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ePaper created 2015-12-01, 11:32:17 | version 1.43.00
akzente 2/15 7 How important is this construction project for Ethiopia? Very important. Local subcontractors have now been trained to meet high standards. And the construction of the new universities has increased intake capacity by 150,000. Previously, universities were only able to offer 50,000 places. How can the success be measured? We will be finished on time. And we have reduced construction costs by 48% compared with previous university building projects. What’s more, universi- ties were able to offer students places after the first year of construction. It used to take six or seven years before we reached that stage. Why was GIZ International Services brought on board to help build the universities? The government wanted to build cost-effectively and quickly, and that required certain management expertise which no company in Ethiopia, either public or private, was able to offer. That is why the government brought GIZ on board. It took on many aspects of the process, from design to financial management. www.giz.de/international-services/en Messele Haile, a construction engineer and director of MH Engineering in Addis Ababa. Haile is working with GIZ International Services on the construction of 13 new universities throughout Ethiopia. The project will be completed in 2015. ERNA SOLBERG, Prime Minister of Norway, at a conference in Berlin organised by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in January 2015 ‘Never in history has progress in health been faster than during the last four years.’ THREE QUESTIONS FOR PORTAL FOR LABELS They are designed to help consumers recognise sustainably produced goods, but the huge number of labels sometimes makes things more con- fusing. The new portal ‘Siegelklarheit.de’ is providing better orientation. On be- half of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Develop- ment, GIZ has developed a rating method for the portal. www.siegelklarheit.de For better orientation ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION GIZ in Germany has achieved a key objective: it is now climate-neutral. Two strategies have made this possible. Firstly, prevention and reduction. Wherever possible, GIZ avoids producing greenhouse gas emissions. It adopts various methods to achieve this, for example using green electricity and in- creasingly replacing travel with video con- ferences. These steps have resulted in an 11% reduction in CO2 emissions in the last four years. Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to prevent all emissions, so this is where the second strategy, compensation, comes in. Where emissions cannot be avoided, GIZ pays a fee to protect the en- vironment, which is used to finance re- newable energy in developing countries and emerging economies. In 2015, GIZ is taking a new approach to this climate change mitigation instrument, which is recognised by the Kyoto Protocol. It will offset harmful emissions it produces through, among other things, climate cer- tificates for one of its own climate change mitigation projects in Thailand. Tackling climate change FOTO:dpa/BerndWeissbrod,ILLUSTRATION:ELLIOTBEAUMONT akzente 2/157