Greetings

Achim Steiner
Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
“Climate change and growing consumption and over exploitation of sometimes scarce and often finite resources: these are just two examples of the major challenges facing us in the context of sustainability. But the list could go on, of course, which is why an independent research institution such as the Oeko-Institut has such an important role to play. We urgently need highly committed academics and scientists who are able to contribute creative ideas for the solution of these and other pressing problems. For the last 30 years, the Institute has played a key role in European sustainability research and consultancy. I am absolutely convinced that its influence will increase further in future, for one thing is clear: Even if, as a global community, we can rise to deal with the central challenges of today, we know already that we face many challenges in the world of tomorrow."

Rebecca Harms
member of the European Parliament
“It was no mere coincidence that we people of the Wendland got together in February 1977 to form the “Lüchow-Dannenberg against Gorleben” campaign group and that the Oeko-Institut was founded only shortly afterwards. 1977 was the year in which we travelled to Brokdorf, Grohnde, Kalkar and Malville, the year of the great protests against nuclear madness. Nuclear waste casks, rock salt and molasse clay, the pros and cons of jamming strategies to prevent nuclear waste leaving the power stations, nuclear consensus or nuclear nonsense, the plan for a single permanent disposal site for nuclear waste or dumping in Schacht Konrad, autonomy or government control, nuclear power and climate, fuel from plants, carbon capture, the efficiency revolution: what topics those were and what a debate with and about and by and against and for the Oeko-Institut! I would not want to have missed those thirty years with their highs and lows with all you green campaigners. And if they are still alive they will still be talking and writing in 2020…... I take my hat off to you!“

Dr. Annette Schavan
Federal Minister for Education and Research
“I should like to send your Institute my warmest congratulations on its 30th anniversary. In founding the Oeko-Institut you have played a part in creating in Germany an issue-led transdisciplinary research environment – something that we need more urgently than ever before in order to meet the challenges of sustainable social development. I therefore wish the Institute continuing success for the future.”

Tanja Gönner
Environment Minister for the state of Baden-Württemberg
“Climate change is the central challenge of environmental policy. This highlights the paradigm shift that is taking place in environmental policy: it is often not enough to pursue one environmental goal single-mindedly. Conflicts of interest with other environmentally relevant points of view become increasingly visible and make it necessary to deliberate carefully and find compromise solutions.
Renewable energies are indeed a key to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In practice, though, different interests collide:

increased use of biomass can result in extensive monoculture of energy plants and a loss of biodiversity
the expansion of hydropower impacts on the ecology of lakes and rivers
wind power conflicts with nature conservation and the preservation of the landscape

- to name just a few examples. This opens up many interesting and exciting areas of research. Further work in these areas can be most useful in helping to develop an environmental policy based on sustainability.”

Ernst Schwanhold
head of the BASF Competence Center Environment, Safety and Energy
“When it was founded in the 1970s the Oeko-Institut was ahead of its time: ecological issues were slow to capture the attention of the general public. In the past 30 years the Institute has repeatedly led the way in the specialist discussion of a large number of issues: often uncomfortably, occasionally with debatable aims – but always as an enrichment.

My wish is that the Institute will continue to contribute its expertise to society’s discourse. A particularly important aspect of this debate is the difficult balance between ecological requirements and economic necessity. I am delighted that we are working successfully with the Oeko-Institut on the development of sustainability instruments such as eco-efficiency analysis. We value the Institute’s know-how, continue to maintain our critical distance and wish the committed staff every success for the future.”

Reiner Metzger
deputy editor-in-chief of the taz newspaper
“After the founding of taz, the Oeko-Institut was a cornerstone of its reporting. At last there were experts who were trusted by members of the wide-ranging green movement. In the environment’s great battle year of 1986 the Oeko-Institut was quoted in the newspaper almost daily – people were concerned about Chernobyl, pesticides in the Rhine and the incineration of hazardous waste. Of course the high level of prominence given to environmental issues could not be sustained over decades. But now the environment is at the top of the list again – and we still like to ask the Oeko-Institut. Who else?”

Dr. Wolfgang Gawrisch
Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Research/Technology and Chairman of the Sustainability Council, Henkel
“All over the world companies such as Henkel are increasingly judged by the contribution they make to sustainable development. Sustainable development is a global challenge and one that requires us to work together with all the different interest groups. Companies need regional solutions for specific needs. Think tanks such as the Oeko-Institut play an important part in coming up with such solutions. We hope that the Oeko-Institut will continue to contribute constructive ideas – for a future worth living.”

Dr. Angelika Zahrnt
Chair of BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany)
“30 years – in the lives of individuals that is when things often start to get quieter and more settled and more realistic. That’s all right. But in the lives of organizations that shouldn’t happen. My wish for the Oeko-Institut is that despite being close to the ground it will not lose its sense of vision; that for all the praise it receives it will still have the courage to say things that are unpopular; that economic success will not stand in the way of non-material goals; that however diverse its partners may become there will always be a special relationship with the environmental movement. All best wishes for 30+!”

Dr. Dieter Salomon
Mayor of the city of Freiburg
“Thirty years ago opposition to the Wyhl nuclear power station provided the impetus for the founding of the Oeko-Institut. It was an expression of a well-founded distrust of the nuclear lobby and it paved the way for a new field of study that was critical of the nuclear approach.
Freiburg is fortunate to have the Oeko-Institut. It acts as an expert adviser to local politicians and contributes important new ideas. In the current debate on climate protection the Freiburg action plan bears the hallmarks of the Oeko-Institut’s influence.

I offer my thanks for this collaboration and wish the Institute every success in its continuing work!”

Prof. Dr. Andreas Troge
President of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA)
"I should like to thank the Oeko-Institut for its committed and sound advice – which never loses sight of the need to be able to turn suggestions into practical action at policy level. The Institute has provided important support to the Federal Environment Agency. My wish for the Oeko-Institut is that it will continue its original philosophy with the same commitment and success that have brought it this far!”

Dr. Thomas Jahn
head of the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE)
“30 years of consistently taking social responsibility seriously, 30 years of working with vigour at the interface of science and politics, 30 years of highlighting practical pathways for a sustainable society – from a political initiative to a prestigious institution. Happy birthday! My wish is that the Oeko-Institut will continue to be a reliable partner in social-ecological research, a source of good ideas with sustainable impact.”

Thomas Korbun
Scientific Director at the Institute for Ecological Economic Research
“30 years of the Oeko-Institut – that is 30 years of pioneering work in applied environmental research and consultancy. The Institute’s work has paved the way for sustainable change – in environmental research, politics, and among many individuals. On a personal note: my career ideas at the end of the 1980s were strongly influenced by the model of the committed scientists who worked for the Oeko-Institut. And so I look forward to the continuation of their success story – happy birthday!”