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The increase in international trade due to globalization is evident in southeast Spain, which has become the top exporter of fruit and vegetables. Countries within the European Union, such as Germany and France, emphasize the sustainability and environmental impacts of these products. Hence, a greater understanding of the environmental implications of transporting fruit and vegetables between their origin and their destination might improve the sustainability of this commercial activity. The concept of a carbon footprint is a recognized environmental indicator that can be used for life cycle analysis. Here, a rigorous carbon footprint assessment was developed to examine the impact of using cardboard box containers to store and transport 1,000 t of fruit and vegetable products by road from their origin in Almería, Spain, to a destination market. The assessment included the fabrication of the cardboard boxes, the service they provide while transporting the products to the distribution center of the destination, and the end-of-life of the boxes for the six main products grown in Almería. The results showed that storing and transporting 1,000 t of product by road emits between 58 t and 130 t of CO2e depending on the fruit or vegetable type and the destination market. The implications of the end-of-life scenarios with respect to the destination are also discussed. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis was conducted for the transport distance. Lastly, biogenic CO2 production was also assessed according to standard carbon footprint assessment method. HighlightsThe carbon footprint of storage and transport of fruit and vegetables was assessed as an environmental indicator End-of-life scenarios and transport distance were the key aspects affecting the environmental impact Storing and transporting 1,000 t of fruits from Almería to main European markets emits between 58 t and 130 t of CO2e

Research on current practices and the state of green public procurement enables the identification of areas that can be improved, as well as opportunities to improve the tendering procedures from an environmental point of view. To understand the behaviour of local, provincial, and regional administrations concerning green public procurement, a case study on the Valencia region of Spain is made. The Valencian region is one of the most important communities in terms of population, number of contracting authorities, and weight in the Spanish Gross Domestic Product. In this study, a total of 967 procedures were analysed from calls for tenders made by municipal, provincial, and regional administrations in2016 and 2017.The results of this study show that the use of environmental criteria is 19.7% and the average weight is 4.1 out of 100. The civil engineering subsector, more than the building subsector, employs environmental criteria, particularly in projects tendered by regional administrations, whereas for projects with large budgets the level of use is similar for both subsectors. It is necessary to encourage plans to improve Green Public Procurement (GPP) practices in the Valencian administrations, especially those with a local scope such as municipalities.

Both educators and employers agree there is a growing gap between competences that labor market expects from its new employees and skills they own. Literature review holds that a set of nontechnical, professional abilities and intra-and interpersonal attitudes are required to close this gap and indicates that more training of soft skills is needed to access employment and success in work life. Although these skills are theoretically included in educational stages, project management approach can be incorporated to improve students and new employees' practical curricula. The methodology consists of the critical review of the competency frameworks established by the DeSeCo and Tuning projects, confronting them against the requirements currently demanded by labor market, based on the reports of Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG, to detect inconsistencies between educational and professional stages and check if project management standards, by PMI and IPMA, cover them. Compiling these weaknesses, actions can be established aimed at solving them, based on project management proposals. The incorporation of project management concepts into educational stages, especially the vision by competences, contributes to improve the employability by highlighting those transverse but essential skills that lead to versatile and successful professionals. To achieve this, it is necessary to care for human competences.

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