Browsing by Subject "Nachhaltigkeitsbewertung"

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Beschreibung von 24 Nachhaltigkeitspreisen in Deutschland mit Relevanz für Unternehmen der Ernährungsbranche
(2016) Gebhardt, Beate
Sustainability awards are an exclusive instrument of sustainability communication. They are significant limited - mainly quantitative. Not everyone can get such a price. Often only a few, mostly one, wins a contest.Interest in sustainability prices grows. This interest express companies, the potential winners,and show the donors of awards, the awarding institutions. In the last yearsmore and more sustainability competitions in Germanyare founded.Meanwhile, companies in the food industry can participatein 24 competitions with 82 categories (as of 2013). It is a dynamic market of sustainability awards - with lots of potential, but also some challenges. Independence and transparency of procurement become important elements of awards’ concepts. In this report, 24 sustainability competitions and their categories are featured in factsheets. This include the relevant competitions directlyaimed at companies in the food industry or be open for those.The approach to identify them isdescribed. In addition, the evaluation scheme of transparency of sustainability competitions is explained. Key results are described.
Nachhaltigkeitsexzellenz in der Landwirtschaft: Mehr Sichtbarkeit für die versteckten Leuchttürme der Alltagspraxis
(2024-09) Gebhardt, Beate; Hellstern, Laura
Im Projekt NEAL wurde die Bedeutung von exzellenter Mikro-Nachhaltigkeit und die Rolle von Nachhaltigkeitsawards sowie weiterer unterstützender Instrumente einer nachhaltigen Transformation in der Landwirtschaft untersucht. Die Erkenntnisse des Projektes sollen landwirtschaftlichen Unternehmen, Verbänden sowie weiteren relevanten Akteuren der land¬wirtschaftlichen Wertschöpfungsketten eine Orientierung geben in den Fragen: • Welche Nachhaltigkeitsthemen benötigen in Zukunft ein größeres Augenmerk? • Wie können Landwirt*innen in ihrer Nachhaltigkeitstransformation gefördert werden? • Welche Rolle spielen Nachhaltigkeitsawards in der Nachhaltigkeitstransformation? Für das Forschungsprojekt NEAL wurden dazu (a) 310 Landwirt*innen und 59 landwirtschaftsnahe Verbände in einem bundesweiten Nachhaltigkeits-Crowd-Screening im Frühjahr 2022 online befragt und hierbei insgesamt 236 herausragende, awardwürdige Nachhaltigkeitsaktivitäten identifiziert, die in der Landwirtschaft bereits umgesetzt oder geplant werden. Mittels Awards-Matching und Clustering wurde (b) der webbasierte, interaktive CSR-Award Finder mit über 150 Wettbewerben erstellt und Ende 2022 online gestellt. Der CSR-Award Finder macht die Welt der Awards für Unternehmen übersichtlicher und einfacher zugänglich, insbesondere erleichtert dies den Zugang kleiner Unternehmen und landwirtschaftliche Betriebe. Zentrale Aussagen der Studie lauten: 1. Nachhaltigkeit ist für Landwirt*innen ein relevantes Thema und viele „versteckte“ nachhaltige Tätigkeiten werden auf den befragten Betrieben bereits umgesetzt. 2. Bio-Betriebe zeigen sich als Vorreiter von Nachhaltigkeitsexzellenz in der Landwirtschaft. 