SUSTAINABILITY AT STOPOVER IN AARHUS

September 2020 edition. AMBITION

THE STOPOVER IN AARHUS AIMS TO BE THE GREENEST AND MOST SUSTAINABLE STOPOVER IN THE 2022/2023 EDITION OF

The sustainable profile will be a predominant element of the coming edition of The Ocean Race. Hence, sustain- ability will be a central theme running like a red thread through the Stopover in Aarhus in 2023. With this focus on sustainability, common to all the boats is that during the full 9 months of the race, they will focus the world’s attention on issues of sustainability and climate change mitigation, and this focus must be leveraged in Aarhus in relation to both visitors, participants, and the business community.

Supported by The Ocean Races’ specialised sustainability team, experienced local and regional players, and national partners, Aarhus Events will head the overall planning of the event and the development of a completely natural sustainability focus which builds on the initiatives of the 2018 World Championships and The 2019.

The initiatives will have both an international/strategic and a local/tangible dimension and will be closely linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

During the Aarhus Stopover, the focus on sustainability will address a number of different aspects. As a com- pletely natural feature, the principle of Fundamental Sustainability will be a recurring element throughout the event area, evident in a variety of solutions and initiatives such as waste separation, organics, renewable energy, focus on plastic, and much more.

During the event, participants, visitors, citizens, etc., can experience sustainable solutions on Sustainability Island, where innovative exhibitors and entrepreneurs will showcase their solutions towards a more sustainable world. These solutions will also be demonstrated to the visitors in the form of involving case presentations. Sustainability Island will be a space of involvement and experiences.

Next, at the Aarhus Sustainability Summit, the focus will move to knowledge sharing between experts and pro- fessionals. The Aarhus Sustainability Summit will consist of the following components:

An ’Ocean Race Summit’ officially hosted by The Ocean Race

A ’Business Summit’ which builds on the outcomes of the Ocean Race Summit

A ’General Public Summit’ to turn Sustainable Development Goals into ‘Everyday Goals’

A ’Youth Summit’ Aarhus – giving young people a voice of their own

In partnership with The Ocean Race, a number of Study tracks will be developed for students in primary and sec- ondary education for use as part of their learning activities in the 2022/23 school year.

The sustainable efforts must unfold via the interaction of a large number of public and private partners across different industries. FUNDAMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Here, the starting point will be the ’Stopover guide’ developed by The Ocean Race organisation. As a minimum, we intend to meet the objectives laid down in the guide, and wherever possible, we want to set our own, more ambi- tious objectives, matching the green objectives of Aarhus, the Central Denmark Region, and Denmark as a whole.

The initiatives in Aarhus are rooted in the ’Aarhus Sustainability Model’ which was developed in connection with the appointment of Aarhus as European Capital of Culture in 2017, and which was later further refined. Even at this early stage of planning, Aarhus is a host city from which other international host cities seek support and guid- ance, and this status should be further enhanced.

All initiatives are developed partly for the obvious purpose of doing the right thing as a city, region, and nation, and partly to show other Stopover cities how the mission could be accomplished. Therefore, the entire sustain- ability programme will be 100% transparent and open to the general public. After the visit, we are also planning to publish a report to point out which of the objectives were met and which were potentially not.

We will endeavour to ensure:

• that up to 80% of all waste is separated and sent for recycling • that visitors use sustainable means of transport to/from the event • that clean tap water is always available from Danish taps • that consumption of single-use plastics is minimised, which is also a component of the Plastics strategy for the Municipality of Aarhus • that sustainability is prioritised in all requests for quotes and bids • that sustainability and green initiatives are prioritised in the catering supply (vegetarian/organic/local, etc.)

CHANGES OF BEHAVIOUR

A central element of the sustainability programme will be to communicate the initiatives already in place, which are fundamental to the Danish infrastructure, and not least how to maintain them – such as bicycle culture, clean tap water, efficient sewer systems and water treatment plants, etc. – because of the international scope and range of the event – See also the notes on Sustainability Island.

