How to Successfully Encourage Sustainable Development Policy: Lessons from Germany

This book builds on the insights of Günther Bachmann, former Secretary General for the German Sustainability Council, who spent almost 20 years advising the German government on sustainability policy. The book discusses his experiences in negotiating stakeholder statements at the highest national levels.

Bachmann takes the reader behind the scenes of German sustainable policy and practice, whilst also comparing Germany with other national approaches. He tells the story of political events from his insider perspective, unfolding the narrative of sustainable development goals and how activists in their respective countries could and should relate to it. Furthermore, he suggests new lines of vision through the tangle of conference fatigue and buzzwords. The book argues that environmentalists often display entrenched attitudes that too often downplay success. The rhetoric of crisis and doom, if overstretched and reduced to alarm, paralyses action and innovation. Bachmann, who on the contrary argues positively and concretely, shows unusual but significant signs of hope and confidence in action and how these can be made effective in the politics of sustainable development.

This book will be of global relevance to sustainability professionals and policy makers and will advise them on how to successfully move ahead with sustainability policies.

Günther Bachmann served as Secretary General for the German Sustainability Council from 2001 to 2020, advising the German federal government and Chancellor Angela Merkel on sustainability policies. As Secretary General, his duties included the initiation, guidance and implementation of all content and process-related work of the council. Günther also conducted and facilitated three international peer reviews on the German sustainability strategy, chaired by Björn Stigon (2008 and 2013) and Helen Clark (2018), and established innovative formats with international resonance such as the corporate Sustainability Code or the SDGclub.Berlin. Günther is Innovators Fellow at Conservation International and advises the Columbian think tank CEPEI. He sits on the executive board of the German Sustainability Awards and has chaired the award’s jury for companies and municipalities since 2008. He is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Thünen Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries. In addition, he is a member of the board of trustees of Nabu, the German Nature Conservation Association (Bird Life) and is partner of a consultancy.