German environmental technologies are an important building block for advancing environmental protection worldwide. But how can green tech applications have an even greater impact in the future? That is what participants were discussing last week in Berlin at the annual conference of the Environmental Protection Export Initiative (EXI). About 150 representatives from industry, research and development, non-governmental organisations as well as various federal ministries were in attendance.
State Secretary Christiane Rohleder: “Environmentally-friendly technologies and infrastructures are urgently needed everywhere in the world. They help supply people with clean water, or use materials efficiently and save resources by developing a circular economy. Environmental technologies are a decisive key to unlocking more sustainability globally. Funding programmes such as the Environmental Protection Export Initiative are successful gateways for green innovations on the world market. Therefore ‘GreenTech – Made in Germany’ can make a very significant impact in terms of sustainability in many countries. Critical here is that the technology and the concept are adapted to local conditions, so that a real, sustainable benefit is generated for the environment.”
The EXI annual conference took place on 1 and 2 September in Berlin. Following an opening networking event, the teams from the funded projects discussed the major areas of activity of the funding programme on the second day of the conference. The main focus of the discussions were on the issues of circular economies, water and waste technology as well as green hydrogen and fuel cell technology, which can for example, replace the operation of diesel generators with locally generated renewable energy.
NOW GmbH was on site as a partner organisation and contact for the topic of green hydrogen and fuel cell technology for decentralized and off-grid power supply. There was particular emphasis on exchanging experiences about EXI’s key fields of activity in the framework of relevant workshops as well as networking with project members. Additional topics and information on the activities of NOW GmbH for EXI as well as examples of projects can be found on the NOW homepage and in the project finder of the NOW website.
With the Environmental Protection Export Initiative (EXI), the Federal Ministry for the Environment has been supporting German green tech companies to disseminate innovative environmental technologies that are ‘Made in Germany’ since 2016. Optimised environmental conditions should be advanced in the target countries both for sustainable development, and better environmental and living conditions (SGD implementation). The projects of the BMUV’s Environmental Protection Export Initiative also contribute to the worldwide implementation of green and environmentally sound services through the support of appropriate infrastructures. Since the programme’s inception in 2016 more than 150 projects in 75 countries have been supported.
Image source: BMUV