Council Members

The Council has been established in 2001 and is an advisory body to the German Government. Its 15 members are nominated by the Chancellor for a (renewable) term of three years. The current members have been nominated in November 2016. The Council has the opportunity to co-opt personalities with specialized expertise for the duration of a project in order to develop innovative solutions for specific sustainability topics. The German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) was first called into being in April 2001 by the German government of that time under Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

Marlehn Thieme

Chairwoman of the Council

Member of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Chairwoman of the ZDF Television Council

Olaf Tschimpke

Deputy Chairman of the Council

President of ’NABU’ (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union)

Prof. Dr Alexander Bassen

Professor of Capital Markets & Management at the University of Hamburg

Ulla Burchardt - Photo: Andreas Weiss, © German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) (3 MB)

Ulla Burchardt

Former Member of the German Bundestag; freelance strategy consultant

Prof. Dr Gesche Joost

Co-opted member since 11/2017

Professor of design research at Berlin University of the Arts, Head of the Design Research Lab

Kathrin Menges - © German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE)

Kathrin Menges

Executive Vice President Human Resources and Infrastructure Services and Chairwoman of the Sustainability Council at Henkel AG & Co. KGaA

Alexander Müller

Former Assistant Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations; Former State Secretary of the Fed...

Dominik Naab - © Photo: Christian Schnaubelt

Dominik Naab

Co-opted member since 11/2017

National Chairman of the German Catholic Scout Organization (DPSG), Chairman of the Ring deutscher Pfadfinderverbände (RdP)

Katherina Reiche - © Photo: Verband kommunaler Unternehmen (VKU), (1 MB)

Katherina Reiche

Managing Director of the German Association of Local Utilities (VKU); Former Parliamentary State Secretary

Prof. Dr. Lucia A. Reisch, Photo: Andreas Weiss, © German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) (3 MB)

Prof. Dr Lucia A. Reisch

Professor at Copenhagen Business School; Chair of the German Advisory Council for Consumer Affairs

Dr. Andreas Marcus Rickert, Photo: © Rebecca Kaufmann

Dr Andreas Marcus Rickert

Co-opted member since 11/2017

Chairman of the Board of the non-profit analysis and consulting organisation PHINEO AG

Dr. Imme Scholz, Photo: Andreas Weiss, © German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) (3 MB)

Dr Imme Scholz

Deputy Director of the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schraml - Photo: Andreas Weiss, © German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) (3 MB)

Prof. Dr Ulrich Schraml

Forest Research Institute of Baden-Württemberg, Freiburg

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schuster - Photo: Andreas Weiss, © German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) (3 MB)

Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schuster

Former Mayor of Stuttgart; Chairman of the Executive Board of Deutsche Telekom Stiftung

Prof. Dr. Hubert Weiger - Photo: Andreas Weiss, © German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) (3 MB)

Prof. Dr Hubert Weiger

Chairman of Friends of the Earth Germany (Bund für Umwelt- und Naturschutz Deutschland, BUND)

Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul - © Photo: Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul

Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul

Former German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development; Vice-Chair of Friends of the Global Fund Europe Board for Germany

Dr Werner Schnappauf

Senior Advisor to Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Germany/EMEA; Former Minister of State Development and Environmental Affairs in the Go...

Former Council Members

2001-2017