VENLO - Ondernemend Venlo, together with its project partners the Limburgse Werkgevers Vereniging (LWV), the municipality of Venlo and Rabobank Venlo, has been awarded a grant of over 1.8 million euros for making business parks more sustainable.
The grant is provided by the European Union's European Regional Development Fund and the Province of Limburg.
Innovation and sustainability
In September 2018, a small group of Venlo entrepreneurs facilitated by the Innovation & Sustainability Committee of Entrepreneurial Venlo supplemented by LWV staff, knowledge and government institutions started an investigation into the possibilities of making business parks more sustainable. The overwhelming interest in this initiative led to the decision by Ondernemend Venlo and its project partners to take this seriously and apply for a subsidy. This grant application has since been awarded.
Making business parks more sustainable rests on two pillars. On the one hand, the project will focus on the switch from fossil fuels to collective sustainable energy generation on business parks. This is because research has shown that if 20% of the roofs of Limburg's businesses have solar panels on them, Limburg will have already achieved almost 50% of its 2030 climate target for sustainable energy generation. On the other hand, business parks will be adapted to climate change. By infiltrating rainwater as much as possible and by green design, business parks can be made climate-proof.
Data
The project will start by collecting necessary data and analysis. This will lead to a number of concrete solutions to improve sustainability at business parks. Next, a number of showcases will lead to a transferable methodology, with which the concept can be cleverly rolled out across Limburg. The project will run until November 2023.
The Duurzame Bedrijventerreinen Ondernemend Venlo project is co-sponsored by the European Regional Development Fund and the province of Limburg under OPZuid.
More information
For more information, please contact Ms Mieke Verhaegh, chairman Innovation Committee Entrepreneurial Venlo, via email mieke@mikunlimited.nl or via the Entrepreneurial Venlo secretariat at 077 396 96 50. Or read more at www.ondernemendvenlo.nl/duurzaam
