On 2 December 2011, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation London and Compass hosted a one day conference on sustainability titled: "Sustainability and the Good Society". The debate was part of the ongoing Good Society process to define new perspectives for social democratic or progressive policies in Europe. Max Grünig, Fellow at the Ecologic Institute, presented "European priorities for sustainability" and wrote an online comment "Stating Our Priorities". The article and presentation are available for download.

Contributions covered aspects such as measuring sustainability, green growth and a Green New Deal, sustainability and equity and social justice as well as the links of the current economic and debt crisis with the three pillars of sustainability: economic, social and environmental aspects.

Max Grünig, Fellow at Ecologic Institute Berlin, gave a presentation on European priorities for sustainability, analysing current EU strategies and policies such as Europe 2020 and the Horizon 2020 research programme with regard to their sustainability impacts.

Prior to the conference, the Social Europe Journal initiated an online discussion on sustainability as part of their Good Society Online Debate, in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and Compass.

Max Grünig wrote a contribution for the debate, asking policy makers and citizens to get to "Stating our priorities".