BMWi ideas competition for neighbourhoods - 280,000 € prize money

Published 11 May 2017

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) promotes highly ambitious and innovative concepts for nearly climate-neutral buildings and neighbourhoods under the funding initiative EnEff.Buildings.2050. The ideas competition is looking for energy concepts that show that almost climate-neutral buildings and neighbourhoods can already be implemented in practice with today's technologies and that are representative of a broad application.

The competition addresses two main topics

Topic 1: Pilot and demonstration concepts
The focus is on ideas and concepts for energy-efficient new buildings, on transformation and modernisation projects in existing buildings, on district concepts for living and working, and on new plus-energy concepts in multi-storey buildings. This part of the competition addresses consortia of planners and developers.
Prize money: 150,000 euros
Deadlines: 15 August 2017

Topic 2: Concepts for an international "energy competition" to further develop the "Solar Decathlon Europe“.
Theme 2 focuses on the international dimension of the task by awarding sophisticated and contemporary concepts for a future international energy efficiency competition that follows the tradition of the "Solar Decathlon Europe" stands. This part is aimed at consortia from city administrations and universities. Details on the two main topics can be found in the competition documents.
Deadline: 15 September 2017
Prize money: 130,000 euros.

The award ceremony with an exhibition of the competition concepts received will take place in November 2017.

The complete competition documents for participants will be available for download on 15.5.2017:
www.ptj.de/eneff-gebaeude-2050/ideenwettbewerb

Keywords: Funding, Quarters, Settlements

Published 8 November 2018

BMU and BMZ call for more ambition for UN sustainability agenda

Three years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, implementation is progressing, but not fast enough: worldwide, ambition must increase significantly to achieve the global Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Federal Minister Müller and Federal Minister Schulze will take stock of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda at the joint conference "Accelerating change - for a sustainable development worldwide and in Germany" on 5 November in Berlin. Together with Hajia Alima Mahama, Ghana's Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, and high-ranking representatives from civil society, business and academia, they will discuss how change can be significantly accelerated in Germany and worldwide.

Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze: "Sustainable development is not an elite project. Quite the opposite: people and nature should be better off in 2030, which benefits everyone. The shift towards an emission-free economy produces value added and jobs and can help innovations to make a breakthrough that are in demand worldwide. Ambitious sustainability policy is therefore our great common project for progress, and the 2030 Agenda is our compass for this."

Federal Development Minister Gerd Müller: "The world is looking to us when it comes to implementing the 2030 Agenda: as rich countries, we ourselves must set a good example - because people in developing countries are suffering from our way of consuming and from our lifestyle. One consequence is climate change, for which the industrialised countries are primarily responsible: We emit an average of ten tons of CO₂ per capita. In Somalia, the figure is just 100 kilos. But the people in Africa, Bangladesh and many other developing countries are the main ones affected. We must and can make globalization just, change our consumption and our economy in a sustainable way, and thus preserve creation for future generations."

Despite positive trends and global efforts, progress towards achieving the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been insufficient in many cases: for example, the proportion of the world's absolute poor has fallen from 26.9 per cent in 2000 to 9.2 per cent today, and child mortality in developing countries has been halved since 2000. At the same time, however, the number of people suffering from hunger has risen again in the last three years, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

The likelihood of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is diminishing, and over eight million tonnes of plastic waste continue to enter the oceans every year. At the next UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York in September 2019, heads of state and government will meet for the first time to take stock of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. This summit has a crucial role to play; it should send the strongest possible political signal from heads of state and government for accelerated economic and social change.

With the new edition of the German Sustainability Strategy adopted in 2017, the Federal Government has taken a first important step towards SDG implementation in Germany and in the context of international cooperation with its partner countries. The Federal Government is currently updating this strategy in order to further strengthen the idea of sustainability in all policy areas. In the process, the suggestions of civil society, business and science are being actively taken up.

BMU and BMZ are flanking this with additional measures: BMZ supports developing countries and emerging economies in implementing the 2030 Agenda, BMU contributes with its International Climate Initiative. Both ministries are also striving to achieve climate neutrality for their buildings by 2020.

In 2015, the United Nations adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. This showed that it is possible for the international community to join forces worldwide to tackle key challenges. These 17 closely interrelated goals have ensured worldwide that environmental, social and economic issues are thought of together and driven forward by all parts of society.

Source: Press release BMZ / BMU, 05.11.2018

Keywords:
SDG 2030, Environmental policy

Published 15. February 2018

Wood from Here recognised by the BMUB as proof of requirements for wood products

In addition to the established standard for certifying the sustainability of federal buildings (BNB), the Federal Ministry of Building (BBSR) has also developed a new simplified standard for small residential buildings (BNK). As part of this standard, requirements are also defined for wood products and materials that must be met in order for them to receive full points here. Compliance with these requirements can now also be demonstrated with a WOOD FROM HERE certificate for the wood products.

