These questions are dealt with in the 2008 progress report on Germany’s national sustainability strategy presented on 29 October 2008 by the government.

The report builds on the national sustainability strategy of April 2002 and takes it one step further. For the second time since 2004 Germany has taken stock. The report is based on pre-defined indicators. As well as analysing the status quo, it provides information about what has been achieved to date and about the sustainability objectives of the German government. The presentation incorporates the views of citizens and associations voiced during two consultation phases and at hearings.

The status of sustainable development in Germany

In 2008 too, the German government uses 21 sustainability indicators to provide concrete information as to where we stand today on the road towards sustainable development. Germany can be proud of what it has already achieved, for instance in the field of climate protection and in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. It is already only 0.6 percentage points short of the targets to be achieved by 2012 under the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol.

The percentage of total power generated coming from renewable sources has developed positively, as has the consolidation of the national budget. The same applies to the percentage of the workforce in gainful employment, mortality rates for the under-65-year-olds and the percentage of gross national income provided as official development assistance.

The indicators also, however, show those areas where ground must be made up. This applies, for instance, to the education sector, in which the German government is endeavouring to ensure that more foreign children and young people leave school with qualifications. They would also like to see more young people completing a university degree. The intensity of goods and passenger traffic is posing yet another challenge.

In 2008 the German government adopted new objectives and indicators, which should enable it to define sustainable development still more precisely. These include indicators relating to smoking and obesity.

Sustainable development – an ongoing political task

In the 2008 progress report, the German government focuses on climate and energy, the sustainable management of raw materials, the social opportunities posed by demographic change and food for the world. 

Climate and energy

In this priority area, the German government has set itself ambitious goals. Energy productivity is to be doubled by 2020, emissions of greenhouse gases cut by 21 percent of the 1990 levels by 2008/2012, and power generated from renewable sources is to account for at least 30 percent of the total by 2020. The Integrated Energy and Climate Programme has already set the scene for these climate protection goals to be met.

Steps towards the sustainable management of raw materials

This priority area aims to enhance efficiency in the use of natural materials. The careful use of raw materials, the development of new materials, the improvement of recycling and the increased use of secondary raw materials and renewable raw materials will the pressure off natural resources and reduce negative environmental impacts. The goal laid out in the sustainability strategy is to double raw materials productivity by 2020. The German government aims to achieve this partly by promoting research projects, and with the help of a programme to improve the efficiency of small and medium businesses in terms of the way they use materials. Timber is to play an increasingly important part as a substitute for other more energy- and raw materials-intensive inputs. Cascade and coupled utilisation methods will ensure that better use is made of renewable raw materials.

Demographic change – a chance for greater social cohesion

The demographic change in Germany can no longer be halted. The German government intends to see this as an opportunity rather than a negative issue. It aims to strengthen civil society, foster greater inter-generational solidarity and encourage a culture of harmony. To this end the federal government has already launched a whole series of measures, including changes in fiscal law and reforming regulations governing the support available to individuals nursing relatives at home. To better publicise successful practical examples, the German government will be launching a competition that builds on the successful campaign “Citizens initiative sustainability”.

Food for the world

The chances of achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of hungry people in the world by 2015 has now been jeopardised by rising food and energy prices on the world market. The German government considers it a global challenge to take action in this respect. In the priority area of food for the world it thus looks both at short-term remedies and at ways of tackling the root causes of the trend in the long term. These causes include changing eating patterns, global population growth, the fact that many developing countries have neglected their agricultural sectors over the last few years, and the demand for agricultural crops to produce biofuels.

In addition to these four priority areas a whole spectrum of issues are relevant for sustainable development. In line with the EU’s sustainability strategy, the progress report thus also looks at questions such as biodiversity, traffic and transport, health, and education and research.

Stepping up sustainability management

The German government intends to mainstream sustainability even more in its political activities. Every new piece of legislation and every ordinance will in future be reviewed for its impact in terms of sustainability, in particular to determine whether or not it will have long-term impacts, and if so what impacts. An amended version of the common rules of procedure of the German government will lay down this new approach.

The work of the State Secretary Committee for Sustainable Development is to be stepped up. Ministerial reports, inter-ministerial projects and the involvement of other actors including the federal states will in future ensure that the new approach is integrated into everyday political life.

Cooperation and participation

Sustainable development, however, is not only the responsibility of the federal government. What is needed is a joint effort on the part of the federal government, civil society, the federal states and local authorities. This is why the German government invited the German Council for Sustainable Development, the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Sustainable Development in the German Bundestag, the federal states and the leading associations of local authorities to make their own contributions to this report.

The German government also attached great importance to giving normal citizens an opportunity to become involved in the drafting of the progress report at an early stage and to a significant extent by contributing their ideas and proposals. The comments made by individuals and associations and institutions have shown that the issue of sustainability enjoys broad support within German society. There is no question as to whether or not there is a need for sustainable development. Sustainability is here to stay in German political life and within German society, and is accepted across all party lines.