Goal: Ensure inclusive, equitable, and high-quality education by 2030, and promote lifelong learning opportunities for everyone

DIHK Proposals:

A) Dual vocational education and training

- Enhance and develop vocational training  
(demand-oriented job offerings, efficient restructuring processes, "dual with choice" model, no cross-industry levies)

- Ensure volunteer involvement and high-quality IHK examinations  
(relieve examiners, nationwide standardized, meaningful exams)

- Promote vocational schools and strengthen partnerships with companies 
(equipment, budget, recruitment of teachers, regional cooperation, flexible minimum class sizes)

- Advance digitalization in vocational training 
(digital competencies, digital exams, IT infrastructure and support in schools, legal facilitation of digital proceedings)

- Encourage young people towards vocational training – continue the Alliance for Training and Education 
(early, practical orientation, bridging instruments like entry-level qualifications, efficient transitions)

- Use partial qualifications as opportunities for post-qualification 
(IHK certificates, step-by-step path to graduation, focus on 25+)

B) Schools and universities

- Improve career orientation through practical experience 
(interlink schools, universities, and companies, convey equivalence of vocational and academic education)

- Strengthen education in mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, and technology, and digital competencies 
(continuous, practice-oriented learning opportunities, integration of extracurricular learning venues)

- Convey basic economic education 
(honest merchants, entrepreneurial understanding, teacher company internships)

- Prepare for the digital age 
(nationwide hardware and software, teacher qualification, utilization of tried digital formats)

- Increase inclusion of economic practical requirements in university teaching 
(practical phases, industry representatives, support for non-traditional students)

- Agree on uniform minimum standards for dual studies 
(nationwide comparable quality, operational competency, accreditation within studies, possibly federal committee)

C) Continuing education

- Strengthen the "higher vocational training" brand 
(spread "Bachelor Professional" and "Master Professional" titles, increase visibility)

- Increase participation in continuing education 
(incentives without additional regulations, target-group-specific promotion)

- Better consider company needs in continuing education 
(profession-related formats, streamlined processes, foundational competencies needed)

- Expand and improve advisory services for continuing education 
(qualified advice, digital formats)

- Review and adjust continuing education formats 
(promote new learning forms, modernize funding instruments, initiate key technologies)

- Advance validation of informal learning 
(nationwide standardized procedure for assessing professional competencies)

Activities of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK):

(selection)

A) Dual vocational training: Coordination of the examination system, IHK apprenticeship exchange, support for projects to enhance training quality, improvement of learning location cooperation and prevention of training dropouts, commitment to partial qualifications, push for expanded sustainability standards in standard occupational profile positions

B) Schools and universities: Digital offers for career orientation, "Summer of Vocational Training," support for school-company partnerships, promotion of STEM education, commitment for transition from studying to vocational education, participation in concept and development of dual study programs  

C) Continuing education: Approximately 60,000 exams annually in higher vocational training and about 275,000 events and online courses for further education, joint project "ValiKom Transfer" 

German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK): Digital transformation opportunities and self-sufficiency drive cleaner, affordable energy efforts.

Goal: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full productive employment and decent work for all

DIHK Recommendations:

A) Economic Growth

- Startups and Succession 
(Strengthen entrepreneurial understanding, digitize administration for 24h startups, design bureaucracy and taxes in a startup-friendly manner)

- Facilitate Business Succession 
(Reduce tax and bureaucratic burdens, improve succession financing)

- Entrepreneurial Freedom 
(Open markets, multilateral trade policies, against protectionism)

- Maintain Freedom of Contract 
(Interference only when needed and proportionate)

- Strengthen Trade Freedom 
(Simplify regulations, digitize administrative processes, "One in, one out" also for EU implementation)

- Corporate Financing 
(Proportional regulation, Basel finalization, Solvency II and market rules scaled for SMEs)

- Ensure Financing in Value Chains and Mitigate Procyclicality 
(Design requirements to allow operating funds financing and hedging)

- Make Corporate Financing Future-Proof 
(Expand securitizations, factoring/forfaiting, tax and capital market-based options)

- Boost Investments in Transformation – New Impulses for Climate Protection Innovations
(Technological openness, accelerate planning and approval, simplify funding, infrastructures and import partnerships)

- Resource Efficiency 
(Voluntariness, economic viability, improve circular economy through innovation and implementation)

- Taxes 
(Make corporate taxation competitive, reduce burdens, no wealth or financial transaction tax)

