Environment and Sustainability

The Environment and Sustainability Division at DLR Projektträger performs research and innovation management related to various fields of environmental and sustainability policy. With thematic and organisational-administrative expertise, we support our clients in the implementation of projects on environmental and sustainability research and nature conservation. We develop action-oriented strategies, manage funding programmes and projects, accompany dialogue processes and support the transfer of knowledge as well as the transfer into practice – nationally, at European level and internationally.

Our extensive range of topics – from regional to global

Central fields of competence in the area of environment and sustainability:

• Earth system research
• Biodiversity research
• Climate protection
• Sustainable land management
• Nature conservation
• Socio-ecological and economic transformation
• Environmental technology
• Transport transition
• Sustainable development of cities and regions

We design and implement your funding programmes

Our staff have broad scientific expertise and many years of experience in inter- and transdisciplinary research and innovation funding as well as in the participatory design of funding programmes and measures.

We keep an eye on current environmental and sustainability-relevant developments, trends and challenges, quickly identify important and necessary needs for action and research, and advise our clients accordingly.

We actively shape target-oriented funding concepts and instruments and accompany them with appropriate communication, dialogue and information formats.

We network and support transfer processes

Our strength lies in advising our clients on research policy and at the interface between scientific research and practical application. We implement mandates to network the science system and to promote knowledge transfer between research, politics and society.

Our approach – inter- and transdisciplinary

The transformation of our economy and way of life under the guiding principle of sustainable development is the focus of the Social-Ecological Research funding priority. Here, too, our experts contribute their proven expertise in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to social sustainability challenges, for example by initiating participatory agenda and consultation processes and actively networking research and implementation actors.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Red List Centre and more: We run coordination centres and agencies

The German IPCC Coordination Office is the national point of contact for science, government, authorities, the public and the media on questions concerning the IPCC. In this way, we facilitate the transfer of knowledge between research and politics and actively shape the IPCC process.

The German IPBES Coordination Office (IPBES: Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, World Biodiversity Council), which is based at our office, also works at the interface between science and politics. We help to communicate the results of the IPBES process to national research, politics and the public – and thus support necessary decision-making processes.

Both coordination offices have been established in our area by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUV) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). In the meantime, responsibility for the IPCC has been transferred from the BMUV to the Federal Foreign Office (AA). We accompany and coordinate the technical work of the platform, which supports the Federal Government with scientific expertise in the implementation and further development of Germany’s long-term strategy for climate protection.

In addition, the Red List Centre and the coordination of two large competence centres for climate change and adapted land management in southern and western Africa (SASSCAL and WASCAL) are located in the department.