Up the ramp with climate protection!

_Have fun reducing _CO2 together. Creating and using opportunities to do so. This is exactly what the_{CO2Create2Skate} project stands for. Professor Dr.-Ing. Jakob Hildebrandt illustrates this using the example of a skate park.

But first things first. The Professor of Corporate Environmental Protection and Sustainability at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences received the eku Future Prize 2021 from the Saxon State Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture (SMEKUL) for the project idea "_{CO2Create2Skate}". The aim of the project is to work with young people to put carbon storage in skate park elements into practice.

The project idea, which was developed in collaboration with the Office for Education and Social Affairs of the City of Zittau, the start-up Carbon Instead UG and the large-scale project Lausitzer Naturfaser-Verbundwerkstoffe: Dezentrale Energie, Rohstoffe, Ressourcen, Recycling(LaNDER³), won over the prize jury. The prize money of 20,000 euros can now be used for cooperative implementation.

In the "_{CO2Create2Skate}" project, young people are involved in a co-creation process for the prototype development of carbon-storing skate park elements for the Zittau skate park. By further developing the skate park, they can creatively combine their commitment to climate protection with their enthusiasm for their sport and leisure activities.

The initial plan is to develop two to three prototypes for carbon-storing skate park elements. These are to become a permanent part of the Zittau skatepark, thus actively contributing to climate protection. Learning to recognize environmental and resource connections together, experiencing material innovations with one's own senses, developing designs and transforming them into prototypes - all of this promotes a sense of self-efficacy, joint creative power and practical effectiveness in the face of the challenges of climate change.

Based on a sponsoring concept, in a second step, building materials companies that want to become pioneers in carbon storing materials will be invited to develop their own usable skate park elements and build them for the skate park.

Ultimately, the skate park is also intended to be a technology show park that demonstrates how we can work together to protect the climate: Together we can tackle climate protection and have fun at the same time. Natural fiber-based materials and biochar-based concrete will be pioneering work here and will be followed by further innovations.