ABSTRACT
Compared to other countries, the concept of sustainable development in Germany was established late on in public discourse; it was also relatively late in arriving both on the political agenda and in scientific discussion. Today it seems that although ozone depletion was the major concern of the late-1980s, and global climate change subsequendy, the issue of sustainable development will acquire an overriding importance in the early part of the next decade. Owing to growing problems of unemployment and economic recession, ‘the future’ has recently started to dominate public debate. Discussions concerning Germany’s industrial base and economic future are torn between the high hopes placed on sustainable development by the more ecologically and socially oriented parts of society, and the lack of imagination, or even the fear, about following a sustainable development path in conservative and economically oriented parts of the society.