3. Bodennutzung, Biodiversität, regionale Wertschöpfung und Tierwohl sind wichtige Bereiche, in denen viele nachhaltigkeitsbezogene Maßnahmen von Landwirt*innen umgesetzt und als besonders hervorgehoben werden. 4. „Blinde Flecken“ in Nachhaltigkeitsansätzen korrespondieren mit Bewertungen der Landwirtschaft.. 5. Leuchttürme der Mikro-Ebene kommen auf der Makro-Ebene kaum an. 6. Eine heterogene und multifunktionale Landwirtschaft benötigt vielfältige, multiple Instrumente zur Förderung von Nachhaltigkeit auf Betriebsebene. 7. Nachhaltigkeitstransformation in der Landwirtschaft benötigt mehr gemeinsame An-strengungen. 8. Nachhaltigkeitsexzellenz in der Landwirtschaft benötigt mehr Mut und Sichtbarkeit. Die Ergebnisse im Projekt NEAL unterstreichen: Ein Ansatz alleine ist nicht ausreichend. Aufgrund der Heterogenität der landwirtschaftlichen Betriebe gilt dies gerade auch für die Landwirtschaft. Sustainable Finance und Awards sind dabei zwei verschiedene Ansätze bzw. Instrumente, die beide als wichtig und unterstützend gelten, um die Nachhaltigkeitstransformation landwirtschaftlicher Systeme und Betriebe voranzubringen. Beiden Ansätzen wird bescheinigt, ein wichtiges Instrument unter vielen zu sein, aber singulär einen eher geringen Hebel zu haben, da nicht alle landwirtschaftlichen Betriebe damit eingebunden werden können oder sich dadurch angesprochen fühlen. Die Ergebnisse im Projekt NEAL zeigen außerdem, Awards sind in die Toolbox der bekannten Instrumente und Anreize zur Stärkung der Nachhaltigkeitstransformation einzubinden. Sie stehen damit neben ökonomischen Anreizen im Markt oder regulativen Anreize, die vom Staat gesetzt werden. Awards setzen am Positiven und an der Sichtbarmachung des Vorbildhaften und Innovativen in der Landwirtschaft an. Sie können damit das verborgene Besondere, die nachhaltigen Aktivitäten und die versteckten Leuchttürme in der Landwirtschaft, nach außen tragen und zum Leuchten bringen, und damit die Nachhaltigkeits-Motivation der Landwirt*innen erheblich steigern.
Nachhaltigkeitswettbewerbe in Deutschland 2020 : Übersicht und Methodik der Bestandsaufnahme
(2020) Gebhardt, Beate
This working paper present a systematic collection of German sustainability competitions in 2020 to all interested readers. The collection of 141 sustainability competitions serves as a basis for further projects and studies by the Business Excellence and Sustainability Transformation Working Group (AK BEST), University of Hohenheim. The present collection updates a previous list from 2017.
SIEGER! Business-Awards als Instrument zur Steuerung der Nachhaltigkeitstransformation : Ansätze für Qualitätssicherung und Schärfung der strategischen Weiterentwicklung
(2024-08-14) Gebhardt, Beate; Hellstern, Laura
