World in Transition - Social Contract for a Great Transformation

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Welt im Wandel - Social Contract for a Great Transformation (English World in Transition - A Social Contract for Sustainability ) is the title of the main report of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) from 2011. It was published in advance of the United Nations on Sustainable Development 2012 ( Rio + 20 ) created. The main concern of the authors isto initiate or acceleratea global transformation to a climate-friendly society without the use of fossil fuels . The WBGU advocates the expansion of renewable energies , among other thingsand against the use of nuclear energy .

The report was presented on April 7, 2011, Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen and Research Minister Annette Schavan . It is now also available in English. A video seminar with lectures and interviews by the authors was created in 2012. A comic was published at the end of February 2013 , which aims to explain the report in a generally understandable manner. Whether this goal is actually achieved is to be examined in a study led by Reinhold Leinfelder and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Free University of Berlin . In addition, teaching materials on the content of the report were published.

Authors of the main report

background

The main background of the main report is the scientific knowledge on anthropogenic climate change ( global warming ) and its consequences . The authors refer to the results of the IPCC and previous reports by the WBGU . P. 35 The central concept is the assessment of damage limits or planetary guard rails ( Planetary Boundaries ), "which if exceeded today or in the future would have intolerable consequences" P. 34 . There is "a global political consensus that rapid global warming of more than 2 degrees Celsius would overwhelm the adaptability of our society": The German government, the European Union (2005), and the 194 member states of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (at the UN climate conference in Cancún 2010 ) recognized the two-degree target . According to the WBGU must be within the next 10 years, the trend of greenhouse gas are achieved emissions, so that the 2 ° C guard rail (see two-degree target ) can still be observed. Therefore, the "transformation to a low-carbon society" is at the center of the report. P. 67

In terms of significance, this turn from fossil to post-fossil society is comparable to the two most fundamental transformations in human history to date: the Neolithic Revolution (invention and spread of agriculture and cattle breeding) and the Industrial Revolution (transition from an agricultural to an industrial society). The latter was described by the Hungarian economist Karl Polanyi (1944) as a “ Great Transformation ”. The name of the report also relates to this. S. 87 ff The authors also refer to the idea of ​​the social contract ( Contrat social ) by Jean Jacques Rousseau as the basis of modern democracy .

The forerunner and comparable studies for Germany were the Study Sustainable Germany (1996), and globally the Great Transition Study, 2002.

Potsdam memorandum and further development

v. l. To the right: Tobias Dürr , Ralf Fücks , Jürgen Trittin , Ottmar Edenhofer and Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the panel discussion of the Heinrich Böll Foundation 2011 on the Great Transformation

In 2007, the so-called Potsdam Memorandum was adopted at the Nobel Laureate Symposium Global Sustainability: A Nobel Cause initiated by Hans Joachim Schellnhuber . It dealt with the need for a Great Transformation as well as essential aspects that were later described in the main report. The memorandum was signed by 15 Nobel Prize winners and the results were published in a book. Also the special report of the WBGU 2009 Kassensturz for the world climate treaty - the budget approach referred to it . At the second Nobel Laureate Symposium in London in May 2009, 60 Nobel Laureates signed the memorandum, which drew attention to the need to act quickly: “The vanishing point of all considerations and efforts must be a modern global society that does not use fossil fuels (“ zero carbon economy ”). The door to this development must be thrown open immediately! ” .

In June 2009 the international conference The Great Transformation took place in Essen . Climate Change as Cultural Change .

At the 3rd Nobel Laureate Symposium 2011 in Stockholm, the call for a great transformation was repeated. The conclusions of this symposium were presented at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012, among others.

At the international WBGU symposium “Towards Low-Carbon Prosperity: National Strategies and International Partnerships” in May 2012, at which Chancellor Angela Merkel gave the opening speech, the WBGU report on the “Great Transformation” was discussed.

At the end of 2011, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) initiated the funding priority for the environmentally and socially compatible transformation of the energy system as part of socio-ecological research (BMBF Framework Program Research for Sustainable Development , FONA). The main research areas are (1) the presentation and evaluation of development options for the energy system, (2) the analysis of social requirements for acceptance of the transformation and the active participation of citizens, and (3) governance of the transformation process (including economic instruments). In March 2012 the conference Social-ecological research for a sustainable society took place in this context , at which Hans Joachim Schellnhuber gave the introductory lecture. Project funding began in 2013.

