The German Council for Sustainable Development passed as a resolution the German Sustainability Code in its plenary session 13 October 2011. The Code was sent to the German Federal Government with a recommendation for implementation. In a database the German Sustainability Code visualises the efforts of companies to achieve sustainability. It thus creates a greater commitment to do so in a transparent and comparable manner. The development of GSC database is supported by a project of the Sustainable Business Institute by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The German Council for Sustainable Development provides a broader basis for the realisation of sustainability. The Sustainability Code is suitable for companies of every size and legal form. More

Internalising and reducing external costs is a cornerstone of a green economy. Sustainable business models require as much knowledge as possible of the external, social and environmentally relevant costs that accrue in manufacturing and sales/distribution, consumption and disposal. How can this be ensured? The German Council for Sustainable Development was 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 were asked to submit ideas and innovations from the business and academic sectors. The call for ideas was directed at employees of businesses and social institutions as well as researchers at universities, colleges and non-university research institutions, especially those involved in research on sustainable development. 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