The conference "Green Economy: Cooperative Society" was organized on Friday, June 1st, at the EU Info Center in Belgrade. This conference was organized by the GEF - Green European Foundation in cooperation with foundations Sunrise from Macedonia and Networked from Serbia, and with the financial support of the European Parliament for the Green European Foundation.
The conference presented the results of research in the field of green economy conducted in 2017 in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Serbia, as part of the project "Revision of the economy in the Balkans: changing public policy, not climate" and included two discussions about potential for green economy and decentralized alternative like cooperatives in the area of waste management, agriculture and energy production.
Aleksandar Gjorgjievski from the Sunrise Association from Macedonia presented the research in all three countries included specific policy sectors such as: energy production and energy efficiency; green construction; innovation and science; green public procurement; sustainable transport; sustainable agriculture; ecotourism; land and water management; and a special emphasis is placed on new green business models. These areas and thematic guidelines have been selected in accordance with the overall project methodology, as well as with the current initiatives of the green economy policy at the EU and the world level, said Gjorgjievski.
Milos Stancic from the Networked, as one of the researchers in this project, presented the findings of policy research in the context of green economies. “The main conclusion of the research is that Serbia needs to adapt its policies with the ones from EU, and it is a costly transition, but on the other hand a necessary one. Research shows that the biggest potential for new, green jobs lies in green energy, waste management and sustainable agriculture. It is necessary to invest more resources in scientific and research work, and better cross-sectoral cooperation in the creation of public policies is needed”, said Milos Stančić.
The research has shown tremendous potential for the development of the green economy, and researchers propose, as some of the solutions for further development, bottom-up economic initiatives, a local economy in the form of small and medium-sized enterprises and cooperatives as a way of providing products and services.
During the conference, the first of the two panels discussed how to start a green business in the region with a special focus on Serbia. The panel was moderated by Violeta Jovanov Peštanac from the Association "Networked".
Jelena Plavanski, the head of the Center for Technology Development and Environmental Protection from Belgrade Chamber of Commerce said that from her experience, the companies in Serbia are aware that they need to start thinking in a green way, but that there are still a large number of them who are looking at this transformation merely as an expense. “Local, small and medium enterprises recognize the need for green standards, especially in the process of finding the way to international markets. The key is education and Serbia need to develop programs for green entrepreneurship and green jobs in middle schools and at universities”, Jelena pointed out.
Ivana Marković donation manager from the Trag Foundation presented the Green Ideas program, that is a regional initiative that gathers partner foundations from Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and for six years supports green entrepreneurial ideas in these countries. “From our experience, it is important to emphasize the bottom-up approach, as well as the use of local resources, local knowledge and experiences, and at the same time development of the awareness of environmental protection.” Marković stated.
The second panel discussed green cooperatives as innovative economic forms. The moderator of this panel was political coordinator of the project, Iva Markovic from the PolEkol organization. Zoran Kordić from the Green Energy Cooperative from Croatia, Ana Svilar from Green Mind Consulting from Pancevo and Kristina Cvejanov from the Serbian Association of Recyclers of Packaging Waste, were speakers on this panel.
Iva Markovic made the introduction into the topic and highlighted democratic management of the cooperatives, exchange of knowledge and trainings as well as cross-cooperative cooperation. “We talk a lot about cooperatives when talking about green economy, but it is important to emphasize that for our region it is not a new form of economy. In the former Yugoslavia, cooperatives, together with commons, were an integral part of the ideal of self-government. It was an idea that people can, together, close the loop of production, consumption and needs of one community.”, underlined Iva.
The expert for green cooperatives in the area of agriculture, Ana Svilar said that the Law on Cooperatives that exists in Serbia is limiting the development and does not recognize all forms of association of products, labor and services that exist at the EU level. “Cooperatives should be motivated through financial support, and I am convinced that association is the only way to develop sustainable agriculture”, stated Ana Svilar of Green Mind Consulting from Pancevo.
Zoran Kordić from the Green Energy Cooperative Croatia (Zelena energetska kooperativa – ZEZ) presented an inspiring model of civic energy cooperative, where citizens play an active role in moving to renewable energy sources. ZEZ is a member of european energy cooperative association RESCoop and Energy Cities Initiative. Mr. Kordić presented the most recent project of ZEZ. “It took as a week to crowdsource money for solar panels for a green hub in Croatia, and it is a second project that we did as a first cooperative of this kind in our country. At the beginning we tried to advocate for green energy and work with policy – makers but it was too slow. For us, what worked best is bottom – up approach and small, almost rebellion initiatives where we showed directly how can it be done. We hope that decision – makers get the message” said Zoran in his speech.
Kristina Cvejanov president of the Serbian Association of Recyclers of Packaging Waste talked about cooperatives in the field of waste management in Serbia, the previous experiences and problems that are present in that area. "In the last ten years, there were a lot of bad practice in this field. Currently in Serbia, there are around 30.000 informal waste pickers, that collect waste, illegally, and there is a need to introduce them into legal system, provide them with means for work and essential social and work benefits. Cooperatives are a logical solution for this problem. Unfortunately, cooperatives in the field of waste management were only misused and there is no single positive example in Serbia. That led us to the point where nobody thinks that it is possible. There is a great deal of education needed for us to perceive the cooperatives as something of our own and to restore confidence in this form of economy," said Cvejanov.
