Since 1991, the DBU has funded more than 10,000 projects with € 1.84 billion. At the same time, the foundation capital (€ 1.28 billion at the beginning) was increased to around € 2.32 billion.

Funded projects should achieve sustainable effects in practice, give impulses and lead to a “multiplier effect”. It is the objective of the DBU to contribute to the solution of current environmental problems, in particular, which result from unsustainable business practices and lifestyles. The DBU sees the crucial challenges primarily in the areas of climate change, biodiversity loss, unsustainable use of natural resources, and harmful emissions. The funding topics are linked both to current scientific findings on the Planetary Boundaries and to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

The Board of Trustees

The DBU is chaired by the Board of Trustees whose members are appointed by the Federal Government. It is composed of federal and state politicians as well as representatives of other socially relevant groups.

The Leopoldina champions the freedom and appreciation of science. It promotes a scientifically enlightened society and the responsible application of scientific insight for the benefit of humankind and the natural world. In its interdisciplinary discourse, the Academy transcends thematic, political, and cultural boundaries. It is also an advocate of human rights.

It is the role of the Leopoldina, in co-operation with other national and international organisations, to identify and analyse scientific issues of social importance. The Leopoldina presents its policy recommendations in a scientifically qualified, independent, transparent, and prospective manner, ever mindful of the standards and consequences of science.

On 3 March 2020, AlgorithmWatch launched a project to monitor Instagram’s newsfeed algorithm. Volunteers could install a browser add-on that scraped their Instagram newsfeeds. Data was sent to a database we used to study how Instagram prioritizes pictures and videos in a user’s timeline.

Over the last 14 months, about 1,500 volunteers installed the add-on. With their data, we were able to show that Instagram likely encouraged content creators to post pictures that fit specific representations of their body, and that politicians were likely to reach a larger audience if they abstained from using text in their publications (Facebook denied both claims). Although we could not conduct a precise audit of Instagram’s algorithm, this research is among the most advanced studies ever conducted on the platform. The project was supported by the European Data Journalism Network and by the Dutch foundation SIDN. It was done in partnership with Mediapart in France, NOS, Groene Amsterdammer and Pointer in the Netherlands, Süddeutsche Zeitung in Germany and was covered by dozens of news outlets over the world.

by Nicolas Kayser-Bril

In addition, the financial sector is still undergoing a profound transformation process. The regulatory environment remains a headwind for financial institutions, and new technologies are changing the rules of the game. Populism and political and geopolitical uncertainties create additional challenges, curtailing investment and risk-taking. Finally, the ever-increasing focus for investors and corporations alike on topics around ESG – environmental, social, and governance – and sustainability brings with it a whole new set of challenges and opportunities that need to be navigated. An important element in successfully tackling these challenges is a healthy corporate culture that allows for the necessary change to happen – including an increase in female representation and a better gender balance in corporate board rooms.

This conference will present an outlook on these developments and their implications for the financial services industry and economies at large, primarily presented by leading female exponents of the financial services industry as well as key public authorities.

Such questions are complex, and it for this reason that the Research Centre "Normative Orders" of Goethe University in Frankfurt works on an interdisciplinary basis: from philosophy, history, political science and law to ethnology, economics, sociology and theology.

Growing public discontent with globalization has led to increased nationalist and protectionist policies in economies around the globe. These policies affect how companies operate internationally, especially with regard to their global value chains, resulting in important implications for international development. In this panel, experts discuss the potential effects of a slower globalization or de-globalization on the economic development of emerging and developing countries.

This event is organized by the Department of Global Business and Trade and will be held online only

Lecture / discussion:

Hafiz Mirza, Lead, Responsible Agricultural Investment Research, Agriculture & Investment Economic Law & Policy Programme, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Canada/Switzerland

Rajneesh Narula, The John H. Dunning Chair in International Business Henley Business School, United Kingdom

Annie Wei, Chair in International Business, University of Leeds, United Kingdom

Abel Kinoti, Dean, School of Business, Founding Chair, Academy of International Business – Africa, Innovation and Social Business Incubation Consultant in Africa, China Research-Based Study Program, Riara University, Nairobi, Kenya

Moderation:

Alex Mohr, Professor of International Business, Department of Global Business and Trade, WU

The Workshop is organised by Stephanie Ettmeier and Marie Huber, Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Global History at the HU Berlin. Taking our own research projects – dealing with the postcolonial economy of Francophone West Africa, and the recovery of the German economy from the Great Depression under the Nazis from 1933 onwards, respectively – as a starting point, we want to invite others working on economic experiences and expectations to discuss these questions with us. In a critical thinking and discussion focused workshop format, we want to strengthen interdisciplinary conversation and provide methodological impulses for a broad range of research topics.  