aims

The WBGU names the reduction of CO 2 emissions from the use of fossil fuels as the most important goal . The second major goal is to overcome global energy poverty. The WBGU explicitly advises against the use of nuclear energy. A global decarbonization of energy systems is technically and economically possible; the long-term economic costs would be a few percent of the global gross domestic product . P. 7

Transformation strategy of the WBGU

The normal historical case has been to change direction only in response to crises and disasters. This should be avoided and instead “a comprehensive reconstruction out of insight, prudence and foresight” should be driven. The social contract combines a culture of mindfulness (out of ecological responsibility) with a culture of participation (as democratic responsibility) and a culture of obligation towards future generations (responsibility for the future). The transformation must be knowledge-based, based on a common vision and be guided by the precautionary principle . It is based on "pioneers of change" who test and promote new development opportunities. In addition, this transformation requires a “creative state” that opens up opportunities for development, sets the course for structural change and ensures the implementation of climate-friendly innovations. Cooperation between the international community and the establishment of structures for global policy making ( global governance ) are essential . P. 5 ff

Suggested Actions

Recommendations for action

The expert panel recommends transformative measures in the following areas:

With regard to specific options for action, ten transformative packages of measures are described:

  1. Expand the creative state with expanded opportunities for participation
  2. Advancing CO 2 pricing globally
  3. Expand and deepen the Europeanisation of energy policy
  4. Accelerate the expansion of renewable energies internationally through feed-in tariffs
  5. Promote sustainable energy services in developing and emerging countries
  6. Make rapid urbanization sustainable
  7. Promote climate-friendly land use
  8. Support and accelerate investments in a climate-friendly future
  9. International climate and energy policy
  10. Strive for an international revolution in cooperation

Education and Research

Since the insight into the necessity of the restructuring of the world economy is purely scientifically justified, motivated with foresight and precaution, research and education play central roles in the necessary transformation. The transformation is a “social search process” that should be supported by experts. Research has the "task of showing climate-friendly visions of society in cooperation with politics, business and society, describing different development paths and developing sustainable technological and social innovations." P. 22 ff

The WBGU differentiates between research and education on the one hand, and general conditions / possibilities for transformation versus specific content and measures on the other. In combination, there are four areas ("transformative quartet"):

  • Transformation research : Exploration of transition processes, statements about factors and causal relations in transformation processes; Networking of social, natural and engineering sciences to understand the interactions between society, the earth system and technological development
  • Transformative research : Support of conversion processes through specific innovations in the relevant sectors, e.g. B. Consumer research to develop new business models, research on technical innovations
  • Transformation education : makes the results of transformation research available to society, critically reflects the necessary fundamentals (e.g. understanding of the pressure to act, global awareness of responsibility, better understanding of the scientific knowledge process with its possibilities and limits)
  • Transformative education : generates a systemic, interdisciplinary understanding of options for action and possible solutions. B. on innovations from which a transformative effect can be expected or has already occurred; The state of research should be presented in an understandable way and actively communicated to society.

reception

In an interview with Focus -Online magazine (June 2011), the historian Wolfgang Wippermann said he feared a “climate dictatorship”. Nico Stehr and Manfred Moldaschl also expressed their fear in an article in Die Zeit (January 2013) that in the context of a great transformation one would want to “give up democracy” “in order to wrest the social world of its lethargy and to do justice to the challenges of climate change to become".

According to Claus Leggewie , Professor of Political Science and WBGU member, the WBGU has "explained in detail what a fair and future-proof balance of interests with less developed societies in the South can look like and how a smart policy can link foreign trade, sustainable energy supply and development" . He classified the warnings of an "eco-dictatorship" on the other hand as a conspiracy theory . Contrary to the claims of the critics, the WBGU report aims to strengthen democracy. The state must obtain legitimation for the challenges of the future through more citizen participation . The future chamber proposed by the WBGU should have an advisory function and in no way represent a restriction of democratic principles.

In the FAZ , Joachim Müller-Jung wrote (April 2011) that the WBGU provided “neither new figures nor new concepts.” Rather, the report can be read as a call to “close your ranks and convince with arguments - and no further to split. "

On the other hand, the daily newspaper (taz) wrote about the report: “The Scientific Advisory Board has been brooding over the report for a long time, but with the nuclear disaster in Japan, the whole thing became more explosive. Every day, the emergency measures on the Pacific coast make it clear that the energy transition is not a nice eco-dream, but a real necessity. (...) Now the important thing: There are enemies of such an energy revolution. (...) These enemies of the energy conversion must either be won over as advocates or removed from power. The last decades have shown that they can only be moved to act with clear laws. They then recognize their chances or get out. We can't wait another half a dozen reports, natural disasters and oil wars. That would be too expensive. "

