They are considered the Oscars of sustainability: the Energy Globe Awards! In 2015, Climate Alliance’s CITY CYCLING campaign was conferred the 2015 National Energy Globe Award for Germany. Over 1,500 projects were submitted for consideration by more than 180 countries, with over 130 submissions alone from Germany. Energy Globe founder, Wolfgang Neumann, handed over the certificate in person to Climate Alliance’s CITY CYCLING Project Manager, André Muno. After the Sustainable Energy Europe Award conferred by the EU in 2011, this is now the second major accolade for the campaign.

The CITY CYCLING team and Climate Alliance would like to thank the Energy Globe jury and the hundreds of municipalities and tens of thousands of cyclists who have supported the campaign over the years and helped to make it what it is today: a recurring, very special event for countless towns, cities, municipalities and districts, who enthusiastically take a fun approach to promote the bicycle as a sustainable mode of transport. The 2015 National Energy Globe Award Germany is great motivation to develop the CITY CYCLING campaign ever further in the future. For more information on the Energy Globe Awards, please see www.energyglobe.info/germany2015.

On 12 April 2011, Climate Alliance’s CITY CYCLING campaign was awarded the 2011 Sustainable Energy Europe Award in the TRAVELLING category by (former) EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger during the EU Sustainable Energy Week in Brussels. The sustainability awards acknowledge outstanding European projects in the fields of renewable energies and energy efficiency. Over 300 projects were submitted for consideration for the sustainability award conferred in the categories of COMMUNICATING, CONSUMING, LEARNING, LIVING and TRAVELLING for the leading initiatives in the fields of renewable energies and energy efficiency. Oettinger was impressed by the many fantastic ideas and emphasised that “the European climate protection goals cannot be achieved without commitment on the local level”.

CITY CYCLING is a campaign for sustainable mobility and climate protection developed according to the Nuremberg model: since 2008, members of local parliaments and citizens have cycled during a three-week period between May and September to “collect” as many climate-friendly kilometres covered by bike for their municipality as possible. In 2010 (the year the award acknowledges), around 13,000 cyclists, including 530 members of local parliaments from 60 towns, cities and municipalities, got involved in the campaign. Together they cycled a total of more than 2.35 million kilometres. So symbolically, they circumnavigated the earth almost 60 times and avoided around 340 tons of CO2 by not using a car.

Nuremberg’s environmental officer, Dr. Peter Pluschke, stated: “We are very proud that the campaign in Nuremberg has proven so popular and prompted a national campaign.” For Climate Alliance’s former Managing Director, Ulrike Janssen, the most important thing is that “it is not only a fun campaign. The fact that local politicians are gaining visibility by getting out on their bikes means progress is also being made on the political level. Expansion of the cycling network is being agreed, for example, or dangerous spots made safer for cyclists.”