ZEW Provides Economic Expertise at Workshops on Urban Development in Columbia

Dr. Martin Kesternich, deputy head of the Research Department “Environmental and Resource Economics, Environmental Management” at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, accompanied a delegation from Baden-Württemberg International (bw-i) – the Agency for International Economic and Scientific Cooperation of the state of Baden-Württemberg – as well as other representatives from academia and industry to Columbia. The one-week trip centred on several workshops on mobility and air pollution control, which were organised in corporation with researchers from universities and research institutions in Bogotá and Medellín.

At the workshops, Martin Kesternich discussed recent ZEW research findings on voluntary CO₂ off-setting in long-distance coach and courier services. Together with their Columbian colleagues, the participants also visited local transport projects that have been receiving scientific support from researchers. One of these projects was a cable car project in Ciudad Bolívar, one of the poorest districts of the Colombian capital Bogotá. The cable car system, which will soon be put into operation, aims to improve economic and social inclusion of the people living on the hillside of Bogotá. In order to strengthen these promising, newly established contacts, the discussions will be continued in a second German-Columbian workshop on “Mobility, Air Pollution Control and Participation”, which is set to take place in Baden-Württemberg.

The aim of bw-i, an initiative of the state of Baden-Württemberg, is to facilitate access to foreign markets for companies located in Baden-Württemberg and to strengthen Baden-Württemberg’s position as a business and scientific location.