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NEWS

News & insights regarding our work.

May 30, 2024 LEADERSHIP CRASH COURSE EU & SUSTAINABILITY

Are you a leader, visionary, or shaper of a team’s, organisation’s, or region’s future and can you converse in German? European Affairs might not be your daily business, but you’re certainly interested in our common future? Our bespoke and unconventional seminar day at 2,000 metres above sea level near Innsbruck might be the right format at the right time for you.

NOMINATED! VOTE FOR THE MINERVA PRIZE UNTIL 21 MARCH

"As a networker in the background, she fights for sustainability, the European idea and, as a consequence, for the European Green Deal," reads Verena Ringler's nomination for the MINERVA Award from Sheconomy - die neuen Seiten der Wirtschaft - With just one click you can vote until 21 March and support Verena Ringler.

South Tyrol Radio Show on the EU Green Deal

AGORA European Green Deal’s founding director Verena Ringler was invited to Radio Televisione Italiana’s „Future Forum“ radio show with Susanne Barta.

EUNIC, IUCN, ARTE at 22nd Nature Film Festival

Oscar-nominee Christian Berger awarding his Special Prize for cinematography, the 3rd Wild Women Award for female directors, and a dozen more award winners from around the globe!

An Alpine Valley’s Dark Sky Ambitions

Have you ever seen a myriad of stars dotting the sky, and the milky way softly stroking through? This experience has many positive effects to human health, and to the life of animals and plants. Tyrol’s Kaunertal now aims to become Austria’s second certified Dark Sky Area after the Attersee-Traunsee region.

BRINGING DIPLOMACY’S TOOLKIT HOME TO EU REGIONS!

At Austria’s Foreign Ministry’s annual Cultural Forum in Vienna, Verena Ringler held a keynote on practical steps towards a Culture of Regeneration. She underlined that international diplomacy, including cultural diplomacy, provides over a trove of methods and approaches to give conflicts and change a space and place, and to find ways forward with words rather than weapons.

VISITING FELLOW WITH GMFUS‘s BRUSSELS INNOVATION HUB

As a Fellow with the Brussels Innovation Hub and Cities Team of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMFUS), Verena Ringler discusses and devises the links between Transatlantic and G20 climate and diplomacy efforts, and place-based climate and nature transition networks. She looks particularly at the South African G20 Presidency in 2025.

WHY BIODIVERSITY IS CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

In the Podcast conversation with strategy and communications expert Thomas Goiser, Verena Ringler elaborated (in German) on the linkages between biodiversity protection and European strategy and security policy. The new German Security Strategy from late spring 2023 for instance spells out the German government’s commitment towards swift implementation of the planned EU Nature Restoration Law.

THE BEAUTY OF THE EUROPEAN GREEN DEAL

At the Summer School South Tyrol (Südtirol, Alto Adige), Verena elaborated on the European Green Deal’s logic, elements, and meaning. She underlined the „sui generis“ character of the EGD as a grand political project that spans over generations and encompasses all spheres of society and all sectors of the economy. A particular emphasis was placed on the relevance for local networks and citizens.

LECTURE AT SAIS EUROPE – WATCH NOW!

Verena Ringler was honored and humbled to deliver the Kathryn Knowles Women in International Affairs Lecture on 23 March, hosted by Professor Michael Leigh. Under the title, "Rising to the Task of Leadership: A European Perspective", Verena invited today's and tomorrow's decision-makers to explore and unlock three frontier arenas of leadership in the European and international landscape.

HORIZON EUROPE, HERE COMES AGORA!

We are honored and energized to join the national "Mission Action Group - A Soil Deal for Europe". This is a key mission within the Horizon Europe framework programe. Last year, we celebrated "Soil, Seeds and Senses" on an Alpine peak. Now, we involve ourselves in local, national and European networks on soil quality.

AGORA IN ACTION AT THE VIENNA INTERNATIONAL CENTRE

We tremendously enjoyed working with the International Commission on the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) in Vienna on an early-stage stakeholder scouting and visioning exercise. A productive process with Birgit Vogel, Executive Secretary and Ivan Zavadsky, former Executive Secretary, inter alia. Their vision: A healthier, safer, cleaner Danube. Did you know that the entire Danube River basin comprises 19 countries, making it the most international river basin in the world? 

