How did science-based environmental policy research in Germany emerge, and what roles did independent research institutes, policymakers, academia and civil society play in its development? Produced as part of the project “From ‘Blue Skies over the Ruhr’ to the Energy Transition”, this video series brings together 19 eyewitnesses and pioneers who helped shape environmental policy research in Germany.

Spanning the early debates of the 1960s through to Germany’s energy transition, the visualisation brings together political developments, societal conflicts, international milestones and the emergence of key environmental research institutions. In doing so, it shows that science-based environmental policy research did not develop in isolation from its wider political and societal context.

This discussion paper examines the relationship between civil society environmental movements and environmental research institutes and their role in the development of science-based environmental policy advice in Germany. The earliest independent environmental institutes were closely linked to the environmental movement, while later institutes often emerged in response to thematic gaps in environmental research.

This discussion paper examines how the growing role of the European Union in environmental and energy policy has affected independent environmental policy research and advice in Germany. Since the late 1980s, the European Union (EU) has played an increasingly important role in environmental policy. The Treaty of Lisbon also expanded the EU’s competences in the field of energy policy.

This discussion paper examines how international developments shaped the early years of German environmental policy and environmental policy advice. Key influences included the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm and debates surrounding the Limits to Growth. The United States and Japan, in particular, influenced Germany’s first environmental legislation.

This discussion paper examines the role played by the state in the changes that took place within Germany’s research landscape. It shows that this role changed considerably over time: while independent environmental research institutes were initially regarded more as adversaries than as allies, their relationship with the state has since evolved into one characterised by constructive cooperation.

This publication examines the development of independent environmental research and policy advisory institutes in Germany during the 1980s, a period marked by shifting political priorities and growing public concern about environmental issues. Economic stagnation and the oil price crisis had initially pushed environmental policy down the political agenda.

This discussion paper examines how the first non-governmental environmental policy institutes came to be established, the role of environmental policy research and advice within this evolving landscape, and the factors that shaped the institutes’ establishment and subsequent development. The analysis shows that independent, science-based environmental policy advice only assumed a pivotal role during the second, more defensive phase of German environmental policy from the mid-1970s onwards.

At the heart of this paper are the following questions: In what context, and under what constraints, did the environmental movement in the GDR develop? Did the East German environmental movement have any advantages over its West German counterpart? To address these questions, the paper draws on a review of the literature and a series of interviews with contemporary witnesses conducted as part of the project ‘From Blue Skies over the Ruhr to the Energy Transition’.

In the third event of the series Dr. Volker Hauff, former Federal Minister, and Michael Sailer, Chief Executive Officer of Öko‑Institut, discussed the increasing cooperation between the government and environmental research institutes in the 1980s. In their conversation, the two experts first exchanged views about the mistrust that prevailed on both sides at the time. The video is available online.