General terms and conditions

Please read these terms and conditions carefully before accessing or using the services and content of Clima Now.

The terms used in these GTC refer equally to male and female persons.

1. Scope of application

(1) These General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter referred to as the «GTC») govern the use of the applications, content and services provided by Clima Now, a foundation governed by Swiss law, having its registered office at Riesbachstrasse 61, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland (hereinafter referred to as «Clima Now»), that are provided via the website www.climanow.ch (hereinafter referred to as the «Website») as well as the newsletter published by Clima Now (hereinafter collectively referred to as the «Services») and apply to legal persons and natural persons who act as users of the Services or interact with Clima Now or the Website in any other form.

(2) For the use of certain services, supplementary contractual provisions may apply, which will be made known to you in connection with the respective services. If these GTC contradict the supplementary contractual provisions, the supplementary contractual provisions take precedence over these GTC.

(3) The legal relationship between Clima Now and the winners of the Pitch Nights (as defined below) is governed by separate contracts to be concluded between these parties.

(4) The use of the Website is determined exclusively by these GTC, unless otherwise governed by a separate written agreement.

2. General

(1) Clima Now organizes competitions at regular intervals (hereinafter the «Spotlights»), at which natural persons and legal persons (hereinafter the «Project Initiators») can present projects against climate change and its negative consequences (hereinafter the «Projects») to the public and have them evaluated by the public. In this context and for this purpose, Clima Now operates the Website.

(2) Project Initiators can submit their Projects via the Website. Persons accessing and visiting the Website (hereinafter the «Visitors») can evaluate and support one or more Projects by voting for them on the Website during a certain time-period (hereinafter the «Voting»). Per visitor three votes are allowed for any project. Clima Now reserves the right to delete votes from the voting if irregularities are detected that go beyond a normal level. This includes, for example, multiple votes via intentionally created email aliases.

(3) The seven Projects that generate the most votes in the Voting compete against each other at a subsequent live event (hereinafter the «Pitch Night»), at which they are evaluated by a jury and a further vote via an online tool. The first-placed, second-placed, and third-placed Projects receive prize money in an amount determined in the sole discretion of Clima Now, and the first-placed Project additionally receives coaching from a third-party company. These prizes are intended to support the Project Initiators in the realization of their Projects.

3. Services of Clima Now

(1) In accordance with the provisions of these GTC, Clima Now provides the technological framework for the use of the Website by Visitors and Project Initiators as described in section 2 above.

(2) Clima Now provides each Project Initiator with a sub-page on the Website to present the Project. The sub-page is created and managed by Clima Now based on the data submitted by the Project Initiator. Clima Now carries out public relations work for the Website (electronic dispatch of a newsletter, etc.). The manner and scope of the public relations work for the Website and/or the Projects and Project Initiators are in each case at the sole discretion of Clima Now.

(3) Clima Now is entitled to engage third parties for the provision of any and all of the services.

4. Submission of Projects by Project Initiators

(1) Project Initiators can submit Projects free of charge using an application form available on the Website. To submit your Project, you enter the required data in the registration form. By truthfully completing and submitting the registration form, you are making a binding offer to conclude a contract for a Project with Clima Now.

(2) If your data has been successfully submitted, you will immediately receive a written confirmation by email.

(3) If your Project is admitted to the Spotlight, you will receive a written confirmation by email.

(4) If you have already submitted a Project, you cannot submit the same Project again.

(5) Clima Now reserves the right to reject your project without giving reasons, even if you have met all the requirements for submitting a Project. Project Initiators are not automatically entitled to participate in the Spotlight and/or the Pitch Night.

(6) Only legal persons and natural persons with legal capacity to act or natural persons with limited legal incapacity who act with the consent of their legal representatives are admitted as Project Initiators. The minimum age of Project Initiators is 14 years.

5. Obligations of the Project Initiators

(1) In order to guarantee proper use, you must comply with the obligations set forth in paragraphs 2 and 3 below. In case of non-compliance, Clima Now may terminate the contract with you, Clima now or third parties may claim damages, or you may suffer other disadvantages.

(2) You are obliged:

(i) to provide complete and truthful information for required registrations and other queries necessary to achieve the objective of the contract;

(ii) to confirm, when making any required registration, that if you are a minor or incapacitated, you are acting with the consent of your legal representative;

(iii) not to register more than one Project for a Spotlight; and

(iv) in the event of a subsequent change of data, to notify Clima Now thereof immediately in writing, so that Clima Now can correct such data.

(3) As a Project Initiator, you must not act in an abusive or immoral manner or in contravention or breach of laws, regulations, or the rights of third parties. This includes, but is not limited to, the following obligations:

(i) You ensure that the data you submit via the Website or registration form does not violate any legal or compliance provisions. You must therefore check before each text entry and before uploading files whether you are entitled to the necessary intellectual property rights thereto (e.g. to a text, photograph, image, graphic, video, piece of music, sample). In the case of photographs and videos, you also confirm that the persons depicted have given you the consent for publication (right to one's own image).

(ii) You refrain from entering data with immoral, discriminatory, racist, extremist or religiously offensive content.

(iii) You comply with the legal requirements of data protection and data security.

(4) If you breach any of the obligations set out in paragraphs 2 and/or 3 above, Clima Now is entitled, at its discretion, to temporarily block and/or delete affected Projects and content with immediate effect and/or to exclude you temporarily or permanently from participating in the Spotlight and/or Pitch Night and to block all services and/or to terminate your contract without prior notice. This also applies if Clima Now is informed by a third party that there has been a breach by you of the obligations contained in paragraph 3 above, unless the third party's allegation is obviously incorrect.

