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. 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 are sent to the German Federal Government. More

Nachhaltigkeit und Politik: das ist der Titel der dritten Carl-von-Carlowitz Vorlesung, die die Präsidentin der Humboldt-Viadrina School of GovernanceGesine Schwan am 12. Oktober 2011 im historischen Kassensaal der Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) gehalten hat. In ihren Ausführungen ist die Politikwissenschaftlerin der Spur einer "zeitgemäßen Politik im Dienste der Nachhaltigkeit" nachgegangen - quer durch die politische Ideengeschichte, den Status quo unterschiedlicher Interessen und Machtpotenziale in unseren Gesellschaften analysierend, entlang aktueller Beispiele. Am Ende ihrer Auseinandersetzung mit dem Begriff Nachhaltigkeit und auch in Bezugnahme auf ihre Vorredner in der Veranstaltungsreihe, Professor Wolfgang Haber und Professor Carlo Jaeger, kommt sie zu dem Schluss, dass Politik als "antagonistische Kooperation", als Zusammenarbeit trotz gegensätzlicher Interessen wie zum Beispiel in Multi-Stakeholderdialogen, der einzige Weg für langfristig stabile, gerechte und nachhaltige Entscheidungen ist. More

On 13.10.2010, the Lord Mayors of 16 German cities submitted strategic cornerstones for sustainable development in municipalities. Represented in Berlin by Lord Mayors Werner Spec (Ludwigsburg), Burkhard Jung (Leipzig) and Dieter Salomon (Freiburg), they called on politicians at federal and Laender level to provide greater support and improved framework conditions for sustainable financial, economic and climate policies. They invited all those with responsibility at the municipal, Laender and federal levels to support their cornerstones. The 16 Lord Mayors come from cities throughout Germany which lead the way in municipal sustainability policy. With the assistance of the German Council for Sustainable Development, they have agreed on what more they want to do in the name of sustainable development in their cities and beyond. More

On 23 March, 85 young “visionaries” from across Germany met in Berlin to begin their search for answers to the question: “How do we want to live in 2050?” The German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) had invited the participants – all of whom had been nominated by sustainability experts from the political, business and scientific communities – to present and discuss their personal visions during a three-day workshop and also to develop a common vision of what a future society should look like. The workshop began with a debate involving the “visionaries” – the majority of whom under the age of 25 – Council member, Max Schön, and an experienced political practitioner, former Federal Minister / Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Franz Müntefering. More

People wanting to live socially and ecologically responsibly and thereby come along with his budget, can do that already today – without bigger efforts and without abdication of convenience. It is important to distinguish the willingness to question consumption habits. That shows the booklet «The Sustainable Shopping Basket» of the German Council for Sustainable Development. More

Against the background of the global efforts to achieve corporate sustainability and of the disputed claims for and means of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the German Council for Sustainable Development has developed recommendations for the German government and trade and industry. More

"Intergenerational Dialogue in Practice – Citizens Initiate Sustainability" is a contribution to the national sustainability strategy made by the Federal Government which jointly sponsors the competition along with the German Council for Sustainable Development. By staging this competition, the Federal Government and the German Council for Sustainable Development seek to honour and support the many forms of voluntary civil involvement. More

The competition "Mission Sustainability" of the German Council for Sustainable Development started 2007 and is still on target. In the focus: Small actions which can have a big impact. Only when every single person orientates her every day behaviour on criterias of sustainability, things will really change. Besides the description of the idea and the planned change of action in every day life the participants are asked to present their idea in a graphical way. More

Our consumption habits are being put to the test. The associated questions are, however, often awkward. Which foodstuffs do we buy? What type of power comes out of my sockets? How do I spend my money to be mobile? Does my clothing contain unhealthy chemicals? Those who wish to consume in a responsible manner are often confronted with difficulties. Mostly they lack sufficient information on products or services that offer a positive contribution to sustainability most readily. More

How do people who care about sustainability look like? This was the question of this year’s annual communication project of the German Council for Sustainable Development. Every participant could take part with photos of a friend who works for human rights, or the neighbour who works on an organic farmyard, the professor who carried out exciting research projects on relevant topics or the politician who takes the fight against poverty and the protection of the environment seriously even when it is not the run-up to an election. More

What do we eat, by what means do we move about, how do we spend our spare time? – Quite simple observations speak volumes about sustainability in our private day-to-day life. A national film competition, which the Sustainability Council initiated, was to sharpen sensibility both with young people and with senior citizens for the treatment nature and energy and for our own mobility and recreation behaviour. More

How do you advertise for a sustainable world and get to the heart of sustainability? Draw our attention to what is important for you: show us what today’s world needs to exist tomorrow. How can you win young people to re-think and to behave in a sustainable manner in daily life, when shopping, on holiday or elsewhere? More

The Council for Sustainable Development, together with young people, developed a book "Young people write about the future" that accompanied the German government on its way to Johannesburg to the World Summit for Sustainable Development in summer 2002. Within the framework of a national creative writing competition, numerous youth groups had applied for participation in the writing workshops of the Sustainability Council’s book project. Unfortunately, not every contestant could be taken into consideration. More