The GreenTec Awards are an international environmental award based in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Founded in 2008 by the Berlin-based consultancy VKP engineering GmbH, the prize honors projects, products, and people contributing to the protection of the environment. The GreenTec Awards were formerly known as the Clean Tech Media Awards. In 2017,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

was the partner country of the GreenTec Awards;

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

is official partner for 2019. In 2018, the GreenTec Awards opened the IFAT, the world's biggest trade fair for environmental technologies, for the third time.

Contest

The GreenTec Awards are awarded annually in varying categories. Additionally, there are "Special Prizes".

Certification

The competition of the GreenTec Awards is supervised by

TÜV Nord TÜV Nord Group is a technical service provider with worldwide activities. Founded in 1869 and headquartered in Hanover, Germany, the Group employs more than 10,000 people in more than 70 countries of Europe, Asia, America and Africa. The Group ...

in order to ensure fairness and transparency in the selection of the laureates. The award process received the certificate "Certified process of competition" by TÜV Nord.

Jury

Currently, a 75-member jury with independent representatives from business, media, and science chooses two of the three finalists per category – the third finalist is determined via a public online voting. In an annual jury meeting, the top three projects are presented and discussed, and the winners are chosen in a secret vote. In 2013, the dual fluid nuclear reactor design won the public vote for the Galileo Knowledge Prize, but the award committee presiding over the awards changed the rules to exclude all nuclear designs before announcing the winner. The DFR participants successfully sued in response to this.

Award ceremony

The GreenTec Awards are awarded at an annual gala event with 1000 guests from business and industry, science, politics, media, and showbiz. The event alternately takes place in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and is organized in collaboration with partners from different social sectors, such as Fraunhofer,

Wilo Wilo SE is a European manufacturer of pumps and pump systems for the building technology, water and industrial sectors with headquarters in Dortmund, Germany. Founded in 1872 as copper and brass factory by Louis Opländer, the company has over 60 ...

, and the Germany Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA). With music acts, media partners like

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

WirtschaftsWoche ''Wirtschaftswoche'' is a German weekly business news magazine published in Germany. ''Wirtschaft'' means “economy” (including business), and ''Woche'' is “week”. History and profile For many years, ''Wirtschaftswoche'' was published ...

and

ProSieben ProSieben (, ''sieben'' is German for "seven"; often stylized as Pro7) is a German free-to-air television network owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media. It was launched on 1 January 1989. It is Germany's second-largest privately owned television company ...

, and a "Green Carpet", the GreenTec Awards seek to make the topic of environmental protection more appealing to the broad public.

Laureates

Former laureates (selection)

People

* Dr.

Auma Obama Rita Auma Obama (born 1960) is a Kenyan-British community activist, Sociology, sociologist, journalist, author, and half-sister of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama. Obama serves as the Chairperson, executive chairwoman of S ...

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part ...

(

The Boomtown Rats The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock/ new wave band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including " Like Clockwork", " Rat Trap", " I Don't Like Mondays" and " Banana Republic". T ...

) *

Clark Datchler Clark Wynford Datchler (born 27 March 1964) is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He first rose to fame in 1987 as the lead singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in the pop band Johnny Hates Jazz. Early career Born in 1964 ...

(

Johnny Hates Jazz Johnny Hates Jazz are a British pop band, currently consisting of Clark Datchler (songwriter, vocalist, keyboards) and Mike Nocito (guitarist, bassist, producer, engineer). In April 1987, they achieved international success with their single ...

) *

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...

(Tesla) * Morton Harket (

A-ha A-ha (often stylised as ''a''-h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ros ...

) *

NENA Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known by her stage name Nena, is a German singer who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena (band), Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". I ...

Nico Rosberg Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985) is a German and Finnish former racing driver and entrepreneur, who competed under the German flag in Formula One from to . Rosberg won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Mercedes, and w ...

(

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

World Champion, 2016) *

Rea Garvey Raymond "Rea" Michael Garvey (born 3 May 1973) is an Irish singer, songwriter and guitarist based in Germany. In 1998, he formed the band Reamonn. Over the 11 years that Garvey was their frontman, they saw chart-topping success in Europe, with ...

Projects and products

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

with the

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

train Coradia iLint *

BMW i8 The BMW i8 is a plug-in hybrid sports car developed by BMW. The i8 was part of BMW's electrified fleet and was marketed under the BMW i sub-brand. The production version of the BMW i8 was unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show and was releas ...

car2go Share Now GmbH was a German carsharing company, formed from the merger of Car2Go and DriveNow. Since 2022, it was an subsidiary of the Free2Move division of multinational automaker Stellantis providing carsharing services in urban areas in Europ ...

Continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (album), an album by Saint Etienne * Continen ...

with

dandelion ''Taraxacum'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus has a near-cosmopolitan distribu ...

rubber production * JouleX * Little Sun * Showerloop *

Skysails SkySails Group GmbH is a Hamburg-based company that sells kite rigs to propel cargo ships, large yachts and fishing vessels by wind energy as well as Airborne wind energy, airborne wind energy systems for electricity production from High-altitu ...

Current laureates

In 2018, there were nine categories and three special prizes:

References

{{reflist Environmental awards Environmental technology Annual events in Germany Awards established in 2008