German Environmental Award 2025
Excellent, innovative climate research and an inspiring role model for resource, energy and environmental protection in the raw material-intensive zinc industry: we are honoring these achievements with this year’s German Environmental Award worth a total of 500,000 euros, one of the most highly endowed environmental awards in Europe. The winners are the Swiss climate researcher Prof. Dr. Sonia Isabelle Seneviratne from ETH Zurich and the management duo Lars Baumgürtel and engineer Dr. Birgitt Bendiek from the steel galvanizing company ZINQ. The award ceremony will take place on Sunday, October 26, in Chemnitz, European Capital of Culture 2025. The event will be hosted by presenter Katie Gallus. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will present the award. Further information on the Environmental Award can be found here and in our press releases.
Dr. Birgitt Bendiek and Lars Baumgürtel
This year, the management duo Lars Baumgürtel and engineer Dr. Birgitt Bendiek from the steel galvanizing company ZINQ in Gelsenkirchen will receive the German Environmental Award – “as an inspiring role model for raw material and energy efficiency and characterized by sustainability and circular economy in a resource-intensive industry”, according to DBU Secretary General Alexander Bonde.
Prof. Dr. Sonia Isabelle Seneviratne
This year, climate researcher Prof. Dr. Sonia Isabelle Seneviratne will receive the German Environmental Award. Seneviratne is a “brilliant climate scientist who has achieved international renown with ground-breaking studies in the field of land-climate dynamics and whose expertise is in demand worldwide”, says DBU Secretary-General Alexander Bonde.
We promote innovations
In accordance with the foundation’s mission and guiding principles, the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) promotes innovative, exemplary and solution-oriented projects for the protection of the environment with a special focus on small and medium-sized enterprises. It is one of the largest foundations in Europe; since it began its work in 1991 (founded in 1990), it has supported more than 11,300 projects with a funding volume of around 2.12 billion euros.