Austrian Council for Research and Technology Development

Eine Zusammenarbeit zwischen Umwelt- und Entwicklungsverbänden besteht in Deutschland spätestens seit der 1992er-Konferenz der Vereinten Nationen über Umwelt und Entwicklung. Maßgeblich wird diese im Netzwerk Forum Umwelt & Entwicklung koordiniert. Welche Erfolgsbedingungen gibt es für diese Zusammenarbeit?

Education for sustainable development is an integral part of a teacher‘s job. Providing students with additional knowledge and having them voice intentions do not generally lead to improvements in sustainable behaviour. A long-term implementation of well-meant behavioural intentions only occurs if these intentions are in sync with the identity, the preferences and the resources of individual students. Recognising one‘s personal identity in the domain of sustainable development engenders the foundation for suitable action spaces that enable students to independently determine and achieve their goals. In such an environment, teachers have the important task of making sure that students employ a suitable approach during the implementation phase. Th is approach makes the envisaged ecological, economic and social sustainable behaviour more effective and satisfying and therewith sustainable at an individual level too. Sustainable education for sustainable development thus requires more than introducing the subject and mentioning a few examples with appropriate behavioural changes to accompany them.

Within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the SDGs require significant investment and engagement by the private sector. Without sustainable economies, the earth will not be capable of sustaining a rapidly-growing and consuming global middle class. Hence, people’s everyday lives, market and policy frameworks as well as economies in general need to embark on sustainable paths of consumption and production. This year’s Financing for Development Forum (FfD-Forum), for the first time featuring an SDG investment fair, focused on the role the corporate sector and private capital can and must play regarding the SDGs.