Single country profile
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Germany|
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Basic information
| Year of approval of the SD strategy and updates |
The NSDS was adopted by the German Government in 2002. The first comprehen-sive progress report was adopted by the German Government in 2004, a shorter document on the NSDS (“Landmark Sustainablity”) in 2005. The second comprehen-sive progress report (title: “For a sustainable Germany”) was adopted by the German Government in October 2008. The NSDS is the strategy of the national government. |
| Type of SD strategy | NSDS integrates all three dimensions of SD in four guidelines (intergeneration equity, quality of life, social cohesion, international responsibility). |
| Lead ministry/institution in the SD strategy process |
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| Link to the SD strategy document |
'Perspectives for Germany’ (2002) (in German) |
| Further information about the SD strategy process |
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Mechanisms of Vertical Integration
National — sub-national linkages
The current NSDS was adopted 2002 by the German Government after an intensive public consultation with stakeholders, including the federal countries (Regions/the “Länder”) and local level and was presented to the UN-Summit in Johannesburg.
As the NSDS it is the strategy of the national government only, the NSDS is not binding for the federal countries for their strategies. Nevertheless, a stronger cooperation between the national level and the Regions for NSDS implementation has developed. The Länder are involved in the formulation process of concrete measures based on the NSDS. They participated in the consultation process to the progress report 2008.
In 2008, the federal countries took part for the first time in 2008 in the formulation of a progress report itself. Additionally to statements from the German Council for Sustainable Development, the Parliamentarian Council for Sustainable Development and a statement of the Association of Municipalities the progress report contains a specific chapter, which has been adopted by the prime ministers of the federal countries.
In their progress report-statement the federal countries advocated a stronger cooperation between the federal government and federal countries on the NSDS. Concrete result of that were meetings between the chief of the chancellery and the heads of the prime ministers’ offices of the Länder in 2008 and 2009. Representatives of the prime ministers offices or environmental ministers of six Länder participated in December 2008 in a meeting of the Federal Stete Secretaries’ Committee for sustainable development. There was consent, that possibilities for a stronger cooperation on sustainable development should be deplored, especially in the sectors of public procurement, land use and sustainability-indicators. A joint Federal-Länder-Report from April 2009 – which has been prepared for the Federal Government under the lead of the chancellery and for the Länder by representatives of prime ministers offices or environmental ministers - is now discussed internally and shall be subject of a meeting between the chief of the chancellery and the heads of the prime ministers offices of the Länder in 2010 again.
The involvement of the Länder is also institutionalised in various national-regional working groups involving public administrators of the central government and the regions as part of the Conference of Environmental Ministers (a forum in which the environmental ministers of the regions and representatives of the Federal Ministry of Environment meet). These working groups are mainly concerned with the exchange of experiences. SD is currently addressed in the working group, “climate, energy, mobility sustainability” (BLAG KliNa), that operates since January 2008.
Regarding the SD indicators developed at the national level: Regions were asked to implement and use these indicators. In the environmental policy field, there is extensive coordination and adoption of environmental indicators on all political levels.
Additionally there is some general exchange and coordination between the national and regional level on SD strategies. For instance, in November 2007, the German Council for Sustainable Development organised a workshop on the SD policies of the regions. SD experts from 16 German regions discussed the role of regions for SD and implementing the NSDS.
EU linkages
The renewed EU Strategy for Sustainable Development (EU SDS) that was adopted in June 2006 foresees that Member States bi-annually report about how they address the priorities of the EU SDS. Germany has published its first national report on implementing the EU SDS in June 2007.
In Order to strengthen vertical integration, the progress report 2008 takes the EU SDS for the outline of a part of the report. The used symbols for national sustainability-indicators are in line with the symbols, which are used by Eurostat für the EU-indicators. In a meeting of June 2009 the Stete Secretaries’ Committee stressed the importance of the EU SDS as importang point of reference for the NSDS.
Mechanisms of Horizontal Integration
Since 2000, the State Secretaries' Committee on Sustainable Development exists as a high-ranking coordinating and monitoring body for sustainaibility. It decides about the strategy and its further development (subject to later formal approval of the cabinet), and keeps a close eye on implementation of the strategy. This so-called “Green Cabinet” consists of state secretaries (representatives of the minister, top level of civil servants) from all ministries. It is chaired by the Head of the Federal Chancellery which serves as the main leader in the national SD process. The responsibility lies not with one ministry but the Chancellery itself is in charge for the topic.
This mechanism is considered as a key success factor for SD in Germany. It prevented classical conflicts between ministries and ensured that quantitative objects have been met. The Chancellery has not only a coordination role, but is also steering the process and providing important inputs to the relevant ministries. It shows the special importance, which the subject has for the federal government and is based on the fact, that sustainability is a cross-cutting subject. Political leadership for the NSDS falls under the “guidance competence” of the Chancellery, and its administrative implementation takes place through a link between the Chancellery and the respective ministries responsible for the specific issue at hand. A permanent inter-ministerial working-group for sustainable development (chaired by the chancellery again) prepares for the meetings of the Committee.
Beginning in December 2008, the State Secretaries' Committee on Sustainable Development dealt on the basis of a working programm with important topics for sustainable development within monthly meetings. The topics discussed in the last meetings were the future of the feeding the world, EU SDS, sustainable consumption and sustainable construction, impacts of demographic change on sustainable finance policy, and perspectives of research for SD as innovation policy issue. At this meetings experts where invited – scientists, representatives of NGOs or of business associations, or even ambassadors of European member states.
