Sustainability, justice, a good life for all – what does this actually mean in concrete terms? The following sections describe what we at the Wuppertal Institute understand by this.

When we at the Wuppertal Institute talk about sustainability, we mean a form of social development that respects the planetary boundaries while meeting basic human needs. After all, a safe operating space for humanity only exists within the planetary boundaries, and this space must be organised in accordance with the principles of social and intergenerational equity.¹

Our work is guided by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by the United Nations, along with their holistic aspirations. Although our research focuses more on certain SDGs than others, we always consider possible interactions with the remaining SDGs. 

Equally central to our work is the understanding that sustainable development cannot be achieved through technical innovations alone; social innovations are at least as important when it comes to achieving the SDGs. Another important strategy is targeted exnovation – discontinuing certain unsustainable practices and technologies. This process is critical to breaking free from legacy issues and making space for something new, thereby stimulating dynamic development.

One thing is clear – sustainable development calls for far-reaching changes. But despite the urgent need for change in many areas, sometimes the key to sustainable development is simply to recognise, protect and strengthen the things that are worth preserving.

Absolute justice is never attainable. The pursuit of justice therefore always entails reducing existing injustices and avoiding or mitigating new injustices as far as possible. In this context, we take three dimensions of justice into account in our work:

1. Distributive justice: Who bears the burden of the transformation, and who benefits from it? We examine these questions in relation to various social groups within a society as well as current and future generations, and international inequality and injustice between countries at different levels of development.
2. Procedural justice: Everyone must have the opportunity to participate in the development and implementation of sustainable solutions. This includes the fair and transparent involvement of all relevant stakeholders, access to information, equal participation in political processes and the accountability of decision makers regarding how they involve people in these processes.
3. Recognition justice: This concerns the question of whether adequate consideration is given to vulnerable and marginalised groups. We believe it is crucial that the potential impacts of the transformation on these groups are examined with particular care. Recognition justice demands that different forms of knowledge are taken into account, power and resources are distributed fairly and efforts are made to combat discrimination.

There is clear evidence of the anthropogenic greenhouse effect, but despite the pledges of many countries to take action against climate change, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has continued to increase over the past ten years.

The consequences of the greenhouse effect are collectively referred to as global warming. Global warming encompasses:

• Rapid warming of the lower atmosphere and the oceans
• Changes in the global water cycle, including rising sea levels
• A reduction in the Earth’s ability to reflect the Sun’s energy – mainly due to a decrease in the proportion of the planet’s surface covered by snow and ice – and thus reduced radiation of heat back into the atmosphere
• Shifting seasonal patterns
• An increase in extreme weather events worldwide, such as heat waves, heavy rain, flooding, droughts and tropical cyclones

Rather than being limited to individual countries, the growing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is a worldwide phenomenon – one that Germany, too, is experiencing and grappling with.

One of the questions raised by the need to curb global warming is the level to which it should be limited. During the international climate negotiations that culminated in the Paris Agreement in 2015, the parties resolved to direct every effort toward limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels – and to keep it well below 2 degrees under all circumstances. This goal was adopted based on a broad scientific consensus on the causes and effects of global warming. Yet, despite the Paris Agreement’s internationally accepted goal and the momentum it generated, global warming is advancing more quickly than steps are being taken by governments and other actors to counteract it. From June 2023 to May 2024, the increase in the global mean surface temperature was more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for a full year for the first time ever – and thus beyond the political targets set at the Paris Climate Change Conference. Furthermore, projections indicate that a further temperature increase can be expected solely as a consequence of past emissions. This is due to the time lag between the emission of greenhouse gases and the resulting global warming effect.

Returning global warming to a tolerable level is therefore the critical challenge now. Based on the findings of climate impact research, we define "tolerable" in the context of our work as long-term compliance with the 1.5-degree target. That is because even a 2-degree rise in temperature would have a much more severe impact on the living conditions of everyone on the planet.

Achieving this goal will not be easy. It demands an immediate and comprehensive change of direction in all areas. Simply striving for net-zero emissions, i.e. ending the net increase in greenhouse gas emissions, is no longer enough. Instead, negative emissions are required to return the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to lower levels. 

For all these reasons, it is not only avoiding and reducing emissions that are key to our work, but also negative emissions and climate change adaptation, which means adapting our living situations to the impacts of global warming.

Definitions of the term "resources" vary widely. They differ depending on the scientific discipline and the international context. The German Environment Agency offers a definition that is commonly used by sustainability researchers in German-speaking countries, including Wuppertal Institute. However, the complexity of the term is evident here, too: A resource is defined as a "means that is used or can be used in a process. A resource can be tangible or intangible. When the term 'resource' is used in the context of environmental science, it is understood to mean a 'natural resource'. In other contexts, however, the term 'resource' is often also interpreted in a very narrow sense and used to refer to raw materials." ² 

There are two points of particular interest here:

• The division into tangible and intangible resources shows that, rather than only referring to raw materials such as ores, fossil fuels or sands, the term also encompasses intangible prerequisites for human action. In addition to knowledge, inventiveness, skills and routines, examples also include immaterial property rights, such as patents, utility models and registered designs. These non-physical resources are important prerequisites for the success and implementation of the transformation towards sustainability, making them an important subject for the work of the Wuppertal Institute.
• The second significant clarification concerns natural resources. They are defined as "resources that are part of nature. These include renewable and non-renewable primary raw materials, physical space (land), environmental media (water, soil, air), flow resources (e.g., geothermal, wind, tidal and solar energy) and biodiversity. It is immaterial whether the resources are used to make products or serve as sinks that absorb emissions (water, soil, air)." ² Even this narrower perspective illustrates the versatility of the term "resources" which we use in our work and in defining the objectives of our projects.

Ideas about what constitutes a good life differ greatly. That is why a collective process of negotiation is needed within society to determine the extent to which individual goals and aspirations can be realised without compromising or restricting other people’s opportunities to live a good life. Germany’s constitution, the Grundgesetz, enshrines essential aspects of a good life within its first five articles: the inviolability of human dignity (Article 1), the right to free development and physical integrity (Article 2), equal rights for all (Article 3), freedom of faith and conscience (Article 4) and freedom of expression (Article 5). 

At the Wuppertal Institute, we take a good life to mean health, quality of life, happiness and well-being in a healthy environment, with inclusivity and justice guiding the way we live and work together. The prerequisite for realising this vision, however, is that humans must live in harmony with nature. This can only be achieved by decoupling material prosperity from resource consumption, living in a way that is climate-friendly and climate-adapted, and ensuring that material flows are circular. Therefore, as we see it, a good life for everyone also means that we contribute through our work to avoiding actions that have a negative impact on the good life of others and on nature, for example when producing and consuming products causes poverty or environmental damage in other parts of society or the world. In other words, a sustainable society makes products available in a way that does not restrict the good life of others or of future generations and, rather than harming nature, protects it as much as possible.

¹ Raworth, K. (2018). Die Donut-Ökonomie – endlich ein Wirtschaftsmodell, das den Planeten nicht zerstört. Carl Hanser Verlag

² Kosmol, J., Kanthak, J., Herrmann, F., Golde, M., Alsleben, C., Penn-Bressel, G., ... & Gromke, U. (2012). Glossar zum Ressourcenschutz. Umweltbundesamt