German Sustainability Award presented to Leuphana
2023-11-29 Lüneburg/Düsseldorf. As part of the 16th German Sustainability Award, the "pioneers of transformation" in 100 sectors were honoured for the first time in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for the Environment, the DIHK and the WWF. The CEOs and sustainability managers of the 100 companies received their trophies in Düsseldorf. Leuphana University Lüneburg was honoured as a role model in the area of schools and universities. Vice President Christian Brei and Sustainability Officer Irmhild Brüggen accepted the award.
The jury had confirmed that Leuphana is one of the 100 pioneers of transformation in Germany and occupies the top position among German educational institutions with its transdisciplinary approach to sustainability in business and society. According to the DNP Foundation, it made it through to the final "because it has made particularly effective, exemplary contributions to transformation, thereby setting an example and sending the right signals to its industry and beyond."
"Today, we can reap the rewards of many years of work and development as a sustainable university in research, teaching and university operations," said Vice President Christian Brei when accepting the award. In this context, he recalled the special achievements of Prof. Dr Gerd Michelsen and other members of the university, who had already promoted the establishment of a Department of Environmental Sciences and the development of a corresponding degree programme in Lüneburg in the early 1990s.
1,200 CEOs and sustainability managers from the winning and finalist companies, representatives of the juries and guests from all relevant sectors came together to honour the pioneers at the 16th German Corporate Sustainability Award ceremony. Representatives of institutions that play a significant role in transformative progress in the economy were invited to the award ceremony, including Bundesbank board member Dr Sabine Mauderer, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Environment Ministry Dr Bettina Hoffmann, WWF board member Heike Vesper, DIHK President Peter Adrian and the President of the German Nature Conservation Ring Prof Dr Kai Niebert.
The award ceremony in Düsseldorf was preceded by a process lasting several months. A total of around 5,000 companies in all sectors were researched with the help of AI. At the same time, there was an application option; the researched companies were also able to update their sustainability profiles. The Berlin start-up score4more evaluated these profiles and compiled shortlists, on the basis of which 100 expert juries with a total of around 150 experts selected the finalists and winners.
The 100 companies that the juries considered to have made particularly effective, successful and exemplary contributions to transformation in their sectors and that have become role models - or should become role models - were honoured.