Keynote Lectures

Ute Röschenthaler, Universität Mainz, will give a keynote lecture and provide valuable input during the discussions.

With Dr. Peer Illner (Normative Orders, Goethe University) and Prof. Darrel Moellendorf (Normative Orders, Goethe University)

Welcome Address by: Prof. Rainer Forst (Normative Orders, Goethe University)

Organized by: Dr. Peer Illner (Author)

Many communities in the United States have been abandoned by the state. What happens when natural disasters add to their misery? This book looks at the broken relationship between the federal government and civil society in times of crises.

Mutual aid has gained renewed importance in providing relief when hurricanes, floods and pandemics hit, as cuts to state spending put significant strain on communities struggling to survive. Harking back to the self-organised welfare programmes of the Black Panther Party, radical social movements from Occupy to Black Lives Matter are building autonomous aid networks within and against the state. However, as the federal responsibility for relief is lifted, mutual aid faces a profound dilemma: do ordinary people become complicit in their own exploitation?

Reframing disaster relief through the lens of social reproduction, Peer Illner tracks the shifts in American emergency aid, from the economic crises of the 1970s to the COVID-19 pandemic, raising difficult questions about mutual aid’s double-edged role in cuts to social spending. As sea levels rise, climate change worsens and new pandemics sweep the globe, Illner’s analysis of the interrelations between the state, the market and grassroots initiatives will prove indispensable.

Fossil fuel companies have followed the example of other industries deflecting blame (think "guns don't kill people, people kill people") or greenwashing (think of the beverage industry's "Crying Indian" commercials of the 1970s). Meanwhile, they've blocked efforts to regulate or price carbon emissions, run PR campaigns aimed at discrediting viable alternatives, and have abdicated their responsibility in fixing the problem they've created. The result has been disastrous for our planet.

In The New Climate War, Mann argues that all is not lost. He draws the battle lines between the people and the polluters-fossil fuel companies, right-wing plutocrats, and petrostates. And he outlines a plan for forcing our governments and corporations to wake up and make real change, including:

• a common-sense, attainable approach to carbon pricing- and a revision of the well-intentioned but flawed currently proposed version of the Green New Deal;
• allowing renewable energy to compete fairly against fossil fuels
• debunking the false narratives and arguments that have worked their way into the climate debate and driven a wedge between even those who support climate change solutions
• combatting climate doomism and despair-mongering

Michael E. Mann is Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Penn State, with joint appointments in the Department of Geosciences and the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. In 2020 he was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He is the author of numerous books, including Dire Predictions, Climate Wars, and The Madhouse Effect.

Bill Nye, scientist, engineer, comedian, author, and inventor, is a man with a mission: to help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work. Making science entertaining and accessible is something Bill has been doing most of his life.

The Center’s work is guided by social philosophy and oriented towards the project of a critical theory of society. It also draws from the specific resources the humanities have to offer. “Democracy” is then not only understood as a form of government, nor is “capitalism” understood as a mere economic formation. Instead, both are treated in a broad sense as a complex ensemble of social institutions and practices or as socio-cultural life forms.

Based on the programme of the early Critical Theory, the task of the Center can be described as follows: By giving society a space for reflection and by fathoming possible courses of action, the analysis of crises is the “theoretical side of the practical process of emancipation.”

The Policy Lab Digital, Work & Society will combine projects and processes dealing with the digital transformation at the BMAS and use them to create a bigger picture of the labour market of the future. It will thus provide a central supporting function for academia, those people involved at a practical level and social partners. The Policy Lab will follow an approach where digitalisation is considered in a consistent and systematic manner based on its impact on people and their social and civic relationships. Especially against the background of a constantly changing digital economy, this approach will be based on the firm conviction that employment relationships can be oriented to the needs of employees and the requirements of good working practices.

