SustEcon Conference – The contribution of a sustainable economy to achieving the SDGs

Background information

The international conference „SustEcon Conference – The contribution of a sustainable economy to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals” took place on 25 and 26 September 2017 at the Freie Universität in Berlin, Germany (organised by the NaWiKo project).

The focus of the conference was on the contributions of the sustainable economy to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This contribution can be observed on a number of different levels: Innovations toward achieving the SDGs are to be as much a topic at the conference as methodological questions about measuring sustainability. In addition to that, the differences between various discourses and concepts and their respective contributions to the sustainable economy were also featured prominently in the conference. A further topic of interest was the (political) framework conditions and barriers to a sustainable economy as well as the contribution of science to the SDGs.

Agenda

The conference booklet (incl. conference agenda and all abstracts) can be found here.

Presentations

You can find some of the presentations held below as PDFs for download - other presentations cannot be made available or will come at a later date.

Day 1 - Monday, 25 September - 14:00-15:30

Paper Session I: Measuring Sustainability in the Context of the SDGs:  Developing indicators

• The Green Horizons Scoreboard: indicators on innovation for sustainable development

Paper Session III: Innovations for and governance of the supply chain in the context of the SDGs

• Approaches to Reducing Food Losses in the Fruit and Vegetable Production in Germany

Day 1 - Monday, 25 September - 16:00-17:30

Paper Session V: Taking a closer look at the individual consumer: understanding consumers' daily decisions

• Effects of a consumption-focused mindfulness training – qualitative evaluation of an intervention study
• Thinking green but buying thoughtless? An empirical examination of the attitude behavior gap among German clothing consumers

Paper Session VI: Real-world laboratories and SDGs

• Real‐world laboratories and SDGs

Day 2 - Tuesday, 26 September - 09:30-10:30

Plenary Session: Keynote “Shaping transformations to Sustainability”
Dr. Florian Kern (University of Sussex)

Day 2 - Tuesday, 26 September - 11:00-12:00

Semi Plenary I: Panel Discussion “Innovations for the Sustainable Economy”

• Dr. Paula Kivimaa (University of Sussex – SPRU)
• Prof. Dr. Derk Loorbach (Erasmus University Rotterdam – DRIFT)

Day 2 - Tuesday, 26 September - 13:00-14:30

Paper Session VIII: Innovation of food supply chains by designing sustainable food production and consumption systems

• The resource nexus and a systemic approach to innovation in the food system
• 4PL strategy dynamics and supply chain responsibility – insights from three online food retailing cases

Paper Session X: On the importance of motivation and cultural change for realising a sustainable economy    

• Sustainable consumption and the need for economic and cultural change
• Involving green employees for eco-innovation development

Paper Session IX: Decoupling, Circular Economy and Sustainable Business Models

• Applying a quantitative decoupling indicator as a methodology to evaluate the sustainability properties of an economy
• Regulation and regenerative eco-innovation: the case of extracted materials in the UK
• RECYCLING OF STEEL, ALUMINIUM, PAPER AND GLAS AND THEIR ENERGY-ECONOMIC SCOPE

Paper Session XI: Public discourse, perceptions and acceptance of sustainable economy issues

• Perception of sustainability activities of small and medium-sized enterprises by citizens. A regional case study in a rural area in Germany
• Consumer discourses on meat consumption – recommendations for alternative approaches to more ethical poultry production in Germany?

Paper Session XIII: The role of the SDGs in Sustainability Assessments

• Sustainability assessment in the social-ecological research for sustainable production and comsumption between ideal and practice

Day 2 - Tuesday, 26 September - 15:00-16:00

Paper Session XIV: The role of actors, technologies and framework conditions in transforming towards sustainability

• Transformative challenger and absorptive incumbents: Dissemination barriers for local social, ecological and solidarity food economies and strategies to circumvent them

Paper Session XV: International perspectives on transition to sustainability in urban areas

• Explaining China’s Commitment to Sustainable Development

Paper Session XVI: Influence of techno-economic change and public policy on transition pathways

• Peak Materials Demand - Evidence on the Saturation Effect

Contact

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions concerning this conference.

For questions or requests concerning participation and organisational matters, please contact the organizing team of Ecologic Institute at sustecon@ecologic.eu.

For content related questions or requests, please contact the organizing team of the Environmental Policy Research Centre (FFU) at sustecon@polsoz.fu-berlin.de.

Photos