Research Institute for Sustainability Helmholtz Centre Potsdam

Ecopolitics and Just Transformations

Maria Cecilia da Silva Oliveira

Dr. Maria Cecilia Oliveira

Research Group Leader
Doris Fuchs Leitungsteam RIFS

Prof. Dr. Doris Fuchs

Scientific Director
The new planetary challenges of our time are highly complex. New and effective forms of democratic governance for civil society, states, and markets are needed.
© istock/Nattakorn Maneerat

The research group Democratic Governance for Ecopolitical Transformations is realigning itself to better reflect the Institute's understanding of its mission. Born out of three separate research projects in early 2019, the group applies the RIFS methodology to identify opportunities for democratic transformations towards sustainable societies and to support their development.

The actual research process entails a critical appraisal of democratic innovations, followed by the development of prototypes in transformative labs and their co-creative implementation, in particular in the Amazon region. Research results from similar projects such as Social Transformation and Policy Advice in Lusatia are applied to support this work. The research group also cooperates with other RIFS projects and groups, for example with the Science Platform Sustainability 2030 on the implementation of the first labs, which will explore how technological innovations can serve democratic transformations towards sustainability.

Projects

Democracy needs new ideas, institutions and processes that are able to offer sustainable prospects for the future.

Democratic Governance for Ecopolitical Transformations

Expired Projects in Group

The Werder/Kessin wind farm in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is one of Germany’s largest. Wind energy is a controversial issue in many parts of the country.

Promoting Acceptance of Renewable Energies

In order to overcome the challenges of the Anthropocene we must learn to grapple with multiple temporal dimensions simultaneously.

Democratic Anthropocene

Butterflies and peace symbols adorn a wall. The project “Governance & Participation” explores the pathways and prospects for democratic change towards more sustainable societies.

Governance and Participation

Extreme weather events such as drought and flooding are occurring more often due to climate change. In 2016, the Seine River burst its banks in Paris, the city that has become a symbol for global climate protection.

Implementing the Paris Agreement - Overcoming Barriers and Identifying Drivers for Effective Climate Governance

Team

Maria Cecilia da Silva Oliveira

Dr. Maria Cecilia Oliveira

Research Group Leader
Louis Kotzé

Prof. Dr. Louis Kotzé

Project Leader
Bernardo Jurema

Dr. Bernardo Jurema

Research Associate
Alexandra Tost

Alexandra Tost

Research Associate
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Celina da Costa Cabral

Student Assistant
Christina Stobernack

Christina Stobernack

Administrator
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Nicola Sharman RIFS Fellow

Ensuring the Vulnerable Are Heard in International Climate Decision-Making

Nicola Sharman joined RIFS as a Fellow in April 2024. She comes from the University of Eastern Finland, where she is part of the 2035Legitimacy project. Her work focuses on the democratic legitimacy of international climate change law and the exercise of procedural rights within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change from the point of view of those most affected by climate change.
Berlin Science Week

From Millinery to Natural Building to Podcasts

This year’s Berlin Science Week (1-10 November 2023) will once again showcase the sciences across a host of events, promoting discussion of recent research and its findings. The ten-day festival is expected to attract over 20,000 visitors and will feature presentations from around 500 speakers, supported by some 150 organisations. RIFS researchers and fellows will also participate in this inspiring dialogue between science and society, art and research. An overview.
Indigenous leaders Bemoro Metuktire, Watatakalu Yawalapiti and Tapi Yawalapiti (from left) spoke in Berlin as part of their international campaign for the protection of the Amazon rainforest.

Indigenous Leaders in Berlin: Together for the Rainforest

In the struggle for their land and way of life, the indigenous Amazon peoples have already achieved a lot. But they need support in protecting their territories, which are so important for the global climate and biodiversity. During a European tour, a delegation of indigenous chiefs visited Berlin, met with the President of Germany and subsequently discussed their concerns at a public event.
Young people will bear the brunt of climate change.

