Headline: News

On 10 March 2023, a select committee will be convened at Brandenburg’s state assembly to examine sustainable development and structural change in the former mining region of Lusatia. In a policy brief by the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS), authors David Löw Beer and Konrad Gürtler set out three actionable and cost-effective recommendations to improve the sustainability of regional processes of structural transformation.

Young people have long been marginalized in national, regional, and United Nations political fora. Now they are actively demanding their rights as representatives of present and future generations. They do so through public protests, but also by taking legal action to assert their claims. Scientists at the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) have studied the potential impacts of climate litigation in the Anthropocene.

The need for public participation has been called into question in the current debate on turbo-charging Germany’s transition to renewable energy. But excluding citizens from decision-making processes is likely to jeopardise the public’s support for measures to protect the climate. This is a key insight of a new paper prepared by the steering committee of the Science Platform for Climate Action.

Crises can accelerate structural change and spur an absolute decoupling of CO2 emissions from economic growth. Countries that have already embarked on an ambitious path towards climate action have proven themselves particularly adept in times of need.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has convened the new German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE). RIFS Scientific Director Mark Lawrence will serve a three-year term on the council. At the inaugural meeting held at the Federal Chancellery on 15 February 2023, the members unanimously elected Reiner Hoffmann, the former president of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), to chair the council.

Hydrogen is widely viewed as a beacon of hope for the global energy transition. China is pursuing an ambitious agenda to strengthen its hydrogen sector. As a new RIFS Study of China's emerging hydrogen economy shows, its current efforts prioritize industrial development ahead of decarbonization and energy security concerns.

On 20 December 2022, the Berlin Senate issued a statement on the recommendations prepared by the Berlin Citizens’ Assembly on Climate and announced that it would partially or fully incorporate 42 of the assembly’s 47 recommendations into its Energy and Climate Protection Programme (BEK 2030). RIFS (then IASS) advised the Citizens’ Assembly on Climate and accompanied the participation process.

Not abstract goals but the paths we take towards their implementation will determine whether we are able to forge a sustainable society in this century. Policymakers will need to negotiate with key societal actors on the concrete steps if this transformation is to succeed. Political institutions must embrace public participation as a means to develop actionable solutions in cooperation with citizens, argue RIFS researchers Jörg Radtke and Ortwin Renn in the new anthology "Umkämpfte Zukunft. Zum Verhältnis von Nachhaltigkeit, Demokratie und Konflikt“.