German Federal Foundation Environment

German Federal Environment Foundation (DBU)
legal form	Foundation under civil law
founding	July 18, 1990
founder	Federal Republic of Germany
Seat	Osnabrück
purpose	Funding of projects in the areas of environmental technology , environmental research & nature conservation as well as environmental communication & cultural property protection
Chair	Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter
Managing directors	Alexander Bonde
sales	126,457,000 euros (2018)
Foundation capital	2,281,125,000 euros (2018)
Website	dbu.de

The Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt ( DBU ) is a foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany based in Osnabrück .

The foundation was established as a foundation under civil law on 18 July 1990 on the basis of the law establishing a foundation "German Federal Environment Foundation" . The foundation capital was made available by the Federal Republic of Germany from the proceeds of the sale of Salzgitter AG in the amount of around DM 2.5 billion (around € 1.3 billion). With these foundation assets , it is one of the largest foundations in Europe. It is the task of the foundation to promote projects to protect the environment with special consideration of the medium-sized economy and to operate outside of government programs. In particular, research, development and innovative solutions in the area of ​​environmentally and health-friendly processes and products as well as the exchange of knowledge about the environment, domestic German cooperation projects in the application of environmental technology and model projects to secure and preserve nationally valuable cultural assets from harmful environmental influences are promoted. Since the foundation began working on March 1, 1991, it has supported more than 9,000 projects with around 1.6 billion euros in funding (as of February 2016). Around € 50 million is available annually for funding projects. The DBU is headed by a board of trustees with 16 members appointed by the federal government. The chairperson is the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment, Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter . The board of trustees appoints a general secretary to head the office.

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees is composed as follows (as of February 2020):

Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter (Chair) Antje von Dewitz (deputy) Michael Meister (deputy) Kai Niebert (deputy) Johannes Beermann Antje Boetius Petra Gerstenkorn Bettina Hagedorn

Christiane Hipp Sylvia Kotting-Uhl Christoph Leuschner Olaf Lies Mathias Middelberg Carsten Träger Marion Weissenberger-Eibl

Funding guidelines

The DBU promotes innovative, exemplary and solution-oriented projects to protect the environment in accordance with the foundation's mandate and the mission statement. It fulfills this mandate in terms of sustainable development in its ecological, economic, social and cultural aspects with special consideration of small and medium-sized companies. Environmental protection should also be understood as health protection.

The funding offer is based on 13 interdisciplinary funding topics, which are continuously adapted to the changing requirements of environmental protection. At the same time, the opportunity is created to take up innovative ideas from project partners through open-topic funding and to promote innovative environmental protection projects of particular importance that are outside of the 13 defined funding topics.

The DBU sees the main challenges in climate change, the loss of biodiversity, the unsustainable use of resources and harmful emissions. Complex environmental problems can only be mastered through interdisciplinary, systemic approaches that incorporate social practice. The funding topics tie in with current scientific findings on planetary boundaries as well as with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) adopted by the UN.

The research, development and use of new environmentally friendly technologies and products in terms of preventive integrated environmental protection, the preservation and restoration of the national natural heritage and the promotion of environmental awareness and behavior of people through information and environmental education measures are equally and equally considered in the funding topics. Digitization is named as an important cross-cutting issue.

In November 2015, the Board of Trustees decided on these new funding guidelines for the German Federal Environment Foundation, which have been in effect since the beginning of 2016.

The new funding guidelines of the DBU contain the following 13 funding topics:

1. Instruments and competencies for sustainability assessment as well as strengthening sustainability awareness and action
2. Sustainable nutrition and sustainable handling of food
3. Development, design and acceptance of environmentally friendly movable consumer goods
4. Renewable energies - promote decentralized heating transition, optimize existing systems and reduce negative environmental impacts
5. Building in a way that conserves the climate and resources
6. Energy- and resource-saving district development and renewal
7. Reduction of CO ₂ emissions in energy-intensive industries
8. Resource efficiency through innovative material technology
9. Circulation and efficient use of phosphorus and environmentally critical metals
10. Reduction of nitrogen emissions in agriculture
11. Integrated concepts and measures for the protection and management of groundwater and surface water
12. Nature conservation and sustainable use of nature in agricultural landscapes and protected areas
13. Preservation and securing of nationally valuable cultural assets from harmful environmental influences

In addition to these areas, there is open-topic funding. In the non-subject area, all projects with a high environmental impact that correspond to the statutory tasks of the DBU can be funded.

application

Old logo - DBU

In accordance with the funding guidelines, natural and legal persons under private and public law are entitled to apply . In individual cases, the foundation can support projects in neighboring European regions as long as there is a direct link to environmental problems in Germany. The grant recipient should have his permanent establishment in Germany.

Funding is generally provided in the form of a specific grant. The applicant has to pay an own contribution. The grant can be granted in different amounts depending on the project and applicant. For companies and institutions active in the market, the upper limit is based on the regulations of EU state aid law .

German Environment Prize of the DBU

• The German Environment Prize of the DBU has been awarded annually since 1993. At € 500,000, it is the most valuable environmental award in Europe. It is awarded for achievements that have made a decisive and exemplary contribution to the protection and preservation of our environment or will contribute to a significant environmental relief in the future .

DBU campaign "Renovate House - Benefit"

In 2007, the foundation launched the “House renovation - benefit” campaign in cooperation with the skilled trades. The heart of the five-year program is a free and non-mandatory energy check, which trained craftsmen carry out after routine visits to single and two-family home owners. The aim of the nationwide campaign is to motivate more owners to refurbish their properties to improve energy efficiency. Nationwide, more than 12,000 tradespeople are currently participating in “Renovating - Benefiting”.

Scholarship holders

The foundation maintains two scholarship programs. On the one hand, the DBU annually awards 60 doctoral scholarships to young scientists from all disciplines who carry out further research in the field of environmental protection at German universities. Twice a year, a selection committee made up of professors from various fields decides on the award. The doctoral scholarship program has supported over 1,000 young scientists since 1992.

On the other hand, the DBU also maintains an international scholarship program with the following countries and regions in Central and Eastern Europe: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and the Kaliningrad administrative region. Since 2009, individual applications have also been accepted from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia and Kosovo. The program enables young environmental scientists from the respective countries to gain further qualifications through a 6 to 12 month research stay in Germany.

Among the scholarship recipients of the doctoral scholarship program and the MOE scholarship program were:

• Rasa Ragulskytė-Markovienė (* 1976), Lithuanian judge, environmental lawyer, professor at the Mykolo Romerio universitetas
• Susanne Stoll-Kleemann (* 1969), German professor for sustainability science and applied geography at the University of Greifswald

Management of the foundation capital

The Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt manages its foundation capital of around 2.24 billion euros independently with the aim of generating income for the financing of sponsored projects and maintaining the foundation capital after adjustment for inflation. The asset investment invests in interest-bearing securities, shares and real assets. We do not use derivatives in direct investments or alternative investments (e.g. hedge funds or private equity). The rough asset allocation of the foundation stipulates that at least 67% of the foundation's capital can be invested in interest-bearing securities, up to 24% in shares and up to 9% in real estate and sustainable tangible assets. According to the investment guidelines of the DBU, at least 80% of the shares held as direct investments and 80% of the listed corporate bond must be listed in a sustainability index. The DBU is based on the Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability Index, the FTSE4Good Index, the French Euronext from Vigeo and the Ethibel Sustainability Index. In 2012, the DBU was the first non-profit organization in Germany to sign the UN Principles for Responsible Investment . The DBU's accumulated stock return from January 1, 2010 to October 31, 2018 is 83% or 7.08% per year.

reception

The left-liberal daily taz describes the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt as “CDU-dominated” and believes that by appointing Alexander Bonde as general secretary it “violated its own rules”.

See also

• DBU natural heritage

Web links

Commons : Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• German Federal Foundation Environment
• Funding guidelines, procedural provisions, law, deed of foundation ( Memento of August 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 2 MB)
• Project page for the DBU campaign "House renovation - benefit" (2007–2011)
• DBU scholarship programs

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DBU self-presentation on the 25th anniversary of the foundation
2. ^ The Board of Trustees of the German Federal Environment Foundation. "The foundation's board of directors - and thus its most important body - exercises control functions and votes on important decisions." www.dbu.de, accessed on December 17, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Curriculum vitae of Parliamentary State Secretary Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, website of the Federal Environment Ministry - BMUB, www.bmub.bund.de, as of April 8, 2016 ( Memento of May 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ Secretary General ( Memento of January 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
5. ^ The Board of Trustees of the German Federal Environment Foundation , accessed on February 10, 2020
6. ↑ dbu.de funding guidelines
7. ↑ www.sanieren-profitieren.de .
8. ↑ https://www.dbu.de/stipendien_promotion
9. ↑ https://www.dbu.de/stipendien_international
10. ^ Bernhard Pötter: German Federal Environment Foundation: "Green boss for black foundation". “Surprisingly, the richest eco-foundation in Europe elects a Green as Secretary General. The CDU-dominated house doesn't care about its rules. ”The daily newspaper, December 14, 2017, accessed on December 18, 2017 . 

Coordinates: 52 ° 17 '10.7 "  N , 8 ° 1' 55.9"  E