The members of the WBGU are appointed for a four-year-term by the responsible ministries (Ministry for Education and Research, BMBF, and the Ministry for Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety, BMU) on the basis of a cabinet decision. Members may be reappointed. 
The Council's third term of office lasted from 1. November 2000 to 31. October 2004. Prof. Dr. Graßl was elected Chair of the third term Prof. Dr. Schubert was elected Vice Chair

Members during the third term of office (1.11.2000 bis 31.10.2004)

Professor Dr. Hartmut Graßl (Chair)
Director at the Max Planck Institute für Meteorology, Hamburg

Professor Dr. Renate Schubert (Vice Chair)
Head of the Center for Economic Research at the ETH Zurich

Professor Dr. Astrid Epiney
Director at the Institut De Droit Europeen, Fribourg

Professor Dr. Margareta E. Kulessa
Professor of Economics and European Economic Politics at the Mainz Unversity of Applied Sciences 

Professor Dr. Joachim Luther
Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Freiburg

Professor Dr. Franz Nuscheler
Director of the Institute for Development and Peace, Duisburg

Professor Dr. Dr. Rainer Sauerborn
Medical Director of the Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health at the Hygieneinstitut of the University of Heidelberg

Professor Dr. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber
Research Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in Norwich, UK and Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

Professor Dr. Ernst-Detlef Schulze
Director at the Max Planck Institute of Biogeochemistry in Jena