Headline: IASS publishes first project results: Transgovernance: The Quest for Governance of Sustainable Development.

November 29, 2011. The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam, presents the summary report at the closure of TransGov, its first collaborative project today. The authors examine dynamic questions of how – with an attuned understanding of complex societal mechanisms – better governance systems can be designed and implemented for sustainability reform, in which non-state organizations and civil society are more involved in decision-making. They argue that the existing governance approaches to social transformation processes, such as the energy transition, are not suitable. The English report by Prof. Roeland in’t Veld is available in print and as gratis download here. A German translation will be available shortly.

Transgovernance: The Quest for Governance of Sustainable Development, sets forth the findings of the TransGov project that began in Summer, 2010 and closed in Fall, 2011. The report takes up questions of steering, advancing, administering, and bringing about sustainable developments world-wide. It combines three notions for understanding contemporary societies in their transitions towards sustainability: reflexivity, knowledge democracy and second modernity. These form the basis for the tangible recommendations that the authors offer in ten areas.

Louis Meuleman, TransGov project director, identifies local and sub-national authorities, business and civil society as the key agents of change: "Mainstream sustainability governance uses old recipes, although we know they do not work. TransGov is a wake-up call for governmental and science organizations to step out of their comfort zone and develop sustainability by building on cultural diversity, compatibility, and reflexivity. Transgovernance combines all this in a much-needed approach beyond conventional thinking."

The IASS publishes Transgovernance: The Quest for Governance of Sustainable Development as the first in a series of institute reports presenting the results of trans-disciplinary projects examining sustainability development. The series brings state-of-the-art research to political decision-makers, NGOs, natural and social scientists, practitioners and journalists.

Prof. Dr. Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of the IASS, will open the book launch event at the GIZ House in Berlin on November 29th. Prof. Roeland in ’t Veld and Dr. Louis Meuleman will present the TransGov project report, and Dr. Volker Hauff, former federal research minister, will respond. The talks will be moderated by Dr. Guenther Bachmann, secretary-general of the German Sustainability Council.