Dr. Ira Matuschke
Scientific coordinator of Sustainability Platform Brandenburg
Sustainability Platform Brandenburg was founded in 2019, and the office is located at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam. What are your main goals and who is involved in achieving them?
Sustainability Platform Brandenburg is a communication forum and network for the various sustainability initiatives in the state of Brandenburg. Regional initiatives can use the forum to network and join forces in driving sustainable development in the state. By working together, they can identify the opportunities and challenges faced by local people and communicate these to municipalities, state government, academic institutions and businesses. The platform is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Climate Protection and works closely with the state’s sustainability advisory board. We currently have 180 members throughout the state of Brandenburg as well as some in Berlin. Interested initiatives are welcome to participate at any time.
What are the current issues around sustainability in Brandenburg and how do members work together and exchange ideas?
Right now, we have six working groups dealing with sustainability themes in Brandenburg. They are: enabling conditions for sustainable transformation, sustainable digitalization, sustainable communities, sustainable corporate governance in small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), participation, and the climate plan. The working groups meet approximately every six weeks and are open to all. The platform’s steering group consists of about 25 members and decides on the overall direction of the platform. All the members can use our extensive online offer, and we organize a number of workshops on different topics. Once a year, we hold a plenary session, which gives members an opportunity to exchange ideas in person as part of a large group. This year’s plenary session will take place on 8 December and will focus on the climate plan of the state of Brandenburg.
Berlin initiatives are also registered on your platform. Why is it important that Berlin and Brandenburg cooperate on key issues of the future, such as sustainability and climate?
The Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region must work together on many issues if it is to be genuinely sustainable. This is especially true when it comes to the issues of the future. One example is water, which the platform is currently working on intensively. All solutions must be developed jointly in order to ensure water is used sustainably in the future.
The interview was conducted in July 2022.