2017•11•16     Bonn

The agreement was signed at COP23. Photo: UNU-EHS/Aileen Orate

At this year’s UN climate summit, COP23, a number of regional universities and research institutions signed an agreement to form the new Bonn Alliance for Sustainability Research.

UNU-EHS will combine efforts with the University of Bonn (leading the consortium), the German Development Institute (DIE), the Center for Development Research (ZEF), the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), and the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg to push forward sustainability research topics.

All members of the consortium are important research organizations in the Bonn area. As Professor Jakob Rhyner, Director of UNU-EHS and Vice-Rector Europe of UNU, pointed out: “UNU-EHS is very lucky to operate in the Bonn area, because nowhere else it would be possible to find so many outstanding research partners in this field concentrated in one place.”

Representatives of all participating institutions met at the exhibition stand of the University of Bonn at the UN climate conference to sign the agreement and voice their support. They agreed that bringing together their different strengths and capacities would give already existing research projects a boost – and could inspire and support new initiatives.

As Dr Joachim von Braun of the Center for Development Research put it: “sustainability only works with collective action.”