The basis of our work We have dedicated ourselves to the delivery, stimulation and cultivation of political knowledge in Bavaria and Germany above all party lines. Thus we are working towards a stronger foundation of our democracy and its international relations. Not only do we keep a focus on state and federal policies, but to various sites of political processes worldwide and pick up on the latest topics in politics, economy and society and make them a subject of discussion. The academy was founded by the Bavarian Parliament in 1957 as an autonomous and independent public-law institution. The academy is financed by the Free State of Bavaria, but retains full independence in the statutory framework set forth by the Bavarian Ministry of Culture and Education. It cannot be compared to any other institution for political education in Germany. We conduct – partially in cooperation with other partners – courses, seminars, workshops and scholarly conferences on our own premises in Tutzing on Lake Starnberg. Besides that, we arrange conferences and roundtable discussions with politicians and other figures of public prominence throughout Bavaria. Most of the seminars we offer are organized by our own renowned experts who invite subject familiar professionals from all over the world. In exceptional cases, we host seminars with other institutions.

The digital conference will focus on the transformation of the economy and society to shape a sustainable future. The event will be hosted by Svenja Schulze, German Minister of the Environment, and Dirk Messner, President of the German Environment Agency.

The agenda for the conference can be found here.

In light of the existing and expected restrictions on travel and group gatherings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision was taken to hold the conference as a virtual event. Attendees can participate in the conference through a live stream on the homepage of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety, and will have the opportunity to interact with speakers and other participants using voting tools and Q&A sessions (no installation needed). Links will be provided in the official invitation. There will be no registration and the conference will be held in English.

Die Einwahldaten werden nach der Anmeldung übermittelt. Oxford University Press 2020 Veranstalter: Forschungsverbund "Normative Ordnungen" der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Leibniz-Institut für Medienforschung | Hans-Bredow-Institut, Sustainable Computing Lab, WU Wien, Humboldt-Institut für Internet und Gesellschaft (HIIG) und Oxford University Press

Paul Begala was a chief strategist for the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign. He served as counselor to the president in the Clinton White House, where he coordinated policy, politics, and communications. He was senior adviser to the pro-Obama Super PAC that played a critical role in reelecting Obama in 2012. He is the author of five books. Begala is a CNN political commentator and an affiliated professor of public policy at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy.

Fox News contributor and veteran political strategist Donna Brazile is the former interim Chair of the Democratic National Committee and became the first African American woman to serve as the manager of a major party presidential campaign, running the campaign of former Vice President Al Gore. She is the author of the 2004 best-selling memoir Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics and the 2017 New York Times Bestseller Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-Ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump In The White House. She is a co-author of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics, which won the 2019 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Nonfiction.

The day the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its 1.5-degree report, commissioned by the UN, was also the day William Nordhaus was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics “for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis” as embodied in his influential Dynamic Integrated Climate-Economy (DICE) model. The UN Paris Agreement called to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees to contain climate risks. Nordhaus’s numbers point to 3.5 degrees as the economically optimal warming by the year 2100. Now a new study published in Nature Climate Change has produced an update to the DICE model that can help to reconcile the camps.

David Shimer is pursuing a doctorate in international relations at the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar. His reporting and analysis have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Foreign Affairs.

Timothy Snyder is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. His most recent book is On Tyranny.

Protocol: The Power of Diplomacy and How to Make It Work for You looks at why diplomacy and etiquette matter—from the international stage to everyday life. When the notion of basic civility seems to be endangered, Protocol reminds us how critical these principles are while providing an accessible guide for anyone who wants to be empowered by the tools of diplomacy.

Marshall will be in conversation with former first lady, U.S. senator, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the co-author, most recently, of The Book of Gutsy Women, with her daughter Chelsea Clinton.

