Activity report 2020

1. Foundation and backgrounds

Climate Connect was officially founded in May 2020 by Christoph Stoll, Tobias Rehm and Thomas Bove in Erlangen. The company's statutory purpose is to bring together all those working on climate protection and to provide a platform for this purpose. Climate Connect has set itself the goal of devoting all its energy to combating climate change. The project is open to the public. Networking events are organized on a regular basis where the community is allowed to participate in the decision-making process on the next steps of action. Christoph and Tobias noticed after a local networking event that many climate activists did not know each other and that there was hardly any cooperation between the actors. So the idea was born to bring together as many people as possible who are fighting climate change. Until the middle of 2020, the company mainly worked on the foundation of the company, the conception and development of the platform and its introduction.The company thus exclusively and directly pursues non-profit purposes in the sense of §52 para. 2 sentence 1 no. 8 and 25 of the German Tax Code. The activity was recognized as non-profit with the notice of the tax office Erlangen under the tax number 216/147/00782 of 20.07.2020.

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2. Einführung der Climate Connect Plattform – From Idea to Launch

The idea for Climate Connect was born after a networking event in Erlangen in July 2019.Until November 2019, the team worked exclusively on the first interactive prototype design and the concept. In addition, more and more volunteers have been found to support the team.Now that Climate Connect has been officially founded, the open beta for the platform was released on July 28, 2020. The release was accompanied by a livestream on YouTube. In this livestream, the reasons and motivation for Climate Connect were first named and explained. The team behind Climate Connect was also introduced. During the livestream, the platform was officially published at the same time. In addition, it was also shown live how the platform works and what special features are available.The full launch event can be viewed here.

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After the launch of the platform, improvements (based on feedback from the community) were constantly worked on and new features were gradually added. The goal is to work on the refinements until the following year, so that the beta can be completed by the end of 2021 at the latest.

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3. Secondary activities - "Calls for Climate

In addition to the main activity of developing the platform and the concept for Climate Connect, various events were also arranged, which took place under the name "Calls for Climate". The first "Calls for Climate" took place on June 10, 2020 on YouTube via livestream on the topic "How to make your University more sustainable?". Moderated by Thomas Bove, the following organizations from different countries also participated:

• Sneep Erlangen of FAU with Magdalena Römischer from Germany
• Esp'r of HEC Paris with Johanne Trotin from France
• Green Office of Groningen University with Irene Maltagliati from the Netherlands
• Naturvernstudentene pa UiO of the University of Oslo with Aurora Kobernus from Norway
• Ecoref of FAU with Thomas Kuhn from Germany
• Environment Subcommittee of St. Andrews with Lea Weimann from Scotland

First, everyone briefly introduced themselves and explained what exactly is done in their organization (on the given topic). After the introduction round, they opened the discussion round on different topics. The goal of the discussion was to share possible projects and ideas that could be implemented at their own university. The sectors discussed included:

• Food consumption
• Mobility
• Awareness campaigns
• How can best practices with the greatest impact be disseminated?
• Why you should establish a Green Office at universities and how best to do it

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The Second "Calls for Climate" took place on November 9, 2020 on YouTube via livestream on the topic "How can I reduce my Food Waste?". Moderated by Thomas Bove, the following organizations also participated in the discussion:

• Sneep Erlangen with Regina from Germany
• Olio with Tessa Clarke from England
• Magic Fridge with Sebastian Burel from France
• Upcycled Food Association with Rochelle Still from the US
• Hop Hop Food with Jean-Claude Mizzi from France

First, everyone introduced themselves and told what measures their own organization is taking to combat food waste. At the end, the participants discussed which measures make sense and what other ideas could be added.

The whole livestream, you can watch here.

4. Community development

In 2020, the community grew to a total of 250 members, 68 organizations, each from 18 different countries. In order to validate the concept of Climate Connect, we also conducted a survey in which approximately 140 organizations worldwide participated. The results of the survey confirmed that we can continue to drive Climate Connect forward and improve collaboration on climate protection worldwide.

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5. Personnel structure

At the time of its establishment, the company had 3 active (the founders) and 15 volunteer members.

6. Finances & Donations

For the foundation 3.000€ equity capital were brought in. In addition, donations in the amount of 3,180€ were received. Among the individual donors Christian Stadelmann and Friederike Rübenstrunk are to be named. For the year 2020 the following expenditures were made: