Por: Carlos Gentile
We have spoken with the undersecretary of Climate Change and Sustainable Development of the Nation who carried out a competition for novel entrepreneus about sustainable and . conscious growth and outlined some future plans related to this issue . In addition , he put forward some outcomes of the Marrakech conference.
The National Programme of Entrepreneurs for Sustainable Development is developed by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of the Nation. (PROESUS ). Its aim is to detect, promote and strengthen high impact enterprises through the use of new technologies. Among its main objectives the programme highlights the position of entrepreneurial activity as a tool to generate employment and make it easy the access to opportunities. Moreover, it seeks to consolidate and promote a federal web of sustainable entrepreneurs .To achieve this, the programme should encourage the development of local referents in all the provinces and foster an articulation area among the different public and private actors at a national and regional level : entrepreneurs, universities,incubators and accelerators, national, provincial and municipal government, investors and referents – thus promoting civic participation and sustainable development as a substantial part of all the economic situation. As a result of the coordination of all these policies, this programme helps to raise awareness and civic participation as well as makes it easy the articulation between the enterprise sector and the community. Thereby , in the context of PROESUS , a competition was held . It aimed precisely at selecting and promoting the best entrepreneurships in the whole country regarding sustainable development. The winning projects will be awarded the support of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development as well as coaching during their first six months in 2017 that will make it possible for them to continue with the consolidation of their enterprises. In addition, on 16 December of last year the First National Meeting PROESUS was held . Inspirational lectures were delivered and SIMACON ICF was chosen as Ambassador PROESUS 2017. E ngineer Carlos Gentile, undersecretary of Climate Change and Sustainable Development was in charge of the competition and gave details about his recent trip to Marrakesh , where he was part of he Argentine governmental delegation that participated in the Environmental Summit.
What do you think about the results of this First Competition of the National Programme of Entrepreneurs for the Sustainable Development that has just finished ?
It was very successful as more than 300 projects participated in this competition after 3 months of its launch. There were ten sustainable enterprises selected by a interdisciplinary jury made up of technicians, government officials from the Ministry of Modernization, Ministry of Production, Ministry of Science , Technology and Productive Innovation, the Argentine Web of Municipalities facing the Climate Change and the communication agency Emprendi
Did the enterprises involved have to meet certain requirements?
Yes, the participating entrepreneurs had to submit a project of national origin with a development time that should be less than four years .The project had to bring about a a positive environmental impact linked to the following thematic topics: agriculture, water, nutrition, biodiversity, climate change, communication, conservation and natural resources, construction, design , education, energy , flora and fauna, finance, management and urban planning, innovation, mobility, waste, health, soil, computer science, tourism among others. Besides , this impact should aim at the society welfare with a great sense of responsibility. On the other hand, it was necessary to meet certain criteria of technical quality, innovation and creativity, promote team work and take into account technical, practical and economical feasibility for its effective implementation.
There’s an incubation period for the winners of the competition. Can you tell us what it is about ?
The ten winning enterprises were awarded a six-month Incubation Programme. It offers the entrepreneurs the possibility of participating in a pre-acceleration programme which will help them link idea and business opportunity working together with referents of business, technology, marketing, finance and communication among others . The Programme also has a training plan to strengthen those more challenging expertise areas and promote their empowerment through management of knowledge, both theoretical and practical . The aim of the Programme is that all the projects could end up their processes with a web site, brand, prototype, business model and financial projection,working for the strengthening of sustainable development on a cross- cutting basis .
Long-Term Definitions
It’s known that you participated in the COP22 of Marrakech. What’s your overall assessment of the conference?
COP22 enabled the adoption of a work programme to comply with the resolutions of the Agreement of Paris, whose main objective is to keep the rise in temperatures below the two grades with respect to the preindustrial levels. The document paves the way for this historic agreement which will have to be finished by 2018. The COP of the solutions or of the action, as this summit in Marruecos was called, took place after the Agreement of Paris came into force very quickly, and was ratified by more than 100 countries, including Argentina.
What’s Argentina’s contribution in this type of meeting ?
Up to now, Argentina is the only country that has improved and revised its contribution to the climate change (NDC) which was submitted to the COP22. In the Summit and other events that took place during the year, Argentina played a leading role in the climate negotiations and became a vital and constructive actor , holding a key position at a gobal level. Argentina gave up the group of international negotiation in climate change known as Like Minded and nowadays it holds an independent position and participates in all the negotiation talks which Argentina had not previously been part of .
What are the main issues which are still outstanding in our country?
The programme of sustainable development in Argentina is under the scope of the Objectives of Sustainable Development (OSD) agreed on by our country and more than 190 states in the UN. In this context, the economic growth, social inclusion and protection of environment are the key themes on the Agenda 2030 about Sustainable Development in Argentina. Although it’s a challenging task, the country is already working to meet these objectives through the coordinated labour among the different ministries.
What are the objectives that the Under Secretary has set to achieve in 2017?
The National Direction of Climate Change will work on both projects of mitigation and adaptation. It will also work on putting into practice the revision of National Contribution recently submitted to the summit as well as creating a national system of inventories.. They will also work on a National Plan of Adaptation and on a map of climate risk, providing the provinces, local councils and citizens with adequate tools. The Programme of Industrial Reconversion and the National Programme of Sustainable Entrepreneurs will be expanded throughout the country. At the same time, a national strategy of environmental education will be created . The National Direction of Sustainable Development will also work hard to implement the Project of Sustainable Public Purchase.