Bernhard Pötter also wrote in the daily newspaper (taz): “But now you are picking up the big stick. "Ecodictatorship" is the reproach from RWE boss Großmann to the federal government, the same is coming from the rest of the nuclear lobby, the Tagesspiegel believes the WBGU is on the way to the "Jacobin ecodictatorship" and Springer's world is making a whole series of debates about it. They all do not denote norms that violate the constitution, but laws and ordinances that are publicly discussed and voted in parliament and against which German courts can take action. (...) These critics use a popular trick to defame ecological progress. Because the ecological dictatorship has already been proclaimed several times by its opponents: When the EU climate targets were announced, as well as when the energy-saving bulb was introduced or when depositing cans. The existence of our democracy has always been at stake, of course, but it has always somehow survived. No wonder: after all, the eco-dictatorship is just a bogus of the anti-eco without substance, theory or anchoring. Nobody wants it, it is only very practical for their opponents. (...) The old power elite of the fossil-conservative complex are swimming away because they have no better answers to the pressing questions of the future than the ecologists have been formulating them for decades. (...) The priority for survival has nothing to do with dictatorship, but is a rational weighing of interests. However, new definitions follow from this. “Freedom”, for example, is more than economic liberalism, it can also lie in doing without: freedom from traffic jams and cheap schnitzel, freedom from the fear of a nuclear meltdown. The decoupling of freedom and economic activity is even more important than the decoupling of economic growth and energy consumption. "No driving for free citizens" would be a slogan that would get to the heart of this new form of freedom. "

Christiane Grefe wrote in Die Zeit (April 2011): "The advisory board wants to get democracy moving." The report comes at the "right time", "mainly because it puts the current turmoil over nuclear policy into a global context." It is all the more valuable since it “now analyzes problems in their interactions.” It is “uncomfortable” because it demands restrictions (in the consumption of food, travel, etc.) that “are seen as a fear of the voters”. Cultural innovations could not be prescribed. Therefore “convinced that the group of experts relies on the numerous“ pioneers of change ”who are already setting models for sustainable economic activity.” She also quotes the authors here as saying that “citizen participation is not reduced to“ superficial or even resigned acceptance ” be "allowed to. It is to be hoped that the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Research will be inspired by the theses of the Advisory Board.

The chairman of the WBGU, Hans-Joachim Schellnhuber, commented on the WBGU report and the “Great Transformation” described there in several interviews.

Bioeconomy

In the sense of the report, which also emphasizes a move away from fossil fuels as the basis of the economy , the bioeconomy dominated the international meeting of agriculture ministers at the International Green Week 2015 in Berlin as the new model for global agriculture and food production .

