Tag: Zivilgesellschaft

  • Smart City Winterthur 2030

    Smart City Winterthur 2030

    Since the first smart city strategy in 2018, Winterthur has established itself as one of the most progressive cities in Switzerland. At that time, the focus was on quality of life and resource efficiency, supplemented by topics such as energy, mobility, education and health. With the revision of the strategy towards Smart City Winterthur 2030, the City Council is now focussing on new cross-cutting topics such as innovation, needs orientation and co-creation. These topics are crucial to meeting the requirements of a changing society.

    Two programmes are driving implementation
    The new strategy is being implemented through two programmes, the Innovation Programme and WinLab. The innovation programme supports employees of the city administration in the development and implementation of innovative projects. The aim is to strengthen the culture of innovation within the administration.

    The WinLab, on the other hand, acts as an urban real-world laboratory in which representatives from business, science, civil society and municipal institutions work together. In this creative space, forward-looking solutions for the city are developed and tested. Both programmes create scope for experimentation and promote sustainable innovations that meet the needs of citizens.

    A strategy for the future
    The Smart City Winterthur 2030 strategy comes into force on 1 January 2025 and is part of the long-term goal of shaping Winterthur as a sustainable and adaptable city. The strategy will be reviewed after five years at the latest to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of the city and its population.

  • Holcim creates 1.5 degree frames for cement industry

    Holcim creates 1.5 degree frames for cement industry

    Holcim announces the launch of the world’s first science-based framework for decarbonizing the cement industry . This emerged from a partnership with the Science Based Targets Initiative ( SBTi ). Previously, Holcim independently of the SBTi, together with a group of experts from academia, civil society and industry, had developed such a framework to achieve the decarbonization of the industry “in a rigorous and science-based way”. The building materials producer has realigned its own net zero climate targets for 2030 and submitted them to the SBTi for validation.

    For the first time, cement companies have a clear plan “on how to align their decarbonization strategies with climate science,” Alberto Carrillo Pineda, co-founder and CTO of SBTi, is quoted in the release. “The shift to low-carbon technologies is critical to the long-term viability of the industry.” That’s why the SBTi encourages all cement manufacturers to “set science-based targets and play their part in building a climate-resilient economy.”

    “With the growing population and increasing urbanization, the construction sector has a key role to play in building a net-zero future,” says Holcim CEO Jan Jenisch. It’s about “building better with less effort”. Holcim encourages all colleagues to “join us to increase our impact together”. mm