Hauff welcomes cabinet decision to assess the impact of new laws – Support for the national sustainability strategy

Berlin, 27 May 2009 The Chairman of the German Council for Sustainable Development, Volker Hauff, says that Wednesday's cabinet decision to assess the compatibility of laws with the principle of sustainable development is an "important and groundbreaking step."

The German cabinet has amended the Joint Rules of Procedure of the German Federal Ministries to make it mandatory that all proposed legislation be assessed to determine if its impact is sustainable and what consequences it entails for future generations. The government has thus fulfilled a commitment outlined in the national sustainability strategy progress report from late 2008.

Hauff sees the cabinet decision as an outstanding opportunity to enhance and improve the effectiveness of the objectives and indicators of the sustainability strategy. In order to achieve this, he says that general procedural guidelines now need to be concretely developed. This requires, says Hauff, "a catalogue of clearly outlined assessment methods, quality assurance and documentation of the sustainability tests, and sustainability checklists for daily use in the administration." According to the Chairman of the Council, who is a former German Minister for Research and Technology, the German government must now provide the tools for the sustainability tests.

Hauff hopes that an explicit sustainability test in the legislative process will spur the German parliament to exert more pressure toward pursuing sustainable policies in the future.

In the past, the German Council for Sustainable Development has submitted repeated proposals to the German government on how to make its sustainability strategy more effective and binding. The Council feels that it is essential to have a higher degree of commitment and reviews based on clear indicators.

The Council anticipates that Germany will otherwise fail to meet most of the sustainability objectives established by the German government seven years ago. These cover a wide range of areas, including climate protection, energy, land use, and responsibilities towards developing and emerging nations. Current plans call for these objectives to be reached by 2020.

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