See also

literature

  • 2013: Construction site of the future: The great transformation of economy and society. , Special issue, PDF; 35 kB, In: Political Ecology 133
  • Great transformation . RegioPol. Journal for Regional Economics. one + two 2012, ISSN  2192-1601
  • Martin Held, Gisela Kubon-Gilke, Richard Sturn, 2015: The great transformation . Yearbook 15 Normative and Institutional Basic Questions of Economics , Metropolis, ISBN 373-1-611694
  • Martin Müller: Is a major transformation possible? In: unw-nachrichten 21/2013, pp. 5-8, Ulmer Initiativkreis Sustainable Economic Development e. V. , Ulm
  • Uwe Schneidewind , Eds. Klaus Wiegandt , Harald Welzer , 2018: The Great Transformation. An introduction to the art of social change . S. Fischer Taschenbuch, Forum for Responsibility , ISBN 978-3-596-70259-6
  • WBGU, 2011: World in Transition - Social Contract for a Great Transformation . PDF, 2nd revised edition, ISBN 978-3-936191-38-7 (main report)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f World in Transition - Social Contract for a Great Transformation . WBGU, 2011. p. 29
  2. BMBF : WBGU main report 2011 ( Memento from February 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) - summary and links. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
  3. BMBF: Press release ( Memento of February 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) of April 7, 2011. Retrieved on February 17, 2013.
  4. Government advisors call for radical energy transition . on: Spiegel Online . April 7, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
  5. ^ WBGU: Main report in English
  6. ^ WBGU: Video seminar "Transformation" ( Memento from December 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). Accessed on February 18, 2013.
  7. WBGU: A comic explains the “Transformation” report ( Memento from December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  8. The great transformation. Homepage of the editor of the comic. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
  9. Christopher Schrader : Researchers as comic heroes. Süddeutsche.de , March 1, 2013. Accessed March 1, 2013.
  10. Susanne Harmsen: A task for the whole world. Review of the comic on Deutschlandradio Kultur on May 20, 2013. Accessed on May 20, 2013.
  11. Research project on comics. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
  12. ^ Claudia Zea-Schmidt, Alexandra Hamann: Learning in global contexts. The great transformation. Grades 9 and 10 ( Memento from March 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF). Senate Department for Education, Youth and Science Berlin, 2013.
  13. ^ The "Great Transformation" ( Memento of March 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. January 9, 2014. Accessed March 1, 2014.
  14. Interview with Prof. Schellnhuber as part of the video seminar on the main report
  15. Jürgen Kaube: Harder days are coming. In: FAZ , October 9, 2007. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  16. Potsdam Memorandum. (PDF; 67 kB) German text version. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
  17. Nobel Prize winners agree on global goals - a proposal for the Great Transformation. Press release, October 10, 2007. Accessed March 3, 2013.
  18. ^ HJ Schellnhuber et al.: Global Sustainability - A Nobel Cause . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-521-76934-1 .
  19. ^ WBGU: Kassensturz for the world climate agreement - the budget approach. Special report 2009.
  20. St. James's Palace Memorandum . "Acting for a climate-friendly and just future". London, UK, May 26-28, 2009.
  21. International Conference: The Great Transformation. ( Memento from June 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Climate Change as Cultural Change. 8-10 June 2009, Essen, Germany (congress homepage with information and downloads). Retrieved February 17, 2013.
  22. ^ The Stockholm Memorandum. Tipping the Scales towards Sustainability. 3rd Nobel Laureate Symposium on Global Sustainability, Stockholm, Sweden, 16. – 19. May 2011.
  23. ^ The Future We Choose. Declaration from the High-level Dialogue on Global Sustainability, United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio de Janeiro, June 17, 2012 (PDF; 614 kB). Retrieved February 16, 2013.
  24. ^ The Future We Choose. Open High-level Dialogue on Global Sustainability: Program . United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio de Janeiro, June 17, 2012 (PDF; 21 kB). Retrieved February 16, 2013.
  25. WBGU: "Towards Low-Carbon Prosperity: National Strategies and International Partnerships" ( Memento of January 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (Paths to climate-friendly prosperity: National strategies and international partnerships). International Symposium, May 9, 2012, Berlin.
  26. http://www.fona.de
  27. BMBF: Announcement , December 7, 2012. Accessed March 21, 2013.
  28. BMBF Agenda Conference on 19./20. March 2012: program. PDF, accessed March 21, 2013.
  29. FONA: BMBF funding initiative for "Environmentally and socially acceptable transformation of the energy system" . Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  30. See Decarbonisation in Wikipedia
  31. a b c World in Transition - Social Contract for a Great Transformation . Summary for decision makers, WBGU, 2011.
  32. On the direct route to the climate dictatorship? on: Focus Online. June 6, 2011. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
  33. Nico Stehr, Manfred Moldaschl: We don't need an eco-dictatorship. In: The time. January 31, 2013. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
  34. Claus Leggewie : Warnings against an eco-dictatorship? Ridiculous! In: welt.de , May 25, 2011
  35. Joachim Müller-Jung: Hour of Truth. In: FAZ . April 9, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
  36. Only laws can help against blockers. In: TAZ . April 7, 2011.
  37. ^ Bernhard Pötter: The German ghost. In: TAZ . June 20, 2011.
  38. Christiane Grefe: Governs more! In: The time . April 28, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
  39. Katrin Elger, Christian Schwägerl: Dictatorship of Now. Interview with Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, u. a. for expert opinion. Der Spiegel , March 21, 2011. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
  40. Ute Welty: We have to change our energy mix. Interview with Hans Joachim Schellnhuber on the “Great Transformation”, on: tagesschau.de , April 7, 2011. Retrieved on April 17, 2011.
  41. Jan-Christoph Kitzler: Schellnhuber calls for a carbon-free world economy. Interview with Hans Joachim Schellnhuber on the “Great Transformation” on: Deutschlandradio Kultur . March 23, 2012. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
  42. ^ Benjamin Dierks, deutschlandfunk.de: Difficult leap from laboratory to industry . Deutschlandfunk , " Background " , January 15, 2015
  43. gffa-berlin.de: Review of the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) 2015 , gffa-berlin.de, search results "Bioeconomy" ( Memento from September 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  44. oekom.de
  45. unw-ulm.de , PDF, April 12, 2014
  46. wbgu.de ( Memento from October 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive )