The results of our KLIMAready survey paint an impressive picture: In seven Hamburg industry clusters, sustainability is far from just a buzzword. In fact, numerous companies have already set out to actively shape a climate-friendly future.
At the end of last year, the players in the Hamburg Logistics Initiative, Hamburg Renewable Energies, Hamburg Aviation, Life Science North, Maritime Cluster Northern Germany, Food Cluster Hamburg and Finance City Hamburg clusters were asked to answer a 16-question survey. A total of 128 participants shared insights into their existing and planned measures, hurdles and support needs.
Dr Melanie Leonhard, Senator for Economic Affairs and Innovation: ‘The topic of sustainability is now firmly anchored in Hamburg's companies. The central message of the survey is: We want even more co-operation! Only together can we master the challenges and make Hamburg fit for a climate-friendly future. The KLIMAready project, in which seven Hamburg clusters are working together for the first time, offers good opportunities to share and expand knowledge and promote innovative solutions.’
Climate change and sustainability concern almost all respondents
When asked which factors relating to sustainability and climate change affect their respective organisations, the most common response (71%) was energy transformation in terms of the use of renewable energy, electromobility and energy efficiency, closely followed by resource efficiency (62%) and regulatory requirements (58%). Customer expectations were a decisive factor for a good half of those surveyed. Technological requirements, such as new types of drives, are relevant for around 23% of the organisations surveyed.
Considering these assessments in the context of company size, it becomes clear that the perceived relevance of the individual factors increases with company size. Small and medium-sized companies (up to 50 employees) lag well behind the average, particularly when it comes to the factors expectations of potential employees, climate adaptation and climate resilience.
Around 9% of respondents stated that they had not yet implemented or planned any corresponding measures. Most frequently (67%), the stakeholders are working on measures to utilise renewable energies or sustainable technologies for energy generation and use. Furthermore, more than half of the respondents stated that they had drawn up a sustainability strategy and/or sustainability reports and had trained employees accordingly and/or hired new staff. External assistance was also utilised by the respondents. Offers from the respective cluster organisation were used most frequently (45%).
Challenges and needs: Where companies are looking for support
The top 3 challenges in implementing climate-friendly measures are the factors of additional workload (48%), regulatory uncertainty (52%) and financing / high implementation costs (66%).
In particular, information, networking opportunities and implementation support in the areas of the use or production of renewable energies, more sustainable mobility, emission reduction and energy efficiency were requested as concrete support from the KLIMAready project. Specific wishes were also expressed:
- Regular updates on regulatory changes (48%)
- Online services, e.g. databases or information pages on specific topics (47%)
- Networking and cooperation opportunities (46 %)
- Overview of regulation in my sector (43 %)
- Exchange with other organisations (42 %)
- Guidelines for the implementation of climate-friendly measures (39 %)
Networked thinking in Hamburg: co-operation is key
A clear message from the respondents is that cooperation is the key. Almost all participants expressed an interest in cooperation. 62% already rely on exchanges with other organisations to drive forward the implementation of climate-friendly measures.
A total of 94.5% of respondents in this survey stated that they see points of contact with other organisations in the future. The exchange of best practices, joint research projects, collaborations to reduce emissions and cross-industry training courses/workshops were particularly emphasised.
How the KLIMAready project works
KLIMAready is a project funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Ministry of Economics and Innovation of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. As part of the project, we want to build bridges: between industries, companies and people. The aim is to overcome obstacles together and find new paths. Various measures are planned for this purpose. On the one hand, these are derived from the needs analysis and, on the other, will draw on the experience gained during the course of the project in terms of agile development. The steps planned for the coming months are:
- Launch of the first cluster bridge, a cross-industry and agilely organised collaboration to jointly identify and evaluate climate-relevant topics and develop measures.
- Analysing the findings and designing further cluster bridges.
- Development of a website as a knowledge hub with information on regulations, funding opportunities and offers in the field of sustainable corporate development for the Hamburg metropolitan region as well as best practice examples.
- Planning and realisation of events for networking and competence building.
All of this has one major goal: Together we will become CLIMATE-ready!
Contact person
Do you have questions about the KLIMAready project? Our colleague Juliet Weischedel will be happy to advise you.