And the winner is… Kalundborg Industrial Symbiosis!
The iconic example of Industrial Ecology is this year’s winner of the Gothenburg Sustainability Award. Kalundborg thereby joins the company of Al Gore (2007), Gro Harlem Brundtland (2002) and Kofi Annan (2011), all previous winners.
The Gothenburg Sustainability Award was introduced by the municipality of Gothenburg in 2000. It is, by some, considered the world’s leading sustainability award. A conference will be organized in conjunction with the award ceremony. The aim is to mobilize in order to create a West Swedish network for industrial symbiosis.
The Jury’s motivation – the short version:
In today’s modern life a large amount of industrially produced products are taken for granted. At the same time, resources on our planet are limited. If we want to maintain a high material standard of living, the industrial processes need to be more resource efficient. One innovative way to do that is through industrial symbiosis. Industrial symbiosis means collaboration between different actors, where the waste or energy from one actor becomes a resource for another. In that way resources are recycled and energy saved together with, of course, financial savings. As a pioneer within the field, Kalundborg Symbiosis have shown the way for many other industrial clusters, inspiring businesses all around the world.
The longer version can be found here.
The award is a great recognition to our field. One wonders, what next can be expected for Industrial Ecology?