This accessibility statement applies to the website www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de

Name and address of the organization

Sustainability Council c/o Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg 1-5, 65760 Eschborn Domain:

www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de

Telephone: +49 (0) 30 338424-122

E-mail: RNE-Gst@nachhaltigkeitsrat.de

Introduction

GIZ endeavours to make its website www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de accessible in accordance with the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG)). This accessibility statement applies to the website www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de.

Status of compliance with the requirements

The website www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de is partially compliant with the Accessibility Improvement Act (BFSG) due to the following incompatibilities and exceptions. Non-accessible content: The content listed below is not accessible for the following reasons:

• PDF documents: some of our PDF documents are not accessible. We are working on adapting these as quickly as possible or providing accessible alternatives.
• Videos: Some of our embedded videos do not currently have subtitles. We are endeavouring to provide subtitles for all videos in the future.
• Images without alternative text: Some images on the website do not have alternative text. We are constantly reviewing and updating this content.

Barriers due to economic unreasonableness

Some barriers on our website cannot be removed in the short term for reasons of economic reasonableness. These include:

• Complex interactive applications e.g. games: certain interactive applications and special features on our website require significant financial and human resources to make them fully accessible. We are constantly looking at ways to improve but cannot remove all barriers immediately due to the high costs involved.
• Historical content: Older content that was created before the current accessibility guidelines came into effect may not be fully accessible. Subsequent adaptation of this content would require disproportionately high expenditure. However, new content will be created in accordance with the current standards.

Reporting barriers, feedback and contact details

Have you noticed any barriers to accessing content on www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de? Then you are welcome to contact us. We look forward to your feedback and will endeavour to remove the reported barriers as quickly as possible within the scope of technical and economic possibilities. Please let us know which page and which function you have encountered barriers on. Simply copy the link from the address bar of your browser. You can report barriers to us in the following ways:

• E-mail: RNE-Gst@nachhaltigkeitsrat.de
• Telephone: +49 (0) 30 338424-122
• Postal address: Report barriers, Sustainability Council, c/o Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg 1-5, 65760 Eschborn.

Enforcement centre

If you do not receive a satisfactory response to your accessibility-related communications or enquiries, you can contact the Enforcement Centre. The Enforcement Centre will support you in asserting your rights.

Address of the enforcement body

Sustainability Council, c/o Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg 1-5, 65760 Eschborn, Germany

Date of preparation of this declaration on accessibility

This declaration was prepared on 27 September 2024. The verification of compliance with the requirements is based on a test report on digital accessibility carried out by ‘Barrierefreiheitstest GmbH, Stolzestraße 17, 35390 Gießen’.

This accessibility statement has been prepared with the utmost care and is regularly updated to fulfil current requirements and standards. Nevertheless, errors cannot be completely ruled out. If you find any errors in this statement, please send us short feedback via the Barriers Reporting functionality as listed in this document.

This document was last updated on 27/09/2024.

As Director of the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Frankfurt am Main, Professor Katrin Böhning-Gaese explores the coexistence of people and nature. In our interview she explains why the loss of biodiversity is a threat to humans and how we can rescue nature.

RNE: Katrin Böhning-Gaese, the more bird species there are around us, the happier we humans are. That’s one of the findings of your research. But the birds are vanishing. What’s going on in nature right now?

Katrin Böhning-Gaese: The number of partridges has fallen by 91 percent within 25 years, with lapwings it’s as much as around 93 percent, and the skylark population has halved. This is because the productivity of agriculture has been going up and up since the Second World War. That was necessary to begin with – I mean, we needed food to eat. But the extent of what today is almost industrial land use is causing massive damage.

What exactly is affecting the birds?

Everything is geared towards getting as much as possible out of the land. So hedges have disappeared, and the resulting larger fields are being harvested to depletion with big heavy machinery. Lots of pesticides and fertilisers are used. And – this is perhaps the worst thing – we have lost so many meadows and pastures to make way for monotonous fields of corn or other energy crops for biogas plants. We don’t allow our fellow creatures a single scrap of farmland.

Are the problems in the forests even bigger than in the fields?

Our long-term data shows that the sharp decline in birds is a problem of the agricultural landscape. The birds in the forests, on the other hand, are on the increase again. Also in wetlands and cities, the populations are at least stable.

So the trend is positive?

Species like the black woodpecker that breed in huge old trees have a problem. The German state of Hesse has, irresponsibly, just scrapped protection for old beech trees in protected areas. Now they can be cut down again. But yes, there are also birds that benefit from trees dying, because they love woodland habitats with light and warmth. And in less dense forests, the sun can penetrate right through to the ground. That’s why the woodlark, for example, is returning in some places. Aside from that, there are projects where cows and other large grazing animals help protect the diversity of the forest.

Cows in the forest?

In the Swabian Alps, for instance, cows graze in a forest. They eat away at the undergrowth so there is space for all kinds of shrubs, grasses, insects and birds.

How dramatic is the loss of biodiversity overall?

Our trees are not critically endangered; currently it’s primarily spruce trees in monocultures that are dying, which were not native anyway. Here and there, beech trees are also suffering, but much less severely. However, almost half of all bird species in Germany are at risk of extinction because they can no longer find insects or seeds to eat or there are no hiding places or nesting sites anymore. The birds are a sign that entire ecosystems are becoming more unstable.

The Joint Action for Sustainable Development has declared biodiversity a focus topic for 2024. At the time, you said the climate crisis would determine how we live in the future, the biodiversity crisis whether or not we survive. What is the threat to humans?

If biodiversity disappeared from the Earth altogether, we would have no air left to breathe, no clean water, no food, no medication, no clothes. And a depleted landscape can also make us sick and sad. Singing birds, on the other hand, boost our psyche.

According to a study by the MaLisa Foundation, only 0.2 percent of broadcast minutes on television deal directly with species extinction. Why are the dangers not a bigger issue?

The loss of biodiversity is subtle; we don’t really notice it. Even though we perhaps learned to love nature during the pandemic, there’s still a big distance. Who is familiar with the skylark? We’re used to the supermarkets being stocked full of fruits, vegetables and nuts and, at best, we sit up and take notice when the price of coffee goes up…

…because the few high-output varieties can no longer cope with climate change. Do you envy climate activists because they can argue their case with CO2 limits?

Not at all. The simplification has led to the climate debate always revolving around technical solutions alone, like wind turbines and solar plants. But to protect the climate we also need to look after our forests and our seas with their seagrass meadows, which absorb a lot of carbon. It’s been factored in far too late that conservation always means climate protection as well.

Does nature need to be left in peace?

When it comes to producing food or wood, we need to work in harmony with nature, operate with more consideration for the environment, water and the climate. But of course we also have to leave nature alone sometimes. Germany has committed with Europe to protecting 30 percent of land and sea areas, with 30 percent of that then being placed under strict protection, which means monitoring how the territory is reclaimed by nature.

Do we need more protected areas or better ones?

In Germany we are presumed to be close to the 30 percent already. What we need is more quality. Even in the Wadden Sea National Park, which is protected under all categories and is even a World Heritage Site, crab fishers in the core zone can drop their bottom trawl nets, which destroy the sea floor. It’s embarrassing that we expect Tanzania or Brazil to set up large protected areas that are unused by humans, but back home we allow anything to happen.

How wild can we go when we seemingly can’t even cope with wolves?

We think that Germany is a densely populated country and we can’t even make room for nature. And yet there are good examples of this. On the Darß peninsula on the coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, for example, they’re letting the coast just be coast. Sea eagles have started circling around there again. In autumn, red deer bellow and thousands of cranes migrate. That fascinates not just biodiversity researchers like me, but also lots of tourists – who bring money.

So nature tourism alone will do the job?

No, meat consumption needs to go down. That’s the key, plain and simple. Meat has a particularly large biodiversity footprint.

Why does meat have such a large biodiversity footprint?

Growing crops for animal feed, like soya, requires huge swathes of land, often in species-rich regions such as Brazil. If everyone ate just 300 grammes of meat per week – so if we went back to just the Sunday roast – that would have an enormous impact.

So telling people what to eat?

That’s a very personal topic, of course – and it’s also just a recommendation. And meat consumption is already falling. The food industry has long since responded, and is altering its range and offering plant-based alternatives to meat and milk. The behaviour of each and every one of us puts pressure on the economy. It reacts to trends, and market research also tries to anticipate these. Many businesses are now also trying to become nature-positive. They ascertain the impact of their activities on nature and then set themselves appropriate goals.

