united sustainability

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J. Daniel Dahm

Dr. rer. nat. Dipl.-Geogr.

Daniel is pioneering a just and sustainable development within science, as entrepreneur as well as an activist since the early 1990s. For many years, he held leading positions in scientific institutions of excellence, as well as in the steering committees of civil society organizations.

From the very beginning, Daniel has been working in the field of sustainable investments. In the late 1990s he was involved in the development of the world’s first sustainability rating for investments, the “Frankfurt-Hohenheim Guidelines for the Ethical-Ecological Assessment of Investments and Companies”, as well as the “Darmstadt Definition of Sustainable Investments” under the leadership of the former member of the German Council of Economic Experts, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Scherhorn. As member and Scientific Director of the Research Group Ethical-Ecological Rating of the Goethe-University Frankfurt a.M., Daniel advocated for sustainable finance market regulations. As Scientific Director of the European Centre for Sustainability Research at Zeppelin University and as Senior Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), he focused on agroecology and regenerative economies and sustainable investment strategies.

As a mandated expert, he conducted professional events on sustainable investments, European and international financial policies, sustainable risk management, due diligence methodology and investment valuations with members of the German Bundestag, business associations, foundations and public institutions. In international cooperations he represented the topic area as invited expert for national and transnational institutions with a large number of lectures and expert contributions. For banks and financial intermediaries, he acted as an independent expert advisor and implemented numerous due diligence reviews for sustainable real asset projects, mainly in anti-desertification and agroforestry.

In 2010, Daniel launched the United Sustainability Group to open up a new investment horizon for the generation of ecological and infrastructural livelihoods worldwide, and to implement impact investments in the field of sustainable real assets.

Honorary positions (selection)

  • World Future Council Foundation – Senior Advisor, Spokesperson and Member Experts Commission “Sustainable Livelihoods and Ecosystem Restoration”

  • Scientists for Future – Member Advisory Board

  • DCorR German Association Club of Rome– Member

  • HMC Hamburg Messe u. Congress, Internorga Future Award – Chairman of Judgement Panel

  • BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt – Fellow for Responsible Leadership

  • Society for Ecological Economy (Vereinigung für Ökologische Ökonomie) – Member

  • VDW Vereinigung Deutscher Wissenschaftler – Member

  • Desertec Foundation – Founding Donor

  • Kapp Award for Ecological Economics 2000 (formerly Schweisfurth Award)

Stations (selection)

  • IASS Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies – Senior Fellow

  • GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit – Country Evaluator

  • Zeppelin University, ECS European Centre for Sustainability Research – Vice-Director, Research Leader

  • Council for the Sustainable Development of the Federal State Brandenburg – Member Experts Panel Financial Policy

  • HMC Hamburg Messe u. Congress, goodgoods: sustainable consumergoods fair – Co-Founder, Exhibition Partner, Chairman

  • Messe Frankfurt GmbH, Ecostyle Trade Fair – Co-Founder, Chairman Advisory Board

  • Utopia.de, Utopia Foundation – Co-Founder, Curator

  • Natural History Museum London, Darwin Initiative – Research Fellow

  • University Hohenheim, Institute for Household and Consumer Economics – Research Leader

  • Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy – Research Fellow