Germany
Thomas Kufen
Essen
Essen
Coat of arms
Area
City: 210.32 km2
Population
City: 583,393
Postal zone
45001–45359
Area code(s)
+49 (0)201, (0)2054
Government
Mayor: Thomas Kufen (CDU)
Website
- EN
Thomas Kufen
Biography
Thomas Kufen is a German politician who has been serving as a Lord Mayor of Essen since 2015. Located in the state of North Rhine Westphalia, Essen is a former industrial city mainly known for coal mining and steel production. However, the city has undergone an impressive structural change in the recent past. With mayor Kufen, the city keeps on growing and nowadays known as one of Germany’s greenest cities.
Mayor Kufen and his numerous brave and game-changing policies played a very factor in the city’s impressive transformation. Essen’s outstanding dedication to climate protection and sustainability received very important recognition when the city was granted the prestigious title of European Green Capital for 2017. These important topics will undoubtedly keep playing a very important role in shaping the future of Essen.
Essen’s remarkable turnaround was made possible thanks to the strong commitment of the city’s residents and excellent leadership of mayor Kufen and his predecessors. Addressing sustainability challenges was always one of mayor Kufen’s main priorities, which has resulted in Essen becoming a role model and a true inspiration for other cities. However, his contribution to his hometown extends much further, as he has dealt with numerous other challenges during his mayoral term.
Earlier in his political career, Kufen served in the North Rhine-Westphalia’s state parliament from 2000 to 2005. He had an important role in the field of migration and he was particularly active in the domain of Germany-Turkey relations. During his time in the state parliament, he was also spokesman on migration policy for the CDU state parliamentary group.
Furthermore, he was deputy chairman of the German-Turkish parliamentary group in North Rhine-Westphalia. Additionally, Kufen was also a co-founder of the German-Turkish Forum of the CDU North Rhine-Westphalia. Therefore, it is not surprising that mayor Kufen is still very active when it comes to maintaining good relations with Turkish and other world cities, and encouraging cooperation.
For instance in 2022, Essen expanded the collaboration with the Turkish city of Zonguldak, due to their very special connection. Both cities have a past in coal mining and have been putting a lot of effort into their transformations. Furthermore, due to the migration history, Essen is home to numerous people who are originally from the area of Zonguldak. In this, mayor Kufen saw an excellent opportunity to collaborate with the Turkish city in the field of renewable energy, a topic that is becoming more important than ever before. (photo credit: Essen official website)
- en
Essen
More info about city
Essen is the central and second largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of 583,393 makes it the ninth largest city of Germany, as well as the fourth largest city of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
- en
Schools in Essen compete to collect e-waste in new recycling initiative
17.05.2023Essen has launched the E-Waste Race project where schools compete to collect e-waste and pupils learn about recycling and its environmental effects. Lord Mayor of Essen Thomas Kufen attended the launch of the project at the Gustav-Heinemann Comprehensive School, noting that eight schools are taking part. Germany generates roughly 1.7 million tonnes of electronic waste per year, with city authorities stressing the importance of recycling such waste to recover valuable…
More
