NEWS: Sustainability, ESG and microplastic waste Workshop – June 11, 2025, Štip / Hibrid

The event brought together the SMEs from North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as BSOs from both countries and other relevant organizations dealing with sustainability and circular practices. The workshop aimed to provide a more detailed introduction to sustainability practices, ESG environmental reporting, social compliance and governance, mechanisms for monitoring CO2 emissions, as well as monitoring microplastic pollution as part of the MISSION4WATER initiative.

The rich agenda covered elements of the environment and water resources pollution as part of reporting in social standards, policies and technologies related to water treatment and the most important elements of ESG reporting. Special attention was given to the presentation of the supporting programs of the Macedonian Ministry of Economy and Labor covering the active calls for SMEs.

The event was opened by Moderator Natasa Sivevska, presenting the agenda of the day and the speakers. Then the MISSION4WATER project was introduced, as well as the environment and water resource pollution, as part of reporting in social standards, was presented by Natasha Sivevska, Dip.-Ing Textile Technology, Executive Director of the Textile Trade Association-Textile cluster (Presentation Download).

The Policies and technologies related to water treatment (Presentation Download) and monitoring microplastics in wastewater treatment plants/devices – Research results from international practice (Presentation Download) were presented by Sabina Hadziahmetovic |Dipl.-Ing.|Dipl. inž. građ.| Leading researcher/designer – Hydro-Engineering Institute Sarajevo (HEIS). The first part of the event was concluded with the presentation of the Programs for support SMEs in the areas of social standards, ESG reports, research and development, certifications, entry into new markets, etc. (Presentation Download) presented by Jasmina Majstoroska PhD Marketing from the Ministry of Economy and Labor of North Macedonia.

The second session turned toward ESG reporting and mechanism for monitoring CO2 emissions – Scope 1,2 and 3 with the elements of water footprint reporting. Introduction to Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (Presentation Download) and CO2 emission breakdown and meaning as well as calculator for easy CO2 monitoring (Presentation Download) were presented by SIPPO expert Katerina Kostovska, Certified professional by Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and CSRD Institute. In the last part, a vibrant discussion followed with the open question and discussion from the participants, both from North Macedonia and Bosnia and Hercegovina showed the importance of the topics. At the end, the project representatives Natasha Sivevska and Sabina Hadziahmetovic concluded the event asked from the participants to follow the project social media and take a part in the upcoming activities.

Hosted by: TTA Textile Cluster & HEIS, under the MISSION4WATER project (Interreg IPA ADRION)