European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils | Bodies

Publication of the Translation of chapters from the Environment Report 2008: "Land-Use and the Environment"

Future Priority Fields (2010 and onward)

Establishment and Mission

Establishment

The Council was established by an administrative order of the Federal Minister of the Interior on 28 December 1971, as part of the Federal Government's 'Environmental Program' released in October 1971. In the spring of 1972 the first Council constituted and took up its work.

After the constitution of the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU) in 1986, the responsibility for the Council passed to the new ministry. Necessary formal changes were made by ministerial decrees on the establishment of an Environmental Council at the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety of 10 August 1990 and of 1 March 2005. The most important change is, that the SRU only produces every four years a comprehensive overall assessment of environmental policies, releasing more resources for up-to-date statements and special reports.

Mission

The SRU, as a consultative committee of the German Federal Government, has been commissioned to

Council Members

The Council has seven Council Members, all of them are University Professors, from seven different academic disciplines, who have to have great knowledge and experience in the sector of environmental protection. The Council Members of the SRU are appointed by the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety after consultation with the Cabinet. Members are appointed to four-year terms, reappointment possible. The Council elects one of its Members as Chairman for a term of four years with reelection possible once. The term of the present Council started in 2008 and it will end in June 2012.

To ensure the Council's independence, the Members may not hold positions in federal or state governments or parliaments, nor may they be in public service, except as university professors or research institute staff members; moreover, they cannot be representatives or employees of employers' associations, trade unions or economic interest groups. As a result of these conflict-on-interest restrictions and the necessary scientific knowledge and experience most of the Council's members are university professors. At present the Council Members are as follows:

Chair Prof. Dr. Martin Faulstich	Chair of the Institute of Resource and Energy Technology at the Technical University of Munich Founding director of the Science Center in Straubing Chairman of the Board of the ATZ Development Center in Sulzbach-Rosenberg Former professor for waste treatment and residual-materials recycling at the Technical University of Munich focus: thermal and biological processes of biomass and waste for materials reprocessing and energy utilization.
Vice-Chair Prof. Dr. Heidi Foth	Director of the Institute for Environmental Toxicology of the Martin-Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg President of the German Society for Toxicology Member of the expert panel Assessing Pharmaceuticals for Approval (German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, BfArM) Member of the expert panel Evaluating Chemicals (BUA) focus: health, pharmaceuticals, risk factors, the effects of chemicals, toxicology and ecotoxicology.
Members Prof. Dr. Christian Calliess	Professor for Public Law and European Law at the Law Faculty of the Free University of Berlin Former Professor and Director of the Institute for International and European Law and the Institute for Agricultural Law, University of Göttingen focus: European, constitutional, and environmental law. Specific themes of work have been problematic aspects of environmental law arising between EU regulations on the one hand and the latitude allowed to EU member states on the other, fine-dust complex, the dictates of integrated environmental protection, and transport policy, *the constitutional aspects of the tradeoff between economic freedom and environmental protection.
Prof. Dr. Olav Hohmeyer	Professor for Energy and Resource Economics at Flensburg University Director of Studies of the Energy and Environmental Management field Member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and vice-chair of Working Group III, "Mitigation of Climate Change" focus: social costs of energy consumption.
Prof. Dr. Karin Holm-Müller	Professor for Resource and Environmental Economics at the Agriculture Faculty of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University, Bonn focus: economic analysis of environmental issues, the relationship between large-scale agricultural and environmental policies, (e.g. on agro-environmental programs, impact regulation and the "renewable raw materials" policy sector). Other topics of her work: the deployment of economic instruments for wildlife conservation and the evaluation of environmental resources.
Prof. Dr. Manfred Niekisch	Director of the Frankfurt Zoo Former Professor for International Nature Protection at Greifswald University Vice President of the Deutscher Naturschutzring (DNR) Vice President of the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) Council member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) focus: strategies and tools for the sustainable use of natural resources, particularly with regard to biodiversity.
Prof. Dr. Miranda Schreurs	Director of the Research Center Environmental Policies, Professor on Comparative Political Sciences, Free University, Berlin Director of the Environmental Policy Research Centre and Professor of Comparative Politics at the Free University of Berlin Former Associate Professor at the University of Maryland and remains affiliated to the University of Maryland Law School focus: comparative analysis of international political systems, environmental and energy policy and the role of civil society, governments and economic actors. Special focus: climate change, air and marine pollution, renewable energy and energy efficiency, environmental movements and parties, environmental security and regional cooperation (with expertise on East Asia, Germany, EU and the U.S.A.)

