Shanghai - On 5 November, students from Renmin University of China (Beijing), Tongji University (Shanghai), Lanzhou University, Jilin University and Fudan University won this year’s Klaus Töpfer Award for Environmental Innovation. The award goes to outstanding student research projects in the field of environmental protection and sustainability.  They won up to 10.000 RMB and presented their work in the Sino-European symposium co-organized by Tongji University UNEP-Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development (UNEP-IESD) and the German Consulate in Shanghai. This year’s topic was „Green Economy and Ecosystem Management“.

Ms. Xia Huijie from Renmin University won the first prize. She presented her work on Local Community Supported Agriculture. „You have to take both the environment and the local population into account,also the needs of the producer and the needs of the consumers,“ she explained. The first prize was shared with a group of Tongi Universitystudents. For her group, Ms. Ji Tingting presented their joint project on recycling of electronic waste: „We saw that e-waste was a big problem, and of mobile phones, only batteries are thought of when you speak about recycling. But the rest of the phone needs to be recycled, too. So we created special recycling boxed for batteries and other electro-waste. Now they are already in use at several universities and at other places in Shanghai.“ She had brought a sample and showed the readily designed double purpose box to the public.

Prof. WU Jiang, VIce-President of Tongji University pointed out: „Green Economy is something we all have to work on together. So I am very pleased that we hold this conference together with the support of European consulates general of Germany, Great Britain, France and Finland and the European Chamber here in Shanghai.

Acting Consul General of Germany, Stefan Möbs, thanked the student participants for their excellent contributions: „Protecting the environment and our climate is a moral question. It is about our common future. And it is a field for close cooperation between China and Europe. We can work on this together. And European  companies can contribute to a green economy in China with their know-how.“

Prof. Ziesing, senior advisor at the Berlin-based non-governmental organization Ecologic Institute pointed to the role of politics, and warned: „The market alone will not lead to a green economy! Policy has to facilite it and to provide concrete incentives and regulations  to make green economy a business model. This is equally true for Europe and for China as well. A lot has been achieved in recent year, and progress in China has been impressive. But the challenges remain huge.

The Klaus-Töpfer-Award is named after Prof. Klaus Töpfer, honorary professor of Tongji UNEP-IESD, former German Minister for the Environment and former Directer of United Nations Environmental Programme. The prize is awarded by Tongji UNEP-IESD and sponsored by Hainan Yijing Company.