Funding initiative “Corona & Sustainability”

Sustainability in the Corona Crisis – Learning from the Crisis for Sustainable Development

As a result of the Corona pandemic, we are experiencing massive restrictions in everyday life – with corresponding effects also on existing climate and environmental goals. The current debate is whether and how the Covid 19 crisis is impeding or promoting climate-friendly economic transformation.

The DBU is funding a number of projects that address the impact of the Corona Crisis and its consequences for achieving environmental and climate goals and corresponding approaches to solving the problem. The goal of this funding initiative is to look at the situation in the aftermath of the pandemic from different scientific perspectives. The systemic, inter- and transdisciplinary studies will also contribute, among other things, to understanding human behavior and the psychological effects that cause the radical changes. It also analyzes how current programs of measures, for example to stimulate the economy, would have to look in order to be able to support a sustainable transformation. The results of the projects should provide information on how the resilience of society to future socio-ecological crises can be strengthened and how and which behavioral changes and measures can promote the “great ecological transformation”.

Projects, publications and lectures

For more information on the funded projects, please visit the project pages:

You can also read more about “Corona & Sustainability” and the DBU funding initiative in the following publications:

Lecture “The next crisis is sure to come – strengthening crisis resilience sustainably”.

At the conclusion of the DBU’s “Corona & Sustainability” funding initiative, Prof. Dr. Dennis Snower, President Global Solutions Initiative, gave a keynote speech on the topic of “The next crisis is sure to come – strengthening crisis resilience sustainably”. You can find the video recording of the exciting lecture here.

#DBUdigital Online Salon “Stimulus measures in the sustainability check”.

As part of the Öko-Institut’s project “Sustainable economic stimulus to overcome the Corona crisis”, the #DBUDigital online salon “Economic stimulus measures in the sustainability check” took place on June 8, 2020. You can find the video recording of the #DBUdigital online salon here. You can access the Öko-Institut’s presentation on the evaluation of the German government’s economic stimulus package from the #DBUdigital online salon here. Further information on the project as well as the final study on the project can be found here.

Results of the DBU surveys

To find out more about the views of German citizens on the consequences of the Corona crisis with regard to the issues of climate and the environment, the DBU commissioned a representative survey by the opinion research institute forsa Politik- und Sozialforschung. A key finding is that for the majority of the population, the climate crisis has a greater long-term impact on the economy and society than the Covid 19 crisis. The results of the DBU Environmental Monitor can be found here.

In parallel, an online survey on the same issues was conducted among DBU project partners. Here, the importance of climate and environmental issues was even more evident than in the Forsa survey. The results of this survey can be found here.

The results of the current (April 2020) and past (March 2020 and March 2018) representative surveys on the topic of “Digitization and Sustainability” can be found here.

Contact

Dr. Cornelia Soetbeer
DBU: Umweltkommunikation und Kulturgüterschutz, Internationale Förderung: Abteilungsleitung
+49 541 9633-400
Dr. Thomas Pyhel
DBU: Umweltkommunikation und Kulturgüterschutz, Internationale Förderung: Informelle Bildung und Medien
+49 541 9633-432
Martin Schulte
DBU: Umweltkommunikation und Kulturgüterschutz, Internationale Förderung: Deutscher Umweltpreis und Veranstaltungen
+49 541 9633-420
Dr. Alexander Bittner
DBU: Umweltkommunikation und Kulturgüterschutz, Internationale Förderung: Formale Bildung und Zivilgesellschaft
+49 541 9633-430