TIME TRAVEL: CULTURAL HISTORY OF SUSTAINABILITY

From the origins of sustainability thinking and action to today's hands-on European project management: It has been great to join the European Studies track at UAS Burgenland and to work with an outstanding group of Masters Students since January this year.

EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY ALLIANCES FOR FUTURE

An engaging evening with Gilles Pécoult, French Ambassador to Austria, convened by Gerda Füricht-Fiegl, Programme Director European Studies at UAS Burgenland. He speaks about France's European vision. He highlights President Emmanuel Macron's Signature project, the ambition to support 60 European University Alliances by mid-2024.

We are a Registered Trademark!

AGORA European Green Deal enters 2023 as a registered trademark with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). This concerns classes 41 (mainly services consisting of all forms of education or training) and 42 (scientific and technological services and research and design relating thereto; industrial analysis, industrial research and industrial design).

A MARSHALL PLAN FOR THE CLIMATE

Which lessons can we can draw from the Marshall Plan for the green transition in Europe? - This is what Verena Ringler discussed on stage with Irene Giner-Reichel of the Global Forum on Sustainable Energy, Wolfgang Petritsch, President of the Austrian Marshallplan Foundation, and Oliver Ruppel of University Graz, inter alia.

GREEN FILMS IN THE HEART OF EUROPE

Green films, nature films, and high-quality documentaries and narrative films on the theme of planetary care make for a vibrant, emerging field. An incoming generation of filmmakers has set out in recent years to venture into this and set new standards.

Ouverture to the European Forum Alpbach

Verena Ringler’s guest commentary in the quality daily newspaper, Wiener Zeitung zooms in on the international dynamics of the green transition theme.

SENIOR LECTURER ON SUSTAINABILITY & SOCIAL SCIENCES

We prepare an exciting and cutting-edge university course for the fall 2022 semester at the Management Center Innsbruck. Renown practitioners will join us, including Christina Riegler and Prof. Georgios Kostakos from Brussels.

New member of the Austrian Fundraising Association

Great news! The umbrella organisation for the non-profit sector in Austria decided expeditedly and positively on AGORA European Green Deal’s membership application in July 2022. The association, founded in 1996, serves and supports 330 members across the country.

Austria’s Economic Chamber recommends AGORA EGD

In its opening paragraph, the “European Green Deal – Think Tank tracker” of 7 July 2022 by the Austrian Economic Chamber wko.at recommends readers to follow the work of AGORA European Green Deal and specifically our live contribution at the 1st New European Bauhaus Festival.

AGORA European Green Deal at the Club of Venice 

The new Club of Venice’s magazine features our thoughts and practice on European Green Deal communication.

The daily “Tiroler Tageszeitung” reports about our Alpine Seed Stage 

The main regional daily newspaper, “Tiroler Tageszeitung”, devotes an entire page of its Sunday edition from 12 June 2022 to AGORA European Green Deal’s contribution to the first New European Bauhaus Festival.

Meet our speakers at the New European Bauhaus Festival!

Meet the policymakers and practitioners of our „Celebration of Soil, Seeds, and Senses“ at more than 2.000 meters above sea level. This Side Event of the 1st New European Bauhaus Festival is initiated and led by AGORA European Green Deal.

We go live during the Brussels Opening Ceremony of the New European Bauhaus Festival

AGORA European Green Deal is selected to join Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President, and other EU policymakers at 13.00 hours on 9 June.

Verena Ringler’s Cover Story in the corporate magazine of an insulation company

While #WEF22 puts the spotlight on the private sector’s responsibilities in the green transition, ISOCELLER’s brand-new edition zooms in on AGORA’s role and potential.

Verena Ringler is incoming Helmut Schmidt Fellow. 

AGORA European Green Deal’s director Verena Ringler has been awarded this year’s Helmut Schmidt Fellowship by the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMFUS) and ZEIT Stiftung. This allows her to expand her research on Green Transition Leadership across the Atlantic.

Our Celebration of Soil, Seeds & Senses

We have great news for you: we will be part of the first New European Bauhaus Festival. Follow our Celebration of Soil, Seeds and Senses!
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Memo to the German Government

Regions on their way to the European Green Deal. An analysis and recommendations of an early exploration in three Austrian federal states.
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Transition needs Transition diplomacy

A field study from Austria provides Germany’s newly elected government with ideas to take the fear out of the European Green Deal.

