With the “German-French Sustainability Dialog 2.0 – Thinking ahead for the future“, a new forum was founded in 2021 by the DFH in cooperation with the ASKO Europe Foundation with the clear aim of intensifying the scientific and social dialogue on the topic of sustainability between France and Germany and beyond. The first edition focused primarily on the topics of climate, mobility and health from a European and global perspective. It revealed deficits in the joint engagement with concepts and in communication with civil society.
The second "German-French Sustainability Dialog", taken place from 5 to 7 October at the University of Mannheim, therefore aims to build bridges to society, to involve students even more and to shift the focus to other dimensions of sustainability. Under the headline "Shaping a sustainable future from the transparency of the past: Historical, economic and cultural aspects", this edition of the three-day event will focus on the areas of history, economy and culture.
Press Release
Live-Recordings
Program
German-French Sustainability Dialog 2.0 – Thinking ahead for the future
The on-site Dialog was the first of a (planned) series of events and took place on October 28 and 29, 2021, at the Electoral Palace (Kurfürstliches Palais) in Bonn with a total of 100 participants from Germany and France.
On the first day, scientists and experts from renowned organizations, universities and NGOs from Germany and France entered into an interdisciplinary exchange.
Three working groups dealt with the topics “Fair energy transition and sustainable mobility”, “Global Health” and “Climatic change and biodiversity” and examined important issues from a French and German point of view respectively, such as: What is the impact of climate change and intensified land use on the resilience of ecological and social systems? How can natural risks and natural disasters be reduced, both technically and socially? What does energy justice look like in practice?
In a panel discussion on the following day, the discussion contents and results from the working groups were presented and three central demands to science, society and politics were formulated:
- The opening of debates on climate change between science and politics to civil society.
- The improvement of knowledge transfer and communication on the challenges of sustainability.
- The creation of a binding legal framework for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Live recordings from 29 October 2021 on youtube: