Ambassadors Hansa Green Tour

THE NETHERLANDS: Reinier van den Berg - RTL Television

The climate is changing. The world is warming up. Icecaps are melting, sealevels are rising, rainfall is getting more extreme and deserts are expanding. Alarming signals. Overdone? I wish that was true! I follow these climate changes as closely as I can for already more then 10 years. This inconvenient scenario is unfortunately getting more and more clear.

Therefore it is surprising to see that there is still so much resistance to make our society and economy more sustainable. In corporate life I am happy to see more and more initiatives to go green. Companies see the necessity and relevance to become more sustainable and to outperform their competition in being more green, more sustainable. The marketforces are pushing that way. Great!

In participating in the Hansa Green Tour 5 - 8 June 2013 you can see very well what the power and possibilities are to make large sustainable changes. A brilliant initiative! 

Reinier van den Berg, ambassador Hansa Green Tour

Climatologist RTL Television
 

GERMANY: Dr.Axel B. Röpke - German Wind Energy Association HH

We all see the global challenge on sustainable growth and social responsibility for the next generation. However within a global world one can always consider this challenge being too big for himself.

Delivering local solutions to global problems seems the right approach to start tackling the future. This is why we should not lose focus on local and regional activities. The Hansa Green Tour is making a brilliant approach and bringing the historical league of the hanseatic merchants back together – though in a modern sustainable focus.

Reviving this several hundred years old tradition of merchants networking and doing business together will gain a win-win situation for all participants. In sharing your thoughts and initiatives at the Hansa Green Tour 5 - 8 June 2013 you can see the opportunities to make a change.

Dr. Axel B. Röpke, lawyer, ambassador Hansa Green Tour
Chairman of the board German Wind Energy Association, Hamburg Chapter
Partner at Sagawe & Klages Rechtsanwälte
 

SWEDEN: Prof.Dr. Leo Baas - University Linköping

Where international politics is not getting any further and agreeing only on a very thin compromise about climate change it is interesting to see that in northwest Europe several initiatives are now taking place at local levels to become self supporting with 100% renewable energy. Turning household waste into energy and organic waste into biogas is primairily taking place in Scandinavia. Windenergy has a very significant part in the total electricity generation in Denmark and northern Germany. These examples show that a consistent renewable energy policy is working. In addition to this there are many initiatives at producing renewable energy at local level based on windpower, solarpower, waste and fermentation of biomass resulting in an output that is more than 100% of the local energy needs.

The Hansa Green Tour illustrates new forms of spreading knowledge about renewable energy and sustainable technology. In 2012 the Hansa Green Tour has visited a.o. the small community in Germany, Lathen. Here they have successfully realized an ambitious turnaround from fossile energy to 100% renewable energy by investing in a solarpark, windenergy and biogasproduction. The greening of City Airport Bremen is an example of sustainable progress in a branche where sustainability was ignored for a long time. This is changing and is shown as well by several large airline companies that are experimenting with flying on biofuels. A visit to Hamburg as EU Green Capital 2011, the most sustainable city in Europe in 2011, shows that also big cities and metropolitan regions can renew their urban development in a sustainable way.

I strongly recommend the Hansa Green Tour as a source of inspiration by a process of “Learning by seeing”.

Prof.Dr.Leo Baas, ambassadeur Hansa Green Tour

University Linköping