sessions. The primary aim of this process is to acquire an in-depth understanding of the local situations of the partners, identify common obstacles, and gain inspiration from the best practices showcased by the partners. Through these sessions, the partners can learn from each other, share their experiences, and discover innovative solutions to the challenges they face. As a result, ACROSS and its partners can improve their local policies and achieve their goals more effectively.
The ACROSS project promises to be a cornerstone for promoting the concept of CSR for the benefit of communities.
Total project budget: 1,535,424.00 Euros
Interreg Funds: 1,188,178.20 Euros
Total partner contribution: 347,245.80 Euros
Implementation period: 01 April 2024 – 30 June 2028
Useful links
Link to the EU SITE page of the ACROSS project: https://www.interregeurope.eu/across/news-and-events/news/promoting-csr-initiatives-through-the-across-project