All visitors will bring home sustainability stories, which may inspire a more sustainable lifestyle, just as we will be telling about the things that we often take for granted in Denmark, such as: - our efficient sewer systems and how consumers can help make them even better - our access to clean water right out of Danish taps, and how consumers can help ensure that we will also have that in the future - our excellent bicycle culture, and how to push for further development in this field. SUSTAINABILITY ISLAND

For The Ocean Race Stopover Aarhus, a physical urban space will be developed and built on Pier 2 – known under the working title of Sustainability Island.

Sustainability Island is the spot where all the sustainable initiatives meet. Here, participants, visitors, summit attendees, etc., can experience sustainable solutions in the form of a space of involvement and experiences. Within this space, innovative exhibitors, entrepreneurs, students, businesses, partners, etc., will showcase their solutions towards a more sustainable world. We intend to present sustainable solutions in a way to make sure that they make sense to the visitors. This is where you can learn how to turn UN Sustainable Development Goals into Everyday Goals.

The solutions will also be demonstrated to the visitors in the form of involving case presentations. Visitors will be able to experience experts from the knowledge institutions in Aarhus and around the region who present inspir- ing examples of the latest research in sustainable solutions. It is important to emphasise that Sustainability Island will not be a fragmented appendage to the venue, but rather a natural extension of it.

Visitors can also meet specialists from businesses, NGOs, foundations and research institutions, as they demon- strate inspirational examples of the latest advances in sustainable solutions. Regional, national and, indeed, inter- national partners and participants will be more than welcome to contribute. The business community must be engaged on Sustainability Island as well, and as the host city, Aarhus will work strategically to determine which focus areas to prioritise in order to ensure that the contents match the desired target audiences.

Similarly, there will be activities addressing the general public and casual visitors. This could for instance be exper- imenting, interactive knowledge activities for both children and adults.

The sustainable efforts must unfold via the interaction of a large number of public and private partners across different industries. AARHUS SUSTAINABILITY SUMMIT

As part of the long-term perspective of sustainability and climate change mitigation, we wish to focus attention on knowledge sharing between experts and professionals during the ”Aarhus Sustainability Summit” (working title).

The Aarhus Sustainability Summit is a series of knowledge sharing and knowledge building initiatives aimed at different target audiences. They all take place during the event. The Aarhus Sustainability Summit will consist of the following components:

AARHUS SUSTAINABILITY SUMMIT

OCEAN RACE SUMMIT BUSINESS SUMMIT

GENERAL PUBLIC YOUTH SUMMIT SUMMIT

All participants will feel that the summit “walks the talk” in terms of sustainability and climate change mitigation. Participants and visitors will be expected to separate their waste, go to the event by bicycle or light railway, have the option to choose organic, locally produced vegan/vegetarian food, taste seaweed dishes or otherwise engage themselves in the sustainable experience.

AN OFFICIAL ’OCEAN RACE SUMMIT’ HOSTED BY THE OCEAN RACE

A total of 10 official Ocean Race Summits will be held in connection with The Ocean Race 2022/2023. Aarhus has presented its candidacy to host one of these Summits. The first three Ocean Summits have been held/are planned to be held virtually from the host cities of (Italy), The Hague (), and Newport (USA), respectively.

It is currently expected that an Ocean Summit will be held physically in Aarhus, attended by 150 international top leaders from the field of sustainability and climate change mitigation. The planning of an Ocean Summit takes place in close dialogue between the host city and The Ocean Race organisation.

You can read more about the Ocean Race Summits here www.theoceanracesummits.com A ’BUSINESS SUMMIT’ WHICH BUILDS ON THE OUTCOMES OF THE OCEAN RACE SUMMIT

To further strengthen the focus on sustainable business opportunities, plans are underway for several initiatives specifically aimed at the business community. Thus, there will be specific events for businesses, industries and organisations, offering specialised sessions on specific topics.

The target audience for the ‘Business Summit’ is industries of all kinds. In the coming years, we plan to create more specific tracks which may be developed on the individual industry level, but it is equally important that we gather participants from across the industrial spectrum to discuss solutions to some of our major challenges.

