Green Light for 30 Climate Network
The National Climate Initiative provides support to German companies seeking to improve their energy efficiency. The Federal Environment Ministry has now approved a project for German industry to set up 30 climate and energy efficiency networks. The aim is to substantially reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions in participating companies. The scheme involves around 400 medium-sized enterprises, which join together to form networks, each with 10-15 members. The experience gained so far indicates that the success rate is 2-3 times higher in these networks than the German industry average.
In the SME sector in particular, energy is still a neglected topic, largely due to the focus on production and wage costs, and there is a lack of information and practical experience. This is where the "30 Climate Networks" project comes in. By facilitating an exchange of experience in local learning networks, these obstacles can be overcome effectively. A great deal of investment in climate protection and energy efficiency is already economically viable, but is not being carried out. The project is intended to boost climate protection, innovation and German companies' competitiveness.
With the project, the Federal Environment Ministry is supporting self-organisation processes in Germany industry in the context of climate protection. It thus encourages companies from many different sectors from all over Germany to scale up their action on climate protection and energy efficiency. The project supports the formation of climate networks until 2020, thus creating scope to save more than 20 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year despite expanding production.
