Sestao was the official Climathon organizer for the 2020 event in Sestao.
It also invited to participate in two neighbouring municipalities: Portugalete and Santurtzi. It, therefore, branded the event towards the public as Climathon SPS (SPS standing for Sestao, Portugalete, Santurtzi). An agreement was reached that every year, one of the cities, in a rotatory fashion, would take care of the actual organization, starting with Sestao in 2020.
The work sessions (Ideathones) were held on the 27th of November, 4th of December, and 11th of December 2020, between 10 am and 2 pm. These were all virtual sessions. The teams presented in a virtual session their projects to the jurors, and the jurors selected the winners on December 18th, 2020, between 10 am and 2 pm. This was the final session for the event.
The theme was to come up with innovative ideas/projects that could contribute in a meaningful way towards reducing the CO2 emissions in the 3 municipalities by 50% by the year 2030. Sub-challenges that were presented where: Sustainable mobility, Energy, Construction and Housing, Industry.
22 people registered, however, 12 ended up participating and completing the whole event. At the very end, 4 groups were formed.
The winning team proposed a mobile app that allows citizens to introduce their energy consumption, list sustainable practices that they undertake, measure their carbon footprint and see how they are contributing towards helping the city meet its goals of reducing CO2 emissions. A basic, yet functional, version of the app was presented. The runner-up team made a study whereby they identified 15 locations in Santurtzi where PVs could potentially be installed. A two to three-page technical analysis was elaborated for each one and a general presentation was made presenting the opportunity to bring PVs on a grand scale to the city. A third group promoted the use of cycling lanes and safer and more sustainable transportation for school children. The fourth group presented an app that helped organizations coordinate the transportation needs of each worker and find synergies to create, for example, carpooling, etc.
This shared Climathon event was deemed of special importance because it opened up the dialogue for future collaboration between the three cities.