“We feel very honoured that APCOA and our Urban Hubs have been awarded the German Sustainability Award. This award emphasises that with smart concepts and the intelligent use of existing buildings we can transform our cities into a more sustainable environment for working and living, business and leisure,” says Frank van der Sant, Chief Commercial Officer of APCOA.

Niels Christ, Group Director Urban Hubs adds, “since the first idea of our Urban Hubs concept we have transformed over 500 car parks across 50 cities in 12 countries into mobility, logistics and charging hubs. These serve as logistics centers for last mile delivery, provide charging points for electric vehicles and function as pick-up and drop-off points for cars, e-scooters and e-bikes of mobility service providers.”   

“The launch of APCOA’s ‘Sustainability in Action initiative in 2021 marked a significant milestone in our commitment to sustainability. By establishing multiple ESG initiatives within a structured framework, we have demonstrated a genuine integration of sustainability into our core business operations. This initiative reflects APCOA‘s dedication not only to our employees, customers, clients and investors but also to the wider communities and environments in which we operate”, says Kim Challis, Group Director ESG and Regional MD for UK & Ireland.

Sustainable urban hubs from APCOA

With the Urban Hubs, the company is capitalising on its market-leading position with over 13,000 locations in Europe. For users of mobility services of all kinds, the car parks become important hubs that can be used 24/7, where you can park and charge, switch from a (shared) car to an e-scooter or back, pick up a delivered parcel from a locker board before continuing your journey or have your vehicle cleaned. Logistics service providers also use the areas as transshipment points, e.g. to consolidate several deliveries or to transfer to small electric vehicles for last-mile distribution. Based on APCOA’s digital platforms, the range of services and partners can be expanded as required and adapted to mobility developments and needs. The bundling of inner-city space, services and partners is unique in Europe.

APCOA officially launched its Urban Hub concept at the beginning of 2021 and has since implemented it at numerous international locations. Together with partners from the logistics, mobility and electric charging sectors, hubs for sustainable urban services have been created across Europe. Further locations are currently being set up and the company has ambitious plans for the future to further transform car park locations into urban hubs. In the future, the focus will also be on additional applications that are currently still dreams of the future: Drone logistics or autonomous electric charging.

The 17th German Sustainability Award

In 2024, the DNP once again honoured pioneering contributions to the transformation towards a sustainable future. A total of 100 companies will be honoured as part of the 17th DNP. The award uses the best examples to show how ecological and social progress can be achieved more quickly. It aims to motivate all key players to change, connect them across borders and encourage partnerships. The award is based on the goals of the 2030 Agenda and thus on the key areas of transformation such as climate, biodiversity, resources, supply chain and society. The DNP is awarded as part of the German Sustainability Day, which has become the leading congress on sustainability since 2008. The multi-stakeholder DNP project brings together all key players from politics, business, research and civil society. The diversity of institutional partners with different perspectives is reflected in the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, but also in the methodology team, the jury and the circle of speakers at the events.