Award ceremony for the Klever Birne 2024 sustainability prize

In 2024, the citizens of Kleve were invited for the second time to contribute their ideas for a sustainable and liveable city. The winners were chosen on the evening of 12 September.

Shaping the future: Together with the city of Kleve, we launched the Klever Birne sustainability award last year. This year’s winners were chosen on the evening of 12 September 2024.

The requirements for participating in the Klever Birne are very simple: the idea had to be one that has not yet been implemented in Kleve. It should also address at least one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. 23 ideas dealing with ecological, economic and/or social sustainability were submitted this year. Ten projects were selected by a jury consisting of employees from Rine-Waal University of Applied Sciences (HSRW) and the city of Kleve for the grand final on 12 September 2024. The final teams were trained in two workshops for the presentation to the jury and the public in the HSRW lecture centre.

Thursday afternoon was the day. The presentation tables were set up, information posters hung on the walls and the teams made their final preparations. Before the jury set off to listen to the short presentations of the individual teams, Wolfgang Gebing, Mayor of Kleve, and Prof. Dr Peter Kisters, Vice President for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer at HSRW and project manager of TransRegINT, welcomed the more than 100 visitors and finalists.

Setting the course for sustainable development

Wolfgang Gebing made an impressive appeal to all those present: “We must manage, plan and act in such a way that our children and grandchildren will still find a world worth living in – and this applies not only to the environment, but also to society and the economy.” The collaboration between HSRW and the city of Kleve is “a great example of how local authorities and educational institutions can work hand in hand to shape a sustainable future.” Like Prof. Dr. Oliver Locker-Grütjen, President of HSRW, he was positive that the Klever Birne would continue to play a key role in the programme of HSRW and the city of Kleve in the future.

Climate change affects everyone

Prof Dr Peter Kisters went back to the recent past and was pleased about the great sense of responsibility shown by the citizens of Kleve, for example in January of this year when thousands gathered for a demonstration for democracy and diversity. “Taking responsibility, attitude and action” are also essential today when it comes to climate change. “We need to take action in the here and now. Climate change is not a threat to the future, it is the present. Climate adaptation measures are our responsibility,” he appealed to those present. This makes the Klever Birne all the more important, he said, as a small contribution that implements visionary ideas locally in order to have a global impact.

A close race

Things got exciting towards the end of the evening. “It was a close race,” said Prof Dr Oliver Locker-Grütjen. On behalf of the jury, he thanked all participants and emphasised the “incredible commitment” in the pitches. “It’s not easy to present a complete project idea in three minutes.” The jury was unanimous in its decision, ultimately it came down to the details.

The first prize, endowed with €2,000 in prize money, was awarded to the Berufsbildungszentrum Kleve with the project idea “17 raised beds”. The joint networking and ease of realisation impressed the jury.

The second prize, endowed with €1,500 in prize money, went to the “EcoParkKleve” group. The broad sustainability idea stood out here in particular.

The “marketing professionals” from Joseph-Beuys-Gesamtschule were awarded third prize for their “Green Walls” project. They were delighted to receive €1,000 in prize money.

Danial Sharghi won the Student Impact Award with his idea for the “KleveConnect” app. The jury emphasised the community aspect, direct marketing and regionality. Danial Sharghi, a student at HSRW, was delighted to receive €1,000 in prize money.

Visitors were also invited to vote for their favourite. 46 percent of those present voted in favour of the Joseph-Beuys-Gesamtschule’s green classroom idea. The pupils of class 9a, their teacher and the school management in attendance were presented with a pear tree as an award. All award winners will also receive coaching from the city of Kleve and HSRW if desired.

Jury applauds motivational aspect

In addition to Wolfgang Gebing and Prof Dr Oliver Locker-Grütjen, the jury also included Kira Mertens, education officer at Wasserburg Rindern, Katharina Segers from AG Klimaschutz Kreis Kleve and Falko Mesch, member of Fridays for Future Kleve. They particularly recognised the networking opportunities offered by the Klever Birne and the motivating aspect of the creative ideas.