Das von der Deutschen Bundestiftung Umwelt (DBU) geförderte Forschungsprojekt „SIEGER“ ist ein wichtiger Baustein für Überlegungen und Analysen zum Nutzen und zur Qualitätssicherung von hochwertigen Umwelt- und Nachhaltigkeitswettbewerben. Es stellt die Möglichkeiten der konzeptionellen und organisatorischen Weiterentwicklung von Nachhaltigkeitswettbewerben dar und beschäftigt sich mit Erfolg und der Zukunftsfähigkeit solcher Awards. Untersucht wurden in diesem Zusammenhang die strategische Bedeutung sowie Herausforderungen und – erstmals in diesem Kontext – der Einfluss von Krisen auf die Rolle von Umwelt- und Nachhaltigkeits-awards. Eine weitere Frage ist, ob und wie Awards die konkrete Nachhaltigkeitsperformance und -bewertung von Unternehmen bzw. einen Paradigmenwechsel oder eine Unternehmenstransformation unterstützen. Die Erkenntnisse des Projekts sollen Vergabeinstitutionen von Umwelt- und Nachhaltigkeitswettbewerben eine Orientierung geben in den Fragen: • Was macht hochwertige Wettbewerbe aus? • Wie können kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen (KMUs) davon profitieren und Awards nutzen? • Können Awards zu einer gesamtgesellschaftlichen nachhaltigen Transformation beitragen? Für das Forschungsprojekt SIEGER wurden mittels Methoden-Mix deutschlandweit Vergabeinstitutionen von Awards und Unternehmen befragt. Gesammelt, systematisiert und abgeleitet werden Möglichkeiten resilienter, erfolgsversprechender Ansätze einer nachhaltigen Transformation der Vergabekonzepte; Möglichkeiten zur Stärkung von KMUs aus Sicht von Vergabeinstitutionen (Awardgebende), von Unternehmen (Awardnehmende) und von weiteren Experten sowie strategische Empfehlungen für zukunftsfähige Umwelt- und Nachhaltigkeitswettbewerbe. Die Projektbearbeitung übernahm der AK BEST (Business Excellence and Sustainability Transformation), eine Initiative angegliedert an die Universität Hohenheim, mit Schwerpunkt in der Award-Forschung. Zentrale Aussagen der Studie lauten: 1. Auf den Ausbau oder eine Weiterentwicklung der Nachhaltigkeitstransformation können hochwertige Nachhaltigkeitsawards eine positive Auswirkung haben – auch wenn die (Unternehmens-)Welt von Krisen und/oder Unsicherheiten beeinflusst ist. 2. Die Stärken und Chancen von Awards werden höher bewertet als die Schwächen und Risiken. 3. Insbesondere der Imagegewinn, Sympathiegewinn bei Kund*innen und die Motivation bei Mitarbeiter*innen werden von Unternehmen als positive Effekte genannt. 4. Für kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen (KMUs) sind vor allem Finanzier-barkeit und Zeitaufwand eine Hürde für die Teilnahme, für Großunternehmen ist es die Vielzahl an Awards und deren Glaubwürdigkeit. 5. (Nachhaltigkeits-)Awards spielen auch in der Zukunft eine Rolle für Unternehmen, wenn die Vergabeinstitutionen fünf wesentliche Merkmale sicherstellen: Qualität, Glaubwürdigkeit, Transparenz, Zugänglichkeit und Wirkung. 6. Für zukünftige oder Zukunftsawards erwarten Unternehmen Kommunikations-fähigkeit (für sich) und Kommunikation (der Vergabeinstitution), um externe sowie interne Stakeholder in das Handeln und ggfs. eine Transformation zu integrieren. 7. Zentral ist dafür, dass auch die Vergabeinstitutionen in der Lage sind, ihre Awards situativ anzupassen und ggfs. eine Selbstveränderung zu schaffen (Resilienz). In diesem Abschlussbericht des Forschungsprojekts SIEGER werden diese Ergebnisse detailliert beschrieben, Ziel und Methodik der Forschungsstudie benannt und ein Weg in die Zukunft für (Nachhaltigkeits-)Awards aufgezeigt.
