Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke said: “Precautionary climate protection and climate adaptation have become an urgent dual task. The flood disaster last summer and the dry summers of recent years have shown this very clearly. Municipalities face particular challenges when it comes to warding off the consequences of the climate crisis. The federal government is therefore supporting the municipalities with funding, advisory services and capacity building on the ground. Municipalities in Germany are diverse, and each has its own unique requirements. Nevertheless, mayors and district commissioners can learn a lot from each other. With the newly launched Blue Compass federal award, we want to actively find solutions that encourage others to follow suit in order to achieve the best possible climate adaptation throughout Germany.”
UBA President Dirk Messner said: “Whether it is heavy rain and flooding, or heat and drought – the risks to our society continue to increase throughout the country. In the Land of Thinkers, we welcome new ideas and projects that boldly tackle these problems. In addition to prize money, the winners will receive support with nationwide press and public relations work. The goal is clear: we recommend that others follow suit!”
Climate resilient product and manufacturing cycles, innovative concepts for dealing with new pathogens and invasive species, the climate-adapted use of pesticides, restored moors and forests or nature-based measures for heavy rainfall prevention - the devastating heavy rain disasters in the summer of 2021 highlighted how important it is to adapt to the consequences of global warming. In this context, climate change adaptation and precautionary measures have become tasks for society as a whole. Therefore, the new federal award Blauer Kompass targets a wide range of actors. Projects from four categories are eligible: municipalities, private and municipal enterprises, educational and research institutions as well as associations, federations and foundations. Application documents are available at www.uba.de/blauerkompass. The contest office is available to provide information and answers to questions regarding the federal award (email: blauerkompass [at] uba [dot] de). The Zentrum Klima-Anpassung has also scheduled an informational online consultation hour in early March 2022.
After the application deadline, the Federal Environment Ministry and the German Environment Agency (UBA) nominate twenty projects for the prize in May 2022. The Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) and the co2online consulting company provide support in the evaluation of the projects. In late June 2022, a jury of experts from the Federal Environment Ministry, UBA, the municipal umbrella organisations as well as from the fields of business, research, volunteers and climate communication will select one winning project per category. An audience award will once again go to a project selected through online voting at www.uba.de/tatenbank starting 18 May 2022. All five winning projects will be honoured on 16 September 2022 at an award ceremony to be held at the Federal Ministry for the Environment in Berlin. Winners will receive prize money of €25,000 each, a trophy plus exposure through national press outlets and public relations work. Prize money will be used for new climate change adaptation activities. In addition, short films will be made on the award-winning projects, which the winners can then use for their public relations work.
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