Projects
Civic engagement is becoming increasingly important for sustainable urban development geared towards the common good. With their interest in liveable, everyday urban spaces, active citizens are driving forward sustainable, cooperative forms of building, living, consuming and working. In doing so, they contribute (at least implicitly) to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, environmentally friendly production processes and the protection of biodiversity. Although civic engagement is recognized as having great potential, it often remains disconnected from administrative processes: Both sides do not come together sufficiently in municipal governance, which reduces the impact of engagement.
The measures for the promotion of initiatives for social innovations by the BMBF are evaluated together with technopolis and scientifically reflective processed.
Against the background of a growing global demand for proteins and at the same time significant negative impacts of the production of animal products, the focus of the project is on the exploration of alternative protein sources and analogues. The aim is to obtain an overview of current processes, raw materials and products for the provision of alternative proteins and analogues and to investigate, on the basis of a selection, how likely and desirable the diffusion of these alternatives is.
In February 2019, the German Federal Cabinet approved the National Strategy for Reducing Food Waste presented by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL).
ISIconsult accompanies target-oriented measures in the field of nutrition in the state of Brandenburg in 2023 and 2024. The aim is to win over actors in the food system to participate in the implementation of the strategic goals and to record implementation measures by means of monitoring.
As part of the WWF project "CLIF - Climate Impacts of Food", ISIconsult is conducting a social-empirical study together with Zühlsdorf + Partner on the relevant sustainability impacts of food consumption in Paraguay, Thailand, South Africa and Germany.
In February 2019, the German Federal Cabinet approved the National Strategy for Reducing Food Waste presented by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL).
From October 2021, ISIconsult will accompany the project as evaluator until November 2023.
FOM is carrying out the project on the application of AI in resource planning in driving professions as part of the New Quality of Work Initiative (INQA), federal program "Future-proof administration in digital change" of the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in three partner companies.
A key solution approach for a more sustainable diet is the design of fair food environments, which is understood to include healthier and more sustainable mass catering (GM). Bremen already recognized this task in 2018 with its "Action Plan 2025 - Healthy Nutrition in Community Catering in the Municipality of Bremen" and set itself the goal of increasing the quality of community catering and switching the range to 100 percent organic and, as far as possible, regional products.
The production and consumption of food in Germany is associated with environmental problems, especially with regard to intensive animal husbandry for food production. Health problems are also associated with the consumption of animal products, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.
The production and consumption of food in Germany is associated with environmental problems, especially with regard to intensive animal husbandry for food production. Health problems are also associated with the consumption of animal products, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. From the perspective of a more sustainable diet, a ‘Dietary Shift’ is therefore urgently needed (WBAE 2020).
Distance selling has been growing steadily in Germany and Europe for years.
The project takes up the approach stated in the National Program for Sustainable Consumption (NPNK) of understanding and promoting sustainable nutrition as a concept that is equally health-promoting and ecological.
The large quantities of waste that are constantly produced are valuable raw materials. Waste prevention is therefore of great importance. The first waste prevention program of the federal and state governments responds to this. However, the approaches often lack practical relevance, which is why a stronger concretization and binding nature of waste prevention is necessary.
From June 2019, ISIconsult will accompany the project as evaluator until November 2021.
Technological progress and digitization have a facilitating and pleasant effect on the one hand, but on the other hand lead to a considerable environmental impact due to rapid obsolescence.
On March 13, 2017, the cabinet of the Hessian state government approved the Integrated Climate Protection Plan 2025 (IKSP). The package of measures contained therein also provides for the creation of a nationwide waste prevention strategy.
From August 2019, ISIconsult will accompany the project as an evaluator.
In order to do justice to current urbanization processes in the sense of sustainable urban development, the inclusion of gender aspects is unavoidable. Insights into behavior and responsibilities, such as the unequal distribution of care work between the sexes, different income distributions, but also gender-specific consumption and nutrition practices are elementary.
Waste prevention as a central field of action of modern environmental policy is at the top of the five-level waste hierarchy. Despite numerous environmental policy efforts in recent years, the per capita volume of municipal waste in Germany is rising. At the same time, the German population is said to have a very high level of environmental awareness.
Within the project, ISIconsult supports the implementation of the National Program for Sustainable Consumption as well as the associated competence center in the partner consortium.
The project aims to identify potentials and synergies for socio-ecological change processes in the classic areas of environmental engagement as well as in other areas of civic engagement, and to derive recommendations for promotion and action for their dissemination.
With regard to the task of a sustainable transformation of society, the question arises under which social and political conditions it can be possible to promote a development in urban areas that is oriented towards the common good and socially acceptable, and which potentials classical, but especially innovative socio-ecologically oriented forms of communal living together and community- as well as common good-oriented social practices can unfold in this context.
The project builds on the work and results of the BMUB- and UBA-funded research project "Sustainable Consumption through Social Innovation - Concepts and Practice" and extends it to include the perspective of consumers.
The changes in production and working conditions strongly emphasize the importance of non-technical innovations, which often cannot be supported under the existing technology and innovation programs of the federal government. Open user-centric development and implementation processes are becoming increasingly important. Therefore, the project aims at a decision-optimized determination of such forms and the public funding needs as well as funding measures.
The aim is to gather opinions on the "Act on the Equal Participation of Women and Men in Leadership Positions," which was passed by the German Bundestag on March 6, 2015, and the status of implementation in the companies concerned.
The concept study aims to examine the extent to which Citizen Science is applicable in Federal Environment Agency's (UBA) departmental research with a view to concrete examples. It will analyze the purposes and forms of Citizen Science that can be usefully applied, where appropriate, in UBA's departmental research and in environmental policy as a whole.
The aim of the UBA colloquia was to support the exchange of experience and networking of ideas between public institutions, scientific institutions involved in applied sustainability and transformation research, and also within the Federal Environment Agency.