A peatland researcher and an engineer to receive Environmental Prize
A total of 500,000 euros to be awarded to projects relating to climate change mitigation
Osnabrück (dpa) - The development of a high-performance charging system for electric cars and efforts to restore peatlands are to be honoured with this year’s German Environmental Prize. According to a statement from the Osnabrück-based German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU), the award - which is endowed with a total of 500,000 euros - will be presented to the electrical engineer Thomas Speidel from Nürtingen near Stuttgart and the peatland researcher Franziska Tanneberger from Greifswald.
As the founder and managing director of ads-tec Energy, Speidel has developed innovative high-performance systems that can - among other things - recharge electric cars within a matter of minutes, the statement explained. Tanneberger is regarded as the driving force behind the revitalisation and rewetting of peatlands, announced the DBU. Natural and wet peatlands play an important role in climate change mitigation by storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.