- Public Budgets 
(Stabilize infrastructure investments, comply with debt brakes, set priorities)

- Currency Stability 
(Central bank independence, price stability as a guide)

B) Full Productive Employment

- Retain and Attract Skilled Workers 
(Flexible short-time rules in crises, facilitate employment beyond statutory retirement age, demographic-proof pensions)

- Flexibly Reconcile Work and Family 
(Needs-based childcare and care infrastructure, flexible work models instead of new legal claims)

- Integration of Refugees and New Immigrants into Work and Training 
(Legal and planning security, remove barriers, support recognition)

- Engage Refugees in Training and Employment 
(Coordinate qualification and language, expand entry qualifications, recognition without documents via qualification analysis)

- Improve Targeted Language Promotion 
(Profession-oriented, flexible, digitally supported)

- Implement Skilled Migration Practically 
(Accelerate processes, equip authorities digitally and resourcefully, evaluate regulations, strengthen foreign communication and integration)

C) Decent Work

- Offer Support, Promote CSR Competencies
(Legal security, no liability for third party behavior without clear legal obligations, capacity building, globally fair competition conditions)

- Consider Complexity and Effort of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 
(Clear, proportionate, coordinated requirements; consider small and medium-sized enterprises)

Activities of the IHK Organization: 

(selected)

A) Economic Growth: Initial information, introductory talks, seminars (around 200,000 personal contacts annually), programs for advice promotion, succession exchange nexxt-change, advice on business succession (over 26,000 contacts annually) and financing options, advocacy, analyses, statements on state and municipal budgets

B) Full Employment: Events, advice, and exchange formats on compatibility as well as attracting, securing, qualifying, and integrating skilled workers, "Success Factor Family", network "IHK Business Women", projects like "Companies integrate refugees","Hand in Hand for International Talents","Companies Job Recognition","ProRecognition"

C) Decent Work: Principles of Honest Merchants, publications, events, and best practice examples on CSR, certificate course "CSR-Manager (IHK)" and management training "Successfully Leading Sustainably (IHK)", extensive honorary service in IHK examination and plenums

Note: Any provided downloadable PDF is only available in German.

Objective: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and support innovation

German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) recommendations:

A) Reliable, sustainable, and resilient infrastructure

- Acceleration of planning and public participation for infrastructure projects
(Streamline and standardize processes, address conflicts early)

- Exploring new ways through digitalization
(Centrally and digitally accessible planning documents, digital participation processes, environmental data pools to avoid duplicate collections)

- Ensure long-term financing and planning
(Build planning capacities, establish reliable investment financing lines)

- Stabilizing investments – "No economic growth without traffic growth"
(Eliminate bottlenecks, renovate, retain majority of truck toll earmarking)

- Additional necessary measures for transport infrastructure
(Secure competitiveness in fees and operating times; expand rail/inland shipping; secure logistics areas; design workable city logistics; technology openness for drives; allow long trucks in compliance; efficiently fund and tender public transport)

- Relieve environment through innovation, mobility management, and infrastructure expansion, ensure affordable mobility
(Practical regulation of truck driving bans on non-federal holidays, reliable public transport financing, prioritize self-sustaining public transport)

- Use digitization – make traffic infrastructure future-proof
(Smart Cities/Regions, digital traffic management, reliable mobile data reception)

- Promote nationwide expansion of digital infrastructures also in rural areas and commercial zones
(Fiber to buildings, close mobile coverage gaps, address skills and process bottlenecks, prioritize funding)

- Apply artificial intelligence, expand digital infrastructures
(Awareness, testbeds, access to public sector data, SME orientation)

B) Promote industrialization

- European industrial policy with prudence
(Prefer horizontal approaches, coordinated European promotion of strategic value chains, accelerate processes)

- Strengthen Germany as an industrial location
(Resilience, innovation-friendly framework conditions, cross-sectional technologies such as artificial intelligence, hydrogen, circular economy)

- Address the industry of the future together
(Digital infrastructures, qualification, standardization, legal certainty; networking via platforms)

- Increase acceptance of industry
(Communicate industry's value, promote technological openness)

C) Enable innovation

- Simplify processes
(Examine innovation-friendliness, stabilize corona-simplified funding logic, reduce EU barriers)

- Enable innovation potential also in SMEs
(Reliably finance successful programs, expand manageable tax research funding, innovation-friendly public procurement)

