Sustainability Transformation Conference 2023

It was a great pleasure to moderate the 4th Sustainability Transformation Conference initiated by the German Environment Agency (UBA) together with the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV). This year, we have been focusing on the question of how to achieve and maintain resilience in times of multiple crises and discussed what circularity, sufficiency and efficiency can do for the transformation to sustainability. Certainly, a high-level conference with speakers including Dirk Messner, President of the German Environment Agency, BMUV State Secretary Christiane Rohleder, Aurel Ciobanu Dordea from the European Commission and many more. 

It is always a pleasure being on stage with Dirk Messner, especially for the final session of the day, when we reflected on the various aspects of the day that covered the role of circular economy for a sustainable transformation, the question how to create resilient, efficient and climate-neutral energy systems, all the way to the question how to design new paradigms for the chemical sector, as one of the most important enabling industries.

One thing that became much clearer in our conclusion, we are still not good enough at communicating positive sustainability narratives that reach a broader audience and motivate them to get on board for a successful transformation. There is still much work to be done in this regard.

Photo Credit: BMUV/Sascha Hilgers