The economic crisis starting in 2008 stopped the momentum of transformation towards renewable energies and sustainable transport systems, but also provided opportunities for sustainable development.  The 7th Conference of the British-German Environment Forum (BGEF) meeting at Wilton Park on 24-26 February 2011 investigated the potential for green growth and moving economic policy Beyond GDP by increasing resource efficiency and decoupling of economic development from resource depletion and pollution. R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute is an initiator and coordinator of the BGEF.

Against the background of the Bundestag Enquête Commission on Growth, Prosperity and the Quality of Life, represented by its member Herrmann Ott (MdB), the programme of the 7th BGEF Conference covered:

• Prospects for the Global Economy over the next five Years
• Sustainable Development in Britain, Germany, and the global economy
• The Feasibility of Prosperity and Green Growth, looking at
  • The Paradox of Growth
  • The “Post-Growth Society”
  • Global Perspectives on an EU Green Deal
• Technologies Providing the Solutions to Sustainable Growth
• Decoupling of Prosperity from Growth (in Germany and the UK)
• Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy
• Transition to Greener Growth in Emerging and Developing Economies.

Further information on the conference is available here.

Podcasts with German Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety Ursula Heinen-Esser and BGEF Co-Chair Tom Burke can be found here.

The British-German Environment Forum (BGEF) brings together policy makers and practitioners from business, public agencies, science and non-governmental organisations roughly every two years for 2-day conferences, alternating between Britain and Germany.  It provides a forum for the exchange of views and lessons for good practice and innovations between two key European countries with distinctive strengths and weaknesses in environmental policy, and with different policy cultures in relation to the environment. 

The BGEF thus seeks to strengthen bilateral relations between the UK and Germany, in the European and global context.  The BGEF is co-chaired by Tom Burke, Environment Policy Adviser to Rio Tinto, London, for the UK, and for Germany Jo Leinen, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and chairman of its environment committee.  Wilton Park, hosting the 7th BGEF Conference in 2011, is an executive agency of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), and a world-renowned convenor and centre providing a neutral and discreet environment for “off the record” discussions on the most pressing global problems, international affairs and strategic policy issues.

Further Links:

• Ecologic Institute Project and Conference: Beyond GDP – Measuring progress, true wealth, and the well-being of nations and web site of the EU Initiative "Beyond GDP"
• Ecologic Institute Project: Integrating Mainstream Economic Indicators with Sustainable Development Objectives (IN-STREAM) and IN-STREAM web site
• Ecologic Institute Project: One Planet Economy Network: Europe (OPEN:EU) and OPEN:EU web site
• Ecologic Institute Project: Potential of the Ecological Footprint for monitoring environmental impact from natural resource use
• Ecologic Institute Project: Establishing threshholds for environmental sustainability and a related set of indicators
• Ecologic Institute Project: EU Arctic Footprint and Policy Assessment and EU Arctic Footprint and Policy Assessment web site
• Dinner Dialogue: Mathis Wackernagel on The Ecological Footprint: How should we define prosperity in a world of scarce resources?
• Eurostat Publication (supported by Ecologic Institute): "Sustainable development in the European Union. 2009 monitoring report of the EU sustainable development strategy"