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German Council for Sustainable Development calls for a change of course instead of a readjustment of the German Sustainability Strategy

"In key policy areas, it is not enough to take additional steps; instead, a fundamental transformation must be initiated - the Federal Government recognises this with its dialogue version of the German Sustainability Strategy. The momentum for this transformation is now, and it needs tailwind from all ministries," explained Dr. Werner SchnappaufChairman of the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE). "The version of the dialogue brings important innovations that will allow the policies of the coming years to be more closely aligned with the guiding principle of sustainability. The designation of transformation areas such as the energy and transport transition or the transition to a circular economy is an important step forward. At the same time, we believe that there is still room for improvement in some areas," said Schnappauf.

The Sustainability Council today publishes its Opinion on the further development of the German Sustainability Strategy and then presents it to Chancellor's Office Minister Prof. Dr. Helge Braun in a virtual exchange. The Council expressly welcomes the newly defined transformation areas, but these must be supplemented by concrete, interministerial strategies and roadmaps as well as ambitious and binding targets. Based on the transformation areas, the German government should develop a new set of key indicators for German sustainability policy and thus focus on the most important challenges of the future.

The Council's recommendations cover the following ten topics:

  1. Strengthen coherence
  2. Advancing sustainable finance
  3. Changing course for a sustainable economy in the sense of the SDGs
  4. Readjustment in the event of foreseeable missed targets
  5. We need a new narrative!
  6. Launching sustainability as a joint effort
  7. Prepare the report to the United Nations rapidly
  8. Emerging sustainably from the crisis
  9. Taking forward the European contribution
  10. For an ambitious German contribution to SDG implementation at international level

"Unfortunately, the international dimension falls short of the global challenges in the dialogue version and thus also of the Council's expectations," said Prof. Dr. Imme Scholz, Deputy Chair of the Council and Deputy Director of the German Development Institute (DIE). "The way we live and do business has a significant impact on others, especially on the countries of the Global South. That is why the SDGs must become the guiding principle in Germany's and the EU's multi- and bilateral relations as a whole. And for this to happen, the international dimension must also be adequately reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals and their indicators - in our statement, we make concrete suggestions for new goals and indicators," said Scholz. Many countries in the global South have been particularly hard hit by the economic and social consequences of the Corona pandemic, he said. "We must therefore support these countries in the upcoming transformation processes. Only together will we achieve the global climate and other sustainability goals," emphasized Imme Scholz.

In its statement, the Council also recommends publishing an abridged version of the new sustainability strategy in order to "introduce the topic into the discourse in the run-up to the Bundestag elections and the formation of a new government". To this end, renewed recommendations by the Council are also planned for the first half of 2021, which should place the guiding principle of sustainability more strongly than before at the centre of government action. In the Council's view, this also includes the inclusion of sustainability as a state objective in the Basic Law.

Source: PM of the Sustainability Council of the Federal Government dated 2.11.2020



Keywords:
DE-News, Sustainable management, SDG 2030, Environmental policy

Published

Federal Cabinet adopts the resource efficiency programme ProgRess III

At the proposal of the Federal Environment Ministry, the Federal Cabinet adopted the third German Resource Efficiency Programme (ProgRess III) on 17 June 2020. With this programme, the government aims to achieve an economical use of raw materials. Companies in particular are to use natural resources more efficiently along the entire value chain. Greater use is to be made of digital solutions to increase resource efficiency. The decision in favour of resource-saving products is to be made easier for citizens through improved information.


Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze: "A secure supply of raw materials is essential for the German economy. The Corona crisis with its impact on supply chains and raw materials markets has made this clear to us. Tomorrow's economy needs a push for more resource efficiency. Companies and consumers are equally challenged here. It is about using the opportunities of digital technologies for more prosperity and competitiveness, social justice and an intact environment. With its guiding idea of gradually making economic and production methods in Germany less dependent on primary raw materials, ProgRess makes an important contribution to making the German economy more crisis-proof."

Digitalisation contributes significantly to the increased consumption of raw materials. This is illustrated by the increasing spread of smartphones and tablets as well as the growing demand for server services. At the same time, digitalisation offers solutions, as the Federal Ministry for the Environment has also made clear in its environmental digital agenda: Thanks to ever faster processing of process data, production can be better controlled and the use of raw materials more efficient. ProgRess III is therefore devoting a new focus to digitalisation with measures for resource efficiency in the area of Industry 4.0 and data centres. Companies are supported in designing and producing products in a resource-efficient manner in the future. During the manufacturing, use and disposal phases, products should in future use a minimum of material, water and energy and still fulfil their function.

Not only in production, but also in consumer behaviour, digitalisation has so far been driving the increasing consumption of resources. Online trade, for example, has become an important segment of the retail trade today, with growth rates of around ten percent annually. Therefore, ProgRess III also focuses on raising awareness among the population, in everyday areas such as "working and living", "mobility" and "informing and communicating". Here, durability and quality are to become central selling points. Consumers should receive transparent, reliable, comparable, verifiable and easily understandable information for their purchasing decisions. The German Resource Efficiency Programme III focuses in particular on market incentives, information, advice, education, research and innovation as well as on strengthening voluntary measures and initiatives in business and society. The spectrum of topics covered by the 119 measures ranges from ecological due diligence obligations in raw material supply chains to the reparability of products, advisory services for companies and standardisation and certification systems for recyclates to investments in public transport and eco-labels for resource-efficient software.

In addition to an intensive consultation process with the federal states, associations and other social actors, extensive citizen participation was also carried out as part of the development of ProgRess III. Based on the results of this dialogue, citizens formulated a Citizens' Advice on resource conservation, which was integrated into ProgRess III.

Further information on ProgRess III can be found at HERE>

Source: BMU



Keywords:
Building materials / Construction, DE-News, Funding, Sustainable management, Resource efficiency, Environmental policy

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