Working Together to Shape a Just Socio-Ecological Transition

A socio-ecological transition is needed to address the biodiversity and climate crises. For such a transition to succeed, civil society actors must be able to support and help shape the process – a task for all of society. Associations and trade unions can play a crucial role in overcoming the tension between social aspects and environmental protection, facilitate communication on various dimensions of inequality, and actively participate in political decision-making and social policy-making work. To this end, associations need greater capacity (including for action), both to tackle new areas of activity and build alliances with a range of civil society organizations.

The project of the Institute for Ecological Economy Research promotes cooperation between environmental, social and welfare organizations and trade unions in order to contribute to a socio-ecological transformation. Instead of segmented approaches, the focus is on integrated strategies and new alliances. The aim is to develop common goals and development paths and to formulate recommendations for the political process. This should strengthen cooperation and open up a broader perspective on societal challenges.

The project is primarily aimed at civil society associations, in particular those working on social, welfare, and environmental issues, as well as trade unions. It also hopes to include migrant organizations and actors from the care movement. It ties in with current association discourse and existing association activities, and relevant topics are identified together with the associations. Next, an overarching discussion space (meta-workshop) is created to discuss the socio-ecological transition, complemented by the launch of an action-point-focused initiative. The topic of this initiative will be decided at the end of the first phase of the project. All processes will include research and evaluation and should culminate in a series of political recommendations with mutual support.