Siemens is Grooming Sustainability Leaders Through Students for Sustainability

Siemens is the world’s largest provider of environmental technologies and they are helping to develop a new generation of sustainability leaders. Siemens brought six international student teams to Rio de Janeiro in order to present their sustainability-ideas to a panel of renowned experts. The winning teams will get assistance from Siemens in implementing their projects in their home country. The “Students for Sustainability” event is a joint effort by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Rio-based COPPE/UFRJ University and Siemens AG.

Students for Sustainability brought together people attending some of the world’s leading universities to focus on sustainability issues. A wide range of new solutions were proposed including those that deal with energy, water and urbanization. The teams were from Rio, Beijing, Munich, Cambridge and Stellenbosch, University. These teams presented solutions to a panel consisting of Barbara Kux, and renowned experts from UNEP, the World Resource Institute and the Sustainability Forum Zurich.

The team from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, received the second prize for their sustainability project “Sanitation and Infrastructure in Enkanini, South Africa: Local Communities as a Source of Innovation?” at the debate “Students for Sustainability”. Barbara Kux (Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG) handed over the 3,000 EUR price which will go towards executing their project.

The two winning projects will receive awards to kick-start the implementation of their innovative solutions. Siemens will also continue to assist the winning teams with feedback and guidance.