WBGU - Council Members

The Council has nine members, appointed for a term of four years by the federal cabinet (Bundeskabinett), having first been nominated by the Ministries of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). These two ministries provide the funding for the Council. The current term runs to October 2008. The Council is monitored and supported by an interministerial committee of the federal government comprising representatives of all ministries and of the federal chancellery (Bundeskanzleramt). The Council holds ten regular two-day meetings each year.

The Council's first term of office was from 1 June 1992 to 30 June 1996, its second term of office from 1. June 1996 to 31. October 2000, its third term from 1. November 2000 to 31. October 2004 and its fourth term from 1. November 2004 to 31. October 2008. The Council is now in its fifth term, from 1. November 2008 to 31. October 2012.

The Council Members are:

Prof. Dr. Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber CBE (chair), director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and visiting professor at Oxford University (physics department and Christ Church College)

Prof. Dr. Dirk Messner (vice chair), director of the German Development Institute, Bonn

Prof. Dr. Claus Leggewie, Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities, Essen, Institute for Advanced Study of the University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr

Prof. Dr. Reinhold Leinfelder, General Director of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity

Prof. Dr. Nebojsa Nakicenovic, professor of Energy Economics,
Vienna University of Technology and Deputy Director, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria

Prof. Dr. Stefan Rahmstorf, professor of Physics of the Oceans, Potsdam University and head of the Climate System department at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

Prof. Dr. Sabine Schlacke, Professor of Public Law, specializing German, European and International Environmental and administrative Law, Bremen University

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Schmid, president of the Institute for Solar Energy Technology and professor at the University of Kassel, Head of the department for efficient energy conversion

Prof. Dr. Renate Schubert, professor for economics at the Swiss Federal Institute for Technology and director of the Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zurich (Switzerland)