By international comparison Germany has a high demand for natural resources. It has a per capita consumption of more than 44 tonnes of fossil fuels, minerals, metals and biomass – with some very damaging environmental effects. The German Resource Efficiency Programme ("ProgRess") was adopted in 2012 to achieve the sustainable use and the protection of natural resources, thereby formulating a concept of resource protection policy which has been implemented ever since. The Federal Government reports on the programme's progress once every four years and updates the programme in cooperation with stakeholders in society. One vital element of the programme is the online citizens' dialogue which first took place in 2015.
From 12 June to 16 July interested citizens can submit their ideas and suggestions for the next ProgRess for the 2020 report on the online platform www.gespraechstoff-ressourcen.de. The online dialogue will be based on recommendations for action which some 300 citizens developed in May 2019 at workshops in the cities of Erfurt and Ludwigshafen and at a youth workshop in Hannover.
The specific topic areas are efficient products, resource efficiency in daily life, waste avoidance and circular economy, green finance, resource efficiency in education and in public administration, as well as the avoidance of resource-intensive mobility. The online platform has a section where the proposals for action can be commented and evaluated.
To take the results of the citizen dialogue into account in the policy-making process, participants in the workshops and the online dialogue will elect citizen ambassadors ("Bürgerbotschafter*innen"), who will compile and submit the results of the dialogue to the Federal Environment Ministry (BMU) in a follow-up workshop. The citizens' advice will be taken into account in the updated German Resource Efficiency Programme.
For further information about the German Resource Efficiency Programme ProgRess go to http://www.bmu.de/WS1742-1 .
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