What do you expect from policymakers?

Those who lead the way always run the risk of being pushed out of the market if the conditions are not right. So the government should, for example, increase VAT on meat and reduce it to zero for plant-based products.

And if this doesn’t fit the zeitgeist?

At the moment there are many people who maybe see it as a loss if meat is no longer “in”, or if they can no longer drive to their old car park because it’s been replaced by a park. That’s why, for example, there needs to be a much wider debate at a local level around how we really want to live. It’s been proven, for instance, that people feel better when there is plenty of green space nearby. But a government definitely shouldn’t give as much audience to individuals on big tractors as it is currently doing. We need nature for a good life.

Profile

Professor Katrin Böhning-Gaese, a biologist specialising in ornithology, is Director of the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, winner of the German Environmental Award 2021 and a member of Leopoldina, the German National Academy of Sciences. Her latest book, co-written with Friederike Bauer, is called Vom Verschwinden der Arten – Der Kampf um die Zukunft der Menschheit [On the Disappearance of Species – The Fight for the Future of Humanity]. In January 2023 she was appointed a member of the German Council for Sustainable Development.

Further links

German Council for Sustainable Development to support implementation of coalition committee findings with constructive feedback

Potsdam, 30 March 2023 – Recently reappointed by the Federal Chancellor, the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) discussed the latest decisions of the coalition committee at its kick-off meeting in Potsdam on 29/30 March.

RNE Chair Reiner Hoffmann acknowledges that the federal government has adopted common guidelines for accelerating the energy transition and the expansion of infrastructure. “Already in late 2022 the Council for Sustainable Development produced proposals for speeding up planning and approval procedures while still doubling down on nature conservation. The RNE will embed these ideas in the upcoming changes to legislation.”

The changes to the sectoral targets of the Climate Change Act announced in the coalition partners’ paper, on the other hand, did not go down so well with the RNE. The Council’s Deputy Chair Gunda Röstel: “The Climate Change Act, which was amended in 2021 under pressure from the Federal Constitutional Court, stipulates ambitious interim targets for all sectors to keep Germany on track for greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045. All sectors will have to push themselves to reach their respective interim targets. It seems inconceivable to us, given this situation, to relieve a sector of its obligations. All sectors, including transport, have to do their bit, now and in the future. Germany’s game-changing Climate Change Act should be upheld.”

Reiner Hoffmann continues: “The decision to control the transformation through an increased focus on emissions trading and therefore via the market going forward, rather than via the Climate Change Act, is a risky one. Such an approach will lead to energy price rises, which in turn will hit socially vulnerable groups harder, thus jeopardising social cohesion. We the RNE will provide close guidance to the federal government to ensure social cohesion in a just transformation.”

The use of certain new technologies as well as new and innovative solutions can, the RNE believes, play a key role on the way to greenhouse gas neutrality, says Hoffmann. “That said, new technologies alone are not enough. At the same time, we also need new business models in order to capitalise on the economic opportunities that can go along with the transformation.”

All told, the RNE feels the coalition committee’s approach is too technology-driven. The Council points out that the necessary changes will be accompanied by social hardship for individual population groups unless counteracted by policy. Reiner Hoffmann: “But these unequal pressures have to be cushioned by socially differentiated measures from day one. Those with broader shoulders must bear a larger share of the transformation costs.”

Media Relations:

German Council for Sustainable Development
E presse@nachhaltigkeitsrat.de
T + 49 30 338424-721

2022 HLPF Side Event within the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations

Co-hosted by the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE), the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), the Colombian National Planning Department (DNP) and the Federal Government of Germany

Date: 14th July, 13:15-14:45 EST in New York

Summary: Urban and communal sustainability reporting is growing faster than ever. More and more cities and municipalities have been involved in sustainability reporting, the so-called Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs). This side-event will discuss the contributions of VLRs for local delivery of the 2030 Agenda as well as their relevance and impulses for national achievements in delivering the 2030 Agenda. The following questions are foreseen to guide the discussion:

1. In what thematic areas of the 2030 Agenda are municipalities the key actors to drive change and delivery of SDGs?
2. Where do municipalities share similarities and where are differences in establishing VLRs in various country context settings?
3. What are the connections and impulses of VLR activities for national delivery of the 2030 Agenda and, conversely, what are the feedback effects of national strategy and reports on municipalities?

