Green IT made in Pader­born – West­fa­len­WIND IT GmbH & Co. KG was named the win­ner of the 2026 Ger­man Sus­taina­bi­lity Award for its wind­CORES brand. This award is con­side­red the hig­hest honor for exem­plary envi­ron­men­tal and social achie­ve­ments in busi­ness and society in Europe and reco­gni­zes solu­ti­ons that mea­sur­a­bly advance sus­tainable trans­for­ma­tion.​With this award, the jury reco­gni­zes a data cen­ter con­cept that intel­li­gently com­bi­nes digi­ta­liza­tion and the energy tran­si­tion and demons­tra­tes how high-per­for­mance IT and con­sis­tent cli­mate pro­tec­tion can go hand in hand. 

“With our uni­que solu­tion, windCORES—data cen­ters in wind turbines—we’re demons­t­ra­ting how digi­ta­liza­tion, cli­mate pro­tec­tion, and data sove­reig­nty can go hand in hand. Recei­ving the Ger­man Sus­taina­bi­lity Award is a great honor for us and a con­fir­ma­tion of our path toward a cli­mate-neu­tral digi­tal future in Europe,” said co-foun­der Dr. Fiete Dub­berke.

Through wind­CORES, West­fa­len­WIND ope­ra­tes CO₂-neu­tral data cen­ters directly within exis­ting wind tur­bi­nes. Through this inno­va­tive use of exis­ting infra­struc­ture and rene­wa­ble energy, IT ser­vices are deli­vered in a highly energy-effi­ci­ent, resource-con­ser­ving, and cli­mate-neu­tral man­ner. This allows com­pa­nies to power their digi­tal infra­struc­ture with genuine green elec­tri­city and signi­fi­cantly reduce their IT-rela­ted car­bon foot­print. With this con­cept, wind­CORES is sen­ding a strong mes­sage in sup­port of sus­tainable IT infra­struc­tures and unders­coring the Pader­born region’s role as a hub for inno­va­tion in rene­wa­ble energy and digi­tal solu­ti­ons for the future. “Tog­e­ther, we’re con­ti­nuing to drive sus­tainable IT made in Pader­born for­ward,” said Dub­berke.

West­fa­len­WIND is one of the 100 win­ning com­pa­nies from all sec­tors of the Ger­man eco­nomy. About 240 jurors from aca­de­mia, busi­ness, and civil society sel­ec­ted the win­ners from among more than 2,000 can­di­da­tes. The com­pe­ti­tion is sup­ported by the Ger­man Cham­ber of Indus­try and Com­merce (DIHK), PwC Ger­many, Leu­phana Uni­ver­sity of Lüne­burg, and lea­ding indus­try asso­cia­ti­ons.

The awards cerem­ony took place on Decem­ber 5 in Düs­sel­dorf. Fiete Dub­berke accepted the award on behalf of wind­CORES and West­fa­len­WIND IT GmbH along­side Mana­ging Direc­tor Jür­gen Veit, and was among the 150 spea­k­ers and guests from the worlds of busi­ness, poli­tics, aca­de­mia, NGOs, and the media who took the stage at the DNP 2025 event, along­side well-known figu­res such as Mona Neu­baur, Prof. Dr. Maja Göpel, Prof. Dr. Mojiv Latif, and Dr. Eck­art von Hirsch­hauen.