Background information

The National Strategy for Environmental Education (ENEA 2020) was approved by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers 100/2017 of 8 June and was elaborated in articulation with the commitments assumed by Portugal in the field of sustainability, notably in line with the Paris Agreement and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.

Content of measure

The Portuguese National Environmental Education Strategy (ENEA2020) consist of 16 measures framed into three strategic objectives:

• Environmental education, transversal.
• Environmental education, open.
• Environmental education and participation.

These objectives are functional to match the three central pillars of the government's environmental policy: decarbonising society, making the economy circular and valuing the territory. The strategy uses training and communication campaigns to inform citizens, students and workers about the importance of these topics.

In particular, measure no. 9 covers training for professionals employed in specific sectors with the aim to promote environmental and sustainable awareness. The measure also promotes professional internships for technicians in the environmental area.

The training programme is available for:

• Direct, indirect and autonomous administrations
• Institutions from state business sector
• Municipalities
• Educational establishments
• Universities and similar
• Research centres
• Companies, regardless of their legal form
• Associations and foundations
• Non-governmental environmental organisations and similar

The measure is supported by the Institute of Employment and Professional Training, Directorate-General for Economic Activities, Portuguese Environment Agency, Commissions for the regional coordination and development (CCDR), Businesses.

Within the framework of ENEA2020, Ordinance 292/2024 of 16 February established the amount of €1,5 million to support Environmental Education projects for 2023 and 2024 (€300 thousand and €1,2 million, respectively). A specific financing item for the development of ENEA 2020 will be ensured, with co-financing rates between 70% to 95%, with maximum co-financing up to €50 thousand per application.

In addition, the thematic Operational Programme for 'Sustainability and Efficiency in the Use of Resources (PO SEUR)' (2014-2020) will guarantee the opening of specific notices aimed at supporting environmental education and awareness actions provided for in ENEA 2020, with an estimated total allocation of €13.7 million.

Use of measure

Between 2017 and 2020, 10 calls for proposals were published covering different environmental topics and integrating the three thematic areas: Enhancing the Territory; Decarbonising Society and Making the Economy Circular.

The 10 calls for proposals published received a total of 883 applications, of which 167 were funded.

The funding provided by the Environmental Fund for these 167 projects cost €6.4 million.

A further 58 projects were supported under the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficiency in the Use of Resources (Programa Operacional Sustentabilidade e Eficiência no Uso de Recursos - POSEUR), totalling €13.7 million. Overall, without calculating the multiplier effects of these projects, public investment in environmental education during this period exceeded €20 million for a total of 225 projects.

More recently, with notice 5815/2024/2 - Educação Ambiental: Laboratório de Cidadania 2023, 268 applications were received, of which a total of 265 proposals were considered eligible. However, after ranking them by merit and given the available budget, only 36 applications could be funded. As a result, the Environmental Fund financed 36 applications, with a total of €1.5 million, leaving 229 eligible applications without funding due to a lack of budgetary allocation.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Other social actors (e.g. NGOs) Public support service providers	European Funds National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

Unknown

Views and reactions

Unknown

Sources

• 11 July 2017: Resolution of Council of Ministers 100/2017 of 11 July (dre.pt)
• 25 September 2021: Relatório ENEA 2020 (apambiente.pt)
• 27 July 2022: Aviso 14199/2022 - ENEA “Educação Ambiental + Transversal + Aberta + Participada 2022 (enea.apambiente.pt)
• 10 October 2022: ENEA2020, website (enea.apambiente.pt)
• 16 February 2024: Ordinance 292/2024 of 16 February (diariodarepublica.pt)
• 18 March 2024: Aviso 5815/2024/2 - Educação Ambiental: Laboratório de Cidadania 2023