Talk im Technikum on 9 October 2025
Prosperity at its limits – how can we save our resources?
Increasing resource consumption, loss of biodiversity, and the consequences of climate change pose enormous challenges for our society. With its ‘Talk im Technikum’ event on 9 October 2025, the bifa Environmental Institute in Augsburg invites you to discuss these issues together with high-ranking representatives from politics, business, science, and civil society.
After a welcome by Prof. Dr. Nadine Warkotsch, Thomas Weber and Gerald Guggenberger, Bavaria‘s Minister of State for the Environment and Consumer Protection, Thorsten Glauber, MdL, will open the event.
A special moment will be the farewell to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Rommel, the long-standing director of the bifa Environmental Institute. In his contribution, ‘Prosperity at its limits: reality & challenges’, he will also give a personal assessment based on his decades of experience.
Block 1
Prosperity at its limits: reality & challenges
The first block will focus on seemingly different and very specific perspectives from industry and the environment: Dr Rüdiger Recknagel, Head of Environmental Protection at AUDI AG and Managing Director of the Audi Environmental Foundation, will present the company‘s ‘Mission: Zero’. Laura Griestop, expert on plastics and packaging at WWF Germany, who has just returned from the negotiations at the UN Plastic Summit in Geneva, will shed light on global interrelationships from the perspective of one of the leading environmental NGOs.
Block 2
How can we save our resources? Approaches & visions
The second block is dedicated to visionary approaches for accelerating the resource transition. Prof. Henning Wilts from the Wuppertal Institute explains the political and economic conditions necessary to achieve this. Prof. Alexander König from the Technical University of Munich shows how robotics and system intelligence can support circular economy systems. Prof. Dr. Nadine Warkotsch, Managing Director of the bifa Environmental Institute, follows up on this and presents interdisciplinary solutions that do justice to the increasingly complex resource cycles.
Despite many promising approaches, not all cycles can be completely closed and emissions reduced to zero. In areas such as cement and lime production or waste management, unavoidable residual emissions remain.
Dr Wolfram Dietz from bifa picks up on this thread and, in his contribution, highlights the potentials and limitations of CO₂ capture and utilisation (CCS/CCU) as possible building blocks on the path to net zero.
The programme will conclude with a panel discussion in which all speakers will bring together their different perspectives and engage in conversation with the audience. The discussion will be moderated by Thomas Weber, Managing Director of bifa.
With its ‘Talk im Technikum’ series, the bifa Environmental Institute has created a platform that brings together expertise from various fields and highlights concrete ways to conserve resources and achieve sustainability. Participants will have the opportunity to ask their own questions, make new contacts and take away ideas for their own actions.