Green future
People with visions

People who are on the point of changing the world: these seven scientists, entrepreneurs and activists are committed to achieving a more sustainable world in Germany, and are actively working on shaping their dreams for the future.

By Johannes Zeller

Heike Freund: the fusion energy engineer

Heike Freund is an industrial engineer and laser technology expert who is pursuing a long-known yet still highly relevant vision for the future of CO2-free energy generation: the dream of fusion energy. Freund is the director of Munich start-up Marvel Fusion, which has the ambitious goal of revolutionising electricity production. An international team of fusion scientists and experts from the fields of laser and nanotechnology are currently setting up a test reactor. The fuel they intend to use – Hydrogen-1 and Boron-11 – must not create radioactive waste. “Fusion energy can change the world. It’s a safe, clean source of energy that could meet global supply needs,” says Freund to explain her fascination for this form of energy generation. Electricity generation can be revolutionised – scientist and entrepreneur Heike Freund is certain of that. | Photo (detail): picture alliance/SZ Photo/Friedrich Bungert

Harald Welzer: the man with the counter-models

In the past 120 years the mass of man-made objects has been doubling approximately every 20 years. “The world is changing from a natural one into an artificial one – or rather from a living one into a dead one – at a speed that’s still increasing,” is how Harald Welzer, a sociologist and professor of transformation design, comments on this trend. The bestselling author has been criticising the extravagance of our society for decades. At the same time, Welzer is on a never-ending search for positive visions for the future: his foundation Futurzwei collects examples of utopias on a small and large scale and counter-models of throwaway capitalism that exist in real-life. A “map of success” serves as an invitation to learn more about hundreds of sustainable projects throughout the German-speaking countries – from the oil-free chemical factory to the fair-trade computer mouse. Welzer, a sociologist, is also a popular talkshow guest, as seen here in 2020 on the Markus Lanz show. | Photo (detail): © picture alliance/Geisler-Fotopress/gbrci

Oliver Riedel: the recycling recycler

Oliver Riedel, founder of the Biofabrik in Dresden, describes his job title as “Chief Executive Optimist”. Since 2011 his company has been pursuing no lesser mission than revolutionising the reuse of raw materials: the Biofabrik group develops sustainable technologies for electricity generation, food production and waste disposal. Riedel had his light-bulb moment on a motorbike tour in India when he realised how plastic is handled in developing countries: “Over there, I had the idea that we needed to take a decentralised approach to the whole thing. Moving away from big factories towards small containers located near the village, where people get money for bringing plastic waste, and then products are made out of the plastic they bring.” Riedel and his colleagues wanted to kill several birds with one stone with their container solutions for developing countries: reduction of rubbish, recycling and upcycling of waste materials to create energy and fuel, as well as a guaranteed income for waste collectors. And to reduce the consumption of fossil-derived raw materials, Biofabrik also developed a 100 per cent organic liquid fertiliser made from pasture grass as a sideline. Biofabrik founder Riedel standing in a “WastX Plastic” unit, in which plastic waste is turned into oil. | Photo (detail): © picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild/Robert Michael

Christoph Meinel: the cloud specialist

Christoph Meinel is actually a computer scientist and professor of IT. As director of the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam however, his chief fascination is the potential for modern communication technologies for digital education: “Utilising this potential is an important social mandate.” The platform developed by his institute, openHPI, provides free access to what are known as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), on which hundreds of thousands of participants are already taking university-level courses delivered online in an easy-to-understand format. General digital education for all – free of charge – that’s the vision aspired to by Meinel and openHPI. Free digital education for all, that’s Christoph Meinel’s vision: The professor of IT founded the educational internet platform openHPI. | Photo (detail): © HPI / Kay Herschelmann

Aida Schreiber: the electrifier

The mobile solar containers produced by Aida and Torsten Schreiber’s Africa GreenTec company supply electricity to dozens of villages, mainly in Mali and Niger. | Photo: © Africa GreenTec In 2014 Aida Schreiber and her husband Torsten toured around Aida’s native country, Mali. When they noticed how much electricity was produced using wasteful mineral oil generators there, the climate-conscious couple realised something: commitment to climate protection starts in Sub-Saharan Africa. In a place where more than half the population is not connected to the electricity network. Yet, climate-friendly power is a basic requirement for offering a perspective to the local population. Where power is available, people’s lives improve, small businesses pop up and provide jobs. Aida Schreiber and her husband took the initiative and founded Africa GreenTec. The company produces mobile solar containers that can be assembled in just two days and are cheap to buy. Dozens of villages, mainly in Mali and Niger, are now being supplied with energy from these units. The vision of Africa GreenTec is to ensure access to sustainably produced energy even in the remotest areas.

Felix Finkbeiner: the tree planter

When he was nine years old, Felix Finkbeiner gave a talk on climate change at school and tried to motivate his classmates to plant trees. No sooner said than done – the initiative Plant-for-the-Planet was born, and three years later the millionth tree was planted thanks to his project. In 2011 the then 14-year-old addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations: “We children know adults know the challenges and they know the solutions. We don’t know why there is so little action,” he said in his speech, which made him a key proponent of the Fridays For Future movement. Plant-for-the-Planet is still active and is constantly growing, organising workshops and motivating people all over the world to donate money for new trees. To date the number of trees planted by Plant-for-the-Planet and partner organisations is said to be over 77 million. Felix Finkbeiner is now one of the of the most important proponents of the Fridays For Future movement. | Photo (detail): © picture alliance/dpa/Lino Mirgeler

Juliane Kronen: the surplus product donor

Juliane Kronen, a Doctor of Business Administration, has been a key player on the international business scene for decades. However these days her main role is as founder and CEO of innatura – a company that receives products from manufacturers and retailers in Germany and distributes them for social good. The story of innatura begins in 2011 with 200,000 incorrectly labelled bottles of shampoo. Kronen, who was then a corporate consultant, heard that the manufacturer was trying desperately to get rid of the products and approached various aid organisations. But none of them knew what to do with such huge amounts of shampoo either. Kronen found out that German companies throw away brand-new goods to the value of seven billion euros every year. The reasons for this often seem negligible: a wrong label, a tiny production fault, a slightly inaccurate fill level. Kronen saw the business, social and environmental potential of utilising these products: innatura collects items like this, stores them and later passes them on to non-profit organisations for a small fee. innatura was able to make donations in kind to the value of nearly three million euros to over 300 charities just in the first two years. What’s Kronen’s motivation? “I thought I could set some completely different wheels in motion instead of just trying to increase the dividends of a DAX-listed corporation by a further 0.03 per cent.” Juliane Kronen quit her job as corporate consultant to found a social startup: Her innatura company receives discarded products from manufacturers and retailers and distributes them to non-profit organisations. | Photo (detail): © Selina Pfrüner