Klimahafen Gelsenkirchen
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Becoming climate-neutral as quickly as possible:
that’s the goal of the Climate Port Gelsenkirchen initiative. It brings together companies based in and around Gelsenkirchen’s city port, supported by additional institutions from across the city. What unites them is a common goal: to actively leverage the port’s uniquely central location – where historic and future-oriented transport routes converge – to drive the transformation towards a climate-neutral economy.
About the Initiative
Becoming climate-neutral as quickly as possible – that is the goal of the Climate Port Gelsenkirchen initiative.
It brings together companies based in and around the Gelsenkirchen city port, supported by additional institutions from across the city. Together, they aim to actively leverage the port’s uniquely central location – where transport routes and gas pipelines intersect – to drive the economic transformation toward climate neutrality.
The initiative’s pilot project focuses on converting process heat generation in energy-intensive industries to hydrogen-rich fuel gas – and, in the long term, to green hydrogen. The participating partners are already implementing concrete projects while also highlighting where legal and regulatory frameworks are still hindering greater engagement from small and medium-sized enterprises and local industry.
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Our Vision
By 2045 Germany aims to become climate-neutral.
From then on, only as many greenhouse gases may be released into the atmosphere as can be simultaneously removed (e.g., through reforestation). Achieving this ambitious goal requires rapid and far-reaching changes across both economy and society. The transformation into a climate-neutral industrial nation must begin early and encompass all sectors – not only large corporations in basic industries but also SMEs in manufacturing and trade.
The Gelsenkirchen city port offers unique conditions to become a real-world laboratory for this SME transformation:
It is home to energy-intensive companies from various sectors, functions as a trimodal logistics hub with significant traffic, is centrally located in the Ruhr metropolis with access to an extensive gas pipeline network, and will soon have early access to green hydrogen. Plans for local electrolysis capacity are also underway.
The Climate Port Gelsenkirchen initiative seeks to leverage this unique starting point to accelerate the path toward climate neutrality – building on the many measures already implemented in recent years.
The participating companies analyze the climate impact of their activities – for example, by creating CO₂ footprints (Corporate Carbon Footprint) and by assessing emissions and savings across the entire life cycle of their products. Beyond core operations on-site, upstream and downstream value chains and transport activities are also considered – from freight logistics to employee mobility.
The companies are developing operational measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – such as improving energy efficiency and installing renewable energy solutions (e.g., photovoltaic systems) – and implementing these independently. They support one another through regular exchanges of experience and act jointly across company boundaries – for instance, by expanding infrastructure for climate-friendly gases or planning demand for a hydrogen filling station.
The initiative’s supporters accompany these efforts constructively – providing assistance with planning processes, advising on funding opportunities, and facilitating knowledge-sharing.
In this way, Climate Port Gelsenkirchen is becoming a blueprint for climate-conscious transformation of an entire industrial area.
The pilot projects represent the first steps for SMEs entering the hydrogen economy.
Kontakt
The Climate Port Gelsenkirchen initiative is coordinated on behalf of the City of Gelsenkirchen by Wissenschaftspark Gelsenkirchen Projekte gGmbH.
As a long-standing partner to the city on climate-related matters and a trusted point of contact for local businesses, Wissenschaftspark brings its expertise to the role of an experienced and neutral facilitator in complex transformation processes.
The project is supported by the North Westphalia Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK Nord Westfalen) as a competent local partner.
Klimahafen Gelsenkirchen
c/o Wissenschaftspark Gelsenkirchen Projekte gGmbH
Munscheidstraße 14
D-45886 Gelsenkirchen
E-Mail: info@klimahafen-gelsenkirchen.de
Contact:
Timo Schenkhorst
T: +49 163 3169128
Wolfgang Jung
T: +49 173 2530406