Zachary D. Carter is a senior reporter at HuffPost, where he covers Congress, the White House, and economic policy. He is a frequent guest on cable news and news radio, and his written work has also appeared in The New Republic, The Nation, and The American Prospect, among other outlets. His story, “Swiped: Banks, Merchants and Why Washington Doesn’t Work for You” was included in the Columbia Journalism Review’s compilation Best Business Writing. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

After all, how can a political party maintain power in a democracy if it serves only the interests of a narrow and wealthy slice of society? Today’s Republicans have shown the way, doubling down on a truly radical, elite-benefiting economic agenda while at the same time making increasingly incendiary racial and cultural appeals to their almost entirely white base. Telling a forty-year story, Hacker and Pierson demonstrate that since the early 1980s, when inequality started spiking, extreme tax cutting, union busting, and deregulation have gone hand in hand with extreme race-baiting, outrage stoking, and disinformation. Instead of responding to the real challenges facing voters, the Republican Party offers division and distraction—most prominently, in the racist, nativist bile of the president’s Twitter feed.

This series of online events offers an opportunity for Parties and other stakeholders to continue exchanging views and sharing information in order to maintain momentum in the UNFCCC process and to showcase how climate action is progressing under the special circumstances the world is currently facing.

This will include advancing technical work under the constituted bodies, as well as providing a platform for information exchange and engagement on other work being done under the UNFCCC, including on adaptation, mitigation, science, finance, technology, capacity-building, transparency, gender, Action on Climate Empowerment, and the preparation and submission of nationally determined contributions. Formal negotiations and decision-making are not envisaged for these events; they will take place at the SB sessions in October of this year.

Ehrenreich is joined by the New Yorker’s cultural critic Jia Tolentino, author of the bestselling essay collection Trick Mirror. Tolentino is a former contributing editor at The Hairpin and former deputy editor at Jezebel. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Grantland, Pitchfork, and Time, among others. This event will be streamed online as part of our P&P Live! Series.

Philipp Staab is Professor of “Sociology of the Future of Work” at the Humboldt University of Berlin and the Einstein Center Digital Future (ECDF). As a sociologist he deals with the topics of technology, work, political economy and social inequality. In his research in recent years, he has focused on the leading companies of the commercial Internet such as Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Alibaba and Tencent, as well as various start-ups.

The event will be held in English.

Today, the utopia they sought to create is looking more dystopian than ever: from digital surveillance and the loss of privacy to the spreading of misinformation and hate speech to predatory algorithms targeting the weak and vulnerable to products that have been engineered to manipulate our desires. by Rana Foroohar

Peter Söderbaum, (2019), Ecological Economics in relation to a digital world, World Economics Association (WEA) Conferences, No. 1 2019, Going Digital, 15th November to 20th December, 2019

Mit: Dr. Linda Monsees (Autorin, Postdoktorandin am Exzellenzcluster "Die Herausbildung normativer Ordnungen"), Prof. Peter Burgess (Professor and Chair of Geopolitics of Risk at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris) und Prof. Dr. Nicole Deitelhoff (Direktorin des Leibniz-Instituts Hessische Stiftung Friedens- und Konfliktforschung, Principal Investigator des Exzellenzclusters "Die Herausbildung normativer Ordnungen", Professorin für Internationale Beziehungen und Theorien globaler Ordnungen der Goethe-Universität)

By Frauke Steglich (Kiel Institute, Kiel Centre for Globalization)

In Reinventing Prosperity, Graeme Maxton and Jorgen Randers take a radically different approach and offer thirteen politically feasible proposals to improve our world. From shortening the work year and raising the retirement age to boosting welfare and redefining what we mean by work, the authors’ suggestions challenge many long-standing economic ideas and explain how it is possible to reduce unemployment, inequality, and the pace of climate change—and still have economic growth, if society wishes.

