Committed to sustainability

The 2010 Sustainability Congress, part of Baden-Württemberg’s sustainability strategy, featured more than 500 guests, around 30 exhibitors, and more than 20 top-class speakers from the worlds of politics, business, government and society. This year’s focus: Voluntary involvement within the federal state.

The people of Baden-Württemberg are more than familiar with voluntary work. This is demonstrated not only by the figures – almost half the people in the federal state do voluntary work, making Baden-Württemberg the front runner across Germany – but also by this year's Sustainability Congress. At the invitation of the Baden-Württemberg sustainability strategy and IFOK, more than 500 guests, exhibitors, and speakers from the worlds of politics, business, government, and society met at the strategy’s annual highlight in Essen. Participant’s included the state’s Prime Minster Stefan Mappus, as well as Environment and Transport Minister Tanja Gönner. In the Neckar Forum participants discussed local sustainability as part of citizens’ commitment, voluntary work, the sustainability strategy, and the Local Agenda 21. Volunteers who get involved in these ways are a pillar of the community – without their commitment, sustainable development would be impossible. The Sustainability Congress therefore looked at all aspects of voluntary work – not least to discuss how even more citizens could be encouraged to get involved, and how a better participant network could be established, in order to achieve sustainable development together.

In the morning, 30 exhibitors provided information on their pioneering projects on voluntary work in the regions of Baden-Württemberg. The plenary session in the afternoon was entertainingly led by exhibition ambassador and cabaret artist Christoph Sonntag. The subsequent presentations, discussions, and reports from the field looked at the question of what can be done locally for climate protection, and what successful cross-generational commitment should look like. Examples of projects with young people and in the areas of sport, education, and integration showed how sustainability can be jointly learned. Guests also had the opportunity to become actively involved, and shared their experiences in 50 round-table discussions. The Congress was moderated by N24 TV presenter Julia Böhm and IFOK CEO Henning Banthien.