Karlsruhe real laboratory for sustainable climate protection

From the Federal Climate Protection Act to alternative drives and renewable energies to Fridays for Future and personal behavior: the issue of climate protection has long since arrived in the minds of many. With the “Karlsruhe Real Laboratory for Sustainable Climate Protection (KARLA)”, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the City of Karlsruhe and the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences – Technology and Economy with numerous other partners want to bring climate protection even more into everyday life and society and selected climate protection measures research on site. The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Art is funding the project with 1.1 million euros.

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From the Federal Climate Protection Act to alternative drives and renewable energies to Fridays for Future and personal behavior: the issue of climate protection has long since arrived in the minds of many. With the “Karlsruhe Real Laboratory for Sustainable Climate Protection (KARLA)”, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the City of Karlsruhe and the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences – Technology and Economy with numerous other partners want to bring climate protection even more into everyday life and society and selected climate protection measures research on site. The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Art is funding the project with 1.1 million euros.

You can find this press release with a photo to download at: https://www.kit.edu/kit/pi_2021_017_karlsruher-reallabor-fur-nachhaltigen-klimaschutz.php

“As an interface between science, business, politics and society, the real laboratories ‘made in BW’ make a decisive contribution to climate protection with their projects. With the KARLA project, KIT is at the forefront of developing a climate-friendly future. Through concrete transformation experiments with the local universities and the city of Karlsruhe, KARLA is making a valuable contribution to the climate protection measures, ”says Science Minister Theresia Bauer.

“Real-world laboratories can combine global challenges such as climate change with everyday activities and translate them into suitable measures on site,” says the President of KIT, Professor Holger Hanselka. “We use the great technical as well as the specific sociological potential of the KIT to test climate protection measures together with the citizens and to introduce them into society.”

“KARLA is another example of the climate for clever developments that is so typical for our city: the local research institutions and the city work closely and trustingly together, so that the whole of Karlsruhe is, so to speak, a large laboratory,” emphasizes the Karlsruhe mayor, Dr. Frank Mentrup. In addition, the real laboratory “also fits perfectly with the climate protection concept of our city, which relies on the participation of everyone, from private individuals to companies. And KARLA addresses exactly their typical topics. “

Transformation experiments for climate protection

“With KARLA we want to promote sustainable climate protection in Karlsruhe as a model and contribute to lasting and profound change,” emphasizes project manager Oliver Parodi from the Institute for Technology Assessment and System Analysis (ITAS) at KIT. “In the real laboratory in Karlsruhe, we examine, evaluate and support planned climate protection measures, taking particular account of their sustainability aspects.” KARLA also focuses on specific, multi-year transformation experiments for the implementation of selected activities. The starting point of the real laboratory is the “Karlsruhe Climate Protection Concept 2030”, which was passed by the local council in April 2020 and provides the framework for climate protection measures in the coming years.

Together with the city of Karlsruhe, other partners from science, civil society, culture and associations as well as citizens, the KIT has already selected four subject areas for transformation experiments: climate-friendly professional travel, sustainable climate protection in the construction industry, specialists for climate protection and climate-friendly canteens. “Criteria such as relevance for climate protection, feasibility in Karlsruhe, suitability for the real laboratory and synergy potential for the project partners were particularly important to us,” explains Parodi. In the transformation experiments, topic-specific climate protection measures and processes are to be concretized and, after successful testing, further rolled out and modified by the partners involved.

Karlsruhe als Reallabor

The real laboratory is located in the Karlsruhe urban area and at selected KIT locations. KARLA builds directly on the current real laboratory “Quartier Zukunft – Labor Stadt” and the “Reallabor 131”, which was completed in 2020, and uses the existing transdisciplinary infrastructures, competencies and networks.

As “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for society and the environment. The aim is to make significant contributions to global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility and information. To this end, around 9,600 employees work together on a broad disciplinary basis in the natural sciences, engineering, economics, humanities and social sciences. The KIT prepares its 23,300 students for responsible tasks in society, economy and science through a research-oriented university course. The innovation activity at KIT bridges the gap between knowledge and application for social benefit, economic prosperity and the preservation of our natural foundations of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.

This press release is available on the Internet at: https://www.kit.edu/kit/presseinformationen.php

Scientific contact:
Sandra Wiebe, press officer, phone: +49 721 608-41172, email: [email protected]

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