Cleantech: Reaching A Zero Carbon Economy

December 13th, 2017 by The Beam

Anne-Sophie Garrigou, Editor-In-Chief at The Beam, was invited to write an opinion story about the Berlin cleantech startup scene for the 10th issue of The Hundert.

Major cities all around the world will play an increasingly important role in addressing the challenges of climate change in the near future, and Berlin is at the forefront of this race to reach a zero carbon economy. The German capital wants to be seen as a pioneer, and is the ideal example to illustrate that even large urban areas can achieve climate neutrality.

Christiane Averbeck, Executive Director of Climate Alliance Germany, reiterates the commitment of the city to being climate neutral through drafting the first bike traffic law in Germany and envisioning a fully connected network of bike lanes. She adds that “Berlin switched off the coal power plant Klingenberg — a huge success for the local anti-coal movement,” which will lead to a quicker replacement of the other three coal power plants by renewable energy and heat. Additionally many citizens are encouraging a healthy and less climate-damaging lifestyle through countless vegan restaurants, urban gardening projects, and even a zero-waste supermarket startup by the name of Original Unverpackt. Their aim is to eliminate plastic in the world, and founder Milena Glimbovski recently appeared on the German version of ‘Shark Tank’ to take her business online.

Sustainability startups are pitching solutions for moving toward a greener future all over the city, and greatly succeeding in their ventures, such as solar startups Little Sun and Mobisol, which are making cheap, sustainable energy available across the globe. Fashion startups like Dit Is Balin and Design for Circularity are reducing waste and encouraging fair trade in the clothing industry, and Einhorn Kondome produce “fairstainable” vegan condoms in designer chip bags. But why is Berlin becoming this center for sustainable projects?

According to Paul Grunow, physicist and board director of the Photovoltaik-Institut Berlin, the reason is simple: “Similar to the booming IT startup scene in Berlin, these issues have the potential to be disruptive in terms of breaking up existing models of the old industry with its big energy, chemistry, and automotive companies located in the old western part of Germany.”

Ecoligo cofounder Markus Schwaninger adds that “locations such as the EUREF Campus that accumulate expertise in the CleanTech sector also facilitate the exchange between the startups, which is especially important in the early stages.” For other entrepreneurs, sustainability describes a relationship between the company, its customers, and partners. “We decided to build an actual, profitable, and sustainable business rather than focusing on raising the next round,” said Simon Becker, co-founder of Cabin Spacey.

However, the scene isn’t all moonshine and roses: things are simply not moving fast enough. According to Maik Günther, PhD student at the Freie Universitat, Berlin will become a cutting-edge clean-tech hub only if we are able to build “stronger partnerships between the industry and startups.” For Benjamin Schulz, The Beam founder, the major problem is that “while the city is rich in ideas and talent, it is sometimes very poor in real economic impact and investment.”

Another issue is the dissonance between entrepreneurs and the support they receive from the government. And yet local governments are beginning to understand that supporting a sustainable future is a city’s best investment, with the new municipal government of Berlin developing a strong strong political orientation towards decarbonization as confirmed by Hans-Josef Fell, president of the Energy Watch Group. A recent study investigating the feasibility of reducing Berlin’s CO2 emission by 85% and achieving climate neutrality by 2050 concluded that the climate-neutral transformation of the Berlin energy system would in fact possible and will ultimately stimulate the growth of value-added activities and employment in the city.

When hearing “digital economy,” San Francisco is usually the first city that comes to mind. The city’s dominance stems from its (r)evolution having kicked off decades ago. For cleantech, Berlin could become the torchbearer and carry the responsibility if there is greater awareness by all sectors, the government implements policies that support carbon neutrality, and larger investments are made into cleantech. Berlin represents disruptiveness more than any other city in Europe, and we at The Beam would argue that it is in the city’s DNA to become the radical leader in sustainability.

Originally published in The Hundert, 10th edition, available here.

Article by Anne-Sophie Garrigou

Read the original article here.

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Tags: Berlin, Germany

About the Author

The Beam The Beam Magazine is a quarterly print publication that takes a modern perspective on the energy transition. From Berlin we report about the people, companies and organizations that shape our sustainable energy future around the world. The team is headed by journalist Anne-Sophie Garrigou and designer Dimitris Gkikas. The Beam works with a network of experts and contributors to cover topics from technology to art, from policy to sustainability, from VCs to cleantech start ups. Our language is energy transition and that's spoken everywhere. The Beam is already being distributed in most countries in Europe, but also in Niger, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Japan, Chile and the United States. And this is just the beginning. So stay tuned for future development and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Medium.