The subtitle of the report of the World Commission for the Social Dimension of Globalization, which you were involved in, is “Creating opportunities for all”. It also mentions the role of companies and of the UN Global Compact, which Bosch also joined in 2004. more…
We live in a finite world. Ultimately, there is no way around production and consumption patterns that are sustainable. Ultimately, customers, engineers, managers and politicians will show a strict priority for the respect of nature and the environment. more…
In my role as Chairman of the parliamentary Select Committee on Economic Globalisation I learned with a degree of surprise that the term globalisation was brand new. It began to play a role in public life not earlier than in 1993. The strongest reason for the sudden appearance of the term globalisation has been the end around 1990 of the Cold War. more…
The answer to this question should be yes and no. Yes, we are closer than ten years ago. During all of he 1990s, an irritatingly optimistic mindset was dominating the world. The very expression of ‘saving the planet’ would not have been politically correct in these days, because it sounds ‘pessimistic’. more…
The global environment is endangered. We are losing some fifty plant and animal species every day. The global climate is beginning to become hotter. Unpredictable changes may hit countries both in the temperate and tropical zones. Theoretically even the sea water table is unstable. more…
I shall briefly offer some unconventional views on Japan and then move on to discuss the megatrend of globalisation which I see as the main reason for the massive neglect of the environment. I shall conclude with an attempt at establishing a new sense of direction for technology, civilisation and investments. more…
Speech by Ernst von Weizsäcker, M. P., Athens, 9 November 2002 Let me at the outset distinguish two different tasks of environmental policy. One is pollution control which is predominantly a local and a national activity. The first twenty years of environmental policy in advanced industrial countries were almost exclusively devoted to pollution control and […] more…
Let me at the outset distinguish two different tasks of environmental policy. One is pollution control which is predominantly a local and a national activity. The other task of environmental policy relates to global and long-term challenges such as climate change, biodiversity losses and unsustainable lifestyles. Prices can work for the environment in both arenas. more…
Over 200 years ago, when Adam Smith set about forming his moral ideas of the free market, he made it clear that the wealth of nations requires a strong state, not a weak one! At least three conditions need to be granted by the state: External peace, a reliable legal frame, and a healthy infrastructure that benefits all competitors but would not be paid for by any individual actor. more…
Everybody talks about digitization. Some 4 out of 5 start-ups are pure digitizers. Disruptive technologies typically mean replacing physical work by digital operations. At first glance, you can assume that such substitution also saves energy and minerals. But then some surprising news can surface. The famous bitcoins, electronic currencies, eat a huge lot of energy. […] more…