Connecting

To drive global sustainability development, the Global North and the Global South have to engage in partnerships on an equal footing with each other. The International German Sustainability Prize IDNP, which Wilo and the German Sustainability Award Foundation presented for the first time in 2023, is an expression of this: As part of the German Sustainability Award (DNP), Europe's biggest award for environmental and social commitment, the IDNP category recognises partnerships between German companies and companies based in the Global South. Awards were presented to two partnerships: Jeckybeng and its Taiwanese partner HerMin Textile and coffee cooperative Kaffeekoop and its Rwandan partner Rwashoscco.

Sustainable – even in its financing: The Wilo Group set down another powerful marker for sustainability together with its financing partners at the end of 2023. The largest financing package in the company’s history to date – consisting of a promissory note loan for EUR 270 million and a syndicated loan for EUR 300 million – reflects Wilo’s integrated sustainability strategy. An ESG aspect is incorporated in both the promissory note loan and the syndicated loan. These sustainability components are playing an ever greater role for Wilo’s financing partners and have contributed to the great demand.

70 percent of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. This development calls for infrastructure that is smart and sustainable: Smart urban areas are emerging all around the world. But designing the transformation to an intelligent city requires a dialogue between the fields of economics, science, politics and society. Wilo created an important format for exchanging information and ideas with the Wilo 2023 industry conference, which was held in Singapore under the title “Smart Urban Areas – Connecting Minds for a Multilateral World”. High-level guests discussed the opportunities and challenges that accompany smart urban areas in what is probably the smartest city in the world.