The CARE project on responsible consumption at the University of Fürtwangen

Students and teachers of the University of Fürtwangen (Germany) from different specialties of "International Business" degrees have received, during the month of April, training on the project of the Erasmus + Program CARE, coordinated by University of Malaga (UMA). During this presentation, the main actions and recommendations for a more conscious and responsible consumption model, have been shown, since the acronym CARE corresponds to the expression "Consumer Awareness for Responsibility towards the Environment".

The college professor of Business Organization of the UMA, Ana María Castillo, coordinator of the project, has been in charge for delivering this training in which emphasis has been placed on the impact of the consumerism on the health of the planet, both in environmental and in cultural, social, labour rights and equality issues. Among the topics discussed were concerns related to the progress towards the circular economy, such as the reduction of excessive use of materials, the optimization of water and energy use, natural food, sustainable fashion or low-impact mobility. CARE aims, in addition to educating in responsible consumption, to promote good practices and encourage the development of sustainable businesses, thanks to citizen awareness to consume more consciously, that will be an incentive for the development of businesses aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations.

Together with the University of Malaga, the CARE consortium is composed of 6 entities from four European countries: the University of Aveiro (Portugal), the CPIA adult education center in Lecce (Italy), the Institut de Haute Formation aux Politiques Communautaires IHF in Brussels (Belgium), IDP European Consultants, from Italy, as well as the Spanish companies Internet Web Solutions and RSC Talent 2016. Among the intellectual outputs of CARE, there are REA-CARE, an OER platform for the dissemination of training and information on responsible consumption and the visualization of the project results; CARE Knowledge, a virtual community to share experiences, advances in research, good practices and success stories; Edu-CARE, a set of training and awareness-raising courses on consumption in food, mobility, clothing and resource use; and PROMOBIZ, a responsible business forum from which to collect and evaluate business initiatives from the perspective of sustainability.