The adoption of the 2030 Agenda was a landmark achievement for the United Nations, providing for a shared global vision on sustainable development. The scale and ambition of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals are unprecedented and require new and innovative approaches.

A better understanding of the cognitive dimensions of human agents in their individual and collective behavior could be the key to implementing the different goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda in an coordinated manner. The symposium addresses the question of how to strengthen “brain power” for sustainable development and aims at identifying the cognitive preconditions for a successful sustainability transition.

With this symposium, the Leopoldina continues the dialogue between science and politics on sustainability and builds on the symposium “The Turn to Sustainability?”, which was held in Berlin in October 2016.