The internalisation, charging and reduction of external costs is a cornerstone of the green economy. Sustainable business models require as much knowledge as possible of the external, social and environmentally relevant costs which accrue in manufacturing and sales/distribution, utilisation and disposal. How can this be safeguarded? The German Council for Sustainable Development is calling on interested parties to take part in its idea competition. Jochen Zeitz, Chief Sustainability Officer of PPR and Executive Chairman of PUMA SE, is a co-opted member of the Sustainability Council. He is the inspiration behind the project and will be accompanying it throughout. Contestants are asked to submit ideas and innovations from the business and academic sectors. This call for ideas is directed at employees of business enterprises and social institutions as well as researchers at universities, colleges and extra-university research institutes, especially those working on research for sustainable development. Read more

The German Council for Sustainable Development has passed the German Sustainability Code as resolution in its plenary session Oct 13, 2011. The utmost concern of the Council is to achieve broad appliance of this transparency standard in the business sector in general. Therefore the Council gives recommendations for implementing the German Sustainability Code which were sent to the German Federal Government and members of the EU Commission.  More information