This debate will focus on peer exchange across communities for sustainable development and its value-added for national SDG delivery in Colombia and Germany.

Agenda

’00 Welcoming remarks: Dr. Bärbel Kofler, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development

Keynotes:

• Head of Delegation Colombia (tbd)
• Dr. Bettina Hoffmann, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (tbc)

’25 Presentation of the VLRs of Pereira (Colombia) and Bonn (Germany)

• Carlos Maya López, Mayor of the City of Pereira, Colombia
• Katja Dörner, Mayor of the City of Bonn, Germany

’40 Movie with voices from Colombian and German municipalities on their path towards the Global Goals

’45 VLR discussion: Assessing local progress and feeding it into national policy-making for the 2030 Agenda

• Katja Dörner, Mayor of the City of Bonn, Germany
• Carlos Maya López, Mayor of the City of Pereira, Colombia

National and international reflections on the value-added of VLRs for SDG delivery

• Olga Lucia Romero Londoño, Director Public Policy Evaluation Colombian National Planning Department (DNP)– Technical Secretariat for the SDGs, Colombia
• Dr. Fernando Ortiz Moya, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Japan (tbc)
• Dr. Stefan Bauernfeind, Head of Division Sustainable Development, Federal Chancellery Germany

‘75 Concluding remarks

Dr. Marc-Oliver Pahl, Secretary General, German Council for Sustainable Development

Moderation: Dr. Hannah Janetschek, German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE)
Ivonne Lobos, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Colombia

The 26th EEAC conference focused on one issue in particular – how to bring a halt to global warming. All the experts agreed that more must be done worldwide.

Following publication of the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), leading sustainable development experts from the fields of politics, business, science and civil society spoke out in favour of even greater efforts to protect the global climate. “We must forge alliances,” said Arnau Queralt Bassa, Chairman of the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils (EEAC), at the network’s 26th conference held in Berlin.

“People from all over the world must pull together because the challenges of the future are highly complex.” The event entitled “Towards a sustainable Europe by 2030: key leverages for transformation” was attended by some 160 delegates, who discussed how people could jointly work towards a more sustainable EU based on the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement.

“The EU missed an opportunity to incorporate the 17 global Sustainable Development Goals into its own strategy,” said Marlehn Thieme, Chairwoman of the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE). She made the case for examining the barriers and obstacles to a more environmental and a more social lifestyle in the individual countries, in the EU and internationally. The German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) is a member of the EEAC and was the joint host of this year’s conference together with the two other German members, the German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) and the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). Thieme spoke about political errors which, for example, prevented implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals being expedited in the individual countries.

Relevance of the problem seemingly not acknowledged to date

Manfred Niekisch, ecologist and Vice Chair of the SRU, emphasised the cognitive and institutional hurdles with regard to implementing the 2030 Agenda: “The challenges are huge and we are making only slow progress,” said Niekisch. “Shortsightedness in our ways of thinking and policymaking are preventing us from tackling structural problems like climate change.” He argued in favour of new policies that more closely dovetailed the scientific findings and social discourse, an approach which he said should be pursued in all countries. Niekisch accused the individual countries of national self-interest, as demonstrated by, for example, the EU’s fisheries agreements and in EU agriculture. “There is no common strategy.”

Sabine Schlacke, Chairwoman of the WBGU, took a similar stance: “The IPCC report shows us what we need to do. The situation is serious – global warming can’t be allowed to exceed 1.5 degrees.” In their report, the experts called for the immediate decarbonisation of the global economy, arguing that were this to fail, the livelihoods of future generations would be at risk. “The EU must seek new allies in order to take the lead once again with regard to climate protection.”

In a welcome address given by video, Federal Chancellery Minister Helge Braun likewise stressed the need to take sustainable action. “We don’t have a second planet,” said Braun. More weight needs to be lent to the voice of the scientific community and it needs to be leveraged on behalf of sustainable development, he said. This is a view shared by Jean-Baptiste Djabbari, member of France’s National Assembly with the party La Republique en marche. “Scientific findings must lead to political action,” he said, giving the example of promoting a sustainable energy mix in order to supply the population with electricity. Alternatives to nuclear power and coal are needed, posited Djabbari.