Conclusion of the conference was that, for the green economy to develop, we need to educate existing companies about sustainable business practice, as well as young people to inspire them to start a new, green businesses. All participants agreed that green economy is the future and that the key for its development is cooperation combined with improved policies that support this kind of economy.
The conference presented the results of research in the field of green economy conducted in 2017 in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Serbia, as part of the project "Revision of the economy in the Balkans: changing public policy, not climate" and included two discussions about potential for green economy and decentralized alternative like cooperatives in the area of waste management, agriculture and energy production.
Aleksandar Gjorgjievski from the Sunrise Association from Macedonia presented the research in all three countries included specific policy sectors such as: energy production and energy efficiency; green construction; innovation and science; green public procurement; sustainable transport; sustainable agriculture; ecotourism; land and water management; and a special emphasis is placed on new green business models. These areas and thematic guidelines have been selected in accordance with the overall project methodology, as well as with the current initiatives of the green economy policy at the EU and the world level, said Gjorgjievski.
Milos Stancic from the Networked, as one of the researchers in this project, presented the findings of policy research in the context of green economies. “The main conclusion of the research is that Serbia needs to adapt its policies with the ones from EU, and it is a costly transition, but on the other hand a necessary one. Research shows that the biggest potential for new, green jobs lies in green energy, waste management and sustainable agriculture. It is necessary to invest more resources in scientific and research work, and better cross-sectoral cooperation in the creation of public policies is needed”, said Milos Stančić.
The research has shown tremendous potential for the development of the green economy, and researchers propose, as some of the solutions for further development, bottom-up economic initiatives, a local economy in the form of small and medium-sized enterprises and cooperatives as a way of providing products and services.
During the conference, the first of the two panels discussed how to start a green business in the region with a special focus on Serbia. The panel was moderated by Violeta Jovanov Peštanac from the Association "Networked".
Jelena Plavanski, the head of the Center for Technology Development and Environmental Protection from Belgrade Chamber of Commerce said that from her experience, the companies in Serbia are aware that they need to start thinking in a green way, but that there are still a large number of them who are looking at this transformation merely as an expense. “Local, small and medium enterprises recognize the need for green standards, especially in the process of finding the way to international markets. The key is education and Serbia need to develop programs for green entrepreneurship and green jobs in middle schools and at universities”, Jelena pointed out.
Ivana Marković donation manager from the Trag Foundation presented the Green Ideas program, that is a regional initiative that gathers partner foundations from Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and for six years supports green entrepreneurial ideas in these countries. “From our experience, it is important to emphasize the bottom-up approach, as well as the use of local resources, local knowledge and experiences, and at the same time development of the awareness of environmental protection.” Marković stated.
The second panel discussed green cooperatives as innovative economic forms. The moderator of this panel was political coordinator of the project, Iva Markovic from the PolEkol organization. Zoran Kordić from the Green Energy Cooperative from Croatia, Ana Svilar from Green Mind Consulting from Pancevo and Kristina Cvejanov from the Serbian Association of Recyclers of Packaging Waste, were speakers on this panel.
Iva Markovic made the introduction into the topic and highlighted democratic management of the cooperatives, exchange of knowledge and trainings as well as cross-cooperative cooperation. “We talk a lot about cooperatives when talking about green economy, but it is important to emphasize that for our region it is not a new form of economy. In the former Yugoslavia, cooperatives, together with commons, were an integral part of the ideal of self-government. It was an idea that people can, together, close the loop of production, consumption and needs of one community.”, underlined Iva.
The expert for green cooperatives in the area of agriculture, Ana Svilar said that the Law on Cooperatives that exists in Serbia is limiting the development and does not recognize all forms of association of products, labor and services that exist at the EU level. “Cooperatives should be motivated through financial support, and I am convinced that association is the only way to develop sustainable agriculture”, stated Ana Svilar of Green Mind Consulting from Pancevo.
Zoran Kordić from the Green Energy Cooperative Croatia (Zelena energetska kooperativa – ZEZ) presented an inspiring model of civic energy cooperative, where citizens play an active role in moving to renewable energy sources. ZEZ is a member of european energy cooperative association RESCoop and Energy Cities Initiative. Mr. Kordić presented the most recent project of ZEZ. “It took as a week to crowdsource money for solar panels for a green hub in Croatia, and it is a second project that we did as a first cooperative of this kind in our country. At the beginning we tried to advocate for green energy and work with policy – makers but it was too slow. For us, what worked best is bottom – up approach and small, almost rebellion initiatives where we showed directly how can it be done. We hope that decision – makers get the message” said Zoran in his speech.
Kristina Cvejanov president of the Serbian Association of Recyclers of Packaging Waste talked about cooperatives in the field of waste management in Serbia, the previous experiences and problems that are present in that area. "In the last ten years, there were a lot of bad practice in this field. Currently in Serbia, there are around 30.000 informal waste pickers, that collect waste, illegally, and there is a need to introduce them into legal system, provide them with means for work and essential social and work benefits. Cooperatives are a logical solution for this problem. Unfortunately, cooperatives in the field of waste management were only misused and there is no single positive example in Serbia. That led us to the point where nobody thinks that it is possible. There is a great deal of education needed for us to perceive the cooperatives as something of our own and to restore confidence in this form of economy," said Cvejanov.
Conclusion of the conference was that, for the green economy to develop, we need to educate existing companies about sustainable business practice, as well as young people to inspire them to start a new, green businesses. All participants agreed that green economy is the future and that the key for its development is cooperation combined with improved policies that support this kind of economy.
