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Indigenous Leaders Campaign for Rainforest Conservation
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International exhibition "Examples to follow! – Expeditions in aesthetics and sustainability" A work by Pedro Reyes: "Palas por Pistolas" (Turning weapons into spades). A tree is planted for every weapon destroyed. Each exhibition is preceded by a tree-planting campaign. RIFS/ S. Letz
Global Explorations in Aesthetics and Sustainability
Art and science in dialogue
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ESG frameworks can help corporate actors to manage their environmental, social, and governance commitments and improve the sustainability of their activities. Shutterstock / ThitareeSarmkasat
Compliance, ESG, and Social Media in Brazil
Blog post by Giovanni Mascarenhas
Air quality modelling Air quality modelling IASS/Rolf Schulten
Research and Dialogue for Sustainable Societies
What RIFS stands for

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What we work on

Transformative Sustainability Research

RIFS conducts research with the goal of understanding, advancing, and guiding processes of societal change towards sustainable development. Our researchers collaborate with diverse actors from science, policymaking and public administration as well as business and civil society to develop a common understanding of sustainability challenges and generate potential solutions. The research approach is transformative, transdisciplinary, and co-creative.

About us

In brief

New edition of our Newsletter

The current issue of the RIFS Newsletter contains many exciting topics from our work. Check it out here.

News

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The panel discussion with Ortwin Renn (RIFS), Minister Axel Vogel and Bernd Hirschl (IÖW).

Achieving Brandenburg’s Ambitious Climate Targets

Opened by Minister Axel Vogel, the fourth plenary session of Brandenburg's Sustainability Platform cast a spotlight on climate action in the state of Brandenburg. The platform, which was established five years ago, promotes sustainable development, supports efforts to achieve climate neutrality in Brandenburg, and fosters networking between diverse actors and initiatives. The platform is coordinated by the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) and funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Climate Protection (MLUK).

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Indigenous leaders Bemoro Metuktire, Watatakalu Yawalapiti and Tapi Yawalapiti (from left) spoke in Berlin as part of their international campaign for the protection of the Amazon rainforest.
Discussion

Indigenous Leaders in Berlin: Together for the Rainforest

In the struggle for their land and way of life, the indigenous Amazon peoples have already achieved a lot. But they need support in protecting their territories, which are so important for the global climate and biodiversity. During a European tour, a delegation of indigenous chiefs visited Berlin, met with the President of Germany and subsequently discussed their concerns at a public event.

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Cleaners are one source of NMVOC emissions.
Air pollution

Non-methane Volatile Organic Compounds: A Neglected Category of Emissions

Non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) have numerous adverse health and environmental impacts and are important ozone precursors. Despite this, these pollutants are both under-researched and inadequately addressed in policy. A new study compares measurements of NMVOCs with their representation in emission inventories. The researchers identify significant discrepancies in the data and recommend more measurements over a greater geographic area.

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Dossiers

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Discussion at the Citizens’ Assembly for Democracy in Leipzig.

Deliberative Mini-Publics Dossier

Deliberative mini-publics are participatory processes in which a randomly selected and heterogenous group of citizens cooperate for a period to develop recommendations, ideas or solutions on a specific issue. RIFS accompanies these processes in various roles.

Justice in Sustainability is the RIFS focal topic for 2022/23.
Focal Topic 2022/2023

Justice in Sustainability Dossier

The issue of justice is increasingly playing a greater role in the transformation towards sustainability. Calls to improve justice outcomes touch on a variety of issues, in particular the distribution of the costs and benefits of transformations as well as the burdens of climate change and environmental degradation. Other claims target procedural aspects: Who should have access to decision-making about transformation towards sustainability? A third set of justice claims focuses on recognition: Which groups are or should be recognized as rights-holders or as affected or especially vulnerable populations?

Felder, Wälder, Windräder: eine Landschaft in Brandenburg.

Sustainability in Brandenburg Dossier

Brandenburg is facing major sustainability challenges, such as agrarian transformation, energy transformation, mobility transformation, transformation of Lusatia, adaptation to climate change, promotion of rural areas, revitalisation of the economy after the Corona pandemic, and water supply and water protection. As a Potsdam institute, RIFS is actively involved in sustainability work in Brandenburg.

Tsunami - iStockphoto - estt

Systemic Risks Dossier

Modern societies are vulnerable to “systemic risks” such as pandemics, financial crises, or climate change. Due to their complex and interconnected nature, systemic risks pose a particular challenge to conventional approaches to risk analysis and management. The research group on systemic risks at RIFS analyses risks and opportunities around transformation processes for sustainable development and, in a second step, develops policy recommendations for the governance of systemic risks.