ECO-TAG

• Project name: ECO_TAG – Achieving Sustainable Culinary Centers

• Project number: 2022-1-ES01-KA220-VET-000085592

• Duration: 01/11/2022-31/01/2025

Climate change and environmental degradation constitute an existential threat to Europe and the rest of the world. Therefore, international efforts are being made at political level to address this challenge and mitigate its consequences, with actions such as environmental labels for sustainable schools. However, these labels do not address the specific nature of VET schools devoted to the HoReCa sector, which require specialised training and special sustainable certification.

The ECO-TAG project focuses on this specific challenge, through the point of view of VET schools devoted to cooking, gastronomy, culinary arts, kitchen management and catering services. It will work to address their environmental impact and their relationship with the food sector. This will allow the generation of specific and general sustainable competences (with the European sustainability framework “Green Comp” as a basis), change behaviours and thus reduce the carbon footprint.

Objectives of the project

• The accessibility and dissemination of international policies on sustainability in the food sector and its relation to VET of qualifications such as cookery, gastronomy.
• To provide training on specific knowledge on sustainability in culinary centres
• Apply the new EU Green Comp Framework to the VET sector on cooking, gastronomy, contributing to the innovation and updating of the education system.
• Validate and certify both the efforts of the culinary centres and the competences acquired by the participants, thanks to a certification system (ECOETIQUETA Erasmus) developed throughout the project, thus guaranteeing the quality of the contents offered and the creation of a certified digital seal for this sector.
• Raising awareness among target audiences of the importance of sustainability and the value of knowing how to pass it on to others.

Outcomes of the project

• Interactive guide on the latest international policies related to sustainability, and ways to implement these policies in training centres in the catering and hospitality sector.
• Micro-credential MOOC course for teachers/trainers with content on sustainability applied in a multidisciplinary way in a culinary centre.
• Certification system and creation of a digital seal for the project content.
• Open and accessible digital platform.