The Independent Institute for Environmental Issues (UfU) is a scientific institute and registered non-profit organisation based in Berlin. The main focus of our work is the promotion of democracy and education in environmental protection. Our aim is to strengthen democratic rights in environmental law so that all people have access to a healthy environment. At the same time, we are strongly committed to education in schools and run numerous projects on climate neutrality and energy transition in schools throughout Germany and Europe. UfU carries out around 60 projects a year and has around 200 sponsoring members who support our work.
Our research:
UfU has been working for over 30 years. Over time, our fields of research have developed and changed. But the core has remained the same. UfU stands for democracy and education and builds its topics around these core elements. We occupy a niche in the environmental movement in some of these areas and are known for our expertise in these fields.
The central themes of our work are environmental law, participation, resource conservation, energy efficiency in public buildings, climate-neutral schools, transformative education and invasive species.
Research in the field of environmental law and participation
The aim of our work in the field of environmental law is, on the one hand, to make current environmental law usable for those affected and “advocates” of nature and, on the other hand, to analyse how environmental legislation can be applied in practice. We also want to improve environmental policy practice, introduce new ideas into environmental policy and transfer successful environmental policy instruments to other countries.
In the fields of participation and public participation we focus on supporting public participation in environmentally relevant processes. This includes both the practical implementation of participation methods and advising citizens and organisations on their participation rights in environmentally relevant processes.
We coordinate the activities of German environmental organisations in the implementation of the Aarhus Convention in Germany and the European Union. We organise seminars, conferences and workshops on Aarhus issues and prepare reports and studies.
The team
Around 35 employees currently work at UfU. In addition, UfU works regularly with permanent freelance colleagues. We regularly publish the results of our work in studies and papers as well as various educational materials. Today, around 200 members and donors support the Institute’s work with their contributions, donations and activities.
See our website for more information: https://www.ufu.de/en/
