Veröffentlicht: 23.10.2023
UmweltBank has acquired the former GfK site on Nuremberg's Nordwestring. The company is planning an ecologically and socially sustainable urban quarter with housing, a daycare center, commercial space and public green areas. The new headquarters of the green bank will also be part of the quarter. The previous owner, a joint venture of Pegasus Capital Partners and Art-Invest Real Estate, had already developed an urban development concept in recent years and coordinated it with the City of Nuremberg. UmweltBank would like to further develop this concept in line with its own requirements in close cooperation with the city.
Having already acquired part of the site at the corner of Nordwestring and Bielefelder Straße last year for the construction of its new headquarters, UmweltBank has now purchased the entire former GfK site in a second step. "We deliberately chose this location for our headquarters because it has excellent public transport links and, with the site already developed, we are avoiding further land consumption," explains UmweltBank Board Member Goran Bašić. "It is a real stroke of luck that we now get the opportunity to also design the area around our building as a green piece of Nuremberg."
Dr. Matthias Hubert, Managing Partner of Pegasus Capital Partners adds: "The Nuremberg metropolitan region is and remains one of the strongest economic areas in the entire Federal Republic. Through the urban development concept developed together with Art-Invest Real Estate at the former GfK site, we have created excellent foundations for the development of a modern ecological urban quarter."
Liveable living and working environments for the north of Nuremberg
The planning for the new quarter is still in its infancy: UmweltBank is currently reviewing and evaluating the status of the plans to date for opportunities for further development. The aim is to build a sustainable and liveable urban quarter in accordance with high ecological and social standards. Plans include social and affordable housing as well as housing for students, a daycare centre, commercial space and public play and green areas.
"We are looking forward to the future development of the quarter and are excited to see how UmweltBank will shape the district in the long term with its corporate philosophy and focus on innovation and sustainability," said Tobias Wilhelm, branch manager of Art-Invest Real Estate in Munich.
A Europe-wide architectural competition is currently underway for the new UmweltBank building. The results will be published at the beginning of October. Ecological aspects in particular play an important role in the awarding of prizes, such as the use of renewable raw materials and renewable energies as well as the recyclability of the building materials used. The best designs and the winning model will be on display in the UmweltBank foyer on Laufertorgraben from mid-October.
About Art-Invest Real Estate
Art-Invest Real Estate is a long-term oriented investor, asset manager and project developer of real estate in good locations with value creation potential. The focus is on metropolitan regions in Germany, Austria and Great Britain. Art-Invest Real Estate pursues a "Manage to Core" investment strategy with institutional investors, selected joint venture partners as well as with its own capital. The range of investments spans the entire return and risk spectrum in the office, city centre retail, hotel, residential and data centre sectors. In total, Art-Invest Real Estate currently manages real estate assets of around €6 billion.
About Pegasus Capital Partners GmbH
Pegasus Capital Partners is a real estate investment specialist based in Erlangen. In addition to providing equity or equity-replacing funds (mezzanine capital), Pegasus supports projects in new construction and portfolio development. To date, Pegasus has more than 40 project investments with a total volume of around two billion euros. The focus is on project and portfolio developments in the German metropolitan regions, economically prosperous B-regions, southern Germany and the Austrian capital Vienna.
About UmweltBank AG
UmweltBank is an independent private bank owned by around 12,000 shareholders. For more than 20 years, it has combined finance with ecological and social responsibility. It has committed itself to environmental protection not only with its name, but also in its articles of association. At no other bank can investors put their money to work in such a consistently environmentally friendly way. Germany's greenest bank has already financed over 23,500 environmental projects with low-interest development loans.
At UmweltBank, relieving the burden on nature and financial success are equally important goals. This is why it regularly publishes its results in an integrated sustainability and annual report. The company measures its success not only in terms of key economic figures, but also in terms of the CO2 emissions saved by financing innovative environmental projects.
Source: PM of UmweltBank Nuremberg from 22.9.2020
Keywords:
DE-News, News Blog Bavaria, Mix of uses, Quarters
Making life in the neighbourhood more ecologically, socially, economically and culturally sustainable together with the residents; that is the aim of "Real-world laboratory 131: KIT finds the city" at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). In Karlsruhe's Oststadt district, researchers in this laboratory are looking for ways to reduce CO2 emissions, conserve resources, strengthen neighbourhoods and improve the health of people in the district. The project has now been honoured twice by the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE).
"The special thing about this project is that we work directly with the people living and working on the ground at eye level and can therefore not only incorporate specific local knowledge and think ahead. Rather, this makes it possible to take action for sustainable development," says Alexandra Quint from the project team at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS). Ways to make neighbourhoods more pedestrian-friendly are being researched, as are new methods for energy-efficient building refurbishment, and services for sustainable living and sustainable mobility behaviour are being developed. The researchers' work is highly interdisciplinary: "Architects, philosophers, landscape planners, cultural scientists, environmental scientists and geoecologists work together in this team," says the urban geographer.