Simulation of the sustainability of farming systems in Northern Thailand
(2008) Potchanasin, Chakrit; Zeddies, Jürgen
Introduction Due to an increase in environmental problems and resource degradation, economic development should be pursued with consideration of environmental functions and the supply and quality of natural resources. Monitoring and assessment of whether the development approaches a sustainable path are required to provide information for policy development. This becomes increasingly important ? especially for marginal areas where the environment and natural resources are sensitive. The study area is located in the mountainous area of Northern Thailand with abundant natural resources and a healthy ecological environment. However, population growth, land limitation, and external factors ? such as market forces ? are inducing change and pressure on resource utilization. The resources are intensively used and farming systems are changing to more commercial practices. Therefore, the region?s long term sustainability needs investigation. Objectives This study aims at assessing the sustainability of the farming systems in the study area under the sustainability concept, farming systems approach and Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) approach. The first objective of this study is to describe the characteristics of the farming systems in the study area. The second objective is to develop and use a MAS model to evaluate sustainability of the study area. The last objective is to use the model to present sustainability of farming systems under different scenarios based on changes of significant factors and policy intervention. In addition, the ability of the systems to cope with and recover themselves from these changes is examined. Methodology The sustainability of the farming systems in the study area was assessed through defined indicators representing three conditions: the economic, social and environmental condition. The indicators were defined based on the framework of indicator determination to serve the objectives and methodology of this study. The selected indicators for this study are: household income, net farm income, household capital, household saving, food security, top-soil erosion and fallow period. For these indicators the following sustainability classes were defined: Sustained (S), Conditional sustained (C), and Non-sustained (N) class. Evaluation of sustainability was carried out at two levels: the household and the village level. At the household level the sustainability situation was evaluated based on the individual farm household performance corresponding to each indicator. The sustainability at village level was assessed through the Sustainability index (SI) when single indicators are considered and the Performance index (PI) in which a group of indicators is regarded. The dynamics of the sustainability situation at household and village level were extrapolated over 15 years (2003 ? 2017) in order to examine the sustainability of the study area?s farming systems. The MAS model was developed and named CatchScapeFS. The model structure relies on descriptions of the farming systems in the study area. The MAS approach was applied in order to capture the complexity and extrapolate the long-term sustainability situation in the study area. The model composes of two components: a biophysical and a socioeconomic component. The biophysical component is based on the CatchScape3 model. It consists of biophysical models: a hydrological model, a crop model, a water balance model and a soil erosion model, which are embedded in the landscape model of the study area (represented in spatial grid cells as plots of one rai or 0.16 ha). The socioeconomic component is composed of farm household agents and other social elements. The farm household samples were classified based on the similarity of characteristics and behaviour into the market, subsistence, and partnership oriented group. The Monte Carlo technique was applied to generate farm agents out of the existing farm household samples. The CatchScapeFS model was designed according to the object-oriented modelling approach. The CORMAS platform was selected as a capable tool to facilitate modelling and simulation. During a simulation time step covering 10 days, activities in six principal phases including activities in eight phases of farm agent household activities are executed. The model was validated and tested for its stability. Validation was conducted by social validation and statistic data comparison validation. The results of the model validation and stability test showed the reliability of using the model to serve the study objectives. Main results Sustainability of study area at the household level The results show unsustainability over time in the study area. The number of households in the Sustained class (S) decreases whereas the number in the Non-sustained (N) and Conditional sustained class (C) tend to increase. For the economic condition, unsustained aspects occurred because of rising private household expenditure and decreasing capital products on the farm. For the social condition, the results show an increase of the households? rice deficit and rice acquisition in the long run which enhances the area?s unsustainability. For the environmental condition, erosion and shortening fallow aspects induce the area?s unsustainability. The area?s erosion is severe and increases over time. For the fallow aspect, the average fallow period is shortening because of intensive land use in order to produce for consumption ? which potentially induces land degradation in the long run. Sustainability of the study area at village level Similar to the results at household level, the findings show that farming systems in the study area are not sustainable. Unsustainability was observed by a declining Performance index (PI) and declining Sustainability indexes (SIs) of all indicators in the long term. By considering PI values with the trends, the area?s sustainability in economic condition is better than the social and especially environmental condition. This can be explained by relative high SI values for the economic indicators compared to the SIs of the social and environmental indicators. By considering all SIs and their dynamic trend, sustainability issues can be ranked to determine the sustainability issues which need to be improved. Food security is the most unsustained issue followed by the issues of household saving, household capital, top-soil erosion, household