Günzburg shines: Gold for climate protection! Mayor proud!

Günzburg shines: Gold for climate protection! Mayor proud!

With a shining gold status, the large district town of Günzburg in Switzerland has set an important example for climate protection. When awarding the coveted European Energy Award (eea), the city received the highest award for its outstanding achievements in municipal climate protection. Mayor Gerhard Jauernig, city architect Georg Dietze and climate protection manager Daniela Fischer accepted the coveted award in Saas-Fee, a tourist-oriented community that impressively shows us the challenges of climate change.

Günzburg is not only the only municipality in Bavaria that can look forward to gold status, but also one of only two cities in all of Germany to achieve this highest award this year. In order to maintain this prestigious gold standard, city officials had to already implement more than 75 percent of possible measures to promote energy efficiency and climate protection. Proof that Günzburg has a really good knack for sustainable developments.

The path to climate neutrality

As the Energiewegweiser highlights, the eea is a European quality certificate that assesses the sustainability of municipalities' energy and climate protection policies. Over 1,500 municipalities from across Europe with around 50 million inhabitants are part of the eea process, which aims to promote effective climate neutrality measures. Since 2023, 242 cities and municipalities and 49 districts in Germany have had the opportunity to participate, which underlines the relevance of this initiative.

A total of 58 European municipalities received the coveted gold status this year, including 23 from Switzerland, 15 from Luxembourg and 7 from Austria. But the citizens of Günzburg can be proud that their city is one of the only ones in Germany to be at the forefront of this sustainable movement.

Teamwork pays off

The city's climate science successes are not the result of random circumstances, but rather a collective effort, as Daniela Fischer emphasized at the award ceremony. She pointed to the team effort required to meet the strict new criteria. A real success, which also provides the incentive to further intensify climate protection measures. The award is not only seen as laurels, but rather as a call for further steps towards climate neutrality.

The official Bavarian recognition of the achievement will take place shortly by the Bavarian Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber in Buchloe in the Allgäu, and there will certainly be great joy about this honor.

Günzburg shows how a city can set standards in climate protection through commitment and teamwork. A sign that is sure to inspire and motivate other communities to continue in the same direction - because one thing is certain: the future is green, and the efforts made now are crucial for the well-being of our planet.