Significance of the BNK for timber construction

It is the political will that new buildings in Germany should increasingly be subject to sustainability certification. So far, this has failed for the vast majority of buildings, especially smaller ones, due to the enormous costs and the considerable effort required for the corresponding certification. For this reason, the BBSR has developed a simplified standard for small residential buildings. This standard can now be used to certify single-family or multi-family houses more easily. In the meantime, various prefabricated house manufacturers offer their customers a corresponding sustainability certification.

What are the benefits for companies in the timber industry with a certificate for timber from here?

Manufacturers of timber construction products can now fulfil the requirements of the BNK for timber products used by means of a Holz von Hier certificate as an alternative to FSC or PEFC as proof of sustainable forest management. These requirements are set out in the standard's information sheet 3.3.1.

This is of course especially true for timber construction companies in case they want to offer their customers a corresponding certification according to the BNK. In addition to the suitability for the BNK standard, wood from here also offers a direct marketing advantage for timber construction companies, as regionally manufactured products are experiencing a growing trend among consumers and they can thus address a growing target group of environmentally conscious buyers.

The use of the Holz von Hier certification system is very simple for interested companies and involves little administrative, personnel and financial effort. The product- or object-related issuing of a certificate is carried out via an electronic controlling system, similar to the one used in the German biogas register in the context of carbon certificate trading. Holz von Hier thus offers companies in the timber industry additional market opportunities without complicating or restricting their operations.

PM from holz-von-hier.eu 2/2018

Keywords:
NBB, BNK, Certification & Labels

Published 4 November 2020

German Council for Sustainable Development calls for a change of course instead of a readjustment of the German Sustainability Strategy

"In key policy areas, it is not enough to take additional steps; instead, a fundamental transformation must be initiated - the Federal Government recognises this with its dialogue version of the German Sustainability Strategy. The momentum for this transformation is now, and it needs tailwind from all ministries," explained Dr. Werner SchnappaufChairman of the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE). "The version of the dialogue brings important innovations that will allow the policies of the coming years to be more closely aligned with the guiding principle of sustainability. The designation of transformation areas such as the energy and transport transition or the transition to a circular economy is an important step forward. At the same time, we believe that there is still room for improvement in some areas," said Schnappauf.

The Sustainability Council today publishes its Opinion on the further development of the German Sustainability Strategy and then presents it to Chancellor's Office Minister Prof. Dr. Helge Braun in a virtual exchange. The Council expressly welcomes the newly defined transformation areas, but these must be supplemented by concrete, interministerial strategies and roadmaps as well as ambitious and binding targets. Based on the transformation areas, the German government should develop a new set of key indicators for German sustainability policy and thus focus on the most important challenges of the future.

The Council's recommendations cover the following ten topics:

Strengthen coherence
Advancing sustainable finance
Changing course for a sustainable economy in the sense of the SDGs
Readjustment in the event of foreseeable missed targets
We need a new narrative!
Launching sustainability as a joint effort
Prepare the report to the United Nations rapidly
Emerging sustainably from the crisis
Taking forward the European contribution
For an ambitious German contribution to SDG implementation at international level

"Unfortunately, the international dimension falls short of the global challenges in the dialogue version and thus also of the Council's expectations," said Prof. Dr. Imme Scholz, Deputy Chair of the Council and Deputy Director of the German Development Institute (DIE). "The way we live and do business has a significant impact on others, especially on the countries of the Global South. That is why the SDGs must become the guiding principle in Germany's and the EU's multi- and bilateral relations as a whole. And for this to happen, the international dimension must also be adequately reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals and their indicators - in our statement, we make concrete suggestions for new goals and indicators," said Scholz. Many countries in the global South have been particularly hard hit by the economic and social consequences of the Corona pandemic, he said. "We must therefore support these countries in the upcoming transformation processes. Only together will we achieve the global climate and other sustainability goals," emphasized Imme Scholz.

In its statement, the Council also recommends publishing an abridged version of the new sustainability strategy in order to "introduce the topic into the discourse in the run-up to the Bundestag elections and the formation of a new government". To this end, renewed recommendations by the Council are also planned for the first half of 2021, which should place the guiding principle of sustainability more strongly than before at the centre of government action. In the Council's view, this also includes the inclusion of sustainability as a state objective in the Basic Law.

Source: PM of the Sustainability Council of the Federal Government dated 2.11.2020

Keywords:
DE-News, Sustainable management, SDG 2030, Environmental policy