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Prof. Dr. Radermacher: Climate Nationalism

By gottfried herrmann

Prof. Dr. Radermacher: Climate Nationalism

Party in the climate prison

When the media and forums discuss energy and blackouts, technologies such as photovoltaics and wind turbines are usually mentioned in connection with the power grid and how it can be regulated. What has so far mostly been mentioned only in so-called conspiracy theories is that financial and power-political aspects of these technologies also need to be considered.

Interestingly, the well-known economist Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. h.c. Franz Josef Radermacher now also speaks openly about this delicate topic in his lectures. He is known for his commitment to environmental protection and social justice and has been active for decades in numerous organisations and bodies in business and politics. The Wikipedia entry on Franz Josef Radermacher therefore mentions his critical view only cautiously. The current entry as of 21.05.2025 can be read in the appendix. One of these lectures can be viewed in the video Party im Klimagefängnis – Prof. Dr. Radermacher – Klimanationalismus (German).

In this excerpt from his lecture, he clearly and plainly addresses the machinations of a business sector and a political structure whose only goal is to gain and keep financial and political control over humanity, now by means of these forms of technology.

It is important to me to document the following thoughts here as well: photovoltaics and wind energy may make sense in remote places, in so-called off-grid applications combined with energy storage for self-sufficient energy supply. That is, until technologies such as neutrinovoltaics and other long-known forms of technology become available again.

Yes, humanity must treat resources and the environment more carefully. However, current behaviour in the existing economic system may also be directly connected with the financial system and the legal rules of the game on which it is based. It is only through the artificially created scarcity of a debt-money system based on compound interest that people unconsciously fall into existential fear and try in every conceivable way to obtain money in order to survive. Instead of chasing money and destroying nature and themselves in the process, they would only need to find out how our world and life work. And, on the basis of that insight, to join together and organise themselves on their own responsibility, true to the motto: “We are the ones we have been waiting for!” But that is another story…

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Link to YouTube (German)

Wikipedia entry on Prof. Dr. Radermacher as of 13 April 2025 (German Wikipedia, summarised; English Wikipedia article)

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Josef_Radermacher

Franz Josef Radermacher (* 20 March 1950 in Aachen) is a German mathematician and economist. He heads the Research Institute for Applied Knowledge Processing (FAW/n) and was professor of computer science at the University of Ulm until 2018. He became known, among other things, for advocating a worldwide eco-social market economy and for his involvement in the Global Marshall Plan Initiative, which since 2003 has been campaigning for fairer globalisation, for a “world in balance”.

Life and work

Radermacher obtained his doctorate in mathematics at RWTH Aachen in 1974 with the thesis Theorie der reduzierenden Ordnungshomomorphismen. He completed his second doctorate in economics at the University of Karlsruhe in 1976. He obtained his habilitation in mathematics at RWTH Aachen in 1982.

From 1983 to 1987 Radermacher was professor of applied computer science at the University of Passau. From 1987 to 2018 he was professor at the Institute of Databases/Artificial Intelligence at the University of Ulm. Since 1987 he has headed the Research Institute for Applied Knowledge Processing (FAW, later FAW/n) in Ulm. From 1988 to 1992 he was president of the Gesellschaft für Mathematik, Ökonomie und Operations Research (GMÖOR; now the German Operations Research Society, GOR).

In the following years Radermacher became an expert on shaping globalisation, innovation, technology assessment, environmentally compatible mobility, sustainable development and overpopulation. Radermacher and Josef Riegler are regarded as the intellectual fathers of the Global Marshall Plan Initiative and of its underlying goal of a worldwide eco-social market economy.

Memberships

From 1995 to 2001 Radermacher was a member of the EU’s Information Society Forum (ISF); from 2000 to 2001 he was also spokesman of the ISF’s Global Society Dialogue.

In 1997 he was appointed to the scientific advisory board of Expo 2000 for the themes “Planet of visions” and “The 21st century”.

Since 2001 he has been vice-president of the Eco-Social Forum Europe. Since 2000 he has been a member of the scientific advisory board of the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development, and since 2002 a member of the sustainability advisory council of Baden-Württemberg. He has also been a member of the Hesse sustainability conference since 2008.

From 2002 to 2006 Radermacher was a member of the jury for the German Environmental Award.

From 2003 he chaired the scientific advisory board and from June 2005 he was president of the Bundesverband für Wirtschaftsförderung und Außenwirtschaft e. V. (German association for economic development and foreign trade). He gave up both positions in 2009. His cooperation with Dieter Härthe continues in the context of the Senate of the Economy, newly initiated by Härthe, whose president Radermacher has been since 2010, and in the Global Economic Network.

He chairs the board of trustees of the Global Contract Foundation (Stiftung Weltvertrag). From 2003 to 2008 Radermacher also chaired the board of trustees of the “Global Marshall Plan” foundation. Radermacher continues to support both the Global Marshall Plan Initiative and the Global Marshall Plan Foundation, and his cooperation with Frithjof Finkbeiner, founder and chairman of the Global Marshall Plan Foundation, continues.

Radermacher has been a member of the Club of Rome since 2002 and has been involved in the World Culture Forum Dresden since 2007.

Radermacher is president of the Global Economic Network and chairman of the supervisory board of Zwick Roell AG in Ulm.

