Ongoing projects

Indonesia is marked by exceptional biodiversity, high vulnerability to climate change, and rapidly expanding digital connectivity. This project investigates how local and digital networks serve as resources for mobilizing collective sustainability action. It explores how civil society actors respond to pressing challenges and organize collective action in support of sustainability goals across diverse contexts of civic participation.

BioCAM4 develops methodologies for mapping Nature-based Climate Action (NBCA) trends worldwide and assessing local opportunities and challenges for NBCAs with dedicated deep-dive studies in two world regions: East Africa and Central America. Focus lies on the climate-biodiversity interdependence, bringing together the broad concept of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and collaborative climate actions by non-state and subnational actors.

Nature-based solutions (NbS) promise environmental, socio-economic benefits and are increasingly important in climate adaptation and mitigation and biodiversity conservation policies. However, the extent to which they support biodiversity conservation and deliver ecosystem services in a socially just way manner, rather than exacerbating or creating inequalities, is controversial. BIO-JUST therefore examines watershed NbS in seven case studies in Europe and South America to trace the conditions under which NBS are both ecologically effective and (environmentally) just.

The project aims to map global business initiatives for democracy, identify what motivates firms to defend democratic institutions, and build AI-powered simulations to prepare firms against democratic erosion.

The project aims at measuring the causal effects of various social policies in order to mitigate the implications of economic shocks and the extent to which they affect gender disparities in child labor, education, and health in low-income countries. It also aims to advance the understanding of the underlying mechanisms and sources of gender inequality. The generated knowledge is critical for the design of future gender-sensitive social policy interventions in low-income countries and of high relevance for policy makers.

Research conducted under the “Geopolitics and development” project investigates how geopolitical logics are expressed in and through development partnerships, and how development-related efforts co-shape the geopoliticisation of international cooperation.

The aim of TRANS4BIO is to provide analysis that supports coordinated efforts to implement the energy transition in a way that ensures nature and people positive outcomes while reducing the risks posed by narrowly-focused climate mitigation policies.

Sustainable land management is one of the most important drivers of sustainable development in Africa. It should contribute to food security and social justice, mitigation and adaptation of agriculture and forestry to climate change, and nature and environmental protection. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funds four regional research and development projects and this accompanying project that contribute to this goal.

The Managing Global Governance (MGG) network brings together governmental institutions, think tanks and research institutions as well as civil society and business organisations from significant rising powers as well as Germany / Europe. It provides an innovative platform for learning and networking with partnerships at eye-level. Its core elements are the dialogue- und training programme MGG Academy, the MGG knowledge cooperation within the context of research projects as well as the policy dialogue in the form of focused consultations on strategic political processes.

Multilateralism is undergoing a dramatic transition: geopolitics and power alignments are shifting, basic norms are being undermined, and the institutions that upheld them are losing legitimacy. The global order, and the institutions that support it, are changing – which creates an opportunity to shape, reimagine, and lay the building blocks of a better system. The UN’s 80th anniversary offers both a symbolic and practical moment to steer reforms, lay the groundwork for the next Secretary-General’s agenda, and begin charting a path forward. The work we propose is not about defending the status quo, but reimagining multilateralism so that it is flexible, inclusive, and politically viable.

Achieving the ambitious goals and commitments set out in the Rio Conventions—the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)—is becoming ever more pressing. Fulfilling their targets is essential to safeguard and enhance the well-being of people and the planet, now and in the future. Innovative multilevel governance approaches that bridge international, national, and local levels are needed to reconcile climate and development priorities, reduce policy conflicts, and maximize synergies with governance efforts pursuing the broader Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Rwanda’s rapid urbanization presents a dual challenge: meeting the growing demand for affordable and sustainable housing while advancing the country’s transition toward a green and circular economy. This project explores how a just and productive green transformation in the construction sector can be achieved – focusing on developing the green skills needed and combining targeted measures to overcome firm-level, market, and regulatory barriers.

Political institutions are a key factor for the success of global sustainability policy, yet they are only limitedly considered quantitatively in current climate and sustainability scenarios. PoliClim contributes to cloing this gap by further developing political science models and linking them with REMIND, the influential integrated climate-economic model of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

This research and policy advisory project provides strategic evidence and analysis to inform and strengthen German development cooperation in the areas of global health and social protection. It identifies concrete policy options for BMZ and its partners to enhance the effectiveness, coherence, and impact of interventions in global health and social protection. By combining empirical research, policy dialogue, and targeted advisory outputs, the project generates actionable insights on how financing, governance, and service delivery can jointly strengthen health, reduce poverty, and mitigate migration pressures.

This research and policy advice project aims to identify international strategies and development policy options that protect and promote democracy, social cohesion and peace. To achieve this, it explores the patterns and typical dynamics of autocratization and democratization processes in countries of the Global South and how these are related to polarization and social cohesion dynamics. We prominently analyse the interplay of domestic factors with international ones. On the one hand, the project focuses on the possibilities and limits of international cooperation, especially within the realm of development policy to counteract, halt and possibly reverse trends towards autocratization and polarization. Secondly, the project addresses the question of how development policy strategies and measures can potentially promote and strengthen autocratization and polarization processes and discusses which and how elements of the strategies and measures need to be adapted in these contexts to minimize these risks. All mentioned topics are examined in two dimensions of reality (offline and online).