Climate Litigation Plays Important Role in Struggle for Intergenerational Justice

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.
Carbon Critique Podcast

Podcast Explores Carbon’s Role in Politics

In a podcast series, RIFS researchers discuss the role of carbon in climate and sustainability politics. They talk to academics, activists and artists whose work has influenced their own research on the transformations of our carbon-dependent society. In the fourth episode, Usha Natarajan (Columbia University/Dalhousie University) and Julia Dehm (La Trobe Law School) discuss their book “Locating Nature: Making and Unmaking International Law”.
Title page Social Sustainability Barometer 2022

How Is the Energy Crisis Affecting Public Opinion on the Energy and Transport Transitions in Germany?

Is the current energy crisis putting the brakes on climate action? Undaunted by the growing financial burden, support for the energy transition remains strong in Germany. Despite the spectre of skyrocketing energy prices, a broad section of the public wants to see the government double down on its efforts to achieve climate neutrality. This is the conclusion of the annual “Social Sustainability Barometer 2022”.
Amazon River meets Atlantic Ocean: satellite image of northern Brazil.

A New “Truth” About the Rainforest: How Bolsonaro’s Supporters Misuse Satellite Data

Satellite data have played an important role in efforts to monitor the rate of deforestation in the Amazon Basin for decades. But the way these data are used has changed under the government of President Jair Bolsonaro. His supporters are questioning the validity of scientific findings as a means to propagate a worldview that puts profits first.
Democracy is the only promising route for dealing with the complexity of sustainability issues in an adequate way.

Democracy and Sustainability: Insights into a Complex Relationship

In contemporary societies, the relationship between democracy and sustainability has become ever more complex. A new handbook edited by IASS researchers provides comprehensive and critical coverage of this topic from both a theoretical level and through analysis of political discourses and practices.
Verhaltensänderung

Can the coronavirus crisis lead to long-lasting behavioural change?

Will changes in our routines and lifestyles during the pandemic translate into more sustainable behaviour over the longer term? A team of researchers from the Science Platform for Climate Protection (Wissenschaftsplattform Klimaschutz - WPKS) examined this question with the support of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) and considered whether policy measures could help to consolidate gains.
Covid_19, India, worker fills medical oxygen cylinders for patients with Covid-19 infections

Sustainable Solutions for the Global South in a Post-Pandemic World

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in some cases stalled progress decades in the making. The pandemic has revealed social inequalities and widened the gulf between countries. In a new study published by the IASS a team of Alexander von Humboldt Climate Protection Fellows analyses the effects of the pandemic on climate mitigation and sustainable development in the Global South.
Complexity systemic risks

Insights from Complexity Science: More Trust in Self-Organization Needed

Globalization, digitalization, sustainabilization – three major waves of transformation are unfolding around the world. The social upheaval caused by these transformation processes has given rise to populist movements that endanger social harmony and threaten democratic values. What rules and institutions can promote stability in the face of such systemic risks? A new study published by the IASS offers some surprising answers.
A new publication examines what is at stake in democratic sustainability transformations.

Reform or Revolution? What is at stake in democratic sustainability transformations

Calls for new forms of democratic sustainability and their achievement by way of a “great,” “socio-ecological,” and/or “democratic” transformation of societies have gained traction, both in academia and among policy makers. A special issue of the journal “Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy”, edited by researchers from the IASS, examines what is at stake in current debates.
The participants employed hands-on prototyping to understand and further develop labs as democratic innovation.

Sustainability and Democracy: Exploring the Power of Labs

Modern times are characterised by an increase in “wicked problems” that threaten established forms of democratic governability. What can labs ¬¬– collaborative spaces for testing innovative ideas – contribute to democratic innovation and sustainability in government? In the workshop “Toward Democratic Transformation: A Lab on Labs” at the IASS, international practitioners, leading researchers and government experts explored lab methods and principles to promote democracy and sustainability.
Zimbabwe-after-cyclone_Idai_Copyright_Ashraf_Hendricks_GroundUp

Most Affected, Least Heard

It seems reasonable to expect that the people who suffer most from the impacts of climate change are represented in the international climate negotiations. Patrick Toussaint, a researcher at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), has analysed the status quo from the perspective of international law. He concludes that those who currently bear the brunt of climate change – or will do so in the foreseeable future – have little or no influence on the negotiations.
Senior Fellow Michael Palmer