“Do you want a cogent and accessible explanation of why our paramount policy goal of GDP growth is increasing unemployment, inequality, and environmental destruction—while reducing welfare? Then read this informative book for both answers and better policies!” Herman Daly, Emeritus Professor, University of Maryland

“The problems society faces to achieve a sustainable and desirable future are well known, but solutions seem impossible. Maxton and Randers describe thirteen politically feasible proposals that can actually solve these problems.” Prof. Robert Costanza, VC’s Chair in Public Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

“This book has the power to induce policy changes that are imperative for the creation of an equitable, peaceful and sustainable future for human society.” Rajendra K. Pachauri, past-chair, International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC); executive vice chairman, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

With reference to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the Planetary Boundaries it introduces the theory and practice of Collective Stewardship as a management tool that respects the integrity of human and natural systems. Drawing on the work of transdisciplinary scientific scholars and seasoned sustainability practitioners, it shows how transformative change can be built on life’s inherent tendency to generate patterns of vitality and resilience. This ground-breaking monograph shows workable pathways to stewarding patterns of aliveness in social and ecological systems at all levels of the global society. As a highly regarded author and expert in collective leadership, Petra Kuenkel inspires academics and practitioners alike to explore new routes towards co-creating responsible futures in the era of the Anthropocene, where the human footprint has begun to change the course of planetary evolution. She invites decision-makers, researchers, planners and social activists to become stewards of systems patterns, enhance their collaborative competencies and guide life-enhancing socio-ecological interaction at scale.

The conceptual architecture the author elaborates builds on transformation literacy and boils it down to a practical guidance for planning and implementing interventions across all sectors of society. It helps bring about change through a deliberate combination of enlivening narratives, empowering metrics, enabling processes, multi-level governance, guiding regulations, and life-supporting innovation.

The summit brought together high-level policy makers responsible for policies related to the digital economy and key stakeholders, to exchange views and share practices and experiences in key areas of policy, look toward the future, and provide ideas for future OECD work. The agenda reflected the seven pillars of the OECD’s Going Digital integrated policy framework: enhancing access, increasing effective use, unleashing innovation, ensuring jobs, promoting social prosperity, strengthening trust and fostering market openness.

The recent IPCC report emphasises that climate-related risks are significantly more dangerous to human life and to the systems that sustain us at 2^oC warming compared with 1.5^oC. Yet global action is lagging, stymied by political meandering. To avoid the worst outcomes, global carbon emissions must be cut by half by 2030 and to zero by 2050 – an unprecedented task which requires bold and compelling action. The Club of Rome – Climate Emergency Plan proposes ten action points to achieve the goal set by the historic Paris Agreement, aligned with science and economic pragmatism, to limit temperature increase to 1.5^oC.

To avoid further collapse of environmental, political and socio-economic systems, urgent leadership is required now from governments, industry and citizens. Climate change is no longer a future threat. It is already affecting billions of people across the globe and every economy. Annual losses for the US alone will reach hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century, according to the new US Climate Assessment and continued climate related impacts could create 140 million climate migrants globally by 2050.

The Club of Rome in its seminal 1972 report The Limits to Growth alerted the world to the environmental and demographic challenges. The central message was that the quest for unlimited growth in population, material goods and resources, on a finite planet, would eventually result in the collapse of its economic and environmental systems. That prediction is clearly manifesting in the climate change crisis awe are confronted with today.

The Climate Emergency Plan of the Club of Rome was launched on December 4th 2018 at the European Parliament. You can download the full report here.

Germany consumes some 1.3 billion tonnes of fossil fuels, minerals, ores and biomass per year. UBA's Use of Natural Resources Report claims that the majority of raw material consumption is non-metallic minerals (45%), fossil fuels (29%) and biomass (21%). Although raw material consumption in Germany is becoming more and more efficient thanks to industry efforts and total raw material productivity has increased by 26% since 2000, Germany has an excessively high level of raw material consumption compared to other countries: 10% higher than the average in Europe, and even 100% higher than the global average. More than half of the raw materials consumed for the production of goods is sourced from abroad.

The Methodological Convention for Estimating Environmental Costs 3.0 included a large number of parameters to calculate the costs of environmental pollution. This included the costs of restoring damaged building and infrastructures, of the market value of crop losses and production losses, as well as the sum which people would be prepared to pay for the avoidance of damage to their health. The Methodological Convention 3.0 helps to compare and contrast the costs of environmental pollution and the costs of environmental protection.

The report can be downloaded here.

