Welcome to new Sønderborg!
ProjectZero’s vision – to help our city Sønderborg become CO2-neutral by 2029 – starts already now in cooperation with the citizens. It only requires a little initiative in our everyday life to help Sønderborg become one of the first cities in the world that have drastically decreased their level of CO2-emission.
At the moment, ProjectZero is cooperating with all regional branches of industry, agriculture, trade, public service and many more. But the most important participants are our citizens. Because if we work together on showing one another that it is possible to reduce CO2-emission, even in a region full of vitality and economic growth, then we can much more easily convince everybody else to join us.
ProjectZero also works with children and youths in Sønderborg. Together with for example the science- and fun park Danfoss Universe, we have started the House of Science project, in which 11 local schools are going to teach science in a whole new way. The pupils are going to learn about for example sustainable energy sources and other themes that show how relevant – and exciting – it is to deal with the world of biology, physics and chemistry. This is the way to become the heroes of tomorrow.
Furthermore, Danfoss Universe, the local authorities in Sønderborg and the whole region of Southern Denmark and ProjectZero are giving all citizens and residents the possibility to join our project of making our future CO2-neutral by participating in the Bright Green Youth conference in August 2009. Several hundred young people from all over the world are going to come to Sønderborg in order to present their solutions and ideas on how to prevent the most serious climatic changes. The results will be discussed on the COP 15 climate meeting in Copenhagen afterwards.
In connection with this, we are planning to find 100 families in Sønderborg, who are willing to act as ‘energy families’ and to take in one of the Sønderborg conference’s young participants. This might be a way to inspire and learn from each other.
ProjectZero is also planning to employ Sophie Nyborg, a PhD student who is doing research on how we consume energy in our everyday life. Furthermore, Lene Mikkelsen is doing the final project for her Master’s Degree with us, investigating the citizens’ participation in our project. We also have many other plans – we are going to keep you up to date.