Erasmus+ · Cooperation partnership in adult education
Sustain_Ability
Sustainability is decided on the shop floor, not only in the boardroom. We are building the training that lets small and medium companies act on it — and training the trainers who will deliver it.
Event · 22 October 2026 · Bratislava How do you teach ESG? Co-creation event for adult education trainers. Free of charge. Programme and registration
- Duration
- Sep 2025 – Feb 2028
30 months - Partners
- 4 organisations
FI · PT · AT · SK - Programme
- Erasmus+ KA220-ADU
Call 2025, Round 1
What the project does
The gap we found
Large companies have ESG teams. Small and medium companies have neither the teams nor the time, and general sustainability material rarely survives contact with a specific workshop, warehouse or production line.
The knowledge gap is measurable. In Slovakia, 86% of people expect companies to invest in sustainable technologies, yet only 4% say they understand what ESG actually means (Ipsos 2024). In Finland, just over a quarter of employees report that climate-friendly working practices have ever been developed jointly with their employer.
The approach
Sustain_Ability follows a train-the-trainer model. Instead of teaching individual employees once, we equip trainers, workplace instructors and SME educators with a modular toolbox they can adapt to their own sector and their own people.
All materials are produced in English and translated into the four partner languages, then delivered through a dedicated Moodle platform where trainers pick only the modules they need. Completed learning is recognised with Open Badges.
Who it is for
Trainers and educators in SMEs and vocational training centres
They receive the methodology guide and the modular materials, and deliver the training onward inside their own institutions and networks.
Workplace instructors responsible for sustainability upskilling
They know their organisation's operations and needs, and turn ESG concepts into changes that fit the actual work.
Employees in SMEs
They benefit indirectly, through better-prepared trainers and through processes that change around them.
How the work is organised
Project management
Coordination, quality assurance and financial management across the four partners. Led by TSL.
Pedagogical guide
Twenty interviews with training professionals across the four countries, then a methodology manual for trainers delivering sustainability training at work. Led by Empoderar.
Training course and materials
Modular content on environmental, social and governance topics, structured along current EU regulation such as the CSRD, and built into the Moodle platform. Led by Thinkubator.
Piloting and finetuning
At least two courses of ten participants in every partner country, structured feedback from the people who actually use the materials, and a prioritised list of improvements fed back into the toolkit.
Led by Embassy of InnovatorsCommunication and impact
Dissemination through partner channels, EPALE and the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform, closing with an impact assessment in the SMEs that took part in the pilots. Led by TSL.
Our role
Embassy of Innovators coordinates the piloting phase — the point where the materials meet real trainers and real companies. We build the framework for recruiting pilot groups, run the schedule and monitoring, synthesise the feedback from all four countries and turn it into a decided list of changes. We also contribute to the content of the training modules.
This sits close to our other work on measuring and reducing the environmental impact of business, including Enoqi, a platform for sharing carbon footprint data along the value chain, and Unchange.earth, which brings climate information and practical tools to a general audience.
The partnership
Työväen Sivistysliitto TSL ry
Workers' Educational Association, providing liberal adult education since 1919.
tsl.fiEmpoderar
Organisational, social and professional development; leads the pedagogical methodology.
empoderar.euThinkubator
Research and implementation of sustainable solutions; leads the training content.
thinkubator.earthEmbassy of Innovators
Pilot design and delivery, feedback synthesis and finetuning of the toolkit.
e-o-i.euWhat will exist at the end
A pedagogical methodology manual
For trainers delivering sustainability training in the workplace, in all four partner languages.
A modular ESG training course on Moodle
Environmental, social and governance modules that can be taken in sequence or picked individually, with case studies and practical frameworks.
Pilot results and an evaluation report
Feedback from courses run in Finland, Portugal, Austria and Slovakia, plus recommendations for anyone continuing the work.
A network of trained trainers
People who can keep delivering the training after the project ends, and who stay in contact with each other.
Get involved
Interested in joining a pilot course? Get in touch, or come to our co-creation event in Bratislava on 22 October 2026.
Consortium
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Erasmus+ KA220-ADU Cooperation partnership in adult education
Project number: 2025-1-FI01-KA220-ADU-000362147
Coordinated by Työväen Sivistysliitto TSL ry, Helsinki.