Sustainability Transformation Conference 2025
The German Environment Agency and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, together with the Association for Cultural Policy (KuPoGe), will be hosting the 5th Sustainability Transformation Conference. National and international experts will discuss “Transformation and Irritation”, exploring the interactions between environmental, sustainability, and cultural policies in times of change.
The German Environment Agency, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection together with our partner, the Association for Cultural Policy (KuPoGe) will be hosting our 5th Sustainability Transformation Conference.
A new awareness for cultural questions of sustainability is needed in the cultural as well as the environmental sector. In this year’s conference, we will discuss the following topic with national and international environmental and cultural transformation experts: “Transformation and Irritation: Sustainability and Culture in Times of Radical Change”.
The spotlight of this conference is on the cultural dimension of environmental and sustainability policies as well as on the sustainability dimension of cultural policies. With partners from the fields of the environmental and cultural sector, we will interactively focus on the interactions and irritations between environmental protection, culture, and technological innovation.
A culture of sustainability must be rooted in individual mindsets, institutional practices, and societal structures to drive cultural change and accelerate the transformation toward sustainability. Challenges and disruptions are not always obstacles; they can serve as critical moments to reassess and refine previous approaches. Constructive and even challenging dialogues are, therefore, essential for fostering meaningful collaboration between the sustainability community, the cultural sector, and other key stakeholders.
From a transformative perspective, 'culture' has two different meanings: As a set of shared values and norms through which people perceive and respond to their environment, and as the practice of culture through cultural production and participation. The significance of culture and cultural and societal change for sustainability transformations is key in this context and will be discussed with the following key questions at the event: What are elements of a culture of sustainability? What concepts are available? What are the main irritations, future challenges for sustainability transformations and societal change? How can actors in the cultural and the environmental sector become allies and fruitful irritators facing multiple sustainability ?
The conference will be an in-person meeting in Berlin.
Further information on the location will be provided here soon.
More details and registration can be found here.
