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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EUtrsfWPM (Europe\'s Transformation: Where People Matter)

Teaser

Summary

The aim of this project was to organise the Austrian presidency event and 4th international Growth in Transition conference â€˜Europeâ€™s Transformation: Where People Matterâ€™ which took place on November 14th and 15th 2018 in Vienna. At the conference, participants and panellist successfully explored alternative economic pathways towards a sustainable way of life. The conference was organised by the Environment Agency Austria (EAA) (Umweltbundesamt GmbH) in close collaboration with the Austrian Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism (abbreviated to Ministry of Environment (MoE)) and the Growth in Transition Steering Committee as well as 31 stakeholder organisations. Political leaders such as the First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, the Austrian Federal Minister for Sustainability and Tourism, Elisabeth KÃ¶stinger, and the Former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, joined this conference. Ground-breaking scientists from Europe such as Kate Raworth and Tim Jackson as well as members of relevant civil society organisations and the private sector joined this conference.
The initiative Growth in Transition, which was launched in 2008 by the Austrian Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism and steered by a group of ten, recruited from EAA, MoE and the Vienna University of Economics and Business, brings together transformation activists and decision makers from politics, science, business and civil society and promotes dialogue and an exchange of perspectives on growth, prosperity and quality of life.
The overall objective of the project was to organise a presidency event that strengthens a multi-stakeholder dialogue in Austria as well as within the EU on ecologically and socially sustainable growth in order to enable the transition towards a resource-efficient and environmentally compatible economy. The aim was to address transformation towards a sustainable society in Europe from a multitude of perspectives. Conference topics included social and distributional aspects of a fair society, the role of business in a low carbon transition, the societal challenge of climate change and digital economy, the implantation of the Paris agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), social and ecological innovation as well as circular economy.

Work performed

The main result achieved was the successful organisation of the Growth in Transition Conference. More than 600 participants including the private sector, research sector, NGOs and public institutions joined the conference. The conference programme was both detailed and broad in scope and featured the most pressing issues regarding sustainability. Strong political impact was ensured by the participation of many relevant stakeholders and high-level politicians. Because of the outstanding project management, a smooth operation during the conference was ensured. Furthermore, the conference was successfully certificated as green event.
The project managed to have broad media coverage, including 9 press releases. The conference was mentioned 62 times in online and print media, both in national and international media outlets.
The most important output of the conference is the Call to Action. This document is addressed to the European Commission and consists of ten recommendations relating to the conference topics. It was handed over to the First Vice-President of the EC, Frans Timmermans, during the closing session of the conference. Another inspiring output of the conference is the so-called â€˜art bookâ€™, that was created during the art session where participants, speakers and politicians participated. Additionally, a conference report summarizing the content of the two-day event was made available online. Another important outcome are the key messages formulated by each parallel session.
The first follow up meetings took place in December 2018 and an March 2019 and further follow up activities are in progress. Together with the GiT stakeholder network and session host, potential future activities were discussed and the organisation of further activities is in progress.

Final results

The uniqueness of the Growth in Transition (GiT) conference of 2018 is rooted both in the high-level political support, as well as in being a â€œtop-downâ€ governmental initiative with its outstanding capability to connect actors from different spheres and backgrounds. Different to other similar projects in the field of sustainability policy and research, GiT is a government initiative, supported of the Federal Minister for Sustainability and Tourism, Elisabeth KÃ¶stinger. Federal Minister KÃ¶stinger did not just call for a continuation of the initiative but even more, for a further intensification in order to set clear signals towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
To have a wider socio-economic impact and foster a holistic approach, it was decided to include actors from all different sectors of society. The conference included participants from academia, business, international organisations, media, public administration, NGOs, political decision-making bodies and the broader public. Citizens from nearly all EU member states as well as speakers from outside the continent participated and had the opportunity to network and share their knowledge.
The idea of a holistic transition towards a more sustainable future was reflected in the thematic diversity of parallel sessions and broad range of topics covered by the conference.
The strength of the 2018 GiT conference lies in its capability to connect different actors and topics as well as the outstanding political support it received in this endeavour. Where the GiT initiative goes beyond this state of art is the range and depth of its holistic approach, as well as the high priority level it was able to base its activities. As a result, the conference increased legitimacy and visibility of a sustainable transition, the awareness of the urgency of such a drastic change, the interconnectivity of the relevant actors in this endeavour and the empowerment of the participants. Due to this encompassing approach to an ecological and social transformation, the Growth in Transition initiative can function as a role model for similar initiatives in other countries.
The increased legitimacy and visibility of the much-needed transition to a sustainable future was achieved by the conference through the aforementioned political support and the resources that the Horizon 2020 programme provided. The initiative Growth in Transition became a top priority of the minister herself and together with the newly obtained resources, the initiative gained high visibility both on a national and international level.
Through its increased legitimacy and visibility as well as the increased size of the conference, more people than before were able to be made aware of the urgency of a sustainable transition. With two thirds of the conferenceâ€™s participants were first-comers, the conference was able to attract new persons.
Another important impact was the empowerment of the participants of the conference, which is reflected in the title of the conference: Europeâ€™s Transformation: Where People matter. Attendees were encouraged to participate in discussions, participatory designed parallel session, artistic activities and a â€˜call to actionâ€™ was formulated.