The Business Summit will include knowledge sharing sessions with inspiring talks and presentations. This could for instance be on themes like:

• The water cycle – how can we ensure clean drinking water? How can we protect our cities from the rising water levels? How can we ensure collection and utilisation of precipitation water? How can we use the power of the water to generate energy?

• Renewable energy – how can we make the entire society switch to using more renewable energy sources? How can we minimise our energy consumption?

• Sustainable transport – how can we make more of the heavy traffic use more sustainable means of oper- ation? How can we make land and air transport use more sustainable means of transport?

• Better utilisation of waste resources – how can we improve the utilisation of our waste resources? What is the industry missing in order to accomplish that? From a business perspective, which materials are likely to cause the most trouble? What will it take for us to increasingly adopt a circular economy mindset?

• Communication – from a business perspective, what is important for us to communicate to the popula- tion? What do people need to understand in order to push for sustainable changes in society?

As part of Sustainability Island, a learning space will be created, where visitors can seek knowledge about the proper behaviours in different areas/topics of interest. Here, we intend to invite e.g. businesses which present solutions supporting the proper behaviours.

A ’GENERAL PUBLIC SUMMIT’ TO TURN SDG INTO EVERYDAY GOALS

Here, the general public/casual visitors become actively involved in the sustainability efforts. People must be inspired and motivated to change/transform their behaviour, with a particular focus on a stronger connection to the sea, and more specifically the Bay of Aarhus. It is a well-known fact that the more familiar people are with Nature, the more they love it, and the more they love it, the more they look after it. On top of that, also the small everyday changes/transformations of behaviour will be put into play.

The General Public Summit is closely connected to Sustainability Island, in that learning and experiences are combined.

The General Public Summit will have links to both the business perspective and the Youth Summit, but will also put the small everyday changes/transformations of behaviour into play. The Summit will be held in continuation of the other maritime festivities taking place in connection with the event. It is important for this General Public Summit that we allow our partners to show their skills through active participation by the spectators/visitors.

Obvious target audiences for the General Public Summit are families with children and people with a general interest in the sea/sailing. But also citizens in general who just like to see some action in the city.

There will be inspirational talks and presentations, motivating people to adopt the proper behaviours, not by pointing fingers, but instead by raising awareness. We will build a learning space (Sustainability Island), where people can seek knowledge about the proper behaviours within areas/topics of interest to them. Again, this should not be seen as pointing fingers, but rather as providing inspiration for new ways in a new world. Here, we plan to invite e.g. businesses which present solutions supporting the proper behaviours. Inspired by the learning space from the 2018 Sailing World Championships we will develop the learning space to include physical experiences.

A YOUTH SUMMIT IN AARHUS – GIVING YOUNG PEOPLE A VOICE OF THEIR OWN

We aim to gather 6-700 young people from the youth and further education programmes. Here, they get the opportunity to raise debate about different topics that they have helped to select, focusing on Denmark’s, the region’s and Aarhus’ respective roles and options to act. In addition, we want to put this into an international perspective, comparing a variety of cases and options. At the same time, we wish to make the debates relevant to even more students who get indirect access to the Youth Summit via activities in their study programs up to, during, and after the event.

For this Summit, we want to make a designated presentation space – an expo– where students from different study programmes can demonstrate their solutions to the challenges of the future. This expo will be connected to the business perspective/Business Summit and will be placed on Sustainability Island.

The challenges presented and addressed by the Youth Summit could include:

• How do we change our society to make it more sustainable? • How do we address the general public’s behaviour in order to transform it? • How do we communicate the right knowledge so that people find it useful? • How do we change our transport system to make it more sustainable?

In addition, the work will address the sea and water more specifically, e.g.:

• How do we get a marine environment free from plastics? • How can the sea provide food for far more people? • How do we get much more energy from the sea (current, waves, tide, etc.)?