FASZINATION: LEADERSHIP

Verenas erste und frühe Laufbahn als Reporterin hat ihr Verständnis für Disruption und Veränderung stark geprägt. Am Ground Zero in New York, in der vom Krieg gezeichneten Stadt in Bosnien, im lawinengeplagten Alpendorf, am neuen Universitätsstandort in Südtadschikistan, auf dem Forschungsboot zum Weltklima am Baikalsee;—Verena in all diesen Situationen einen roten Faden. Umbrüche brächten überall auf der Welt dieselben, universelle Fragen zutage. Etwa: Was macht Führung aus? Wer taucht aus unscheinbaren Ecken auf, wenn Veränderung in der Luft liegt? Wer schafft es, Gemüter zu beruhigen, in die Zukunft zu blicken, Menschen mitzunehmen? Wer wagt es, Muster zu durchbrechen, über das Morgen zu sprechen? Wer ruft wen zusammen, wer öffnet Türen? Wer verfügt über einen ethischen Kompass?—Diesese Fragen haben Verena stark geprägt. Heute ist sie sich ihrer bewusst, wenn sie Lösungsansätze zu heißen Themen der Klimawende in Europa erarbeitet. Ihre Trainingstage für Führungskräfte hält Verena nun gerne unter einem handgeschriebenen Banner ab. Da steht das Mantra von Otto Scharmer von MIT: „Energie folgt Aufmerksamkeit.“
Hören Sie Verenas Rede beim 2023 Kulturforum des österreichischen Außenministeriums an

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY – SAIS

Verena engagiert sich in der empirischen Sozialwissenschaft, der qualitativen Forschung und der akademischen Lehre. Ihre Studien an der School for Advanced International Studies der Johns Hopkins University (Bologna, Washington), den Universitäten Innsbruck und Wien und ihr Erasmus-Semester in Uppsala inspirieren ihre Arbeit bis heute. Leidenschaftlich lotet sie die nächsten Grenzen und Fragen im Bereich der internationalen Beziehungen aus. Wie etwa hier in der„Women in International Affairs“ -Vorlesung 2023 auf dem SAIS Europe Campus, hier im Buch Tipping Point Talks Volume 1 und Volume 2  Lesen Sie Verenas akademische Buch- und Zeitschriftenbeiträge bei Amsterdam University Press, Routledge, dem Journal of Futures Studies, Internationale Politik und anderen in Research Gate.

TEXTE UND TEDx

Die Zukunft Europas braucht Lobby und Stimme gleichermaßen. Deshalb will Verena die besonders leisen Stimmen verstärken und die besonders vielversprechenden multiplizieren. In diesem Sinne ergreift sie selbst oft das Wort in der Öffentlichkeit. Lesen oder hören Sie Verenas Ideen in 750 Vorträgen und Publikationen, von akademischen Buchbeiträgen bis hin zu Meinungsbeiträgen in traditionellen Medien und auf der TED-Bühne. Verena schöpft hier aus ihrer ersten Laufbahn im internationalen Magazinjournalismus: vier Jahre lang war sie Redaktionsmitglied bei Foreign Policy, Washington D.C., und sie veröffentlichte dutzende Reportagen aus den Balkanländern, aus Mittel- und Osteuropa und den Ländern der ehemaligen Sowjetunion in deutschen und internationalen Medien. Für einen Beitrag in der brand eins wurde Verena mit dem EU Young Journalist Award ausgezeichnet. Heute unterrichtet sie regelmäßig auf dem Campus der Austria Presse Agentur (APA). Hören Sie  Verenas aktuelle TEDx Rede.

