Award winning commitment
The German Sustainability Prize (DNP) will be awarded for the 13th time in December in Düsseldorf. Stefan Schulze-Hausmann, initiator of the DNP, spoke to VIVID about the competition and the opportunities that the corona crisis also offers for the topic of sustainability.
Stiftung Deutscher
Nachhaltigkeitspreis e.V.
Neuer Zollhof 3
40221 Düsseldorf
Germany
When the DNP was awarded for the first time in 2008, the topic of sustainability was anything but an obvious matter of course in Germany. The lawyer and television journalist Stefan Schulze-Hausmann is Chairman of the Board of the German Sustainability Award Foundation. “Our aim was to honour and recognise commitment in the areas of economy, ecology and social issues,” he explains. “The background was the increasingly clear threat posed by climate change. This was the catalyst for our commitment.”
This year, for the 13th time, representatives of the categories companies, architecture, cities and municipalities, packaging, research and, for the first time, design will be honoured. In addition, the Next Economy Award will be presented, which focuses on sustainable start-ups. The award ceremony is sponsored by the federal and NRW state governments, commercial enterprises, research institutions and associations, among others.
In recent years, the demands on sustainable companies have increased. Whereas in the past, achievements such as ecological company cars and recycled paper were sufficient for a green label, today the focus is primarily on a company’s products and production. But it is not only the economy that is challenged. “Everyone has to do something with their opportunities. Behind the award is the idea of using best practices to set things in motion, to inspire people and initiate change,” explains Stefan Schulze-Hausmann. The DNP Foundation is based in Düsseldorf; the reason for this is not least Stefan Schulze-Hausmann’s personal ties to the state capital. He has lived and worked here for 20 years. In addition, there are many people and movements actively interested in Düsseldorf to which the foundation feels closely connected.
“Everyone has to do something with their opportunities. Behind the award is the idea of using best practices to set things in motion, to inspire people and initiate change”
Valuable and grown partnerships and the constant development of all accompanying factors have led to the DNP becoming a renowned award. The list of award winners is therefore suitably impressive. “There is Ban Ki-Moon, for example, who established sustainability at UN level, the singer Annie Lennox, who now devotes 80 percent of her activities to social work. Or Michael Otto, a German businessman who is using his time and his fortune to advance the cause.” It is of general importance to find honorary prize winners with a high public profile who will draw attention to the event and thus also to the guests and the other award winners. “ A great appeal, intent and purpose are decisive for us. Last year, for example, Greta Thunberg was awarded the special prize, which was accepted by Fridays For Future activists on her behalf. She accepted our prize, but she rejected many others,” Schulze-Hausmann is pleased to report.
Preisempfängerinnen Maira Kellers und Luisa Neubauer, Fridays for Future Aktivistinnen.
“This year, DNP is of course also marked by the Corona crisis. This presents everyone with completely new challenges. The biggest mistake would be not to use the pandemic as an opportunity for a new start. As it happened after the financial crisis in 2008 for example, when it was a great failure to simply rebuild the old instead of creating something new”, according to Stefan Schulze-Hausmann. “My great hope is that fundamental questions will now be asked and that the reconstruction will be implemented in a meaningful and viable way. When you fear for your life, small, luxurious elements suddenly seem superfluous. There is a return to the essentials – health and time. This leads to the question: Why do I buy things that kill time and don’t do things that would make my time more valuable instead? I believe that this insight will cause some business models to disappear, while it allows others to emerge. This is an opportunity that must be seized!” Of course, the big players are in particular demand here. How is the issue of sustainability going in the free economy so far? “The really big companies cannot be as sustainable throughout as a small organic baker. But we need them! They are the ones who can make an infinite amount of difference, even with small corrections,” says Schulze-Hausmann. This is why the DNP also rewards the “super tankers that change course too slowly”, which has also provoked criticism in the past. “Then you have to go a little further and see the big picture: There are large corporations who produce pesticides, for example, but at the same time they make many small changes to further the progress towards sustainability, and we want to reward that,” he explains. The award ceremony in December this year will be different than usual. “We are planning a hybrid event consisting of a live audience and virtual elements, more content and less entertainment. Sustainability is now getting an enormous boost, which will also further strengthen the DNP. Since we also want to see the crisis as an opportunity!” •
Words: Katja Vaders
Pictures: PR