Maja Göpel receives the Honorary Award of the German Sustainability Award for her outstanding scientific and societal contributions in making complex transformation processes understandable and in formulating the foundations of a future-ready, values-based modernity.
Prof. Dr. Maja Göpel (born June 27, 1976, in Bielefeld) is one of the defining intellectual voices of the socio-ecological transformation in Germany. As a political economist, transformation researcher, and author, she combines analytical precision with the ability to translate scientific insights into societal dialogue. Her work represents an interdisciplinary, systemic perspective on sustainability – beyond political and disciplinary silos.

After studying political science, sociology, and economics in Hamburg, Berlin, and York (UK), she initially worked at the intersection of environmental policy and governance research. At the Institute for Ecological Economy Research and at Leuphana University Lüneburg, she helped develop the foundations of a “politics of change,” one that integrates ecological boundaries, social justice, and economic resilience. As Secretary-General of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), she played a key role in embedding scientific evidence into political decision-making and in establishing sustainability as a guiding principle of public governance.

Göpel is a co-founder of the Scientists for Future initiative, through which she helped restore the voice of science in social climate debates in 2019. Her ability to combine fact-based reasoning with social intelligence has made her a central mediator between research, media, and the public. With her books Unsere Welt neu denken and Wir können auch anders, she created foundational works of modern sustainability communication: scientifically grounded, clearly structured, and critically reflective.
In her recent initiative “Mission Wertvoll,” she works on an expanded understanding of value in economic activity — with a focus on resilience, meaning, and social cohesion. In doing so, she contributes significantly to the advancement of sustainability economics and to a new understanding of prosperity in the 21st century.

Maja Göpel receives the Honorary Award of the German Sustainability Award because she understands science as a societal force for shaping the future. Her work shows that transformation is not only technological but epistemic: a change in our patterns of thought, institutions, and values. In this approach, she uniquely complements the contributions of her fellow honorees: Johan Rockström, who defines the planetary boundaries, and Mojib Latif, who deciphers the physical processes of the climate. Together, they embody a new alliance of natural science, systems thinking, and social science — the intellectual triad of a future-ready modernity.