Drawdown: Europe takes a new perspective on climate protection

Following the global climate protection initiative „Project Drawdown“, a coalition of energy and climate organisa-tions has launched a European hub. “Drawdown Europe” will act as a centre of research, innovation, implementation and demonstration for climate solutions based in Europe. Researchers, entrepreneurs, and activists from all over Europe are invited to join the initiative and share their expertise and knowledge. The launch was announced at an international event in Berlin on April 17th, initiated by the German Energy Agency (dena), EIT Climate-KIC and the European Climate Foundation (ECF), and in cooperation with Project Drawdown.

„It is time for Europe to reframe its climate protection efforts,“ said Andreas Kuhlmann, Chief Executive of dena, at the opening of the event. „Project Drawdown shows how this can be done in a way that encourages cooperation, understanding and action. It is an exceptional coalition of some of the sharpest thinkers on climate and energy is-sues, a research and communication project that has the potential to save the planet. Likewise, we want to unite and strengthen the many activities that are already on the way in Europe, with a focus on opportunities rather than threats. That is the reason why we are starting Drawdown Europe.“

Chad Frischmann, Vice President and Research Director of Project Drawdown: „Drawdown Europe opens up exciting perspectives for our common goal of reversing global warming. Europe combines scientific excellence, economic capability and, in many ways, political will. The European Union enforces climate action. Countries like Germany with its Energiewende and France with its transition énergétique are setting encouraging examples. At all levels of society people are ready to get involved. If we can focus these activities on drawdown as key goal, that will be an inspiration for all of us, also beyond Europe.“

Kirsten Dunlop, CEO, EIT Climate-KIC: “One of the greatest barriers to climate action is the asymmetry of access to knowledge, innovation and skills development. EIT Climate-KIC brings a wealth of expertise, insight and capacity in climate innovation that we look forward to making available through Drawdown Europe as, in turn, we learn from the research and modelling the Drawdown platform will make available for local as well as global applications. Partnering with dena, ECF and the Drawdown community brings together complementary forces for change to de-ploy solutions at scale.”

Martin Rocholl, Director Germany Programme, European Climate Foundation: “Project Drawdown shows that the solutions are there. Now, politicians need to act and set the political and economic framework so that these solutions can be implemented as soon as possible. Currently, political ambition does not match the innovation potential that already exists.”

Speakers at the launch event included, among others, Svenja Schulze, German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Ambassador of Climate-KIC, Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute, psycholo-gist and economist Per Espen Stoknes from Norway and entrepreneur Lucia Bakulumpagi-Wamala from Uganda.

More information on Drawdown Europe is available at www.drawdowneurope.eu.