Authors: Sony Kapoor Managing Director re-define.org; Dr. Belay Begashaw Director SDG Center for Africa

Panellists:

• Dr Cemal Karakas, Policy Analyst, European Parliamentary Research Services, European Parliament
• Stanislas Jourdan, Head of Positive Money Europe, Former Coordinator of the European Citizens’ Initiative for Basic Income and co-Founder of the French Movement for Basic Income
• Sophie Swaton, University of Lausanne, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment, Author of “Pour un revenu de transition écologique” (2018)
• Jeroen Van Ranst, CSC, Youth Officer for the Flemish part of Belgium
• Ludovic Voet, CSC, Youth Officer for the French-speaking part of Belgium

Panellists:

• Efi Achtsióglou, Greek Minister of Labour
• Christian Felber, Economy for the Common Good
• Leida Rijnhout, SDG Watch Steering Committee
• Patrick ten Brink, European Environmental Bureau, Director of EU Policy
• Joost Koorte, European Commission, DG EMPL, Director General

Panellists :

• Simone d’Alessandro, University of Pisa -
• Daniel Mügge, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Professor of Political Arithmetic
• Bjorn Döhring, European Commission, Head of Unit for Economic situation, forecasts, business and consumer surveys
• Arthur Turrell, Co-Author of “An Interdisciplinary Model for Macroeconomics” (Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Jan.2018)
• Nicole Dewandre, European Commission, Joint Research Centre

Panellists:

• Denis Bouget, European Social Observatory, European Trade Union Institute, Emeritus Professor of Nantes University
• Clive Spash, WU Vienna University
• Anne Bucher, European Commission, Chair of the Scrutiny Regulatory Board
• Stefan Ulrich Speck, European Environment Agency, Projet manager (sustainability assessments)

Panellists:

• Fran Boait, Positive Money, Executive Director
• Josh Ryan-Collins, UCL Institution for Innovation and Public Purpose, Head of Research
• Thorsten Guthke, Association of German Public Banks, VÖB

Panellists:

• Jean-Christophe Defraigne, Saint-Louis University
• Joaquim Nunes de Almeida, European Commission, DG GROW, Director, Single Market Policy
• Gabriele Bischoff, DGB, Special adviser on European policy issues, German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) ; European Economic and Social Committee, President of the Workers’ Group
• Daniel Seikel, Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) of the Hans Böckler Foundation

Panellists:

• Tove Maria Ryding,Tax Justice Coordinator at the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad)
• Sol Piciotto, Emeritus Professor of law of Lancaster University, Member of the Advisory Group of the International Centre for Tax and Development
• Richard Murphy, Professor of Practice in International Political Economy at City University, London and Director of Tax Research UK, Non-Executive Director of Cambridge Econometrics
• Philip Kerfs, OECD, Head of the International Cooperation division

Panellists:

• Guillaume Pitron, Author of “La guerre des métaux rares”
• José Bellver, Researcher at FUHEM Ecosocial, Member of the Transitions Forum and the Inclusive Economy Group
• Paul Hodson, European Commission, DG ENER, Energy Efficiency Unit
• Doris Schroecker, European Commission, DG Industrial Technologies, Research and Innovation, Head of Strategy Unit

Panellists:

• Fritz Hinterberger, Founding President of Sustainable Europe Research Institute (SERI)
• Olivier de Schutter, Professor at the University of Louvain (Belgium) and at SciencesPo (Paris), former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food (2008-2014)
• Patrizia Heidegger, Global Policies Director at the EEB
• Luisa Santos, Business Europe

Panellists:

• Esther Lynch, ETUC, Confederal Secretary
• Lars Vande Keybus, FGTB

Climate protection is important. And the goal for Germany is clear: From over 11 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent to less than 1 tonne of CO₂-equivalent per person and year. This is the position of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) in line with the international community of states. We still have a lot to do in order to achieve this goal. And ultimately we'll only get there if we have effective government framework conditions.

But today we can already take the lead as individuals. We can already avoid not only kilograms but tonnes of carbon - both when it comes to our own emissions (our carbon footprint) as well as when it comes to helping others avoid emissions (our carbon handprint). The UBA Carbon Calculator will help you keep track: Where do you stand today? What are the main tools at your disposal? What contribution can you make to climate protection in future?

