Newly appointed to the nine-member committee are Aletta Bonn, Professor of Biodiversity at the University of Jena, Kai Maaz, Professor of Sociology with a focus on educational systems and society at the University of Frankfurt am Main, and Joscha Wullweber, Heisenberg Professor of Politics/Political Economy, Transformation and Sustainability at the University of Witten/Herdecke. ‘Being appointed to the WBGU is an honour and a great thing if you want to make a difference in politics and society,’ says Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann. And this work is attracting international attention. The global analyses of environmental and development problems that enable the WBGU to point out new problem areas in the sense of an early warning system have created groundbreaking reports. These impulses for politics and science in the form of recommendations for action and research are not only addressed and utilised by the German government. The WBGU is regularly asked by international representatives and authorities to present its results and assessments.?
In the past, the much-cited reports ‘World in Transition – A Social Contract for Sustainability’ (2011) and ‘Healthy Living on a Healthy Planet’ (2023) have been particularly groundbreaking. Both reports advocate a far-reaching socio-ecological transformation. A unique feature of this is the systemic approach – social, ecological and geopolitical crises are analysed and recommendations developed from a global perspective.?
In the course of ‘Healthy Living on a Healthy Planet’, the urgency of combating the biodiversity crisis was addressed in a policy paper: ‘Biodiversity: Act Now for Nature and Humanity (2023). Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann was jointly responsible for both publications. She has now been reappointed with effect from 1 November 2023 until 31 October 2028. It will be exciting to see which topics the members of the advisory board will address in the next four years.?
The WBGU was established in 1992 as an independent scientific advisory body and is now entering its ninth term of office. The diversity of the experts’ disciplines represented by the members of the WBGU reflects the aspiration to tackle complex issues holistically. Through press and public relations work, the WBGU also aims to raise public awareness of the challenges of global sustainable development. The appointment by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) is accompanied by press releases from the ministries and the WBGU: