Economic aspects play a central role in the sustainable development of economies and societies. Challenges that will be facing us in the future such as climate change,

(1) ensuring a secure supply of energy,
(2) fostering sustainable consumption,
(3) preserving biological diversity and
(4) shaping globalisation to be environmentally compatible and socially acceptable

cannot be mastered without first establishing corresponding economic conditions. Economics with its expertise in evaluation methods and in the analysis of innovation processes and efficient institutions makes valuable contributions to the discourse on sustainability. It thus complements environmental engineering research and social-ecological research in useful ways.

• How can the manifold conflicts of interest that arise during the transition to renewable energies be resolved in an economically sensible way?
• How can economic incentives be used to reduce new land use?
• How can the transition to environmentally-friendly technologies be accelerated in threshold countries?
• How can environmental policy as a whole be organised to be more effective?

The research projects conducted under this funding programme are to find answers to these and similar questions and develop in cooperation with practitioners from trade, industry, the political sector, administrative bodies and civil society empirically-backed strategies for action that provide interfaces for work in other disciplines.

The programme's 15 research projects, which include eight collaborative projects, were selected from 88 outlines during a two-stage assessment process. These projects generally run for three years.

By linking and synthesizing the research being pursued in the programme's 15 projects and conducting its own supplementary research, an integrative synthesis project is to lay the foundation for creating an internationally visible German school of sustainability economics.

This funding programme is part of the Research for Sustainability (fona) initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

The Ministry has set up an Advisory Board to provide technical and strategic support for the funding programme. The Chairman of the Advisory Board is Professor Friedrich Schneider, Chairman of the Verein für Socialpolitik.

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