Great progress at DREAMS workshop in Kolding
Almost halfway in the project period, the DREAMS consortium met at a physical workshop January 19-20 2022. The workshop took place in the beautiful surroundings at hotel Koldingfjord, located at the seashore near Kolding. The main conclusion from the workshop is that the project is currently in a very interesting phase, as potentials and functionalities of the DREAMS tools are unfolded and specified.
First session on the agenda was about the repository of environmental assessment (EA) reports that is currently taking shape at the Danish Environmental Portal (DEP). It serves as a platform for developing the baseline tool aimed at improving current baseline practice and for developing the CAUSA tool aimed at improving practice on assessment and mitigation of environmental impacts. 2,000 EA reports are soon to be made available for DEP’s users, which is a great accomplishment of the project.
The program continued with three tracks focused on the baseline tool, the CAUSA tool and the SDG framework. Partners engaged in these three tracks on progressing the current work, discussing its applicability and plan the next steps in the innovation process.
The work in tracks demonstrated the value of working cross-disciplinary and across actors engaged in environmental assessment practice. Infrastructure developers, consultants, researchers, data providers, etc. were having very thorough and fruitful discussions on how to ensure best use of the tools, how to ensure quality, what functionalities to include, etc.
The first day ended with a very professional and DREAMS-oriented wine tasting by the consortium’s own wineyard owner, Lars Groth. Environmental, social, and economic aspects of wine production were discussed along the tasting of the good Riesling wines. A very good conclusion on the first days work!
The second day of the workshop started with a session in which all partners presented DREAMS-related initiatives and projects in their own organization. This session showed a lot of activities related to data, digitalization and environmental assessment, which emphasized the relevance of the DREAMS project and opportunities for synergies with other initiatives.
Later during the day, the working groups in each track finalized their tracks by outlining a work plan for the coming three months of work. The workshop ended by the project manager wrapping up the work and a genuine delight of having been able to meet during corona and to progress significantly.