Exchange with the Federal Minister Svenja Schulze at the bitkom Founders’ Breakfast
On April 16, 2021, the Get Started Founder Breakfast took place with Svenja Schulze (Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety), Rena Kleine (Co-Founder & CEO of ecotrek and ecosearch), bitkom moderator Linda van Rennings and our CEO & Founder Christoph Berger.
It was an extremely exciting discussion and an interesting exchange on the topics of the climate effects of digitalization and startups as its drivers. “The participants and the Federal Minister agreed that “climate protection is a matter for the boss. Only if people, companies and the public sector work together and with determination can Germany achieve the Paris Climate Agreement and the 2030 climate target and pave the way for a sustainable future.
But how can public administrations and financially weak municipalities in particular be supported, which despite funding programs cannot afford to pay their own share, in order to make existing buildings more efficient and sustainable? What hurdles and challenges, but also opportunities, currently exist for GreenTech startups? These and many other questions occupied the panel and the many audience members. Watch the entire discussion here.
In the panel, the Federal Minister reported, among other things, that in addition to the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development are already climate neutral. Other ministries and buildings are to follow in the future in order to lead the way and set a good example. To this end, a responsible “Coordination Office for Climate-Neutral Federal Administration” was established within the BMU in 2020 in order to bundle, coordinate and thus accelerate concerns in this context. We are particularly pleased about the promised forwarding to this office by the Federal Minister, as well as the upcoming cooperation with the Ministry. This is also a nice follow-up to last year’s German Innovation Award for Climate and Environment, which we received from the BMU and BDI in the category “Use of Digital Change”.
Many companies and public authorities have already recognized the great potential of our digital heat management, which has already enabled us to generate significant savings in the non-residential sector. Learn more about our success stories in public authorities and companies here.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Svenja Schulze and bitkom for making this joint exchange possible. A big thank you also goes to bitkom moderator Linda van Rennings and Rena Kleine from ecotrek / ecosearch.