| Posted July 10, 2025

Sustainable Public Procurement: German Version of the CO₂ Performance Ladder 4.0 is Launched

In early 2025, the Foundation for Climate Friendly Procurement and Business (SKAO) released the international version of the CO₂ Performance Ladder 4.0, an upgraded practical tool to accelerate decarbonisation and support sustainable transformation through procurement. In summer 2025, SKAO and the CSCP launched the German version of the CO₂PL 4.0 tool, allowing procuring authorities to increase efficiency, simplify application, and improve the Ladder’s alignment with international climate goals and reporting requirements. The new version of the tool is specifically designed for public authorities and organisations that use procurement as a strategic instrument to reduce carbon emissions and drive climate action. […]

| Posted June 30, 2025

How We Learn About Food: Stories from Our Like-a-Pro Living Labs

What do we carry with us from our early experiences with food and how might these memories and experiences influence the way we think about eating today? This is what we explored in our recent LIKE-A-PRO Living Labs. In Spring 2025, our fourth and last round of Living Labs took us to various real-life settings in Germany, including a vocational school for dieticians in Ratingen and an food market in Solingen. Across these different environments, one central question guided our conversations: How communication, language, framing, and education shape the way we learn the way we learn about food, including alternative […]

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Circular Packaging by 2030: What Does it Take to Make it a Reality?

What will packaging look like in 2030? A recent Forum Ökologisch Verpacken (FÖV) and CSCP workshop explored how business, politics, and consumers can drive the shift to true circularity in packaging. The message was clear: only together can we turn packaging from waste into a resource—and vision into reality. When it comes to sustainability, one topic always makes the list: packaging. Even though it often has a smaller carbon footprint than the products it protects, packaging plays a major role in climate protection—and it’s under growing scrutiny from both policy and consumers. Companies today face a balancing act: how to […]

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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Facing the Realities, Holding Onto the Vision

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is one of the core values of the CSCP. At first glance, it seems like the most natural fit: our team includes people born in 19 different countries, spanning generations from Baby Boomers to Gen Z, and representing a wide range of family constellations and life choices. However, deeper conversations about DEI revealed underlying tensions. Take the simple example of e-mail communication: what one colleague sees as efficient and direct, another finds abrupt or even insensitive. Similar challenges are shared by teams across industries and cultures. Diversity brings energy and fresh perspectives—but also complexity and […]

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The Sustainable AI 2035: Empowering SMEs Harness The Power of Artificial Intelligence

How can AI unlock the twin transformation and empower German IT players to tap into future business and impact opportunities? That’s exactly what the new project, Sustainable AI 2035 sets out to explore. The CSCP and the German Association for IT-SMEs (BITMi) have launched Sustainable AI 2035, a new project funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU), designed to empower digital players, particularly SMEs to harness the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for a sustainable future. While AI is a key technology for driving the sustainability transformation, its potential often remains untapped. Many companies struggle to navigate the complexity […]

| Posted June 27, 2025

Shaping Projects Where all Voices Can Be Heard

Addressing today’s complex challenges requires diverse perspectives, shared responsibility, and inclusive solutions. Yet, those most affected by unsustainable systems—such as women, migrants, low-income communities, and people with limited decision-making power—are often excluded from the very processes meant to improve their lives. When these voices go unheard, we miss out on key insights and opportunities for lasting impact. Inclusive approaches are key to democratic resilience, social cohesion, and sustainable progress. When systems cater only to a select few, public trust erodes and divisions grow. By actively including underrepresented voices, we strengthen institutions, build legitimacy, and foster a shared sense of ownership. […]

| Posted June 26, 2025

Meet the Key Players Driving Cultured Meat and Seafood Innovation

What will it take for cultured meat and seafood (CM/CSF) to move from the lab to the lunchbox? Beyond the science, it’s people who shape the future of food—those who develop, regulate, invest in, sell, consume, and talk about these products. That’s why the FEASTS project is putting stakeholder insight and engagement in the focus of its mission. A map of motivations, challenges, and opportunities Rather than seeing stakeholders as abstract categories, the CSCP project team wanted to understand the human realities shaping the CM/CSF landscape: what drives people’s decisions, what holds them back, and what kind of support or […]

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How Schools Can Become Catalysts for Circular Food Systems

Food system stakeholders from across Europe have come together in our FoodLoops project to explore how schools can become catalysts for circular food systems through hands-on collaboration, local innovation, and biowaste valorisation. In April 2025, the CSCP brought together a diverse group of stakeholders for the second FoodLoops project replication workshop, held in a hybrid format in Wuppertal, Germany and online. Centred on the theme “Replicating the experiences in driving circular school food systems”, the workshop turned theory into action by showing how circular food systems can be rooted in local school communities. A highlight of the workshop was presenting […]

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From Trees to Forests—How Stakeholder Engagement Can Drive Systemic Change

“Only by creating local ownership, can we win the long game” – says Luca Sander, Project Coordinator, as he reflects on five years at the CSCP and shares why meaningful stakeholder engagement is key to driving lasting system change. Can you briefly walk us through your journey at the CSCP — from starting as an intern back in 2020 to your current role as project coordinator? One of the things I appreciate most about being part of the CSCP is how it allowed me to grow over the years and develop my strengths with the support of a dedicated and […]

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UBi Dialogue Forum 2025: When Business and Biodiversity Play in Harmony

What happens when nature’s symphony falls silent? As ecosystems lose their rhythm, economies follow suit. At the UBi Dialogue Forum 2025, leaders from business, science, and policy explored how protecting biodiversity can strike the right chord for a resilient, future-ready economy. Imagine a string quartet performing Vivaldi’s “Summer” – full of rhythm, structure and vitality. Now imagine the birds and insects that once brought this music to life falling silent. That, said Sabine Riewenherm, President of the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), is the state of many ecosystems today. And when nature loses its harmony, so too does […]

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