Staff Members

The Council's work is supported by a secretariat, scientifically and administratively headed by the secretary general. It is one task of the latter to carry important topics resulting from current developments in environmental sciences and politics into the Council and to suggest conceptions for their treatment. A scientific staff of experts on various fields acts as a clearinghouse for information and drafts papers for discussions in the Council's working group and plenary sessions.

The secretariat is composed of 17 staff plus the equivalent of three and half staff as assistants to the Council Members. Dr. Christian Hey is the Secretary-General.

In its scientific work the secretariat is only subjected to the Council. The administrative supervision lies in the responsibility of the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA). In April 2002 the secretariat moved from Wiesbaden to Berlin.

Working Style

Tasks of the Council

The SRU has to prepare a general report (Environmental Report) every four years and present it to the Federal Government. This report is published by the Council.

The Council can choose to publish additional reports and statements on special topics of environmental policy. In addition the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) may request special reports or statements on specific topics.

The aim of the Council's work is to help environmental policy makers and the general public formulating opinions and informing decisions. The SRU's advisory work mainly lies in the field of scientific political advice.

The general reports (Environmental Reports) contain an in depth analysis of some strategic key issues and broader surveys on most areas of environmental protection. They indicate the most important problems and develop recommendations.

In the special reports particular aspects of environmental policy are described and thoroughly investigated. The position papers express the Council's opinion on actual questions of environmental policy, i.e., current drafts of laws, acts, and ordinances.

In the future, the Council plans to produce "actual comments to environmental policy issues". This will be a series of short comments on new policy initiatives of the Federal government or the European Commission.

The Council is an independent body whose activities are regulated only by the administrative order that established it. This independence means that the Council can decide on the topics it deals with, that it is free in its choice of information sources, and that it is not bound by any preconceptions in its evaluation of the state of the environment or in its recommendations. Since the Council is not subject to any directives concerning the contents of its statements, Council Members form their judgments independently, based on their technical and scientific expertise and their experience. If unanimity among the members cannot be reached, the various points of view can be presented.

Structure and Working Groups

All of the Council's reports and position papers are discussed at the monthly plenary sessions. However, the preparatory and finishing work is carried out in smaller working groups of varying compositions. During additional editorial meetings the texts are then consolidated into their final form for publication. During the discussions of the reports and position papers, the Council welcomes suggestions and contributions from government representatives; however, in keeping with its autonomous position, the Council is in no way bound to concur with them. Working methods and their basis are specified in the Council's rules of procedure.

Type of Advice

Each contribution to reports and statements is worked out and discussed in an interdisciplinary way, i. e., with regard to all scientific, technical, economic, legal, and social aspects. For this purpose the Council keeps up a permanent exchange of ideas and experiences with other councils and institutions of the federal government and of the parliament, for instance the Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), the Council for Sustainable Development (RNE), the Advisory Committee on Environmental National Accounting (UGR-Beirat) , the Expert Council on Overall Economic Development, and with those Enquete Commissions of the German Bundestag, which deal with environmental problems. Further, a continuous exchange of information takes place with administrations and agencies of state and Federal governments, with competent individuals and institutions of economic and environmental organizations. These contacts also include international institutions, first and foremost on EU level, where regular meetings with the environmental councils of the other European member states take place.

Council meetings

The meetings for 2010 are scheduled every last Thursday and Friday in the Month, but for December: 16/17 December 2010. There will be no Council session in March and August.

Activities within the EEAC Network

The SRU was involved in the early years of the network and became member when membership was introduced in 1997.

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.

Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU)

Sachverständigenrat für Umweltfragen

Current and Future Activities

Present Priority Fields (2010)