“We want to enable many organisations with the Synergy Audit methodology, that bridges knowledge about European and global environmental standards, circular economy, environmental quality management, environmental law, global directives like the Paris Agreement and the UN 17 SDGs, history of the environmental movement toward law, energy audits as well as teaching pedagogic for further mediation and adoption in one’s own company and organisation. The outcomes for companies and organisations can be many, such as legal and regulatory compliance, resource savings, economic savings, and the ability to prepare for environmental certification, such as EMAS or ISO 14001,” says Eleonora Bru, head of the Synergy Audit ERASMUS+ project.
You can use all theSynergy Audit open source materials
Eleonora Bru is head of One Planet, a NGO based in Sweden that works on the elaboration and dissemination of tools to reduce negative climate and environmental impacts through an interdisciplinary method in collaboration with multidisciplinary organizations on a global scale and for global benefit. One Planet is the project leading organisation within the Synergy Audit ERASMUS+ project.
Suvi Holm is the CEO of EcoFellows Ltd, a non-profit company based in Finland that works on local, regional, national and international level promoting sustainable development. EcoFellows is a partner within the Synergy Audit ERASMUS+ project.
Antonis Foukaras is EU Project Manager and Researcher at CARDET, an independent, non-profit, research and development organization based in Cyprus, with partners around the world. CARDET is one of the leading institutions in the Euro-Mediterranean region for research and development. CARDET’s mission is to inspire next generation education, and to promote research, innovation, and development through evidence-based practices, cutting-edge research, and empowered people. CARDET is a partner within the Synergy Audit ERASMUS+ project.
Synergy Audit project is co-funded through the ERASMUS+ KA2 EU fund. The involved partner organisations are CARDET, Comune di Ravenna, CRES, EcoFellows Ltd, One Planet, Provincia di Parma and SERN. Together they are bridging Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Italy and Sweden.
Sebastian Klemm: With Synergy Audit you are offering a free of charge methodology that innovates environmental audit implementation. What is the novelty of your Synergy Audit interdisciplinary approach?
Eleonora Bru: We apply an interdisciplinary approach within our Synergy Audit methodology, because we want to provide participants with holistic knowledge and profound understanding of why environmental audits are relevant and how they relate to the global climatic perspective that we are all a part of.
Through our Synergy Audit interdisciplinary approach, we want to help decrease negative environmental impacts of course. To achieve that, our methodology – which involves an E-learning tool, a guideline, booklets, scholarly article and the elaboration of an online course – bridges knowledge about European and global environmental standards, circular economy, environmental quality management, environmental law, global directives like the Paris Agreement and the UN 17 SDGs, history of the environmental movement toward law, energy audits as well as teaching pedagogic for further mediation and adoption in one’s own organisation.
Sebastian Klemm: On 22 August you are inviting private, public and NGO organisations on global level to attend an online Synergy Audit Workshop Event. What can interested participants expect?
Eleonora Bru: In the free online workshop on 22 August 2022, 1:00-2:30pm CEST, we provide an opportunity to explore the Synergy Audit tools first hand – including the E-learning tool and guideline.
We want to enable many organisations with the Synergy Audit methodology, that bridges knowledge about European and global environmental standards, circular economy, environmental quality management, environmental law, global directives like the Paris Agreement and the UN 17 SDGs, history of the environmental movement toward law, energy audits as well as teaching pedagogic for further mediation and adoption in one’s own company and organisation. The outcomes for companies and organisations can be many, such as legal and regulatory compliance, resource savings, economic savings, and the ability to prepare for environmental certification, such as EMAS or ISO 14001.
Online event October 13, 2022:Learn how you can use the results of the Synergy Audit project for reducing environmental impacts in your organisation.
Sebastian Klemm: How can Synergy Audit help SMEs, municipalities, NGOs and any organisation to overcome resource hindrances in reaching towards environmental certification?
Eleonora Bru: An Environmental Management System (EMS) is seen by most organisations as something beneficial to implement. Many organizations today are already certified to environmental standards in order to operate strategically and effectively and reduce the negative environmental impact of their operations. However, there are many more organizations that want to be certified but lack resources, such as knowledge and structures.
The Synergy Audit tools, created by Synergy Audit partner organizations, were developed with the goal of bridging the gap of these resource barriers for organizations, thereby enabling many more organizations to work strategically and effectively with their environmental management system (EMS) and internal environmental audits within their EMS.
In addition, Synergy Audit tools are designed to address today’s challenges through methods for practical implementation in organizations by focusing on the Paris Agreement, the United Nations’ 17 SDGs, waste, resources, and a holistic understanding of the circular economy.
In the end, we want people who use the tools to feel inspired and motivated to act, and provide them with a deep reasoning.
Sebastian Klemm: What in particular makes Synergy Audit special?
Eleonora Bru: All of what the involved partner organisations have been and are creating – the E-learning tool, the teaching & train-the-trainer tool – is open access and free of charge. We understand that on one hand there are many organisations on global and European level, who would really like to work more effectively and more integrated with environmental standards. On the other hand there are ISO and EMAS standards that require a lot of resources to be able to be audited towards and to get a certification.
Synergy Audit has been designed to provide:
- an overview perspective on environmental management system
- zooming into environmental auditing – as part of a environmental managament system
- enabling learners to transfer knowledge to their organisational level
- facilitating learners to educate others about environmental management systems
Many organisations want to be certified, because it can be very helpful for them also economically to acquire and keep customers, but they feel that the road to get there is quite long. By that, Synergy Audit can support SMEs and organisations to decrease the time for getting ready for their certification.
Eleonora Bru, One Planet NGO
Suvi Holm: Synergy Audit highlights the core concept of circularity and the circular economy, and how it may be integrated along all the tasks of an organisation and company. Synergy Audit integrates circularity, energy efficiancy and environmental management altogether.
To increase operationality of EU and global sustainability directives, information should be suitable for everyone. That is why our methodology and E-learning tool and game can be very useful.
Our E-learning tool helps to understand how relevant issues – set out in directives – can be tackled and integrated practically into the actual everyday processes of an organisation and generate an impact.
Suvi Holm, Eco Fellows Ltd.
Antonis Foukaras: With Synergy Audit we aim to educate the staff in SMEs and various types of organisations about environmental audits through our digital E-learning tool, which goes beyond the traditional topical navigation.
Nowadays, energy- and environmental audits in SMEs have become important topics. Our goal is that more and more ogranisations and SMEs adopt such audits and leverage them for their improvements.
Synergy Audit mediates knowledge and examples in inspiring ways, for example through a gamified scenario in a simulation game. It provides learning in a fun way, since we aim to reach many people, which is easily made possible with our digital education format. This way, we can disseminate the environmental audit training across European countries and even on international level.
Antonis Foukaras, CARDET
You can use all theSynergy Audit open source materials