This is not just research, but also very practical work: "For example, there is a newly developed energy concept for increasing the proportion of renewable energies in existing buildings or initiatives for slowing down our increasingly hectic everyday lives," reports Dr Oliver Parodi, Head of Reallabor 131. In the "Beds and Bees" project, citizens and scientists have jointly designed a snack bed with herbs, fruit and vegetables in public spaces and set up a hive as a home for bees. Quint explains that this not only serves to raise environmental and nutritional awareness, but above all to build community. All of this is done in co-operation with civil society groups, the city administration, associations, businesses and, above all, the local citizens who regularly take part.
A series of events also provides approaches and ideas for alternative consumer behaviour. Parodi mentions plant swaps, clothes swap parties and a regular repair café. "Reallabor 131 is designed as a platform for participation and has a strong networking character." The project's own "Future Space for Sustainability and Science", a former shop, combines the characteristics of a neighbourhood office, a science shop and a community centre and is now a popular meeting point, event and educational venue.
According to Quint, the concept is attracting worldwide interest: "The laboratory is a model, is designed to be transferable and has so far been researched by scientists from the Netherlands, Spain and Australia, with requests for cooperation coming from Mexico, Russia, Switzerland, the USA, Estonia, Portugal and Spain."
Honoured as a transformation project
The German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE), which advises the German government on sustainability issues, has now honoured the Reallabor twice: with the "Project Sustainability 2017" seal of quality and as one of four "transformation projects" nationwide. With this seal, the RNE recognises initiatives from society that make a special contribution to sustainable development in Germany and the world. Around 240 projects applied for the award. According to the jury, the transformation projects honoured have particularly great potential to make the world more sustainable. The awards were presented at the end of May at the RNE's annual conference in Berlin.
The website provides information on all the activities of the real-world laboratory: www.quartierzukunft.de
Photo of the award ceremony under:
www.tatenfuermorgen.de/galerien/jahreskonferenz
Source: Press release 076/2017 from 09/06/2017
Keywords:
Stock, News Blog Baden-Württemberg, Quarters, Contests & Prizes
In 2015, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy approved 939 new projects totalling 548 million euros. In the previous year, the figure was 695 projects with 373 million euros in funding. The majority of the funds were channelled into wind energy, photovoltaics, energy efficiency in buildings and cities, energy storage and grid infrastructure. The EnArgus information system and the BMWi's research portals (see column on the right) provide a detailed insight into the projects and the funds utilised. For energy efficiency in buildings and cities, the volume of funding for newly approved projects in 2015 totalled 73.48 million euros (13% ).
Source: www.bmwi.de/...publikationen,did=763804.html
Keywords:
Renewable, Funding, Building, Climate protection, City
Introduction
On 16 June, the member states of the European Union agreed in the Permanent Representatives Committee to a comprehensive reorganisation of the EU-Renewable Energy Directive (RED). The European target for renewable energies will thus be significantly increased from 32% to 45% in 2030. This means a doubling of the share of renewable energies compared to the level achieved in 2021 of just under 22%.
This is a great success for the expansion of renewables: The planned expansion of renewable energies by 2030 will thus be roughly doubled. For the new targets, the EU more than 100 GW of new wind turbines and solar plants are installed every year. For Germany hott that the greatly increased expansion targets for wind and solar energy in 2022 are underpinned by European requirements and become binding. The higher EU-targets also provide the framework for further measures and targets in the EUFor example, the solar strategy of the EU, which roughly triples the PV-capacity to 600 GW by 2030.
Federal Minister of Economics and Climate Protection Robert Habeck: "I am very pleased that the Council has today backed the agreement of 30 March. The revised directive will massively accelerate the expansion of renewables across the European Union. We are raising the renewables target for 2030 from 32% to 45%. In particular, wind and solar energy will be expanded twice as fast as previously envisaged. The new European rules will trigger a boom of investments in renewables and make them legally binding. For us, this means: our massively increased expansion targets for wind and solar energy last year will now be underpinned by European requirements. This will make us less dependent on energy imports. For me, it is very important that it is not only about targets, but also about measures. That is why I have worked to ensure that many of the accelerated approval procedures for renewable energy projects, which we agreed on in the 2022 energy crisis, are now made permanent. Permits are coming faster, planning is being accelerated. I am therefore pleased that the European Union has the strength to make such a success for renewable energies possible."
The agreement also enables the breakthrough of renewable energies in sectors other than electricity in the future. In the heating sector, in transport and in industry, binding targets for the use of renewable energies now apply in every single country. The switch to renewable energies in all sectors will become mandatory at the European level. In Germany alone, for example, industry will have to use hydrogen from renewable energies on a large scale in 2030, around 20-25 TWh. To ensure that the targets are also translated into action, there is a threat of infringement proceedings if a country does not meet its sectoral targets.
