Munich Re and ERGO sponsor four Climathons

Developing solutions for the urgent challenges of climate change - that is the goal of Climathon. Munich Re and ERGO sponsored the Climathon this year in four locations: Munich, Sydney, Vilnius and Tallinn.

Climathon Team in Tallinn

On October 25th and 26th the Climathon of EIC Climate-KIC took place in 145 cities worldwide. Munich Re and ERGO are partners of Climate-KIC and sponsored the events in Munich, Vilnius and Tallinn; Munich Re also supported the Climathon in Sydney.

Climate protection ideas in 24 hours

The aim was to develop convincing urban climate protection ideas within 24 hours. Students, start-up founders, representatives of the cities and local companies or interested citizens formed teams and worked on different tasks. During the brainstorming phase, they were supported also by experts from Munich Re and ERGO. At the end of the 24 hours, the teams presented their work results to a jury.

Munich: 70 participants of each age Group

In Munich, around 70 people of every age group worked in four teams on four tasks ("challenges"). Two challenges are about mobility, for example the reduction of motorised private transport. The task, sponsored by Munich Re, aimed to improve energy management using digital technologies and data analytics. The participants were highly motivated and creative; some of them had not even slept for three hours.

Climathon Team in Munich

ERGO expert advised on the subject of mobility

On the ERGO side, Gordana Jaric took part in the Climathon as an expert. She is Head of Motor Underwriting at ERGO Global Property & Casualty and advised the teams on the subject of mobility. Her summary: "This event has been an amazing experience that has helped me broaden my horizons both in business and beyond and be motivated by young people who are determined to make positive changes in the world. The format of the event was particularly attractive: Climathon is like Hackathon, but just for climate change topics, with design sprint, high energy and intensive search for solutions in 24 hours. From a business point of view, the participation was also very useful in order to better understand the new mobility trends and the resulting opportunities and challenges for our insurance industry. “

Via gamifikation to a more environmentally conscious life

The participants developed apps, infrastructure programmes and environmentally friendly business ideas. In concrete terms, apps with a strong gamification approach were considered, for example. Playful incentives connect users and motivate them to use public transport together, make them more environmentally aware and inform them how to reduce their CO2 footprint. When it comes to reducing energy consumption, interested parties should be given the opportunity to contribute to this topic with the information provided about their personal consumption. The consumers will be provided with intelligent devices giving them advices and a possibility to live more resource-efficiently.

Climathon also in Sydney, Tallinn and Vilnius

Sydney was looking for ideas on how to deal with heat waves, while the participants in Tallinn were working on a circular economy for the efficient use of resources. With many dynamics: 80 participants from more than 15 countries worked in different teams on twenty ideas, many of which stayed on site all night. The proposal to replace styrofoam or air cushion with biodegradable sheep's wool, which would otherwise mainly be burnt, was finally chosen as the winner.

In Vilnius, among other ideas, the teams wanted to find smart ways of recycling, environmentally friendly commuting and reducing food waste. Agnieszka Zebrowska, Head of Marketing & Communication at ERGO in the Baltics States commented: "We had more than 140 participants at this year's Vilnius Climathon. This is a huge group for a small country! What I personally felt and what I think is the spirit of Climathons: Fighting the climate crisis alone is really hopeless. But when you know that in 145 cities all over the world there are people doing the same thing at the same time, you feel power and hope! “

Climathon Team in Vilnius

Winners take part in ChangeNOW Summit

The respective winners from all 145 cities can apply for the Global Climathon Award with their projects at the ChangeNOW Summit on 30 and 31 January 2020 in Paris. If they place themselves there, they get support from Climate-KIC to turn their ideas into reality.

More information: https://www.ergo.com/de/Microsites/tacklingclimatechange/Start/Climate

Author: Ursula Lindenberg