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Creative Pro has joined four European partners — including two universities — in a two-year Erasmus+ project building free sustainability training and an open supplier catalogue for the events industry. We lead the work across Central and Eastern Europe.

Introduction

Creative Pro is one of five partners in STEP (Sustainability Training for Events Professionals), a European project co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme. Together with two universities and two sector bodies, we are building a free certified training programme and an open catalogue of sustainable solutions for events. Creative Pro is responsible for Central and Eastern Europe.

Why we are doing this

The events sector solves sustainability from scratch in every country. There are no shared standards, little practical training, and no overview of who can actually deliver what. As a result, good solutions stay local and most organisers never hear about them.

STEP addresses this with two things — education and visibility. Both free and openly accessible.

What the project delivers

• Certified online training, launching March 2027
  Eight modules and 33 learning blocks at VET Level 4 — practical, without academic ballast. From terminology and environmental impact through social and economic sustainability to measurement, reporting and communication without greenwashing. Three exit levels: First STEP, Next STEP and Big STEP, the last one a micro-credential awarded by Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Free of charge, in English.
• A European catalogue of sustainable solutions
  An open directory of suppliers and solutions across 11 categories — from catering and venues through materials, waste and logistics to accessibility, measurement and consultancy. It is not an audit and not a certification. It is an overview of concrete practices that work and can be copied.
• Pilot workshops and events
  National workshops for event professionals and 40 pilot sustainable events delivered in practice, with real carbon footprint measurement.

Our role

Creative Pro leads the identification and verification of sustainable suppliers across Central and Eastern Europe. We operate in six countries in the region and bring the perspective of an agency that deploys sustainable solutions on live events — not one that only writes about them.

We are also the authors of the approach the catalogue is built on: assess the practical ability to deliver a sustainable solution on site, rather than corporate certifications. This is what lets smaller local suppliers who do excellent work, but have no budget for ISO paperwork, into the catalogue.

We contribute our own initiatives — Odpadnesh, which upcycles event banners through sheltered workshops, and Food from Events, which redistributes unserved food from events — along with our Regeneration Handbook.

The consortium

Closing call to action

Do you know a sustainable solution that belongs in the catalogue?

We are collecting concrete practices from across the region — reusable materials, low-carbon logistics, plant-based catering, accessibility services, carbon footprint measurement, social enterprises. Listing is free and involves no audit.

Write to us at hric@creativepro.sk

Štefan Hric, Managing Partner, Creative Pro Group

I believe events can change the world. For the better.

About STEP

STEP project · Erasmus+ KA220-VET · Grant agreement 25PCP0007 · September 2025 – August 2027

Program website

Consortium partners:

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.