The press tour was held on 26-27 October 2022 with visits to enterprises.
This event aimed to raise the awareness of SMEs on the benefits of eco-innovation and sustainable production. It did so by bringing journalists to visit 4 enterprises that have already taken steps towards greening their value chains, thereby providing examples, best practices and lessons learned for other interested businesses. These visits and interactions with company representatives enabled to produce newspaper articles and social media content, while also improving the overall capacity of journalists and influencers on communicating about topics related to a green economy.
The tour was an opportunity for national and local authorities to highlight what measures they have in place/in the pipeline to further motivate businesses to seek green, innovative solutions that will strengthen their market position and competitiveness in the long-term.
Participants
The press tour was attended by representatives of Georgian small and medium enterprises, business associations, national and local experts on mass media, social media influencers, as well as representatives of UNEP.
Background
Within EU4Environment, UNEP, alongside the Environmental Information and Education Centre (EIEC) and the Global Compact Network Georgia (GCNG) supported an assessment of key sectors for eco-innovative potential, in accordance with UNEP’s Eco-innovation methodology. The analysis concluded that the agriculture and hospitality sectors have some of the highest potential for promoting eco-innovative approaches in the country, based on the sectors’ greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, as well as growth and export trends, inter alia. UNEP and GCNG have since launched a national call for proposals to select 8 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from these priority sectors, to receive technical advisory services on their eco-innovation potential and to develop a roadmap for the implementation of eco-innovative practices and technologies.