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Cluster Forst und Holz in Bayern: Xaver Haas und Hubert Röder folgen Gerd Wegener
Published

Forestry and Wood Cluster in Bavaria: Xaver Haas and Hubert Röder succeed Gerd Wegener

On 23 November, Prof. Dr. Dr. habil. Gerd Wegener passed on his office as spokesman for the Forestry and Wood Cluster in Bavaria. The handover of office took place at the Bavarian Ministry of Agriculture as part of a ceremony held to mark the 10th anniversary of the cluster initiative and the 5th anniversary of proHolz Bayern.

Forestry Minister Helmut Brunner expressly thanked Wegener for his outstanding services to the Bavarian forestry and timber industry and awarded him the Bavarian State Medal in Gold on his farewell as cluster spokesman. Wegener's successor is a dual leadership that simultaneously stands for science and practice as well as for the forestry and timber industry.

Read the whole post:
www.cluster-forstholzbayern.de/...xaver-haas-und-hubert-roeder-folgen-gerd-wegener



Keywords:
Stakeholders, Wood construction, News Blog Bavaria

Ladeinfrastruktur wird verstärkt gefördert
Published

Increased support for charging infrastructure

The Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Transport is funding new charging stations for more e-mobility in the state with up to 40 percent. Not only municipalities are eligible to apply, but also companies that want to set up publicly accessible charging stations. In Saxony-Anhalt, applications for funding for the installation of public e-charging stations can be submitted with immediate effect.

With their publication in the Ministerial Gazette, the guidelines on the granting of subsidies to promote charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in Saxony-Anhalt are now in force, Transport Minister Thomas Webel said in Magdeburg on 13 April 2018.


No more than 15 minutes to the next charging point - that is the goal of the state of Saxony-Anhalt to strengthen electromobility, Webel explained. To implement this concept, the state is funding the installation of charging stations. According to the minister, the application and approval authority is Nahverkehrsservice Sachsen-Anhalt GmbH (NASA).

The funding is particularly interesting for municipalities and companies - applications can be submitted by all "natural and legal persons". The application period begins on April 16 and ends on June 15 of this year. A subsidy rate of 40 percent is planned.

The subsidized charging stations must be accessible to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They must be put into operation by 14 November 2018 at the latest and run for at least six years.



Keywords:
Funding, News Blog Saxony-Anhalt, eMobility

Published

OB-Barometer 2021: Climate protection and mobility are increasingly important for cities

For the mayors of German cities, climate protection and mobility remain the most important topics despite the pandemic. The OB-Barometer 2021 of the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Difu) shows a clear trend change in the topic of inner city development, which is gaining strongly in importance.

Berlin. This year's Mayor Barometer of the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Difu) is dominated by the corona pandemic. It is therefore not surprising that, when asked about the most important topics for cities at the moment, the city leaders most frequently named coping with the crisis and its consequences, at 69 percent. The topics of "climate, energy, sustainability" recorded a renewed increase in importance with 45 percent. If one disregards the special situation of Corona, "climate" is currently even in first place. This policy area already showed a strong increase in importance in 2020, and in 2021 the city leaders rated it as even more important than in January/February 2020. But when asked about the most important topics for the future, 53 percent of the mayors named "climate, energy, sustainability" ahead of mobility (50 percent) and digitalization (37 percent).

The fact that climate protection and mobility are considered so important at the moment and with a view to the future underlines the great importance that city leaders attach to environmental issues. "The exciting question of whether Corona will push the issue of climate protection into the background or raise additional awareness seems to have been decided in German cities. The mayors want to develop their city into the future in a climate-friendly way and with adapted mobility," comments Difu Institute Director Prof. Dr. Carsten Kühl on the results of the current Mayor Barometer 2021.

The OB-Barometer 2021 reveals a clear trend change in the topic of "inner city development". Here, the city leaders see a strong increase in importance both now and in the future: The topic has gained attention in recent years due to the increasing online trade. The Corona pandemic has massively intensified this trend: more and more shops are closing, more offices remain empty since many people work from home offices, and the cultural scene has also had to move into the digital space - many city centres are losing their quality of stay. The inner cities are facing a huge upheaval, which poses great challenges for the municipalities. Helmut Dedy, Chief Executive of the German Association of Cities, says: "We need more diversity, beyond retail. That's why the cities are working on new concepts for city centres and district centres: we want more space for encounters, greenery, culture, sport, crafts and housing. For this to succeed, we need a federal city centre funding programme."

Digitization continues to be one of the top issues, but has not gained renewed importance at the municipal level. This is presumably due to the requirements and already made experiences and changes during the corona pandemic. The topics of smart city, housing and finance continue to be among the most important current fields of action. The financial situation of the municipalities is not given greater urgency, which could be due to the fact that the cities assess it roughly the same as in the two previous years due to fiscal compensation measures of the federal government and the states. "However, it is also clear from the results of the survey that the assessment of the financial situation is a snapshot and will not automatically be so for municipalities in the future. Mayors cite the loss of tax revenue as the second biggest challenge in the corona crisis. And fiscal policy is the policy area where municipalities are second most likely to demand better framework conditions from the federal and state governments," says project manager Dr. Beate Hollbach-Grömig.
The topic of corona measures and corona consequences will soon lose its explosiveness in local politics, according to the assessment of the city leaders: More than two thirds of the city leaders name the topic as an important field of action at the moment, but among the important topics for the future, "Corona" is only in second to last place.
According to the OB-Barometer 2021, the mayors' wishes have changed only slightly with regard to the fields of action in which they would like better framework conditions from the federal states, the federal government or the EU: The wish for support in the field of digitalization has gained in importance (71 percent). This is presumably mainly due to the bottlenecks that became apparent during the crisis - for example, in the transmission of data from health offices, the possibility for administrative employees to work from home, or in the digital infrastructure equipment of schools. The next places are taken by the fields of action finance, housing policy and transport, in which the weightings have shifted only slightly. Compared to previous years, there is continuity in the "broad lines" of municipal policy - and the desired improvements in the framework conditions for local work.
Detailed results, graphics, charts and photos of the OB-Barometer 2021 and the previous year's evaluations are available on the Difu website:
Source: DIFU-PM of 19.5.2021



Keywords:
Procurement, DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, Communities, Mobility, City

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