Promoting green technologies

Imme Scholz of the German Development Institute (DIE) and member of the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) argued this means the focus had to be placed more on an economic approach. “The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals could be one way of promoting green technologies,” Scholz said. She encouraged government heads and representatives from the fields of science and politics to experiment and to not simply adopt fully developed policies.

In this context, Patrick ten Brink of the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) called for consideration to be given to more than just economic growth. “The focus needs to be on people’s well-being, rather than growth – a change is needed here.” He called for the creation of a European Commissioner for the future of the generations, who would maintain an overview of the environmental, social and economic aspects of protecting the planet and the future population. Ten Brink is hopeful that the new European Commission to be elected in summer 2019 will make the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals a component in the future of the EU and of its member states. For this to happen, people need to pull together within the individual countries too, stressed Lukas Köhler, member of the German Bundestag with the FDP and climate policy spokesperson for the FDP’s parliamentary group. “All the ministries in Germany – not just the environment ministry – are important to implementation of the SDGs. We need to overcome this silo thinking.”

French MP Djabbari has no doubt that economics and the environment go hand in hand and he criticised the USA’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in this respect. “Together, we can achieve a great deal.” For Djabbari, though, it’s especially a question of greater social justice as well rather than just economic criteria and environmental aspects. Transformation in the direction of a more sustainable EU also needs to take this factor into account, he said. This applies to, for example, preserving existing or creating new jobs, combating poverty and bridging the gap between the rich and the poor, he argued.

Levers for greater sustainability in Europe

In the afternoon, the conference programme focused in particular on three levers with which transformation in the direction of a sustainable Europe could be turned into a success: reshaping political institutions in order to embed long-term and sustainable ways of thinking, using digitalisation for sustainability and a sustainable finance sector.

The first panel concluded that in order to achieve transformational change, environmental and sustainability aspects should be taken into account in the work of all administrative departments. The introduction of future councils and ombudspersons for future generations could additionally elevate long-term, integrative thinking in the sense of the 2030 Agenda throughout institutions.

Experts on the panel on sustainable digitalisation emphasised that digital infrastructures should be designed sustainably themselves. In general, digitalisation as a whole should be leveraged as a powerful tool for achieving key societal goals like sustainable development. At their turn, speakers on the sustainable finance panel pointed out that sustainable finance and its effect on sustainable business were now being discussed in many places. To increase the impact of the topic, the focus now needed to switch to communication and cooperation among those actively involved while also engaging new interested parties, they said.

Political commitment should lead to further action

In the concluding session of the conference, Cristina Gallach, High Commissioner of the Spanish Government for the 2030 Agenda, and Miranda Schreurs, Vice Chair of the EEAC Network and professor at the Technical University of Munich, provided analyses, feedback and examples of levers for sustainable development.

In her kick-off speech, Cristina Gallach provided insights into Spain’s holistic approach taking into account economy, society and environment to enhance concrete implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Spain and Europe. Ms Gallach repeatedly underlined the importance of both (sub-)national and European commitment to the implementation of the 17 SDGs. She called it “decisive” that the next European Commission – from 2019 onwards – be a “Commission of sustainability”.

Miranda Schreurs emphasised the need for action, including an enhanced role for young people to contribute to the transition. In a response from the audience, it was pointed out that the current challenges are so severe that structural change isn’t only in the interest of future generations, but in the self-interest of today’s actors as well. The further debate included discussions about the institutional framework needed to enhance sustainability. Miranda Schreurs called for a holistic approach when visualising future forms of institutions. “We should be aware of history, but when creating a vision of the future, be courageous and go beyond limitations,” she said.

In her concluding remarks, moderator Sandrine Dixson-Declève argued that multi-disciplinary solutions are needed. Councils on the environment and for sustainable development have a crucial role to play. These institutions need to translate scientific knowledge and societal positions into policy advice that includes action-oriented multi-disciplinary solutions and that is fit for purpose in times of crises.

Further links

An international group of experts presents their assessment of sustainability policy in Germany at the German Council for Sustainable Development’s annual conference – and makes 11 recommendations regarding what needs to change.