Governance for Future Generations

In recent months young people across the world have been going on strike on Fridays to protest about their governments’ failure to adequately address the climate crisis. In their view, lack of political action to protect the climate is putting their future in jeopardy. But Wales is leading by example here with a law passed in 2015 that echoes the demands of the Fridays for Future protesters: the Well-being for Future Generations Act. It requires public authorities in Wales to consider the long-term effects of their decisions and make sustainable development a touchstone for policymaking.
The IASS at the COP23 in Bonn in November 2017. The institute will also inform about its work at a booth in Katowice.

The IASS at the Katowice Climate Change Conference

The 24th UN Climate Change Conference (COP24) is due to take place in the Polish city of Katowice from 2 to 14 December. At this year’s COP, minds will focus on concrete steps towards implementing the Paris Climate Agreement. A whole host of experts from the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) will be there. At the international symposium on “Safeguarding Our Climate, Advancing Our Society”, IASS Scientific Director Patrizia Nanz will speak about the role democratic structures can play in the shift to sustainability. And IASS Scientific Director Mark Lawrence will represent the institute at the High Level Assembly of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition on the margins of the conference.

Blog Posts

A decade-long silent ground subsidence hazard has culminated in a metropolitan disaster in Maceió.

17.07.2024

Braskem’s Salt Mines, Maceió’s Ground Subsidence, and the Pitfalls of Corporate Sustainability Discourse

Marginalised populations are asymmetrically affected at all stages of the plastics production cycle – especially the extraction of raw materials. Such environmental impacts reproduce and reinforce pre-existing racial and socioeconomic inequalities. This is clearly illustrated in Maceió, the capital of Brazil’s north-eastern state of Alagoas: Since 2019, around 60,000 people have been forced to leave their communities after earth tremors and ground subsidence started to endanger the structures of houses and other buildings surrounding Mundaú Lagoon. Entire neighbourhoods have subsequently been abandoned.
Protesters at a "Fridays for Future" demonstration in Taranto, Italy.

10.07.2023

Sketching a Theory of Fossil Imperialism

In recent years, both activists and researchers have started to invoke the term "fossil imperialism" to highlight the ways in which imperialist politics are tied up with the logic of fossil capitalism. Under fossil capitalism, ceaseless accumulation of capital necessitates continued expansion of an energy base of coal, oil, and natural gas.
Justice in Sustainability is the RIFS focal topic for 2022/23.

15.02.2023

Climate Mobility Justice: Reparations, Kinopolitics and Mobile Commoning

What do reactive border closures and the de-nationalization of undocumented populations around the world have to do with the climate crisis-mobility nexus? As part of the RIFS public lecture series `Justice in Sustainability’, Dr Mimi Sheller recently examined the interconnections of the climate crisis, unsustainable mobilities, and migration through the lens of the politics of movement, also known as kinopolitics.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon surged under the government of Jair Bolsonaro.

26.01.2023

Brazil: An Environmental Power

What to expect of the incoming Lula government’s environmental policy.
Roiling seas

20.12.2022

Exploring the Complexities of Justice in Sustainability

The team behind the IASS Focal Topic “Justice in Sustainability” has released a short film that explores issues of justice in the context of climate crises and the decarbonisation of energy systems. The film presents prominent voices in the field from scientists, activists and practitioners who have participated in events and lectures hosted as part of the IASS Focal Topic in 2022.
Benno Fladvad

10.08.2022

Benno Fladvad: Exploring the nexus of equity and sustainability

Benno Fladvad is part of the research team of the IASS focal topic 2022, "Justice in Sustainability".
Leah Temper lecture

01.08.2022

What transformative sustainability studies should learn from environmental justice movements

In April’s session of the IASS focal topic “Justice in Sustainability” lecture series, Dr Leah Temper shed light on “just transformations towards sustainability” from the perspectives of those fighting on the ground to achieve them. Her discussion of environmental justice activism took us back to the roots of thinking justice and environmental politics together. Find out in this summary what transformative sustainability studies should learn from environmental justice movements a summary of her lecture. You can also rewatch the lecture and the following Q&A session on the IASS YouTube channel.

18.05.2022

Justice and Sustainability Researcher Francesco Laruffa

Francesco Laruffa is part of the research team of the IASS Focal Topic 2022, "Justice in Sustainability".
Elias König

17.05.2022

Justice and Sustainability Fellow Elias König

Elias König recently joined the IASS as a Justice and Sustainability Fellow and will be working on a research project that examines the youth-led climate strike movement. In this blog post, he outlines his professional background and his plans for the fellowship.
Marching for climate and gender justice at COP25

12.04.2022

Historical responsibilities of colonialism: Gender justice as a path to climate justice

The notion of development, or what we understand as prosperity, whether of a country, group, or individual, has been shaped throughout history by social constructs that stem from colonialism as an ideology. Colonialism is entrenched in our society as a monocultural form of domination and understanding and shaping the world. Its influence extends to the ways in which we interact with each other and with nature.
Farmers’ protest in New Delhi.

04.04.2022

“Struggle for Agrarian and Environmental Justice: The Farmers Movement in Northwest India”

The struggle for agrarian and environmental justice by the farmers movement in Northwest India was the second lecture in this year’s IASS Focal Topic series “Justice in Sustainability.” Our guest, Navdeep Boora, is a graduate student at the Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER) Mohali. In his presentation, Navdeep gave us insights into the farmers’ protest against the Indian government’s attempt to further liberalize the country’s agricultural sector in 2021.
Zoom-Session

02.12.2021

Sustainability studies and art – Allies for transforming narratives

A symphony composed by the melting arctic deeply touches an audience of policymakers at COP25. A photograph inspires a political scientist to expand her research on the Amazon with a performance set in a Berlin city forest. And a museum about possible futures doesn’t just have an education team running workshops for its exhibitions but dedicates a whole floor to a lab where scientists and artists can “go nuts” in collaborative projects.

Events

22.02.2024 - 23.02.2024
Online conference

Green hydrogen: fueling just decarbonization or ‘greening’ extractivism?

Green hydrogen is being discussed globally as one of the necessary contributions to a decarbonized economy. However, its role in achieving a just transition is controversial.
16.05.2023

Meeting with Distinguished Indigenous Leaders from the Amazonian Xingu area in Brazil

In partnership with WZB Berlin Social Science Center, the RIFS will host a Meeting with Distinguished Indigenous Leaders from the Amazonian Xingu area in Brazil as part of their International Campaign for the Protection of the Amazon Forest. The scientific and public debate aims to bridge these leaders’ knowledge and perspective with the Berlin academic and activist community.
08.09.2020 - 11.09.2020
ONLINE EVENT

A space for digital participation in Latin America

In the face of the challenges that have emerged and been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, collective responses by and for communities have emerged in Latin America (e.g. community food banks and open data citizen-led initiatives). In view of this development, the research group Democratic Reconfigurations of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) Potsdam has decided to convene a Cabildo por América Latina (CabildoxLatAm), a participatory digital space to learn, strengthen and design collective responses to the pandemic. The event will bring together civil society actors, governments, communities and citizens from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Puerto Rico.
09.12.2019 - 10.12.2019
WORKSHOP

Toward Democratic Transformation: A Lab on Labs

The purpose of this workshop is to explore and experiment with lab methods and principles to promote democracy and sustainability. We will be guided by the question: What can labs contribute to democracy and sustainability in the German governmental system? The workshop aims to design early prototypes for such labs.
21.11.2019
Auftaktveranstaltung

#Tech4Society launch: Tomorrow’s value creation. How can new technologies work best for society?

Zum Auftakt der Innovationsreihe #Tech4Society wird die Wertschöpfung in modernen Volkswirtschaften unter die Lupe genommen. Wie kann wirtschaftlicher Wandel mithilfe technologischer Innovationen gestaltet werden und sich stärker an gesellschaftlichem Fortschritt orientieren? #Tech4Society widmet sich dem wertbasierten technologischen Wandel.