Since January 2009 there are departmental reports on the implementation of sustainable development in specific policy fields. They are presented to the States Secretaries’ Committee and published in the internet (available only in German). A major reform in order to strengthen the implementation of the strategy in daily policy was the introduction of sustainability as a criteria for the impact assessment for new laws or regulations. In May 2009 sustainability was included permanently in the standing orders of the federal government (“Geschäftsordnung der Bundesministerien”, GGO) in the section, which deals with impact assessment. A guideline published by the Department for internal Affairs in June 2009 advises to use the indicators and management rules of the strategy in this context.
Evaluation and Review
In 2004, the German Government has reported for the first time on the progress of the NSDS and the statistical achievements of the 21 targets and indicators which were designed to make sustainability quantifiable. This is the link to the Progress Report 2004 (in German).
A shorter document on the NSDS was published in 2005 (“Landmark Sustainability 2005” (in German)).
In October 2008 the progress report (“For a sustainable Germany”) was adopted by the States Secretaries’ Committee and the Cabinet. It states, that sustainability is a guiding principle for the concrete political activities of the federal government.
For the first time, the report explains the governmental organisation in sustainability politics in detail and strengthens the management of sustainable development in German policy making. The sustainability management concept of the strategy contains the following elements:
- Management rules
The ten management rules summarise the guiding principle and the demands placed upon sustainabile development. - Indicators and goals
35 indicators with mostly concrete goals in 21 areas. - Monitoring
Every four years a progress report presents in detail the status of sustainable development. The progress reports are complemented by an indicator report, which is prepared by the Federal Statistical Office.
To improve sustainability management the State Secretaries’ Committee for Sustainable Development was strengthened. The management rules for sustainable development have been partly revised due to different global conditions and the experience made since the NSDS was adopted in 2002.
In further developing the NSDS the report covered four key-topics (climate/energy, resources, demographic change/social opportunities, international food-crises) and assessd the progress of the strategy in a broad range of subjects.
In 2009 the Federal Government initiated a Peer Review on national sustainability policies, organised by the Concil for Sustainable Development on behalf of the Government. In June 2009 the group of independent peers, comprising in total seven peers from Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Great Britain, Canada, USA and India, chaired by Mr. Björn Stigson, President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development met at Berlin and discussed the status of the NSDS. The Peers are expected to table a final report on their findings in autumn 2009.
Indicators and Monitoring
Monitoring reports are prepared every two years independently by the Federal Statistical Office to assess development on the basis of SD indicators (first one: Indicator Report 2006).
The newest indicator report 2008 is part of the progress report 2008 (also available as a single publication). For the first time, it includes, additionally to the detailed description of the 35 indicators for sustainable development in 21 areas and their trend, a brief statistical evaluation with regard to distance to target. This evaluation is graphically characterised by weather symbols, e.g. “sunny” or “cloudy” in line with the Eurostat-Indicator-symbols. The indicator report 2008 can be downloaded in German and English.
The full list(s) of indicators as identified by a study commissioned by Eurostat can be downloaded here:
Participation
Since 2002 several stakeholder groups, e.g. social partners, NGOs, local communities, science community, etc, were involved in the formulation and further development of the NSDS. The methods used for this purposed ranged from traditional consultation processes to the possibility of delivering opinions on drafts or internet chat sessions with ministers and state secretaries.
The German Government has initiated a broad public consultation process which accompanied the work on the 2008 NSDS progress report. Citizens were invited to contribute to the progress report by making comments and suggestions between November 2007 and January 2008, based on a consultation paper, and in May and June 2008 on a draft version of the 2008 NSDS progress report; both have been published in internet. The Federal Chancellery, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear safety as well as the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development invited selected stakeholders from alliances and associations to discuss the draft report in herarings or conferences. A documentation of the consultation process in 2008 is available as download (in German).
Since 2004 an Parliamentary Advisory Council on Sustainable Developmen of the German Bundestag supports the process of sustainable development in Germany. The Council submits proposals the the NSDS and provides recommendations on individual subjects relating to sustainable development. The Council has provided the Progress Report with an guest contribution (own Chapter). The Council now comprises of 40 MP form all parliamentary parties who can incorporate the results of the work of the Council into the work of the parliamantary parties and special committees.
The German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) was established by the German Government in April 2000. Its members are appointed by the chancellor. Currently it is composed of 13 members, coming from various social groups as well as of science and research. Its mission is to give advice to the Government on its SD policy and, by presenting proposals on targets and indicators, to contribute towards the further development of the NSDS as well as to propose projects designed to implement the strategy. A Statement of the RNE is published as a chapter in the progress report. This fact sheet provides an overview of the RNE.
For
a detailed documentation of all advisory and participatory councils (for SD and/or the environment) in this country,
please go to the EEAC website at http://www.eeac-net.org/bodies/germany/german_frame.htm and click on one of the listed institutions.
Sub-national activities
Currently, about half of the German regions have regional SD strategies in place (e. g. Baden-Württemberg or Hessen), others have Agenda 21 or environmental strategies. It is the aim of the federal government to strengthen cooperation between the federal level and the level of the Länder (see above).
At the local level, SD is addressed with LA 21 processes that emerged in the mid 1990s. Currently, more than 2600 local authorities (20 % of all German local authorities) have initiated an LA 21 process. The federal government has strengthened cooperation with the local level in the context of the progress report 2008. Accepting an invitation by the federal government, the german municipal umbrella organisation (consisting of the german association of cities, the german county association and the german association of towns and municipalities) presented their priorities and views on the NSDS in a chapter in the progress report. There it stressed, that sustainability is increasingly becoming a central guiding principle of municipial politics. In February 2009 delegates from the german municipal umbrella organisation discussed questions of land use for housing and infrastructure with the federal government in a meeting of the State Secretaries’ committee for Sustainable Development.
This Country Profile has been last updated on: Monday, 14 September 2009
For the sources used in the country profiles, please click here.
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