income, fallow period, and net farm income respectively. Scenario analysis The scenarios were the implementation of a policy to improve sustainability and occurrence of unexpected events through changes of biophysical and economic factors. The scenario of the sustainability improving policy is defined as introduction of a high yield variety of upland rice and maize including introduction of mango to the households who currently only produce annual crops. Unexpected events due to the change of biophysical factors were simulated with a drought and rain increasing scenario. A decreasing crop price scenario represented an unexpected event due to the change of an economic factor. Implementation of proposed sustainability improvement policy The results show that the sustainability in the study area is obviously improved; represented by an increase of the PI value with a positive trend over time. In addition, the SIs of many indicators increase in this scenario, except the SI of household saving, which was rather constant. The PI of economic indicators improves with a higher number of households in the sustainable class when considering the household income, net farm income and household capital indicators. For the social condition, PI and SI values of food security increase because of a reduced rice deficit. For the environmental condition, the PI value of the environmental indicators increases because of a reduction of soil erosion and a longer fallow periods. It can be concluded that this scenario provides a policy option which potentially leads to an improvement of the sustainability situation in the study area. Drought scenario The results show that the study area was still unsustainable similar to the baseline scenario. However, the results show a slightly better PI during drought with a higher value and a slower decrease over time. These are the effects of the trade-offs between the indicators. The top-soil erosion indicator (influenced by decreasing rain) becomes better. This positive effect compensates for the negative effects regarding household savings, food security and fallow period indicators ? which all declined. In addition, the simulation results presented the adaptation and reaction of farm agents to drought. Drought is perceived and causes a delay in planting to avoid damage. This induced a variation of the planted area. However, the variation becomes lower because of adaptation as the farm households learn from their experiences. During drought, an increase in the rice and maize deficiency occurred. The average amount of borrowed rice increased over time and the rice acquisition of the farm agents is performed by borrowing from the village rice bank and neighbours In addition, the farm agents acquire maize by collecting wild vegetables to feed their animals. Furthermore, the results indicate the ability of the farm households to cope with and to recover to some extent from a drought. Rain increasing scenario In this scenario, the study area was still unsustainable, similar to the baseline. However, for this scenario, the top-soil erosion is worse because of the increasing rainfall. The PI of economic indicators slightly increased in the first year with increasing rain because of the rising income from livestock production. However, this was caused by random effects influencing the model?s initial stage. For the social condition, there are only small random changes compared to the baseline scenario. For the environmental condition, the PI and SIs of environmental indicators become worse due to an increase of top-soil erosion. Price decreasing scenario The results show that the area?s sustainability is worse compared to the baseline. A reduction of the crop price directly affects household income and cash ? which consequently generates a cash deficit problem. However, due to the area characteristics and household behaviour, there is no effect on resource use because prices do not influence the farm agents? decision making. The PI of this scenario declines faster than in the baseline. This was affected by the decrease of the SIs of the economic indicators which decreased during the periods of the price fall. The households are confronted with a decline in cash which results in a deficiency of cash. Cash acquisition of the households is performed by selling livestock and borrowing from the village fund and neighbours. For the social and environmental condition, there are only small changes due to random effects. Policy recommendations Based on the study results, policies to improve sustainability of the study area farming systems are recommended. Firstly, to improve the area?s sustainability, the introduction of high yield variety of upland rice and maize with conservation practices as well as the introduction of mango to the farm households who currently produce only annual crops is recommended. Secondly, diverting research efforts to develop cash crop alternatives is required in order to improve household cash income. Thirdly, the promotion and support for raising livestock and off-farm activities, such as weaving and the development of tourism, should be performed in order to increase household cash income. Fourthly, awareness raising measures for stakeholders concerning environmental and resource protection have to be executed and achieved. For this, the CatchScapeFS model can be used as a tool to promote a common view between stakeholders. Fifthly, the introduction of birth control in this area is also necessary. Simultaneously, an understanding of households? regarding the effects of population growth should be created in order to obtain the villagers? cooperation without cultural conflicts. Recommendations for further research Guidelines for further studies and applications are recommended. Firstly, development of the model to be more realistic could be undertaken by representing more details of the systems, for example, introducing a nutrient soil dynamic model. However, this should be based on the considered research question (s) and should consider both the marginal benefits and marginal costs of development. Secondly, application of the CatchScapeFS model to other study areas would need to consider the compatibility of the model components and structure of the characteristics in the new study area. In addition, if applied to new areas the indicators to represent sustainability of the study area should be revised. Thirdly, applications following this study framework can be extended to different sustainability approaches ? such as sustainable rural livelihood or sustainable land management. However, the compatibility and relationship of the indicators with the study framework should be considered. Fourthly, a framework through application of object-oriented modelling is recommended as an alternative for further studies to investigate the consequences of policy interventions. However, resource requirements for any research application should be taken into account. Fifthly, the CatchScapeFS model can be used as a tool to test and monitor the effects of potential policies which can be implemented into Bor Krai village. Also, the model can be used as a tool to promote a common view of the overall village systems as well as to support collective decision making managed by stakeholders of the systems. Recommendations for newcomers to MAS application research Suggestions from the present study for newcomers have been proposed. The first recommendation to deal with the MAS application research is that newcomers have to learn the computer programs and programming. Learning programming with advice of programming experts at the beginning period and attention of newcomers to apply the code in different circumstances are highly recommended. Secondly, development of an integrated model in multidisciplinary research requires learning the academic knowledge from other disciplines. Therefore, determining the study objectives within the possible extent, introducing assumptions to simplify the additional disciplines, and consulting specialists to learn the required knowledge within a short time frame are suggested. Lastly, the development of integrated model requires a huge amount of data. Therefore, in the case which required data cannot be obtained, introducing assumptions based on theory and literature is recommended.
Social and positive sustainability performance measurement : theories, conceptual frameworks, and empirical insights
(2018) Kühnen, Michael; Hahn, Rüdiger
Over 30 years have passed since the World Commission on Environment and Development published its famous Brundtland report including its definition of sustainable development. Since then, sustainability performance measurement looking beyond traditional financial performance measurement is becoming increasingly important in academia, business practice, and regulation to assess and ultimately manage economic, ecological, and social benefits and damages of organizational behavior along corporate supply chains and product life cycles. However, two overarching critical shortcomings prevent sustainability performance measurement from becoming a truly holistic and relevant decision-supporting instrument. First, the field is characterized by differing levels of maturity in terms of measuring performance of the three triple bottom line sustainability dimensions. Unlike established approaches for measuring ecological performance (e.g., with environmental life cycle assessment; ELCA) and economic performance (e.g., with life cycle costing; LCC), measuring social performance (e.g., with social life cycle assessment; SLCA) is still at a developmental stage, because the field is understudied and fragmented, and lacks empirical experience. Thus, the field of sustainability performance measurement is imbalanced in terms of the integrated assessment of the three sustainability dimensions. Second, the field is characterized by a negative perspective and a focus on becoming less unsustainable instead of making positive progress to sustainable development. Current sustainability performance measurement approaches primarily assess negative burdens or footprints and their reduction during product life cycles and in supply chains (e.g., accidents and fatalities, carbon dioxide emissions, or total cost of ownership) and neglect capturing positive benefits occurring throughout product life cycles and corporate supply chains. A critical reason is that research lacks a fundamental understanding of the general construct of positive sustainability performance. Thus, the field of sustainability performance measurement is incomplete because it fails to characterize and assess the important positive perspective of sustainability-related value creation and positive contributions to sustainable development. Triggered by the overarching critical shortcomings, this dissertation aims at advancing the level of maturity of social performance measurement and at advancing the understanding of positive sustainability performance measurement to promote a more balanced and complete assessment of contributions to sustainable development. To achieve these overarching aims, this dissertation builds on a multitude of research methods (especially, systematic reviews of research and corporate practice, an extensive Delphi study, and qualitative interviews), a resulting richness of empirical data, and various theoretical reflections. This dissertation comprises five studies (i.e., two systematic literature reviews and three empirical papers based on multiple research methods and data sets). Together, the five studies highlight the trends, coherences, inconsistencies, and gaps in social and positive sustainability performance measurement. Furthermore, the studies establish and explain the interrelation between social and positive sustainability performance measurement, advance their conceptual and theoretical foundation, promote standardization by prioritizing relevant indicators, and suggest an approach to measure and evaluate positive contributions to sustainable development. The individual studies presented in this dissertation offer valuable findings for research and managerial practice in the field. Together, the five studies highlight the trends, coherences, inconsistencies, and gaps in social and positive sustainability performance measurement. Furthermore, the studies establish and explain the interrelation between social and positive sustainability performance measurement, advance their conceptual and theoretical foundation, promote standardization by prioritizing relevant indicators, and suggest an approach to measure and evaluate positive contributions to sustainable development. Overall, this dissertation provides an important step to measure and ultimately manage social and positive sustainability performance. Thus, it establishes a foundation for the development of sustainable business practices that go beyond merely counteracting negative business outcomes toward actually delivering positive sustainability benefits for business and society.
