Berlin/Osnabrück. Erfurt (2018), Mannheim (2019), Hannover (2020), Darmstadt (2021) and Magdeburg (2022) are all set to host the biggest environmental award (€500,000) in Europe over the coming years. The trustees of the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) which bestows the German environmental award have confirmed their decision. This was preceded by a competition in which an expert jury panel considered not only technical, organisational and administrative framework conditions but also sustainability criteria. The chair of the DBU Board of Trustees, Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter explains: "On the basis of the sustainability code for the events sector we want to send a message about sustainable action and help to establish resource-efficiency criteria with green meetings."

Sustainability criteria as a decision-making basis

A total of 24 event and exhibition halls applied after the DBU initiated the competition and defined the application documents with the relevant fundamental criteria. An expert jury worked out a special recommendation for the BDU board, including sustainability criteria, which then served as a decision-making basis. In Erfurt the award presentation will take place in the exhibition centre, in Mannheim in the event hall of mannheim congress, in Hannover’s HCC, in Darmstadt’s Darmstadtium and in Magdeburg’s Maritim Hotel. The award presentation has previously taken place in Würzburg (2016, CCW) and Braunschweig (2017, city hall). This year the award will take place on 8 November in the Colosseum Theatre in Essen by German Joachim Gauck.

Outstanding personalities in the world of business, science, technology and social groups

The German Environmental Award conferred by the DBU which was founded in 1991 has taken place at different locations each year since 1993 to enable the foundation to "give a clear indication of the variety and particularities of the approximately 10,000 project and co-operation partners in the whole of Germany", explains Schwarzelühr-Sutter. The award recognises achievements of those who have made an exemplary contribution to the protection and maintenance of the environment or who will contribute to a substantial improvement in the environment and the future. Projects, measures or life achievements of a person may be grounds for an award. Candidates for the German Environmental Award are proposed to be DBU. Those who can nominate include employers' organisations and unions, churches, environmental and scientific associations and research communities, craft associations, trade associations and media. Self-nominations are not possible. A jury appointed by the DBU Board of Trustees consisting of outstanding personalities in the world of business, science, technology and social groups recommends candidates to the board for the year in question. The DBU board makes the decision.

Prize winners

Prize winners so far include the subsequent Nobel Laureate Prof. Paul Crutzen (1994), the former Polish environment minister Dr. Maciej Nowicki (1996), Hamburg entrepreneur Dr. Michael Otto (1997), the director of the Potsdam Institut for Climate Impact Research, Prof. Dr. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber (2007), the  former head of the United Nations Environment Program Prof. Klaus Töpfer (2002), the co-director of the Institute for Applied Ecology, Dr. Rainer Grießhammer (2010), the "electric power" revolutionary Ursula Sladek (2013) and the current honorary chair of Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND), Prof. Angelika Zahrnt (2009).