The European Green Deal (EGD) is the European Union’s flagship strategy for achieving climate neutrality, protecting biodiversity, transforming food systems, and ensuring a sustainable and competitive economy. It provides a comprehensive framework for addressing environmental challenges while promoting innovation, social inclusion, and long-term resilience.
While the EGD sets ambitious objectives, its successful implementation depends on the ability of policymakers, businesses, researchers, students, and citizens to understand and apply its instruments in practice. This requires not only awareness of EU policies, but also the development of practical knowledge on how sustainability transitions can be implemented across different sectors and governance levels.
The Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Module TRIGGER – The EU Green Deal Awareness and Action was established at the Estonian University of Life Sciences to contribute to this objective. The project focused on building capacity for EGD implementation through the integration of teaching, research, and stakeholder engagement. It addressed both governance and sectoral dimensions of the Green Deal, with particular attention to environmental management, climate-neutral sectors, and the Farm to Fork Strategy.
During the project, TRIGGER developed and delivered two MSc-level courses, produced six open-access learning modules and three video lectures, carried out research on environmental innovation and policy implementation, and organised a range of dissemination and stakeholder engagement activities. The project reached 199 students through formal teaching, supported informal learning through freely accessible educational resources, and promoted dialogue between academia, policymakers, practitioners, and civil society.
A distinctive feature of TRIGGER was its emphasis on implementation. Rather than focusing solely on policy objectives, the project explored how Green Deal ambitions can be translated into concrete action in areas such as sustainable agriculture, environmental governance, ecosystem management, climate policy, and green and blue infrastructure innovation. The project also examined how European environmental policy approaches can be adapted and transferred to different international contexts.
The resources available through this website—including learning modules, video lectures, research outputs, and reports—remain openly accessible and are intended to support students, researchers, practitioners, and anyone interested in understanding and implementing the European Green Deal in Estonia, Europe, and beyond.
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 European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
