German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE)
Rat für Nachhaltige Entwicklung
 |
Rat für Nachhaltige Entwicklung (RNE) Geschäftsstelle c/o GTZ Potsdamer Platz 10 D-10785 Berlin Tel. +49 30 408 190 121 Fax:+49 30 408 190 125 |
Establishment and Mission
Council Members and Staff Members
Current and Future Activities
Based on its work programme for the period 2010-1013, the council will continue investing in the societal dialogue on themes and processes of SD and giving input to the national SD-strategy. Furthermore, the Council will address the policy questions on the institutionalisation of sustainability within society, politics and economy.
The UN conference on Sustainable Development in 2012 (UNCSD 2012) is a major reference point for the upcoming work of the RNE. "Green Economy" is a central theme here, as is the demand for appropriate institutional structures for integrating the national trade with the international dimension.
Present Priority Fields
- Vision
2050. Future Dialogue.
Building on the Peer Review of Germany's sustainability policies (2009)
The project aims to elaborate visions for Germany for the period leading to 2050 in the context of global warming, demography, ongoing globalisation and a changing global context. The results of the dialogue project will be mirrored in the annual conference 2011 and contribute to the progress report of the national strategy on SD - Germany,
country of raw materials?
Continuing work on a sustainable use of resources
- Green
Economy, Consumption and Lifestyles.
The RNE will address the central topic of Green Economy together with the
formerly discussed topics sustainable consumption and lifestyles. More
specifically, the RNE will develop the following subtopics:
- Proposals
for SD-measuring in the economic development of the population
- Development
of a “German Sustainability Codex”
- Recognition
of business performances for SD
- Sustainable
City.
Dialogue with mayors on sustainable communal policies.
- Sustainable
fiscal strategies.
- Demographic
development, Health, Public Services.
- Energy,
Climate, Water, Mobility.
- Sustainable
Land Use.
- Education
for SD, integration, cultural diversity.
- Involvement
of Citizens.
- Parliament
and SD.
- Statements
on policy processes towards a SDS.
- Annual
Conferences and further communication elaboration.
The topic of this year’s annual conference: "Resetting the clocks: 2050" (read more) - “WerkstattN”.
The
full work programme (German) can be downloaded here
Past Priority Fields
- Corporate
Social Responsibility;
- Sustainable
Shopping Basket;
- Peer
Review of Germany's sustainability policies;
- Citizen's
action programme in the scope of demographic change (See initiative
below);
- (Communal)
Sustainability Management;
- Social
Entrepreneur Award in the frame of the German Sustainability Award;
- Workshop
with local SD representatives
Reent reports, recommendations/statements:
- Review of the Federal Government's sustainability policies - The Peer Review features a broad perspective covering both the Federal Government's sustainability policies with the National Sustainability Strategy at its heart, and the initiatives and working schemes in the private sector as well as key areas of actions being taken in civil society. (November 2009)
- Recommendation on the sustainable shopping basket (February 2010);
- Recommendation on education policy (autumn 2009);
- Statement on sustainability and fiscal system (September 2009);
- Statement
on the 2009 review of the EU-SDS (September 2009)
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Background and Mission
Establishment
Dr. Volker Hauff, a former minister in the German Federal Government and Member of the 1980th Brundtland Commission is the Chairman and Prof. Klaus Töpfer, a former minister in the German Federal Government and former Executive Director of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is the Deputy Chairman of the German Council for Sustainable Development. The German Council for Sustainable Development was given a new mandate in June, 2007 by Chancellor Angela Merkel after it was first established by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in April, 2001. It consists of 13 people in public life. The Council has an office with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, Berlin.
In 2001, the Federal Government also set up a State Secretary Committee for Sustainable Development ("green cabinet" ) with the PM office (chancellery) chairing. Political leadership for the SDS falls under the overall responsibility of the chancellery, and its administrative implementation takes place in collaboration between the chancellery and the respective Ministries. In 2004 the German Federal Parliament responded to this political scheme by establishing a Committee for SD in the Parliament. In its progress report 2008 on the National Strategy for Sustainable Development the government indicates to strengthening the role of the State Secretary as a central administrative authority within the government for the management of sustainability.
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Mission
The RNE has been requested to contribute to the process of elaborating and updating the strategy and to come up with political recommendations to implement sustainable development. Also, its task is to strengthen communication about sustainable development. The Council stands for societal dialogue, it is not a scientific advisory body.
