Cooperation agreement signed on the topic of "Sustainability in the financial and regional economy - contribution to social transformation"

Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE), Sparkasse Barnim (SK BAR) and the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenverband (OSV) agreed today, Wednesday, in Eberswalde on a long-term cooperation in the field of sustainability with a special focus on the role of the financial and regional economy. The aim of the co-operation is to make a concrete contribution to social transformation at regional level.

The cooperation partners are thus expanding their collaboration beyond the previous support for HNEE students through the Sparkasse Prize for outstanding theses. Ludger Weskamp, Managing President of OSV, Volkmar Grätsch, Chairman of the Board of SK BAR, André Worlitzer, Deputy Chairman of the Board and Sustainability Officer of SK BAR and Prof. Dr Matthias Barth, President of HNEE, emphasised that they wanted to promote an important topic for society as a whole - the targeted transfer of sustainability.

Within the framework of this co-operation, the following will be created

• a "Forum for Sustainability Discourse in the Financial and Regional Economy", or "Forum N" for short, and

• a research centre where HNEE students and professors as well as SK BAR and OSV will work on relevant topics and issues.

Forum N will be used to work on topics relating to sustainable regional development and regional financial management issues. The HNEE, the SK BAR and civil society can provide impulses and concrete questions to the forum, which will be worked on by HNEE students. University professors and employees of SK BAR support Forum N with their specialist knowledge and experience.

Prof. Dr Matthias Barth, President of HNEE: "With this cooperation, we will consistently develop the collaboration further and make it even more effective. With SK BAR and OSV, we have partners at our side who match our university profile and our values. SK BAR is rooted in the region and has a public mandate that is not aimed at maximising profits, but at providing the region with financial services. What's more, SK BAR is one of the first organisations in Germany to take a very intensive and in-depth look at the issue of sustainability. Sustainable development in finance can only succeed in the long term if private and business customers are accompanied on the path to greater sustainability. I am delighted that we can contribute to this development as a pioneer of the sustainability transformation."

Volkmar Grätsch, Chairman of the Management Board of Sparkasse Barnim, emphasised that SK BAR had already geared its corporate activities towards sustainability at an early stage. It has drawn up its own sustainability principles and formulated strategic sustainability goals, which it consistently implements. Grätsch continued: "Establishing the cooperation with HNEE is the next logical step in making scientifically sound contributions to the sustainable transformation of the regional economy and making the results available to all cooperation partners as well as the economy and society for practical application".

OSV President Ludger Weskamp emphasised: "HNEE is the academic educational institution for sustainability in Germany. Savings banks are committed to sustainable economic, social and ecological development in their business regions and thus to the people. The cooperation agreed between the university, savings bank and savings bank association to deepen sustainability in the financial and regional economy is aimed at practical benefits for people and at the same time contributes to the sustainability goals of our society. The results of the cooperation will be accessible to all savings banks."

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