European Energy Award in Gold for Chemnitz
Successful climate protection policy honoured in front of an international audience
Today, Mayor Miko Runkel accepted the European Energy Award (eea®) in gold for Chemnitz in Leipzig. The eea® is a multi-year European quality management system and certification procedure that records, evaluates, plans, controls and regularly reviews the energy and climate protection activities of the municipality.
The gold award recognises Chemnitz's successful climate protection policy in front of an international audience. Since the early 1990s, the city of Chemnitz has been committed to climate protection and sustainable development. In 1992, for example, it joined the Climate Alliance of European cities with indigenous rainforest peoples. The aim is to reduceCO2 emissions to 2.5 tonnes per inhabitant per year in the long term and to halve the 1990 figure by 2030. Stakeholders came together under the umbrella of Local Agenda 21 to give substance to these objectives.
In 2009, the city council commissioned the administration to participate in the European Energy Award (eea®) for the first time and to establish an energy network. The City of Chemnitz has already won the eea® silver award in 2011 and 2014. This year, 78 per cent of the possible points were achieved in an international certification process and thus the eea® Gold.
The city of Chemnitz is thus successfully continuing the tradition of sustainable development and the protection of natural resources that was established in Saxony 300 years ago.
In addition to the city administration, the municipal companies eins energie in sachsen, CVAG and ASR as well as the Chemnitz Waste Management Association contributed to this success. Without the clubs, associations, committed citizens, the Chamber of Crafts, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, research institutions and private companies organised under the umbrella of the Environmental Centre, achieving the eea® in gold would have been unthinkable. These players are involved in this process and set important milestones.
Concrete measures recognised
Current climate protection projects include the energy-efficient refurbishment of the Brühl, the solar cadastre on the City of Chemnitz website, the further expansion of the Chemnitz model, the energy-efficient refurbishment of schools and efficiency improvements in the supply and disposal facilities, such as the construction of a new elevated drinking water tank on Leipziger Strasse.
The city administration was able to save 50 per cent of the energy used to print documents by installing a central printer system. Cooperation with the Chamber of Crafts and the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in the energy network ensures the conception of new energy-saving projects and the promotion of electromobility in our city. The AGENDA Forum organised by the Environmental Centre in October was dedicated to the question of how district heating in Chemnitz can gradually become renewable. These projects are representative of a large number of measures and campaigns.