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Council Members
This multi-stakeholder Council has 15 Council Members. The new Council was appointed in June 2010 for its third term that will end in May 2013.
| Chairman Hans-Peter Repnik |
Lawyer, Former Parliamentary State Secretary with the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development |
| Vice-Chairman Marlehn Thieme |
Director of the Deutsche Bank AG, Member of the Deutsche Bank Stiftung Member of the Council of Lutheran Churches in Germany |
| Members Dr. Heinrich Count von Bassewitz |
Farmer, National Instructor for eco-farming of the German Farmers Union (DBV) and member of the DBV-council |
| Dr. Ursula Eid | Former Parliamentary State Secretary with the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development |
| Dr. Joachim Faber | Member of the Board of Allianz SE Asset Management |
| Dr. Hans Geisler | Former Saxony Minister for Social Affairs, Health, Youth and Families |
| Walter Hirche | Chair of the German UNESCO-commission, Former Parliamentary State Secretary with the Ministry of Environment, former Minister within the government of Niedersachsen and Brandenburg |
| Dr. Franz-Josef Overbeck | Bishop of Essen |
| Prof. Dr. Lucia A. Reisch | Professor at the Copenhagen Buseiness School and the SRH College Calw |
| Max Schön | Chair shareholder of the Max Schön Management Company mbH & Co. Service KG, President of the German association "The Club of Rome", Chair of the Supervisory Board of the DESERTEC |
| Dr. Eric Schweitzer | Board member of ALBA AG, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Berlin |
| Olaf Tschimpke | President of the German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) |
| Michael Vassiliadis | Board member of the Mining, Chemical and Energy Industrial Union (IG BCE) |
| Hubert Weinzierl | President of the German League for Nature and Environment (DNR) |
| Dr. Angelika Zahrnt | Chairwoman of Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) |
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Staff Members
The RNE has a secretariat with around five staff. Dr. Günther Bachmann is the Director. Contact details.
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Work Style
Tasks of the Council
From its first inception the Council has been mandated to advise the Federal Government in all items of the national sustainability strategy. The German NSDS had been published in 2002, and after subsequent stocktaking reports in 2004 and 2005, the Progress Report 2008 on Germany's NSDS highlighted new approaches. It raised governance issues, and introduced new instruments with which sustainability is becoming a component of legislation impact assessment.
The remits assigned to the RNE are specified as follows:
- to shape the emergence and continuing development of Germany's sustainability strategy in critical dialogue with the Federal Government and leading social players;
- To pinpoint specific areas of action and projects;
- to communicate the aspects of sustainability in the public.
Another big task is to promote the societal dialogue about sustainable development. This dialogue should build a consensus between the different interests and stakeholders. By pointing out the consequences of social behaviour and action and by presenting concrete possibilities of solutions, the recognition of the existence of urgent problems shall be strengthened.
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Substructure and Working Groups
The working groups are focusing on the following issues:
- Sustainable production and consumption;
- Energy transition and climate change;
- Sustainability strategies on national, sub-national and EU level;
- Education.
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Council Meetings
The Council meets every two months approximately. The RNE's annual conference took place on 20 June 2011.
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Type of Advice
The Council mainly develops recommendations to the Federal Government. Within this process the Council organises stakeholder dialogues as a reality check and in order to include amendments and comments made by experts as well as by the interested public.
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Activities in the EEAC Network
The RNE joined EEAC in 2002. From 2007 - 2009 Prof. Dr. Angelika Zahrnt, member of the German Council for Sustainable Development was the Deputy Chair of the EEAC.
It is an active member of the EEAC Sustainable Development / Governance Working Group and observer to Working Groups Energy.
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List of Selected Publications
You can search for the full list of policy advice in our Search Engine which also includes the titles in English of publications available in original language only. Statements, recommendations and selected contributions from the years 2001-2008 can be consulted in the archived pages
Statements and Recommendations
- RNE's standpoint on the National SD Strategy 2012 (German, pdf. 1,6 MB - June 2011)
- Germany is turing into a raw material-dependent country: recommendations to the federal government (German, pdf. 0,47 MB - June 2011)
- Moving towards a German Sustainability Code (May 2011)
- Stabilising the Financial Markets (November 2010)
- Consumption
and Sustainability: How Sustainability will become purchasable and viable
- A mission for Politics, Economy and Citizens (PDF,
662 kb, March 2010: German only)
- Recommendation:
“Chances,
Quality and Competence: Foundations for a sustainable educational policy”
(pdf, 1900 kb, March 2010; German Only)
- The
Next Stage - Webbing Sustainable Development into Society. Progress Report
2007-2010 of the German Council for Sustainable Development
(pdf, 672 kb, March 2010)
- The
Sustainable Shopping Basket – A guide to better shopping
(pdf. 3,5 Mb – February 2010);
- Sustainability
"Made in Germany" - We Know You Can Do It
(Peer Review on Sustainable
Development Policies in Germany
) (pdf. 3,5 Mb – November 2009);
- Maturing
the Sustainability Strategy - Statement regarding the 2009 review of the
European Union Strategy for Sustainable Development, EU SDS
(September
2009);
Selected Contributions
- Speech by Angelika Zahrnt: After Kyoto and Cancún: how do we change our lifestyles? (German, May 2011)
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Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils, Den
Haag. All Rights Reserved.
Last updated 23 June 2011.