Since 2018 Radermacher has been professor and ambassador for digital transformation at Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen.

In 2020, with the support of committed experts, Radermacher initiated the founding of the association Global Energy Solutions e. V., which proposes a methanol-based circular economy to safeguard climate protection.

Positions

On climate change, Radermacher takes the view (in an article from April 2021) that more attention must be paid to international cooperation, since Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions account for only a small share and many other countries have great potential for avoiding emissions or binding carbon dioxide. He criticises so-called “climate nationalism”.

In the context of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, he said at the Königsbronn Talks in April 2022 that “one must reach out to Russia”, and subsequently defended his controversial position against widespread criticism.

Awards (selection)

  • 1997 Scientific Prize of the Gesellschaft für Mathematik, Ökonomie und Operations Research.
  • 2004 Innovation Prize of the Netz innovativer Bürgerinnen und Bürger (NiBB).
  • 2005 Planetary Consciousness Prize of the Club of Budapest.
  • 2005 Salzburg State Prize for Futures Research.
  • 2007 Karl Werner Kieffer Prize, awarded by the Stiftung Ökologie & Landbau, for his services to the Global Marshall Plan Initiative.
  • 2013 Honorary doctorate from the International Hellenic University in Thessaloniki.
  • 2019 Abt Jerusalem Prize.

Writings

By 2011 Radermacher’s list of works already comprised more than 250 publications, including:

  • V. Braitenberg, F. J. Radermacher (eds.): Interdisciplinary Approaches to a New Understanding of Cognition and Consciousness. Ergebnisband Villa Vigoni Konferenz, Italy 1997. Ulmer Universitätsverlag, 2007.
  • H. Imdahl, F. J. Radermacher: Evolution und Intelligenz. Universitätsverlag Ulm (FAW), 1994.
  • T. Kämpke, R. Pestel, F. J. Radermacher: A computational concept for normative equity. No. 15, Vol. 2, 129–163. Europ. J. of Law and Economics, 2003.
  • R. Pestel, F. J. Radermacher (eds.): Information Society, Globalisation and Sustainable Development: The promise of a ‘European Way’. EXPO 2000 Conference, Hanover, Convention Center. Universitäts-Verlag, Ulm 2004, ISBN 3-89559-055-X.
  • F. J. Radermacher: Und sie bewegt sich noch – Die Welt im Jahr 2050. Universitätsverlag Ulm (FAW), 1995.
  • F. J. Radermacher: Intelligenz-Kognition-Bewußtsein, systemtheoretische Überlegungen, technische Möglichkeiten, philosophische Fragen. Kleine, Bielefeld 1998.
  • F. J. Radermacher: Balance oder Zerstörung: Ökosoziale Marktwirtschaft als Schlüssel zu einer weltweiten nachhaltigen Entwicklung. (August). Ökosoziales Forum Europa, Wien 2002, ISBN 3-7040-1950-X.
  • F. J. Radermacher: 10 ~> 4:34 – Die Formel für Wachstum und Gerechtigkeit. Nr. 4. Bild der Wissenschaft, 2002.
  • F. J. Radermacher: Global Marshall Plan/planetary contract – ein ökosoziales Programm für eine bessere Welt. Ökosoziales Forum Europa, Wien September 2004.
  • F. J. Radermacher: Perspektiven für den Globus – welche Zukunft liegt vor uns? zfv – Zeitschrift für Geodäsie, Geodateninformation und Landesmanagement. 2004 (Teil 1 in Heft 3/2004, 129. Jg., Juni 2004; Teil 2 in Heft 4, S. 242–248).
  • F. J. Radermacher: Globalisierung gestalten. Terra Media Verlag, Berlin 2006.
  • F. J. Radermacher, B. Beyers: Welt mit Zukunft – Überleben im 21. Jahrhundert. Murmann Verlag, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-938017-86-9.
  • F. J. Radermacher, M. Obermüller, P. Spiegel: Global Impact – Der neue Weg zur globalen Verantwortung. Carl Hanser Verlag, München 2009, ISBN 978-3-446-41730-4.
  • F. J. Radermacher: Weltklimapolitik nach Kopenhagen – Umsetzung der neuen Potentiale. FAW/n Report, Ulm 2010.
  • F. J. Radermacher, B. Beyers: Welt mit Zukunft – Die ökosoziale Perspektive. Murmann Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86774-111-8.
  • F. J. Radermacher, J. Riegler, H. Weiger: Ökosoziale Marktwirtschaft – Historie, Programmatik und Alleinstellungsmerkmale eines zukunftsfähigen globalen Wirtschaftssystems. oekom Verlag, München 2011, ISBN 978-3-86581-259-9.
  • L. Hölscher, F. J. Radermacher: Klimaneutralität – Hessen geht voran. SpringerVieweg Verlag, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-8348-2609-1.
  • Der Milliarden-Joker. Wie Deutschland und Europa den globalen Klimaschutz revolutionieren können, Murmann Verlag, Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-86774-612-0.
  • F. J. Radermacher, B. Beyers: All in! Energie und Wohlstand für eine wachsende Welt. Murmann Verlag, Hamburg 2024, ISBN 978-3-86774-804-9 (murmann-verlag.de).

Commons: Franz Josef Radermacher – collection of images, videos and audio files

References

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