Within Europe and Germany, Hessen occupies a leading position in terms of both economic power and sustainability. As early as the year 2000, the state government established an alliance for sustainable location policy: the Hessen Environmental Alliance - This currently has more than 900 Hessian companies as members. The aim is to secure the high environmental standard in Hessen and further improve conditions for environmentally sustainable economic development in Hessen. In 2008, the state government had initiated the Hessian Sustainability Strategy, taking on a pioneering role within Germany. And ten years later, in 2018, Hessen was the first German state to include the principle of sustainability in the constitution as a state goal, which was passed by referendum.
As part of the Hessian Sustainability Strategy, the Sustainable Economy Initiative has been formed. This is intended to embed sustainable activities in companies in Hessen and serves as a platform for discourse, offerings and initiatives.Hessen´s Roadmap Energy, introduced also in 2018, outlines the short-medium term framework for Hessen’s energy policies. The current focus is on expanding renewable energy sources, supporting a significant increase in energy efficiency and infrastructure and working on the overarching topics of sector coupling and digitization.
Currently, more than half of the electricity volume in Hessen is generated from renewable energy sources – representing a tenfold increase since 2000. But even this outstanding success is only another step on the way to become climate-neutral by 2045.