As major sources of development finance —such as official development assistance (ODA)—decline, the role of national development banks (NDBs) in mobilizing domestic resources for sustainable development is becoming more critical. Accordingly, understanding how new NDBs mature into strong, independent institutions with expanding, mandate-aligned loan portfolios and diversified funding sources is crucial for drawing lessons for both emerging and existing NDBs.

RethinkBlue focuses on the blue economy and related policies. The project brings together scientists and stakeholders from 31 countries to exchange knowledge, build a strong European network of experts and promote active collaboration. Scientific interactions focus on five themes: (1) maritime occupations, (2) food security & sustainable blue consumption, (3) port cities & coastal communities, (4) fisheries governance & emergent activities, (5) climate change & natural hazards.

Die Wissenschaftsplattform Nachhaltigkeit 2030 (wpn2030) dient als Schnittstelle zwischen Wissenschaft und Politik, um Fragen der Nachhaltigkeitspolitik zu reflektieren und die Weiterentwicklung der Deutschen Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie (DNS) mit wissenschaftlicher Expertise zu unterstützen – z.B. im Rahmen der Arbeit zu den Transformationsbereichen. Die Plattform arbeitet unabhängig und ist systematisch eingebunden in den offiziellen politischen Steuerungs-, Dialog- und Umsetzungsprozess der Agenda 2030 in, mit und durch Deutschland.

In an increasingly globalized world, displacement, migration, and (im)mobility are a socio-political phenomenon that countries must respond and adapt to. Displacement, both cross-border and internal, due to conflict, climate and environmental change, as well as economic shocks are part of global human mobility, presenting unique challenges to social cohesion in communities hosting displaced people, particularly given how fraught the politics of displacement can be. Social cohesion is increasingly recognized as an important condition for the stability of societies and the wellbeing of its members. This project aims to answer the question: How is social cohesion affected in different contexts of displacement where there is wide demographic, cultural, religious, and political diversity? Grounded in an understanding of history and national context, the project examines the contemporary mechanisms that influence social cohesion in communities hosting displaced people.

The project develops possible implementation pathways for inclusive green industrial policy for a Just Transition in particularly relevant fields of German development cooperation. These must be adapted to the context of low- and middle-income countries and be based on scientific evidence. Through its focus, the project contributes application-oriented scientific expertise to the BMZ's priority area "Promoting Just Transition".

The latest developments in the Middle East and North Africa are raising the question, in which way Germany and Europe can cooperate with the different countries in the region. In this research and policy advice project IDOS investigates how international and Western donors can act in this context and better support local reform initiatives to promote economically, socially, ecologically and politically sustainable development.

Supermarkets are among the most powerful actors in the shift towards Systems of Sustainable Consumption and Production (SSCP). They impose standards on their suppliers and shape consumer behavior - for good or bad. This project analyses the motivations, actions and impacts of major supermarket chains on the environment and seeks to identify pathways towards increasing sustainability.

TEFISCON is a German-French cooperation that explores the impact of preferential tax treatments – called tax expenditures – on the fiscal contract in low-and middle-income countries. Fiscal contracts link public service delivery and access to political decision-making to individual tax compliance and the distribution of the tax burden within a society. TEFISCON will generate new evidence on how tax expenditures shape fiscal contracts and state-society relations more generally.

This project examines the profoundly transformative phenomenon of navigation dredging. As ports across the world deepen their ports to accommodate ever-larger oceangoing ships, dredging is assuming a more prominent role in coastal environmental management and policy. The project investigates how dredging firms and state entities develop technologies, analytical techniques, financial mechanisms, and capital to accomplish harbor deepening projects and ship channel expansions. We focus on four case studies across the EU and the United States.

The concept of "effectiveness" has always been a core component of the policy field of development cooperation and served as a major aspiration. However, the concrete interpretation and application of this term has constantly evolved as part of a broader “results agenda”. Specifically in this research project, effectiveness will be analysed as a context-dependent definition, in order to analyse three key areas of development cooperation.

This project assesses the degree of global democratic decline in recent decades and explores why democracy has persisted in so many countries despite the rise of populist forces and an increasingly hostile international environment. Drawing on different original datasets, statistical analyses, and detailed case studies, the project expects to show that such resilience is grounded in two factors: economic development and authoritarian weakness.

The global landscape for UN development work is undergoing profound changes, with shifts in economic and political power structures. Emerging powers such as China are gaining significant influence, the Global South is asserting itself more confidently, and global crises demand new approaches to development. Against this backdrop, this research and advisory project examines both the UN development system as an institution and global political context in which it operates. It also identifies recommendations for shaping the cooperation between the UN and Germany, as a key contributor to the organisation and proponent of multilateralism.