Sustainability strategy

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A sustainability strategy refers to methods and instruments for the strategic implementation of sustainable development . Implementation can take place at national, regional and local policy level.

The concept of the sustainability strategy goes back to the Brundtland report :

“The world must soon devise strategies that allow countries to switch from their current, often destructive growth and development processes to sustainable development paths.”

Levels of impact

Global

At the Conference on Environment and Development of the United Nations (UNCED) in 1992, the action program was Agenda 21 adopted, which provided a first guide to sustainable development. Another program followed in 2002 with the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit for Sustainable Development .

Supranational (European Union)

As early as 1997, the European Union committed itself to the principle of sustainable development with the Treaty of Amsterdam . To counteract the numerous unsustainable developments in the Union, it adopted a first European sustainability strategy in 2001. In 2006 a new version was decided. This identifies the following problem areas, for which it formulates objectives and measures:

  • Climate change and clean energy
  • Sustainable transport
  • Sustainable consumption and production
  • Conservation and management of natural resources
  • Public health
  • Social inclusion, demographics and migration
  • Global poverty and the challenges of sustainable development.

Criticism is made of the lack of verifiability of the goals. In particular, however, it is noted today that a revision of the strategy is long overdue. In 2012, the Environment Council of the European Union called for a revision by 2014 at the latest. At the end of 2014, the European Environment Office advocated an adjustment to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations as soon as possible . In 2012, however, the European Commission expressed the view that the sustainability strategy had been incorporated into the Europe 2020 strategy .

National

Although already called for in Chapter 38 of Agenda 21 in 1992, many countries, including Germany, did not present national sustainability strategies until 2002 ( World Summit for Sustainable Development ).

In 2001 the German Federal Government appointed the Council for Sustainable Development . The main tasks of the council are to advise the federal government on sustainability and to maintain a dialogue with the various interest groups.

In April 2002 the federal government adopted its strategy for sustainable development under the title “Perspektiven für Deutschland”. The cornerstones are the areas of “ intergenerational equity ”, “ quality of life ”, “social cohesion” and “international responsibility”. In addition, measures were named for the four fields of action: energy and climate protection , transport, agriculture and global responsibility.

The first progress report was published in autumn 2004, followed in summer 2005 by the "Guide to Sustainability". To create the progress report, a consultation process was carried out that involved various social groups through different media and processes. The progress report balances the changes in the four fields of action of the sustainability strategy and lists four further fields of action: Potential of older people in business and society, new energy supply structure including renewable energies , the fuel strategy - "Alternative fuels and innovative drives" - and "Reduction of land use “( Land consumption ). The “Sustainability Guide” lists perspectives for four other key topics: Modern power supply - optimally integrating renewable energies, renewable raw materials - for new products and growing markets, sustainable forest management - developing economic perspectives, biological diversity . The Council for Sustainable Development incorporated concepts on the issues of generation balance and corporate social responsibility.

The Federal Chancellery is responsible for preparing progress reports and revising the sustainability strategy in coordination with the ministries. The State Secretaries' Committee for Sustainable Development is therefore also located in the Chancellery.

Overview of publications:

  • 2002: Perspectives for Germany, complete version, short version
  • 2004: Progress Report 2004: Perspectives for Germany, Our Strategy for Sustainable Development
  • 2005: Guide to sustainability
  • 2008: 2008 progress report on the national sustainability strategy
  • 2012: Progress Report 2012, National Sustainability Strategy, “Short Paper” on the Progress Report 2012: 10 Years of Sustainability
  • 2016: At the end of May, the draft of a new edition of the national sustainability strategy was published, the final version of which is to be adopted by the Federal Cabinet in autumn / winter 2016. Since it is a fundamental revision, it has appeared under the new name of German Sustainability Strategy.

The Federal Government as well as the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the Sustainability Council provide information on the topic of sustainable development.

The Federal Statistical Office calculates the sustainability indicators every two years . The progress reports are published regularly every four years.

In Austria , the Austrian Strategy for Sustainable Development was adopted at the national level in 2002.

Regional

At the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 , a network of regional governments for sustainable development ( Network of Regional Governments for Sustainable Development ) was founded, which selected regional sustainability strategies as their main focus; A total of eleven German federal states had their own or were working on their own state sustainability strategies (Brandenburg, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia):

Since 2007, the Baden-Württemberg Sustainability Strategy has offered a platform for addressing questions of sustainable development across departments and in cooperation with social actors. The Baden-Württemberg sustainability strategy has been continuously developed since 2011. The realignment of the sustainability strategy is intended to build on the mobilization effect achieved in the first few years among social actors and to create an instrumental framework and a strategic foundation for sustainability issues.

In 1997, the Free State of Bavaria decided on Agenda 21 as a state sustainability strategy for environmental protection . A new sustainability strategy should be adopted in 2012 with the aim of expanding it to other policy areas. The draft was discussed in a public online dialogue process.

In 2016, North Rhine-Westphalia was the first state to adopt a sustainability strategy that systematically takes the SDGs into account.

On the basis of previous Agenda 21 programs (since 2001), Rhineland-Palatinate presented its own sustainability strategy in 2005 called Perspektiven für Rheinland-Pfalz .

Local

Recently, cities such as Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz or Ingolstadt have also developed a municipal or local sustainability strategy, which represents a further development of the Local Agenda 21.

See also

literature

  • UNDP / OECD : Sustainable Development Strategies. A Resource Book. London 2002

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Brundtland Report 1987, p. 52
  2. ↑ Implementation plan for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. United Nations, accessed July 14, 2015 .
  3. ^ European Commission : Sustainable Development .
  4. ^ Council of the European Union : Review of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (EU SDS) .
  5. ↑ a b German Federal Government : EU Sustainability Strategy ( Memento of the original from 23 August 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundesregierung.de
  6. ^ Council for Sustainable Development : Environmentalists demand reform of the European sustainability strategy .
  7. ↑ Reports of the Federal Government ( Memento of the original from May 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal government  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundesregierung.de
  8. ↑ Perspectives for Germany, Our Strategy for Sustainable Development ( Memento of the original from June 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal government  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundesregierung.de
  9. ↑ Perspektiven für Deutschland, Our Strategy for Sustainable Development (short version) ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal Government, 2002  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundesregierung.de
  10. ↑ Progress Report 2004, Perspektiven für Deutschland, Our Strategy for Sustainable Development ( Memento of the original from May 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal government  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundesregierung.de
  11. ↑ Guide to Sustainability 2005, Balance Sheet and Perspectives ( Memento of the original dated May 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal Government, 2005  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundesregierung.de
  12. ↑ Progress report 2008 on the national sustainability strategy ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal Government, 2008  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundesregierung.de
  13. ↑ National Sustainability Strategy, Progress Report 2012 , Federal Government
  14. ↑ a b 10 years of sustainability “made in Germany”, The National Strategy for Sustainable Development ( Memento of the original from September 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal Government, 2012  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundesregierung.de
  15. ↑ German Sustainability Strategy, new edition 2016, draft , Federal Government, May 30, 2016
  16. ↑ German Sustainability Strategy, new edition 2016, draft , Federal Government, as of May 30, 2016, p. 40
  17. ^ State government of North Rhine-Westphalia : Sustainability Strategy for North Rhine-Westphalia from June 14, 2016.

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