In addition, approval procedures will be accelerated significantly and permanently. Among other things, specific deadlines will be set for this: The approval process for new renewable energy projects in certain areas may no longer take longer than 12 months. It is also important that hydrogen from nuclear power will continue not to be credited to EU-targets takes place - the RED only counts renewable energy towards the targets.
There was also an agreement on 16 June on the market ramp-up of e-fuels in aviation in particular, the so-called "ReFuelEU Aviation". The EU introduces a quota for the market ramp-up of e-fuels ("RFNBOs") in the aviation sector, from 1.2% e-fuels in 2030 to 35% e-fuels in 2050. A total of 70% of aviation fuels must then be renewable in 2050. In aviation, e-fuels are particularly important as direct electrification is only possible to a limited extent.
The agreement now reached on an amendment to the EU-Renewables Directive (RED III) provides that the EU-2030 target for renewable energies increases to a total of 45% of total energy consumption (gross energy consumption). 42.5% are to be provided as binding by the member states as before. In this context, the already existing governance regulation ensures that this target is actually achieved. For example, concrete measures are taken if there are indications that the expansion of renewables is not yet sufficient. In addition, there is an indicative additional target of 2.5 percent. This "top-up" is to be achieved through further voluntary contributions by the member states or through pan-European measures. This doubles the EU their ambition in expanding renewable energies. According to initial projections, the German targets are sufficient to meet the new EU-targets. Now we have to do everything we can to achieve our national expansion targets.
The agreement introduces further binding national sectoral targets for the use of renewable energies. If a member state does not comply with these binding sectoral targets, it faces infringement proceedings. The share of renewable energies must grow by 0.8 percentage points each year between 2021-2025 and by 1.1 percentage points each year thereafter. In addition, there is a new indicative buildings target of 49% renewables of heat demand in buildings. In the transport sector, the already binding target increases from 14% to 29%. A new binding sub-target in transport includes a combination of electricity-based renewable fuels (RFNBOs) and advanced biofuels. This sub-target is 5.5%, of which 1% is to be covered by hydrogen and other electricity-based fuels (RFNBOs).
In the industrial sector, a new mandatory target is set for the use of hydrogen and other electricity-based fuels (RFNBO). 42% of the hydrogen consumed in industry in 2030 must come from renewable energy sources. This corresponds to an increase to about 20 to 25 TWh. By 2035, the share is expected to rise to 60%. Depending on the scenario, this will require around 41 to 83 TWh hydrogen from renewable energy sources is needed, as in parallel industry is using more and more hydrogen. In addition, a new indicative target is that the share of renewable energy in total energy consumption in industry should increase by 1.6% each year.
The regulations for accelerating the approval procedures for the expansion of renewable energies and grids, which are contained in the EU-The provisions of the Emergency Ordinance are largely laid down. For example, renewable energy and grid expansion are in the overriding public interest and time-consuming assessment steps can be dispensed with in the priority areas (no second environmental and species protection assessment at project level if there has already been an assessment at planning level). However, this only applies if appropriate avoidance or compensation measures have been taken, i.e. the level of nature conservation remains high.
In addition, there is a new impetus for cross-border RE projects: each Member State has to start at least one cross-border cooperation project; so that joint cooperation is strengthened. Such cooperation projects include, for example, joint offshore projects. With the recently signed German-Danish offshore project "Bornholm Energy Island", Germany is one of the pioneers in the EU.
On the long-disputed issue of crediting low-carbon fuels (sog. "low-carbon fuels), such as hydrogen based on nuclear power, a compromise was also found. Low carbon fuels are not counted towards the RE targets. Thus, a clear distinction will continue to be made between green H2 and low carbon H2. The German government had strongly advocated this in advance. Member states that have not met their national target contribution to the EU-2030 target, and whose industry uses almost exclusively decarbonised fuels, receive a discount on the hydrogen sub-target in industry and thus somewhat more flexibility.
The simultaneous agreement on ReFuelEU Aviation means that e-fuels will be highly encouraged in aviation, where they are urgently needed, as direct electric propulsion is hardly possible here. This now applies to EU-level what has already been law in Germany since 2021: the German e-fuels quota was so far the world's first obligation to use these fuels. EU-wide, from 2030 onwards, at least 1.2 % e-fuels will be used and by 2032 already 2 %. The ratio rises to 35% by 2050. %. Overall, in the target year 2050, at least 70 % renewable aviation fuels are used, i.e. in addition to e-fuels, also biofuels from residual and waste materials.
Source: BMWK-PM of 16.6.2023
Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, European Green Deal, Climate protection, SDG 2030, Environmental policy
