Antje von Dewitz, the chief executive of Vaude, has been elected as vice president of the German Federal Environment Foundation (DBU) for the next five years. The German executive, who has been quite vocal on many occasions about the need to save the environment, has been a member of the DBU for over five years. She will now chair its board of trustees. The DBU supports protection measures for the environment with a capital of about €2.2 billion. The DBU also awards the biggest prize for environmental initiatives in Europe, the German Environmental Award, with prize money of €500,000. The DBU supports especially small and medium-sized companies in finding ecological solutions and innovations and implementing them. Von Dewitz says that it takes courage and efforts to implement sustainable management. The DBU aims to support companies with funds to reduce the financial risks related to ecological innovations and to strengthen the exchange of knowledge on the environment between the world of science, the economy, and private and public bodies.