Press Release22.12.2016, Berlin

Sabine Schlacke and Dirk Messner new chairs of the WBGU

In their constituting session, today, the members of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) have elected Sabine Schlacke and Dirk Messner as their co-chairs for the coming two years. Due to various other commitments Hans-Joachim Schellnhuber – who previously co-chaired the council with Dirk Messner – did not run for another term. He will continue to constructively contribute to the work of the WBGU.

Sabine Schlacke is Director of the Institute for Environmental Law and Planning Law at the University of Münster and a judge at the Constitutional Court of Bremen.

Dirk Messner is Director of the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) in Bonn and Co-Director of the Center for Advanced Studies on Global Cooperation Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

WBGU members have been appointed by the German Federal Government on November 9th 2016. They were appointed until October 31st 2020. Members of the council are Martina Fromhold-Eisebith, Ulrike Grote, Ellen Matthies, Dirk Messner, Karen Pittel, Hans-Joachim Schellnhuber, Ina Schieferdecker, Sabine Schlacke and Uwe Schneidewind.