Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie NRW IV

In 2026, the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) will update its Sustainability Strategy for the second time. Against this background, the NRW Ministry of the Environment is funding accompanying research by the Wuppertal Institute once again. The project focuses on analysing central approaches for an impact-oriented implementation of sustainable development in NRW.

The project is divided into four research modules focusing on the following key areas:

• development of action fields and transformation pathways for sustainable development
• conceptual proposals for monitoring and dashboard presentation
• Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and participation: analysis of the consideration of suggestions for improvement of the participation process for the further development of the NRW Sustainability Strategy and analysis of ESD formats in non-formal education, of participation formats for children and youth, and of real-world laboratories in NRW
• analysis of the correlations between sustainability and aspects of justice, as well as their integration into the NRW Sustainability Strategy

The project receives professional advice from "TEAM Nachhaltigkeit" (Team Sustainability). Established in 2014, this body is composed of stakeholders from economy, municipal associations, civil society, and academia in North Rhine-Westphalia.