The Erasmus+ Account4GreenEco project has held its final conference
The Erasmus+ project Sustainability Accounting Learning Platform for a Green Economy (Account4GreenEco) held its final conference (sharing and promotion activity 2) on November 13, 2025, under the title “Bridging practice and university for advancing sustainability accounting education”. The event took place at the AC Atocha Hotel in Madrid and was streamed online.
The conference marked the official closure of the project, whose objective has been to foster dialogue and collaboration around the integration of sustainability accounting into higher education, as a way to support the European Union’s ecological transition. During the event, the main outcome of the project was presented: the online learning platform Account4GreenEco (available at this link), designed to facilitate the incorporation of sustainability accounting content into business and accounting curricula across the European Higher Education Area. Available through the project’s website, this tool seeks to empower educators, professionals, and institutions to accelerate Europe’s green economic transformation.
The day featured three panels that brought together leading figures from academia, business, institutions, and the professional sphere, creating a plural and enriching space for reflection.
The first panel, titled Current trends in sustainability accounting education, was moderated by Professor Michele Andreaus (University of Trento). This panel included Professor Giovanna Michelon (University of Padova and member of the Management Committee of the European Accounting Association), Professor José Mariano Moneva (University of Zaragoza and expert of the European Financial Advisory Group), Professor Michelle Rodrigue (Université Laval, Canada), and Professor Shona Russell (University of St. Andrews, United Kingdom). Rodrigue and Russell are also directors of the Education Community of Practice (ECoP) of the Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (CSEAR). The panel addressed the most relevant advances in university education in sustainability accounting, as well as the challenges academia faces in strengthening capacities in this emerging field.
Professor Ericka Costa (University of Trento) moderated the second panel, titled Practitioners’ view of the sustainability accounting profession. This session featured Carlos Arango (CEO of DIRSE), Pedro Ángel Rivero (Sustainability Coordinator at BBVA), and Luis Romeu (Senior ESG Manager at KPMG). The debate focused on the current challenges companies face when preparing sustainability information, and on how university education can help train future practitioners capable of meeting new professional profiles and demands.
The final panel, Building sustainability accounting practice and education, was moderated by Julia Benkert (Leuphana University, Germany). This panel brought together Alberto Castilla (Partner responsible for sustainability at EY), Vikas Aggarwal (Regional Director of Public Affairs at ACCA), Professor Carlos Larrinaga (University of Burgos and member of the Account4GreenEco project), and Professor Mercedes Luque (University of Córdoba). The aim was to generate proposals to strengthen the links between professional practice and university education in sustainability accounting.
In the closing session, Professor Nicolás García Torea, project coordinator, highlighted the two main conclusions of the event, which summarize the spirit of Account4Eco. On the one hand, the need to reinforce collaboration both within academia and between universities and professional practice, in order to drive innovation in sustainability accounting education. On the other hand, he emphasized the importance of developing alternative pedagogical approaches that promote more autonomous and active learning by students.