(5) If you violate any of the above obligations, Clima Now reserves the right to demand compensation for the resulting damage and to indemnify itself against any claims of third parties, unless you are not responsible for the violation of obligations.

6. Intellectual property and intellectual property rights

(1) All information on the Website is protected by intellectual property rights and belongs to Clima Now or third parties. The information is free to use only for its intended purpose. No part or information on the Website is designed in such a way as to grant a license or right to use a registered trademark, logo, image, or other content protected by intellectual property rights. Any other use, reproduction, republication, modification, or exploitation is prohibited without the written consent of Clima Now, and it is prohibited to systematically retrieve any information or content from the Website for the purpose of directly or indirectly compiling a collection or database or directory.

(2) In the event that you, as the Project Initiator, submit information, content, documents, or data to which you are entitled to intellectual property rights to Clima Now via the registration form, Clima Now is entitled to those acts of use for the duration of the service provision which correspond to the purpose of the individual service within the framework of the Website and the associated events and activities. Even after the end of a competition, Voting or event, your entries will not be deleted from the archive, from the pages of the Website freely accessible to all Visitors, and/or from the pages of the Website reserved for Clima Now. You grant Clima Now a free, simple right of use to this information even beyond the duration of your involvement as a Project Initiator.

(3) Clima Now reserves all intellectual property rights regarding all information, content, and data on the Website and will fully exercise all possibilities to enforce such rights.

7. Content and availability of the website

(1) Data communication with the Website is carried out by Visitors and Project Initiators through independent online access, such as via the web browser or a corresponding app.

(2) Clima Now is entitled to independently update and expand the range of services on the Website at any time.

(3) The services and content made available by Clima Now or third parties via the Website are provided without guarantee of accuracy and/or completeness. Clima Now reserves the right to change parts or all of the services or content or to discontinue the publication or services temporarily or permanently.

(4) Clima Now strives for comprehensive availability of the Website within the scope of what is technically and economically reasonable. However, a claim to availability at all times cannot be granted. Clima Now reserves the right to temporarily restrict and/or suspend access to the Website at any time without prior notice and without giving reasons. Clima Now excludes any liability for transmission delays or failures for technical reasons.

8. Data protection

When you vote for a Project, Clima Now stores your name and email address in connection with the Projects supported by you. The processing of this and any other personal data of Visitors and Project Initiators is carried out in strict compliance with the applicable data protection regulations. You can find more information on this in Clima Now's privacy policy. The provisions of the privacy policy form an integral part of these GTC.

9. Disclaimer of warranty and liability

(1) Clima Now is not liable for the up-to-datedness, correctness, accuracy, or completeness of the information on the Website. To the extent permitted by law, Clima Now excludes any liability for direct and/or indirect damages as well as lost profits resulting from the services, the use, the access to the information on the Website, links to third-party websites, or from the impossibility of use or access. This exclusion of liability also applies to any damage resulting from the fact that third parties have manipulated the Website. Furthermore, Clima Now disclaims any liability for manipulation of its IT by third parties.

(2) Any warranty by Clima Now is excluded to the extent permitted by law. Clima Now does not give any assurances.

(3) The Website may contain third-party content or links to third-party websites. Links from the Website to third-party websites are provided for information and user convenience. These third-party websites are completely beyond the control of Clima Now, and Clima Now accepts no guarantee or responsibility whatsoever for the accuracy, quality, completeness and legality of the content or availability of these third-party websites or for any offers and services contained therein. The responsibility lies solely with the operator of the relevant third-party websites accessed via the links and Clima Now accepts no liability. Establishing links to these third-party websites is at your own risk. Should the Project Initiator become aware of a link to a third-party website with illegal content, he/she will do everything reasonable to remove the link in question and inform Clima Now immediately.

(4) Clima Now is not liable for data loss or the unlawful use of personal user data by third parties.

10. Duration and termination of contracts with Project Initiators

(1) The contract between Clima Now and a Project Initiator is concluded for an indefinite period.

(2) The contract between Clima Now and a Project Initiator can be terminated by either party at any time with a notice period of 30 calendar days.

(3) However, the ordinary termination in accordance with paragraph 2 above on the part of the Project Initiator does not become effective and is postponed as long as (i) you are Project Initiator and your Project is in the competition phase; or (ii) you have won a competition with a Project and your Project is in the implementation phase with the financial support of Clima Now.

(4) The right of both parties to extraordinary termination for good cause remains reserved.

(5) Ordinary and extraordinary terminations must be declared in writing (e.g., by letter or email).

11. Amendments to the GTC

(1) Clima Now is entitled to change the content of these GTC at any time.

(2) Clima Now will notify the Project Initiators of the proposed amendment in writing (e.g., by letter or email), stating the reason and the specific scope of the amendments. The amendments are deemed to be approved if the respective Project Initiator does not object to them in writing (e.g., by letter or email) within six weeks after receipt of the notification of the amendments. Clima Now will specifically draw the Project Initiator's attention to this consequence in the notification letter. If the Project Initiator exercises his/her right of objection, the amendment request is deemed to have been rejected. In the event of rejection, Clima Now has the right to terminate the contractual relationship with the Project Initiator without prior notice.

12. Applicable law, place of jurisdiction

(1) The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with these GTC, the legal relationships falling under them, or the services and use of the Website, is Zurich.

(2) These GTC are exclusively subject to the substantive laws of Switzerland.

Status: July 2021