It is a day of taking stock. The German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) invited interested parties to come to the Tempodrom in Berlin for its 18th annual conference which was attended by an audience of some 1,400 guests from Germany and abroad. The key question being: where is German sustainable development policy at?

In her opening address, Marlehn Thieme, Chairwoman of the RNE, forgoes any suspense, saying: “Without wanting to fall into false exclamations of catastrophe, the answer is yes, we have great cause for concern.” If politics were to give up on its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, for instance, she warned, it would endanger not only the climate but also democracy. It would signal that the political arena no longer believes in itself, which would in turn provide fuel for populist and right-wing movements. To put it another way: the world itself is at stake.

Thieme bases her statements on the results presented by an 11-person international expert commission that reviewed the German Sustainable Development Strategy in great detail over a period of around eight months. Facilitated by the RNE, the high-level commission met with stakeholders from throughout the German sustainable development policy arena, engaged in talks with some 100 representatives of politics, the business sector, civil society and academia and subsequently deliberated on conclusions and recommendations. Their work is summarised in a report that lays out where things are progressing well and where there is still work to be done.

On the whole, as an affluent high-tech country with engaged citizens and experience in stakeholder dialogue, Germany has “the capacities it needs” to achieve the transformation, stated Helen Clark as she introduced the report at the Tempodrom in Berlin and presented it to Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel. Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand and later Administrator of the Development Programme of the United Nations (UNDP), chaired the peer review. However, as Clark continued, “the results in practice are not what they should be.”

Biodiversity is disappearing, land consumption is decreasing too slowly and the carbon footprint in transportation, for instance, is stagnating. Moreover, health concerns related to obesity are growing and the fact that social disparity is widening further are criticisms also mentioned by Clark and the other Peers.

Seven of the Peers were also in attendance at the annual conference and were available to answer questions. They would all like to see a swifter tempo set and a higher level of ambition regarding the transformation towards a sustainable society – and formulated 11 recommendations:

1. Keep what works, elevate what is good, and change what has failed to deliver. In the opinion of the Peers, Germany should address “off-track policies”. Generally speaking, as Peer Namhla Mniki-Mangaliso, Director of the African Monitor, pointed out: “We will get the future that we create.”
2. Make the institutional architecture charged with implementing the GSDS more effective. Peer Farooq Ullah, who is Co-Chair of the UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development, commented in Berlin: “We must develop better pathways for implementation,” all ministries must take on responsibility, for instance by drafting action plans.
3. Raise the level of ambition for what Germany can achieve. The experts encourage Germany to “phase out” fossil fuels and “reverse the trend on biodiversity losses”, for instance.
4. Foster a more conducive enabling environment for Leaving No One Behind. Even in Germany, migrants and the poor are excluded, commented Clark, and the dialogue surrounding sustainability is “often” solely concerned with ecological aspects. The Federal Government should provide an orientational framework that cultivates inclusion.
5. The Federal Government should strengthen the executive’s central coordination capacities and address off-track indicators promptly. The Peers call for the State Secretaries’ Committee for Sustainable Development, chaired by the Chancellery’s Chief of Staff, to be “re-energised”, for example.
6. Parliament: there needs to be more powerful parliamentary scrutiny. For instance, the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Sustainable Development should be made “more powerful”.
7. The Council for Sustainable Development’s independent role should be strengthened. The experts advise that the legal entity status of the RNE be evaluated.
8. Revamp communications. Adolfo Ayuso-Audry, Director General in the Office of the Mexican Presidency responsible for implementation of the 2030 Agenda and one of the Peers, advocates for “creating greater awareness”. The Peers suggest “establish(ing) a budget line for communicating the GSDS (German Sustainable Development Strategy)”.
9. Enhance both capacity for systems thinking and education for sustainability. For example, politicians and officials should be prepared for participation in “informed debate”. Teresa Ribera, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), explained: “Municipal governments know what they need to do – they just don’t know how.”
10. Indicators: expand budgets for and activity on tracking progress. In the opinion of Peer Karl Falkenberg, former Special Adviser on Sustainable Development to the President of the European Commission, “Germany still thinks it is doing everything right, that we are leading the way.” However, for instance with regard to water quality and biodiversity this is not the case, he highlights.
11. Deal with emerging issues and apply the principles of the GSDS to Germany’s global interactions. Peer Joost Oorthuizen, CEO of the Sustainable Trade Initiative, recommends to “look at your supply chains,” in particular at what impacts Germany’s trade patterns have around the world.