Please note: Calculations only apply to the German context. Using the calculator while living in other countries will only give you some indication of your footprint, the actual values might differ substantially.

Emissions from shared amenities such as heating and electricity are automatically divided by the number of members in your household. Only in the case of car rides you have to make this allocation yourself, as only you can estimate the way you share.

While the services provided in the platform economy are very diverse, the platforms share several characteristics. They are multinational companies which offer their services in a number of countries. They all claim that they are not employers and present themselves as neutral mediators between customers und service providers. Workers in the platform economy have no employment relationships and therefore no social security and no entitlements like annual leave, sickness pay etc. Despite refusing responsibility for the workers, the platforms fulfill typical roles of employers like organizing and controlling the labor process.

We invite to discussing these questions together with:

- Steven Hill, journalist, lecturer and political professional based in the United States, is currently Journalist in Residence at the WZB. He is author of several books, with his latest being Die Startup Illusion: Wie die Internet-Ökonomie unseren Sozialstaat ruiniert (published in German) and Raw Deal: How the “Uber Economy” and Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers, which was selected by The Globalist as one of the Top Ten Books of 2015.

- Sabine Pfeiffer: professor of sociology at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg. Her research deals with the relationship between technology and labor, in particular with the impact of the internet and digital technologies on workers, work organization, and skills.

- M. Six Silberman, project secretary, IG Metall. He is currently responsible for the trade union‘s projects aiming at organizing platform workers. He was one of the creators of Turkopticon, an online system supporting workers of the „Amazon Mechanical Turk“ platform.

With socio-economic inequality as a major public concern, researchers have long been interested in measuring how persistent inequalities are between generations. Do the descendants from successful families tend to remain successful? Or is there ‘intergenerational mobility’, such that an individual’s origin is not a prime determinant of his or her socio-economic status?

A new study by Sebastian Braun from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and Jan Stuhler from the University Madrid which is published in the March 2018 issue of the Economic Journal examines the persistence of socio-economic status over four genera­tions in twentieth century Germany (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecoj.12453/full).The researchers conclude that on average, about 60 percent of socio-economic prospects were transmitted from one generation to the next, irrespective of whether socio-economic success is measured in terms of educational or occupational advantages.

In Reinventing Prosperity, Graeme Maxton and Jorgen Randers take a radically different approach and offer thirteen politically feasible proposals to improve our world. From shortening the work year and raising the retirement age to boosting welfare and redefining what we mean by work, the authors’ suggestions challenge many long-standing economic ideas and explain how it is possible to reduce unemployment, inequality, and the pace of climate change—and still have economic growth, if society wishes.

This year’s mini-conference focuses on the potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning for policy making. AI has begun to permeate many aspects of our lives, from the way we work and communicate to how we treat diseases. Governments' increasingly use algorithmic tools, for example in law enforcement or in making decisions about the allocation of resources and social benefits. While AI has enormous potential to increase the quality and efficiency of many goods and services, its use also entails legal, ethical, and consumer protection challenges that need to be carefully assessed. How can we effectively govern the use of machine learning algorithms for decision-making? How can we combine human skills and the strengths of algorithms to maximize societal gains? How can we ensure accountability, fairness, transparency, and the mitigation of potential biases due to algorithmic and human decision making? This mini-conference brings together leading experts to discuss the road ahead for using AI tools in public policy for the good of society.

Sprecherinnen und Sprecher

Daniel Björkegren (Assistant Professor of Economics, Brown University)

Joanna Bryson (Professor of Ethics and Technology, Hertie School of Governance)

Anna Christmann (Member of the German Bundestag, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)

Cass Sunstein (Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard University)

Moderated by Hannes Ullrich (DIW Berlin and University of Copenhagen)

Shoshana Zuboff is a social scientist and author of three books, each of which has been recognised as the definitive signal of a new epoch in technological society. Her latest book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism reveals a world in which technology users are no longer customers but the raw material for an entirely new economic system. Zuboff is the Charles Edward Wilson Professor Emerita at Harvard Business School and was a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School from 2014 until 2016.