Three competition contributions from the German-speaking region of the Alps received main prizes worth €20,000 each for their exemplary services across the Alps. The Allgäu municipality of Wildpoldsried/D is particularly active in the areas of energy, wood and water. The municipality of Mäder in Vorarlberg/A is not only promoting energy efficiency, it is also motivating its population and its neighbouring communities to take an active part in climate protection. The environmental organisation Bund Naturschutz Bayern/D is working to restore moors to their near-natural conditions as moors help to protect people against floods and also act as a CO2 sink. "The winners of the cc.alps competition have shown in a most impressive way how we can counter the impact of climate change in the Alpine region with comprehensive measures," said Dominik Siegrist at the award ceremony. The award winners have managed to achieve a balance between climate protection, the environment, society and the economy.
CIPRA also recognised four climate projects from Switzerland, Italy, France and Slovenia with prizes of €10,000 each. The Alpine Bus community of interests (Switzerland), the KlimaHaus Agentur (South Tyrol/I), the company STMicroelectronics (Grenoble/F) and the Snovik spa resort (SI) have made some outstanding achievements, particularly when compared nationally. The Jury also selected six other contributions worthy of special mention from Germany and Austria for the final round out of a total of 160 submissions. The 14th autumn seminar of the Hausbau- und Energiemesse [housing construction and energy trade fair] provided a fitting setting for the prize-giving.
The competition is part of the CIPRA project "cc.alps - climate change: thinking one step further". cc.alps is financed by Switzerland's MAVA Foundation for Nature.
More information on the award-winning contributions and the other submissions can be found at www.cipra.org/cc.alps (de/fr/it/sl/en).