Diplomatie Innovatorin

Verena denkt über Innovationen in der Diplomatie nach, derzeit als pro bono Fellow beim German Marshall Fund of the United States. Sie sagt, der Umbau von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft hin zur Klimaneutralität sei nur zum Teil technisch zu lösen; hauptsächlich komme es hier auf Mensch und Gesellschaft an. Motto, “Klimawende braucht Wendediplomatie.” In diesem Sinne fordert sie Entscheider:innen in der EU auf, den Kontakt und Austausch mit ländlichen Regionen zu intensivieren. Sie plädiert dafür, den Werkzeugkasten der internationalen Diplomatie—insbesonderer der Versöhnungs- und Friedensdiplomatie—nun hier “zuhause”, in Europas Regionen, zur Anwendung zu bringen. Beim Schreiben und Sprechen belässt es Verena allerdings nicht; wann immer möglich, veranschaulicht und verankert sie ihre Ideen in der Praxis. Ihre Ideen schöpft sie aus ihren Erfahrungen in einem diplomatischen Team des Europäischen Rates im Kosovo von 2006 bis 2009 und aus der Zusammenarbeit mit dem Europäischen Auswärtigen Dienst (EAD), dem Club of Venice, der Europäischen Stabilitätsinitiative (ESI) und der Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz.

ZWISCHEN DORF UND HAUPTSTADT

Verena schätzt die konkreten Lebenswelten – abseits der Hauptstädte, oft im ländlichen Raum –genauso wie die politischen Zentren wie Brüssel oder Washington. Daher hat es sie zu ihrer Aufgabe gemacht, zwischen lokalen und internationalen Welten zu übersetzen und zu vermitteln. In beiden Arenen setzt sie Impulse und Veränderungen in Gang. Nehmen wir das Beispiel der EU-Biodiversitätsstrategie: Zunächst analysierte Verena die Chancen und Herausforderungen der Umsetzung. Dann diskutierte sie mit Regierungssprechern im Club of Venice und z.B. in Bologna mit Wissenschaftlern im Bereich internationale Beziehungen. In Wien wiederum begann sie, mit wichtigen Einflussgebern konkrete Ideen für die Debatte zum Bodenschutz auszuloten. Zu Hause in Innsbruck schließlich entwickelte sie Mitmach-Formate für die lokale Gesellschaft gemeinsam mit Biologinnen und Ökologen. Aus Anlass des „Ersten Neuen Europäischen Bauhausfestivals“ versammelte sie zudem Expert:innen und Vorreiter:innen auf einem Berggipfel- und vor der Kamera. Sie produzierte mit ihnen Kurzfilme zum Schatz des lebendigen Bodens und heimischen Saatguts.

Warum das alles? Und zu welchem Zweck? Verena möchte neue Knotenpunkte und Allianzen knüpfen für die Umsetzung des Green Deals und seiner Elemente, wie der Biodiversitätsstrategie.

GOVERNANCE PIONEERIN

Friedliche Durchbrüche in der Geschichte sind so gut wie immer das Ergebnis von Vorausschau, Trendspotting und Vorbereitungsarbeiten einzelner. Die meisten Pioniere arbeiten viele Jahre lang im Verborgenen und in kleinen Gruppen, bis ihre Idee endlich den Durchbruch erlebt. Denken wir etwa an die Friedensaktivistin Bertha von Suttner, den Erfinder des Roten Kreuzes Henri Dunant oder den Wegbereiter der europäischen Integration, Jean Monnet. Die Beharrlichkeit und Methoden dieser Größen sind es, die Verena im Konkreten inspirieren. Unermüdlich setzt sies ich für Mitmach-Formate und für proaktive Leadership in unserer Demokratie ein. Im Sinne von Vorbeugung und Vorsorge kann dies Staat und Gesellschaft helfen, zu sparen. Denn Spaltung, Populismus, toxische Debatten oder auch einfach Entscheidungsabstinenz sind vor allem eines: teuer. Unvorstellbar teuer. Wie also geht demokratische Präventionsarbeit konkret? Verena zeigt dies anhand großer Praxisprojekte, die bisher meist von Stiftungen ermöglicht werden. Ihre Interventionen leiten sich stets aus der Zukunft ab. Die dazugehörigen Methoden sind einerseits jene der systemischen Arbeit, andererseits Praktiken wie Backcasting und Co-Creation, Foresight und Forethought.

