Press Release04.07.2017, Berlin

Dr. Maja Göpel to become Secretary-General of the WBGU

Maja Göpel will become the new secretary-general of the the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). With a degree in media studies and a PhD in political economy, Göpel has worked extensively on the themes of globalisation and sustainability, forward-thinking economies and forms of prosperity as well as on the rights of future generations.

Maja Göpel has most recently been the director of the Berlin office of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. Until 2011 she worked for the World Future Council (WFC) as Director of Future Justice in its Brussels office and previously as Campaign Manager Climate Energy in Hamburg.

She is also a member of the Club of Rome, the Balaton Group and the Advisory Board of the Development and Peace Foundation. Maja Göpel will assume her role as secretary-general on 1 September 2017. She will succeed Inge Paulini, who in April 2017 was appointed president of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection.

Dirk Messner, WBGU chairperson: "We are very much looking forward to working with Maja Göpel. One of our goals will be to strengthen WBGU cooperation with international organisations – a task for which Ms. Göpel is an ideal choice for the WBGU team."

Sabine Schlacke, WBGU chairperson: "Maja Göpel has ample experience in communicating sustainability issues within both government and society at large and in intelligibly illuminating the Great Transformation Towards Sustainability."