Sustainability Culture Fund

Ideas competitions: sponsored by the Sustainability Culture Fund

With the Sustainability Culture Fund, the German Council for Sustainable Development supports societal stakeholders who are making our everyday culture more sustainable.

Logo Fonds Nachhaltigkeitskultur

To make our world more sustainable, we need to preserve some things, change many more, and find new forms of cooperation. Policymakers and businesses have a duty to act, but our consumption behaviour, habits and attitudes need to change too: we need a shift in our day-to-day lives, our everyday culture.

Sustainable ideas for everyday culture

For that reason, the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) is looking for innovative projects aimed at bringing about this change. The best suggestions receive funding from the Sustainability Culture Fund. On the initiative of the German Bundestag, the Federal Chancellery is providing €7.5 million for the fund over a period of three years.

The German Council for Sustainable Development is running the ideas competitions covering various aspects of our everyday lives, such as food, mobility and homes/construction. The competitions are open to non-profit stakeholders and public stakeholders. It is hoped that their innovative projects and ideas will break through existing consumption and thought patterns and help to change our norms and values. The Sustainability Culture Fund will sponsor the winners for up to one year. Each selected project will receive a maximum of €50,000.

Would you like to take part? For information about the individual ideas competitions (in German), click on “Ideas competitions”. The section “Enter” explains how you can take part and the sponsorship guidelines set out which ideas can qualify for funding.

Jury awards funding

Funding is awarded to the winners of the ideas competitions, who are selected by a jury consisting of members of the German Council for Sustainable Development and the Secretary-General of the RNE. Sometimes, the jury seeks advice from additional experts when it assesses specific proposed projects.

Sustainable Development Goals and the Sustainability Culture Fund

Sustainable development is a key societal goal all around the world. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with their 169 sub-goals flesh out this objective in concrete terms. All of the SDGs should be achieved by 2030. Specific goals for Germany are laid out in the German Sustainable Development Strategy. The SDGs give us a clear mandate to move towards greater sustainability. With the Sustainability Culture Fund, the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) provides financial support to help make this shift happen. All entries to the ideas competitions must therefore tie in with one or more of the SDGs.