Sustainability assessment and education for sustainability in the Russian Federation on the example of Tambov region
(2021) Bezgin, Anna; Doluschitz, Reiner
Over the past few decades economic growth has come at the expenses of the environments and the topic of sustainable development is becoming more important. Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The main aim of this dissertation was to investigate the available methodologies of sustainability assessment and to test which of them could be suitable for Russian conditions. Russia is an interesting subject for research as, it has its own history of sustainability science, but quite often the commitment to sustainable development is only in rhetoric and there are some problems with the interpretation of the concept of sustainable development. For example, in Russian official documents the term sustainability is used as a synonym for stable economic growth. The focus of the research was a creation of an indicator system for a regional sustainability assessment on the example of Tambov region of the Russian Federation. At the first stage of the research a regional assessment was performed with the help of the United Nations set of sustainable development indicators, SWOT analysis was performed to identify the main strengths and problems in the region. Also, the availability of statistical data and relevancy for the research region of the indicators was checked. During the next stage of the research a composite indicator was created using different techniques for normalization of indicator and weighting. Then robustness and sensitivity analysis of created indicators was performed, the results were visualised, and composite indicators were decomposed to explain the drivers of the aggregated results. The result of this work has shown that composite indicators together with regional assessment on the base of sustainability indicators are the tools that could support policymakers in sustainability decision-making. There are some problems with the availability of the statistical data in Russia, and there is no monitoring mechanism at the federal district level and lack of coordination with work of statistical agencies. This research is confirming a necessity of further research, and a need to develop a monitoring and assessment system in Russian Federation. The second part of the research was devoted to education for sustainable development. UNESCO is stressing that the approach of Education for Sustainable Development empowers learners to take informed decisions and responsible actions for environmental integrity, economic viability, and a just society for present and future generations, and therefore education is playing a crucial role in reaching sustainability (UNESCO, 2017). The aim of this research was to see how the sustainability topics are integrated into the curriculum of the agricultural universities, to define the sources of integration and research possible problems and formulate the recommendations for strengthening the integration. To research the education for sustainable development in Russia first a literature review was conducted, followed by 16 semi-structured interviews with the representatives of 8 universities. The research confirmed the fact that sustainability is present as a topic in the official documents, for example educational standard, but this mention remains only rhetorical and does not provide the background for the establishment of a framework for integration of sustainability concept. As a result, the integration into education is mostly driven by the personal initiative of the teaching staff. There is a clear demand for an integration framework of sustainability topics in the federal state educational standard. The main problems are uncoordination and competition between departments and ministries, overload of teachers, lack of best-practices, absence of system in the education and limited financing. These problems could be mitigated with creation of interdepartmental centres, creation of interdisciplinary working groups, creation of a systematic concept of education for sustainability and involvement of different stakeholders into educational projects, but the success of these measures depends on the general approach and if the importance of sustainability will be present only in official documents, then there will be no shift in integration, and everything will depend only on individual initiative of teachers.