Mayor Katja Dörner welcomed the guests at the beginning. "Climate-conscious business is already a decisive location factor for Bonn today and ensures the future viability and competitiveness of Bonn's companies," said Mayor Katja Dörner. "Many companies have already significantly reduced their emissions in recent years because optimized use of energy and resources is often associated with major cost benefits. The great interest in the city's advisory services shows that many companies are willing to make their contribution and that the support of the economic development agency can be very helpful along the way." As the transformation to sustainable business practices can also be a challenge, the economic development agency offers support, advice and opportunities for exchange so that each company can shape its own path.

A survey by the IHK Initiative Rheinland showed that the majority of the companies surveyed have already implemented (67.3%) or planned (11.2%) measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "Entrepreneurial success can succeed not despite, but precisely because of a serious approach to the challenges of a post-fossil economy," emphasized business promoter Victoria Appelbe in her introduction. However, she conceded that creating a comprehensive climate protection strategy and putting your own day-to-day business operations through their paces is no easy undertaking and requires support. "We would like to provide an introduction to this with our climate protection offers for businesses," said the City of Bonn's business development officer.

After all, the opportunities are huge: the business community can contribute to reducing emissions both as a provider of solutions, for example through services and products in the energy, mobility or real estate sectors or in agriculture. However, it can also make an important contribution in sectors that are not obviously related to the climate by converting technical processes and energy supply and operational mobility, and by strategically taking climate issues into account, it can also open up new business areas and create job opportunities.

The business climate partnerships are aimed at companies that are already making an above-average commitment to climate protection and would like to increase this commitment. They are empowered to take effective climate protection measures with the help of a wide range of support and networking services. Working groups involving regional and national experts are central to this. The companies also gain visibility in the city community and beyond through high-profile activities. The first climate partner partnerships with Bonn companies are set to begin in April 2025.

The climate protection advisory service that has already been launched will also provide companies that are still in the early stages with individual support in the form of introductory advice, specialist information and workshop formats. Climate protection is considered along the entire process: from stocktaking and CO2 balancing to strategic planning and implementation of climate protection and climate adaptation measures through to their evaluation. Advice and support is available for the following areas

• Building energy
• Greening and climate adaptation
• Renewable energies
• mobility
• Resource conservation and production
• Skilled workers

There is also a focus on companies from Bonn's industrial estates with their specific challenges, starting with the Beuel-Ost and Bonn-West industrial estates. The business park management creates local synergies and joint solutions for local companies in exchange formats and joint projects and promotes the sustainable, climate-friendly development of the business parks.

The event concluded with a round table discussion with Julia Herting (SGL Carbon), Juliane Tiemann (DHL Group), Dr. Stefan Hirschmann (VÖB-Service) and Sven Schneider (Bonn Office for Economic Development), who shared their experiences on climate protection.

The project "Bonn Climate Protection Offers for Business" is part of the work program of the Bonn Climate Plan 2035. With the Bonn Climate Plan 2035, the city of Bonn has set itself the goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2035. An important component of this is the climate-friendly transformation of Bonn's economy. The climate plan was adopted by the city council in March 2023 as a roadmap for a climate-neutral and liveable city of Bonn. As a climate neutrality strategy, the climate plan defines goals and development paths for the period up to 2035 and contains a "Climate Protection Work Program 2023-2025" for the city administration, which will be implemented and continuously updated in the coming years.

Further information on the Economy field of action in the Bonn Climate Plan  here (opens in a new tab).