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Office of Global Engagement

Transatlantic Climate Bridge

A comparative look at green infrastructure and nature-based solutions in both Germany and North Carolina.

Logo for the Transatlantic Climate Bridge project, including outline of belltower and lighthouse

Under the patronage of the German Consulate in Atlanta, NC State Global has designed a project and programming under the initiative of the “Transatlantic Climate Bridge” (TCB). The TCB is an initiative of the German Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection. Projects under the TCB have fostered strengthened cooperation on climate and energy policy issues between Germany (and Europe as a whole) on one side of the Atlantic and the US and Canada on the other.

This project, “NC and the Ostsee” (Ostsee is Baltic Sea in German) utilizes the framework of the Sister City relationship between Raleigh, North Carolina, and Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to examine climate change, sustainability, and biodiversity in these two river-basin and watershed geographies. 

This project is a collaboration between NC State Global and the NC State Climate Solutions Collaborative, specifically with the NC State Coastal Resilience and Sustainability Initiative, NC State KIETS Climate Leaders Program, and Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (SE CASC) at NC State, as well as with Raleigh Sister Cities.

Events

September 13, 2024. 11:00AM – 12:00PM. Virtual.

This event introduced the Raleigh and Rostock areas and provided a Transatlantic comparison of the environmental issues and sustainability solutions for each area.

Speakers:

Tal Ben-Horin, PhD, NC State College of Veterinary Medicine

Inna Sokolova, PhD, Universität Rostock, Chair of Marine Biology

Moderated by Seth Murray, PhD, NC State College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Opening remarks from Consul General Melanie Moltmann, German Consulate in Atlanta

September 20, 2024.

This panel was a part of the KIETS Climate Fellows, Think and Do: Climate Challenges and Solutions symposium.

View recording of event here

Speakers:

Jack Kurki-Fox, NC State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Shrikar Nunna, NC Department of Environmental Quality, Director of Legislative Affairs

Miaorun Wang, Universität Rostock Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Dieter Vollert, City of Rostock, Department for Environment and Climate

October 14-15, 2024. Morehead City, NC.

The Transatlantic Climate Bridge was a partner in the 4th annual Blue Economy Workshop, hosted in Morehead City with the Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST).

As a part of the project, speakers from Universität Rostock and the Digitales Innovationszentrum Rostock joined us in North Carolina to talk about blue economy innovation at the Baltic.

Speakers:

Luisa-Maria Wendt, Digitales Innovationszentrum Rostock

Sabine Brüser, Digitales Innovationszentrum Rostock, Universität Rostock

For this event, the Transatlantic Climate Bridge project partnered with the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center for an event on applied research successes in upland watershed resilience in the Southeast United States and the trans-coastal sustainability management around the Baltic Sea in Rostock, Germany.

View recording here

Speakers:

Ansgar Leefken, Universität Rostock, Chair of Marine Engineering

Bill Hunt, NC State William Neal Reynolds Distinguished University Professor and Extension Specialist

Andrew Fox, NC State Coastal Dynamics Design Lab, Professor and University Faculty Scholar

November 21, 2024. 6:00PM. Duke Energy Hall.

More details to come.

More information on events and workshops to come.