Parliamentary State Secretary Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter and UBA President Dirk Messner honored the award winners at a formal awards ceremony at the Federal Ministry for the Environment in Berlin. The award comes with a cash prize of 25,000 euros each. Marking its 10th anniversary, the competition once again set a record for participation with 488 entries.
The Fulda district has developed and implemented an early warning system that alerts the entire district to heavy rainfall. More than 180 internet-connected sensors located near bodies of water, canals, and public buildings monitor water levels and precipitation amounts in real time. The data is analyzed using artificial intelligence and cross-referenced with radar data from the German Weather Service.
All 23 cities and municipalities in the county are connected to the system, which also alerts residents via app, text message, or phone call with advance warning times of up to 60 minutes. During a heavy rain event in May 2024, the early warning system was able—for the first time—to put local fire departments “a step ahead of the situation,” thereby enabling them to coordinate their response efforts early on.
“With the heavy rain early warning system and timely alerts about heavy rain and flash floods, we want one thing above all else: to protect people—their belongings and, above all, their lives,” says Ramona Margarita Ruppert, project coordinator for the Fulda district. “We are delighted to have received the federal ‘Blauer Kompass’ award, and it spurs us on. We will use this momentum and the prize money to make the system even better. We want to be able to issue warnings even earlier and, above all, protect vulnerable groups even more effectively.”
The “Blauer Kompass” Federal Award is presented every two years jointly by the Federal Ministry for the Environment and the Federal Environment Agency. It recognizes innovative, effective, and sustainable solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation in Germany. For the first time this year, schools and school projects were able to apply in a separate category.
The winners in the five categories were selected by a jury of eight experts from fields including politics, municipal umbrella organizations, business, research, communications, and youth participation. In addition, a “Community Award” was presented, for which anyone interested could vote in an online poll. A total of 24,795 valid votes were cast. The Fulda district was named the winner in the “Municipality” category.
In addition to prize money of 25,000 euros each, the winning projects receive support with their press and public relations efforts. Among other things, a professional short film was produced for each winning project.