Sustainability Charter of the Azores
An initiative of the Regional Government of the Azores to facilitate the implementation of sustainability practices by public, private and non-profit organizations throughout the Autonomous Region of the Azores.
An accelerator for sustainability in the Azores Archipelago
Created in 2017, the Sustainability Charter of the Azores is a voluntary initiative that aims to accelerate the transition of organizations in the Azores towards more sustainable and resilient business and governance models in a combined effort for the sustainable development of and in the region.
It is implemented by a support team specializing in sustainability applied to areas such as biodiversity, entrepreneurship, management, marketing, psychology and tourism. Personalized consultancy sessions, training workshops, forums for sharing good practices, among others, are some examples of activities aimed at subscribing entities.
Subscription is voluntary and marks the organization’s commitment, together with other subscribers, to follow a path to implement environmental, social, and governance sustainability strategies in the region.
Ongoing support from sustainability experts guarantees specialized consultancy and training, which is complemented by the provision of various technical tools and personalized resources.
The path in the Sustainability Charter of the Azores begins with the commitment, assumed at the time of subscription, to implement sustainability in the organization. This individual commitment is guided by a collective commitment of all subscribing entities to contribute to the sustainable development of the Azores as a whole.
Any organization, of any dimension, type and sector of activity can subscribe to the Sustainability Charter of the Azores, if it is registered in the archipelago.
All sectors of activity are covered, and this is also a criterion for grouping the subscribing entities into Clusters to foster sustainable development in each sector.
The path of the
Sustainability Charter of the Azores
The current path of the Sustainability Charter of the Azores is the result of a reflection with stakeholders on the course of the initiative over 5 years. It was the result of contact with almost 300 public, private and associative entities from various sectors of activity and direct consultation with almost 100 entities.
Clusters
Clusters are groupings of subscribing organizations that are similar in terms of their activities and/or impacts, thus structuring the great diversity of subscribing organizations in the Sustainability Charter of the Azores.
The Cluster approach makes it possible to leverage learning and create synergies between subscribing organizations with similar purposes. The aim is to foster sharing between organizations so that, together, they can accelerate their individual and collective journey towards more sustainable business and governance models and find efficient ways of solving common challenges.
In total, there are 7 Clusters:
Discover the Projects of the Municipalities of the Azores
and submit your project if it is not yet mapped
Moments
The Moments in the Sustainability Charter of the Azores are key points in each subscriber’s journey towards integrating sustainability into their organization. In this model, each entity will have a different and unique path that will be adjusted in an evolutionary way to its organizational context and ambitions in terms of sustainability.
The first stage of the path that the subscribing entities will go through whenever it is necessary to (re)assess developments in the current situation of the organization.
✓ Data collection
✓ Evaluation of the point in the path
✓ Allocation to a cluster by dimension and sector
The "Conhecer" (Know) stage is the starting point in the journey for all subscribing entities. After this stage, the Sustainability Handbook of the Azores follows with 4 additional stages: Empower, Prioritize, Engage, and Report. Once the "Conhecer" stage is completed, the path will be unique for each subscribing entity. Regardless of the organization, its sector, and size, their journey will be a continuously interactive process that will never follow a predefined order.
At this stage, the organization receives consultancy and participates in training actions to develop technical knowledge in the field of sustainability, enabling them to:
✓ Acquire sustainability skills
✓ Contextualize sustainability within the organization
✓ Use tools for performance improvement
Relevant areas for intervention are identified to support the sustainable development of the organization, the ecosystem in which it operates, and specific methods to measure and manage progress are outlined.
✓ Identification of priorities
✓ Definition of indicators
✓ Development of improvement management mechanisms
The organization strengthens existing communication channels or creates new contact dynamics with stakeholders in its value chain to establish partnerships towards common goals.
✓ Dialogue with stakeholders
✓ Development of impactful projects
✓ Strengthening partnerships or establishing new ones
Acquisition of knowledge for sustainability communication and non-financial reporting according to the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, mandatory for all SMEs starting in 2026.
✓ Disclosure of progress
✓ Sharing of priorities, indicators, and best practices
✓ Non-financial reporting
Subscription advantages
By subscribing to the Sustainability Charter of the Azores, an organization benefits:
Continuous monitoring
Consultancy
Technical tools
Subscriber's office
Training Actions
Online and face-to-face training sessions per Moment.
Resources
Online library with more than 50 resources and tools available for individual use.
Networking and Sharing Forums
Events that promote, among other things, good practices by subscribing entities and sustainability as a whole in the Autonomous Region of the Azores.
Management platform
Work and continuous learning tool for tracking and monitoring progress on the Sustainability Charter of the Azores.
Subscriber's office
The Subscriber’s Office is an information and ongoing monitoring center dedicated to the subscribers to the Sustainability Charter of the Azores. This space will allow for evolving management and continuous performance evaluation shared between the subscribing organizations and the monitoring team through weekly meetings.
The Subscriber’s Office aims to provide ongoing support to subscribing organizations. Through it, and together with the monitoring team, any organization can report changes in its operation, share successes and difficulties, clarify doubts, discuss adjustments to its objectives, and request a Cluster/Moment review, among other issues.
The Subscriber’s Office is open weekly on Tuesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on a remote format.
Appointments are made on an open-house basis, with 30-minute sessions available for any underwriting organization to book.
Frequently Asked Questions
Subscription to the Sustainability Charter of the Azores is available to any type of organization (public, public-private, private, or associative) from all sectors of activity, if it carries out a registered activity in the region.
Subscriptionsare ongoing;therefore, to ensure that the monitoring team can respond, the first stage is to submit an expression of interest. Subsequently, a notification will be sent informing the organisation to start the subscription process by registering on the platform and filling in the “Get to Know” Moment form..
The time between expressing interest and subscribing is directly proportional to the number of organizations waitingto be able to subscribe.. Duringthis time, organizations that have expressed an interest will be periodically informed of the time they are expected to be able to subscribe..
All subscribers receive ongoing support tailored to their needsand organizational context .After submitting the “Get to Know” Moment, and like the process with any other organization, the reality of the technology-based subscriber considered, and a Cluster and Moment proposal is presented.
The Sustainability Charter of the Azores is a voluntary initiative open to all organizations, regardless of their level of knowledge on sustainability.
Although always subject to your approval, subscribing organizations that need to develop sustainability skills will most likely be allocated to the “Capacity-Building” Moment. In this Moment, they receive personalized consultancy, take part in training actions, and have access to a set of collective and personalized tools to develop or strengthen their technical knowledge in the field of sustainability.