But isn’t progress contradicted by one thing in particular, namely growth? – came the question from the audience. Germany definitely needs to discuss the issue of prioritising “value over volume”, responded Peer Jan Gustav Strandenaes. The Norwegian policy consultant previously worked with staff at the United Nations, among other things.

Imme Scholz, Deputy Director of the German Development Institute (DIE), took the feedback from the experts on board as “encouragement”. And RNE Chairwoman Thieme summed up that it was “time for decisions to be taken that might not please everyone,” directing her appeal to the Chancellor.

As in previous years, Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel was in attendance for the RNE annual conference. In her speech, Merkel emphasised, “Sustainability has made great inroads in politics, the business sector and civil society. More and more people are facing up to the full breadth of the issue of how they can work sustainably and be sustainable consumers.” Nevertheless, the Chancellor announced that the Federal Government would be continuing to work to elevate the German Sustainable Development Strategy. The idea of sustainability must become even more the guiding principle for governmental action, she continued. In the view of the Peers, this is a crucial point. As the report states: “If Germany can’t pull out all the stops, who could?”

[document_slider ids=”9263,9652,4572″]

[links]
[link to=”https://www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de/en/events/18th-annual-conference/”]Further information about the 18th annual conference of the German Council for Sustainable Development on 4 June 2018 at the Tempodrom in Berlin[/link]
[link to=”https://www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de/en/annual-conference-2018/video/”]Videos 18th annual conference[/link]
[link to=”https://www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de/en/projects/peer-review/”]Further information about the Peer Review[/link]
[/links]

The German Federal Government has mandated the Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) to facilitate the third international Peer Review on the German Sustainable Development Strategy in 2018.

International Peer Review 2018 on German sustainable development strategy

The Federal government has mandated the German Council for Sustainable Development with the facilitation of the international Peer Review 2018 on German sustainable development strategy – for the third time after 2009 and 2013. The Chair of the International Peer Review Group, Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, former Administrator of UNDP, has presented the group’s report to German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the RNE Annual Conference on 4 June 2018.

Meeting from February, 26 to March, 2nd 2018 in Berlin

The group of international experts chaired by Helen Clark has met in Berlin from February, 26 to March, 2nd. During this week the international experts have met almost 100 actors, stakeholders and experts of German sustainability policies. They are grateful for the valuable insights they have won for their further debates.

The official presentation of the Peer Review took place at RNE’s Annual Conference on June, 4th, 2018.

Scoping Meeting on September, 27 and 28 2017 in Frankfurt a.M.

The international peer group chaired by Helen Clark has met for the first time end of September 2017 and has agreed on scope and central guiding questions for the review. Topics of special interest to the peers are inter alia: Sense of urgency and science/society interface, consumption and production, digitalization, climate change policies as key trigger or leverage, future of work, financial markets, social inequality, SDGs as a business case, implications to leadership.

Composition of the expert group

The international peer review group is constituted as follows:

The peer group has requested the facilitators to provide key insights into the topic while involving German stakeholders. These written contributions will feed into the further discussions amongst the peers.

In cooperation with the peers, RNE office designed a survey for stakeholders from academia, business, politics and civil society to provide diverse perspectives and information on the German sustainable development strategy.

The survey was sent to participants of the Sustainability Forum organized by the Chancellery and also accessible to everyone on the homepage of the German Council for Sustainable Development. The closing date to participate was December, the 1st, 2017. Until that point in time the German Council for Sustainable Development received 32 feedbacks from stakeholders.

The replies received for publication have been assembled in the document below. They appear by stakeholder category and then in alphabetical order. They are published as received.

Results of the Stakeholder Survey on German sustainable development strategy (PDF, 2,3 MB)

The international peer group will meet again in Berlin for a weeklong meeting with expert hearings, interviews of stakeholders and a number of debates with relevant actors. The international Peer Review report was handed over to government during the RNE Annual Conference on June, 4th, 2018.

Photo gallery: RNE Annual Conference on June, 4th, 2018 in Berlin and Meeting from February, 26 to March, 2nd 2018 in Berlin