During the semesters leading up to Stopover Aarhus, we aim to directly involve students from relevant study pro- grammes in shaping the Youth Summit, as well as give them specific tasks to perform. This will help to set up the optimum framework for their very own Summit. Young people of the targeted age should be involved in the work of defining the framework and programme for the days of the Summit. Thus, the youngsters will play an active part in defining which workshops and talks they consider relevant.

Similarly, they will take on more practical challenges to show how their respective study programmes can contrib- ute to creating the solutions of tomorrow (this with the added purpose of raising the interest of businesses which may use the event to explore the field of potential future employees).

Thus, the Youth Summit can also be a way for Aarhus to show other Stopover cities in The Ocean Race how to ben- efit even more from the event. After an Ocean Race Stopover, a city, region, and nation has given young people a voice in the debate about what we want for our climate, our seas and our society.

We imagine that the Youth Summit will be held over several days of workshops and debates and the exhibition described above. The culmination of the event could be to invite a select group of youngsters to the city council hall to engage in a ‘final’ debate of possible solutions and options for action.

The young people should be allowed to express their views in a product in the form of a video or white paper which can be handed over to the politicians and decision-makers to show them the direction that these young people want us to take. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME

As part of the sustainability programme, children and young people must be involved in the agenda up to and during the Stopover in Aarhus. This can be accomplished for instance by offering thematic lesson plans to schools and institutions of further education during the months leading up to Stopover Aarhus.

This is a way to put the focus on sustainability in the broad sense of the word, based for instance on the UN’s 17 SDGs, and in a narrower sense by communicating knowledge about sustainable behaviours to the students and involving themselves in this. Similarly, these lesson plans should be based on the sea, maritime sporting activities and the way we look after our blue planet.

In partnership with experienced partners and The Ocean Race organisation, we will develop lesson plans which include both regular school lessons but also teaching and learning activities during the actual event in Aarhus. The aim is to educate more people to understand sustainable behaviour, how to acquire it, and what this will imply at school, at home, and in the context of large events.

Some of the youngsters could also become engaged in the Youth Summit, allowing the content and form to be reused and adapted to suit the youngsters’ needs. The aim is to offer an international perspective and allow the youngsters themselves to play a part in developing the Youth Summit. Participants will be selected based on edu- cation level and age.

We aim for the students to follow different study tracks as part of their learning activities in the 2022/2023 school year.

Such study tracks could be:

• Focus on the oceans and their state of health

• The Blue School Aarhus: Here, students will learn how to benefit more from their local (marine) environ- ment. They will visit the Aarhus International Sailing Center and examine the sea around us. In addition, we hope to be able to take all the students on a sailing trip.

• Focus on sustainability and its impact on our world. Here we take a 360-degree view of our society.

• Invite businesses to come and tell about their solutions. Possible topics could be • Waste resources • Food • Consumption • Water • Energy Consumption

• Students can look at their own school/study programme and prepare a sustainability plan which the school then undertakes to implement.

• Students can use innovation as a tool to think along new lines. The best of these solutions could potential- ly be presented at a special exhibition during Stopover Aarhus itself. This will also put a focus on the level of entrepreneurship existing in Denmark and the Central Denmark Region. It should be investigated whether other students from the programmes of e.g. Aarhus University, Aarhus Busi- ness Academy and VIA University College could assist the students with technical and academic insights, both in the processes and in actually unfolding the solutions.

All the study tracks could also be set up as profession-specific projects, such as engineering projects, but it will also be possible to develop solutions via other forms of art to ensure that we convey the knowledge in many dif- ferent forms. In relation to such other forms of art, it could be relevant to invite arts colleges, museums (and/or artists) to participate in the work along with the students.

At the same time, we propose to develop material or questions designed to prompt reflection in order to elicit a more philosophical/reflective approach to climate change and sustainability.

The Sustainability Programme for The Ocean Race Stopover in Aarhus will be developed by Aarhus Events, the City of Aarhus, in a close partnership with World- perfect. The programme depends on mutually binding partnerships with foundations, businesses, organisa- tions in the region, educational institutions, and na- tional/regional and local efforts centred around sus- tainability and climate change mitigation.