Markus Duscha, the founder of the Fair Finance Institute, and his team have more than 30 years of experience in strategic political consulting and research for sustainable development. The focus since 2014 has been the necessary restructuring of the financial system.
- Markus Duscha is a member of the Sustainable Finance Advisory Committee of the German Federal Government in the 20th legislative term, in progress.
- Further development of European sustainability reporting standards for companies. Commissioned by German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt – UBA). Partners: Institut für Ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung (IÖW) (project management) and Arqum, in progress.
- “Turnaround Money“: Acceleration programme for the rapid implementation of more environmental protection through Sustainable Finance in the regions of Europe: The project supports four cities in Belgium (Ghent), Croatia (Križevci) and Germany (Mannheim, Munich) on their way to sustainable finance model cities. Together with Starkmacher e.V., Geld mit Sinn e.V., KU Leuven, Nieuwe Mensheid, Udruga za Ekonomiju Zajednistva. Funding by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection. 2021 – 2022. (Download English Summary)
- Development of indicators for aspects of social sustainability in the context of sustainable finance: Joint research project of the Deutsches Institut für Menschenrechte (German Institute for Human Rights) and the Fair Finance Institute. Funding by the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. 2021 – 2022.
First Report:
Selected human rights indicators in the context of current EU regulation: Towards more social sustainability in the financial and economic system. Part I: Minimum Standards, 2021
Second Report:
Selected human rights indicators in the context of current EU regulation: Towards more social sustainability in the financial and economic system. Part II: Substantial Contribution, 2022 - Creation of the SDG-FinTech-Database, together with Conscious Fintech, 2021
- Webinar co-organisation and contribution: Climate and environmental reporting – regulatory requirements and practical insights. Together with Arqum GmbH. June 2021
- Process design and moderation of money reform initiatives in Germany for the joint formulation of goals and demands for the paper “Geldwende jetzt!” (“Money turnaround now! For a sustainable, participatory and socially just monetary system”), supported by GLS Treuhand e.V. and Monneta, 2020/2021
- Organisation of two training days within the learning camp “Economy and Finance” on vocational orientation for young people in the project “Grünblick”. Focus on “Sustainable Finance”. On behalf of Starkmacher e.V., 2020, 2021 and 2022
- Organisation and implementation of a workshop “Fair Finance-City Munich – City Strategy for Sustainable Finance”, in cooperation with “Geld mit Sinn e.V.”, Munich, 15.10.2020
- Participant of the panel discussion of the Policy Panel: Public, Private, People Partnerships (PPPPs) for Investment in the Sustainability Transformation, within the 9th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABLE CITIES & TOWNS, Mannheim, Germany, 1.10.2020
- Keynote “Sustainable FinTech Landscape in Germany” at InvestorXConnect by TechQuartier, Frankfurt/Main, Germany, 3.9.2020
- Evaluation of the German CSR-Reporting (focusing on environmental aspects). Commissioned by German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt – UBA). Partners: Institut für Ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung (IÖW) (project management) and Arqum. FaFin focuses on the needs of the financial sector for environmentally relevant information from reporting companies. 2020 – 2021.
Reports:
Evaluation and further development of CSR reporting: Climate and environmental reporting by German companies, Summary of the empirical results for decision makers and multipliers, 2021
Recommendations for the design of sustainability reporting standards under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), 2021 - German mapping of the Sustainable Digital Finance landscape. In cooperaton with Institute for Social Banking and Ludwig Schuster. Commissioned by and in cooperation with Green Digital Finance Foundation / Sustainable Digital Finance Alliance (i.a. United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP). 2020
- Host of the regional conference series “Future of Fair Finance“, in Mannheim 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022; in Dortmund 2019
- Strategic support for the climate strategy for the LBBW (Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, Federal State Bank of Baden-Wuerttemberg), 2019
- Co-Organizer of convergence workshops for the german money reform movements (“Forum Geldwende”), 2018- 2020
- Sustainablity-Quick-Check Robo-Advisor. An analysis based on german robo-advisors website information, 2018
- Co-Organizer of the Conscious FinTech Meetup Series (since 2017), amongst others in Hamburg within the Fintech Week, 2018
- Eric Winkler, Markus Duscha (Fair Finance Institute): Discussion Paper: Financialization of Sustainability? – Possible Impacts of the “EU-Actionplan: Financing Sustainable Growth” , Heidelberg 2018 (in German)
- Development of an easy-to-use methodology for impact-assessment of financial services, 2018
- Participation in an expert round-table on monetary and financial system at GLS Treuhand, 2018
- Organizing and moderating a workshop “Conscious FinTech – Principles and Ways to sustainable and ethical FinTech” at the GLS-Bank “Money summit” (Geldgipfel), 2018
- Co-Author and Co-Publisher: “Discussion Paper – A Roadmap to Conscious FinTech.” 2018
- Strategy development concerning sustainability for the LBBW (Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, Federal State Bank of Baden-Wuerttemberg) – Development of the tool “LBBW NGO-Monitor for Sustainability”, October 2017 – Juni 2018
- Development of sustainability investment guidelines for an environmental NGO in Heidelberg (local branch of Friends of the Earth Germany), 2016 – 2018
- Starting and coordination of a new network for “Sustainable Finance” in Germany, 2016-2017
- Contributing as an expert in a workshop for a german regional bank, 2017
- Starting and coordinating the network “Money Compass Heidelberg”, a local network of NGO for a sustainable finance system, since 2015
- Introductory speech “Monetary System and Sustainability” in a scientific workshop, 2016
- Organising events about different monetary systems in Heidelberg, 2014-2016
Insofar as they apply to non-financial issues, the references listed here are from the time Markus Duscha collaborated with ifeu (´Institute for Energy und Environmental Research Heidelberg´). However, only a very small selection of his many years of experience is presented here for illustrative purposes.
- Evaluation of the energy consulting program of the consumer protection ageny in Northrhine-Westfalia, 2014
- Climate mitigation plans for several cities (e.g. Cologne, Frankfurt/Main, Münster/Westfalia, …), 1991 – 2012
- Development of an official monitoring system for energy efficiency services in Germany (in cooperation with Prognos and emnid). Since 2013, ongoing
- Quality management and networking optimisation for energy consulting of municipal utilities, 2014
- Study “Consistence of EU Structural and Cohesion Policy with EU climate goals” for the Federal Ministry for the Environment (Germany) (in cooperation with Taurus-Eco), 2011/2012