FASCINATION: LEADERSHIP

Verena’s first career as a reporter has greatly shaped her understanding of communities and societies struck by disruption or change. From Ground Zero in New York to a war-torn Bosnian town, from an Alpine village struck by an avalanche to a new university location in South Tajikistan and a climate science boat on Lake Baikal, Verena detected a common thread. These events bring universal questions to the surface, like: What is leadership made of, who emerges from unassuming corners when change is in the air? Who manages to calm emotions, eye the future, take people with them? Who dares to break patterns and to talk about tomorrow? Who convenes whom, who opens doors? Who provides an ethic compass?— Fascinated and humbled by these questions, Verena now applies them to the hot topics of Europe’s green transition. She provides her leadership trainings under a hand-written banner with a mantra of MIT’s Otto Scharmer. It says,: „Energy follows attention.“
Listen to her 2023 speech at the Culture Forum of the Austrian Foreign Ministry.

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY – SAIS

Verena engages passionately in empirical social science, qualitative research, and academic teaching. Her pursuit of European Studies at the Johns Hopkins University’s School for Advanced International Studies (Bologna, Washington), the universities of Innsbruck and Vienna, and her Erasmus semester in Uppsala inspire her work to this day. She enjoys to identify next frontiers and questions in the field of International Relations: watch her „Women in International Affairs“ Lecture 2023 at the SAIS Europe campus, read her Tipping Point Talks Volume 1 and Volume 2. Browse her book and journal contributions with Amsterdam University Press, Routledge, the Journal of Futures Studies, Internationale Politik, and others in Research Gate.

AUTHOR AND TEDx SPEAKER

Europe’s future needs a lobby and a voice. Hence Verena aims to amplify the voices that are underrepresented, and to multiply those that are promising. Read or listen to her ideas in 750 keynotes and stage talks and multimedia publications, from academic book contributions all the way to opinion pieces in the press and the TED stage. Verena draws on her first career in international magazine journalism, with four years as member of the editorial team of Foreign Policy, Washington D.C., and with many freelance contributions on the Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union countries in German and international media. For a piece in Germany’s brand eins magazine, Verena won an EU Young Journalist Award. Nowadays, she regularly teaches at the campus of the Austrian Press Agency. Watch Verena’s latest TEDx Talk.

DIPLOMACY INNOVATOR

Verena acts as diplomacy innovator and is currently a pro bono Fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States. She says the climate and nature transition is part technical work, yet mostly “people work”. In that vein, she calls for EU leaders to develop a body of “rural intelligence” and to adapt diplomacy’s international toolkit to the conflicts and change that societies face at home now, in the EU. Whenever possible, she showcases her ideas in practical pioneer projects on the ground. Verena draws her ideas from stints in a diplomatic team with the European Council in Kosovo from 2006-09, and collaborative experiences with the European External Action Service (EEAS), the Club of Venice, the European Stability Initiative (ESI), and the Munich Security Conference. Read her 2024 piece for the German Marshall Fund (GMUS).

Local and International

Verena combines a love for real world challenges and a place-based lense of analysis with a love for political centers and headquarters such as Brussels or Washington. She shuttles between local and international arenas, setting off systemic impulses and game changers in both. Take the example of the EU Biodiversity Strategy. First, Verena analysed the chances and challenges of implementation. She then went out to discuss with government spokespeople in the Club of Venice and international relations researchers in academia. In Vienna, in turn, she began to explore plausible ideas for the debate on soil care with opinion leaders. Finally, back home in Innsbruck, Verena devised practical projects for local society and biologists. She also convened soil experts and pioneers that had never been in one room together before, to broadcast a „Celebration on Soil, Seeds, and Senses“ to the audience of the „First New European Bauhaus Festival“.

Why all this, and to what end? Verena aims to weave new nodes and alliances for implementation of the Green Deal and its elements, such as the Biodiversity Strategy.

GOVERNANCE PIONEER

Peaceful breakthroughs in history happen due to anticipation, trendspotting, and preparations on the ground by individuals. Most pioneers operate behind the scenes for many years until their idea has its breakthrough moment. Think of peace activist Bertha von Suttner, of Red Cross inventor Henri Dunant, of European integration trailblazer Jean Monnet. Verena is inspired by the perseverance and the methodologies of these role models. She aims to work in this kind of spirit when promoting prevention and proactive leadership, in order to reduce the costs of populist policies, toxic debates, or inaction. The projects she devises and brings to life are often special projects enabled mostly by foundations. Verena’s interventions today are derived from the future. On the timeline inbetween lie exercises in Backcasting and Co-Creation, Foresight and Forethought.