“The willingness to tackle problems head-on is a crucial factor in success with environmental protection.” With these words at the end of October, President Joachim Gauck honored this year’s recipients of the German Environmental Prize from the German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, DBU) and the DBU itself in the 25th year of its existence. Gauck continued: “Your achievements show me that we can look optimistically into the future. We can be sure that we are capable of learning behavior which involves showing respect for the riches of our planet and understanding the limits of the demands we put on that planet.”
In Würzburg the President personally presented the highest-endowed independent environmental prize in Europe to the entrepreneur Bas van Abel (of Amsterdam), the scientist and academic Prof. Dr.-Ing. Angelika Mettke (of Cottbus), and the entrepreneur Walter Feeß (of Kirchheim/Teck). Van Abel receives € 250,000. The other half of the prize money will be shared by Mettke and Feeß.