- Promote cooperation between science and business
(Prioritize technology transfer, create incentives and resources, experimental spaces, better transparency)

Activities of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK):

(selection)

430 innovation networks; innovation consultations (more than 13,000 yearly), events (over 1,500), analyses and surveys, support for cooperation searches, initiative "Skilled personnel for fiber optics expansion", IT security transfer office for SMEs, conveying digital skills to trainers; exploiting digital job profiles, acceptance promotion for industrial locations, "Alliance for the Future of Industry", service and consulting office for regional industry initiatives

(only available in German)

Goal: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

DIHK Proposals:

- Support company efforts in sourcing raw materials 
(fair competition conditions, voluntary initiatives over mandatory reporting, avoid overburdening small and medium enterprises)

- Secure access to domestic raw material deposits 
(planning security, social acceptance, practical implementation of environmental regulations, regional processing)

- Close material cycles and promote recycling 
(research, investment incentives, voluntary tools, practical enforcement)

- Optimize product design 
(durability, repairability, recyclability through standards/self-commitments and incentives; rigid governance as a last resort)

- Expand take-back and collection of recyclable materials 
(effective systems, consistent incentives across Europe, like deposit schemes)

- Strengthen recycling 
(quality standards for secondary raw materials, lower barriers, public procurement, reliable disposal frameworks)

- Shape producer responsibility and competition fairly 
(share responsibility throughout the chain, transparent market allocation, equal treatment of stationary and online trade)

- Enable economic development in suitable locations 
(adapt regulations to ensure feasibility of commercial usage, resolve conflicts through early planning)

Activities of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK): 

(selected highlights)

IHK‑Recycling Exchange, Raw Material Competence Centers at AHKs, IHK networks on material efficiency and raw material innovation within IHKs, initiatives for increasing material/responsource efficiency, registration centers for EMAS, "EcoFinder", Environmental Technology Export Initiative, consulting and collaboration with federal/state governments; events, support and information, IHK‑networks for best practices and knowledge transfer, projects like "Entrepreneurs for Biological Diversity" and "Chambers for GreenTech (CFG)"

Objective: Immediate measures to combat climate change and its impacts

DIHK Proposals:

- Utilise efficient climate protection instruments
(market-based, technology-neutral instruments such as emissions trading, gradual integration of sectors, impact assessments, low bureaucracy measures)

- Strengthen investments in transformation
(reliable frameworks, openness to technology, acceleration of planning and approval processes, simplified support mechanisms, facilitation through sustainable financing)

- New impulses for climate protection innovations
(availability and affordability of alternative energy carriers, development of infrastructure and import partnerships, pilot and demonstration projects, including CO₂ capture/use/storage)

- Avoid competitive disadvantages
(adapt state aid regulations, maintain targeted free allocations and electricity price compensations)

- Balance national CO₂ pricing
(avoid carbon leakage, eliminate double burdens, provide relief through minimal bureaucracy)

- Take climate change adaptation seriously
(identify and manage risks, develop regional strategies, make infrastructure resilient)

Activities of the IHK Organisation:

(selected initiatives)

"Renewable Energy Market Offensive", "Corporate Climate Protection Network", "Young Energy Europe", certificate courses, consulting and training on energy efficiency, biodiversity project support, extensive information offerings

Goal: Strengthen means of implementation and breathe new life into the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

DIHK Proposals:

A) Multilateral Trading System and Open Markets

- Reduce trade barriers 
(open markets on a multilateral level, if necessary bilateral/regional agreements, against protectionism)

- Maintain and strengthen the multilateral rules-based trading system 
(make the World Trade Organization functional and modernize it, close gaps, consider small and medium-sized enterprises)

- Counter protectionism, keep liberalization in focus 
(level playing field, investment protection, environmental goods agreements, energy and sustainability chapters)

- Advance and implement trade agreements 
(ratification, cooperatively harmonize standards and norms, simplify rules of origin, improve portals)

- Utilize trade agreements 
(digitalize customs processes, apply practical rules of origin)

B) Development Cooperation

- Shape development cooperation jointly with the economy 
(building up the private sector, legal certainty, easier use of programmes, include AHKs, open tenders)

C) Coordinate and Adhere to Efforts to Achieve Sustainability Goals Internationally

- Promote climate protection globally 
(link emissions trading systems, achieve efficient reductions in third countries, export technologies)

- Strengthen innovation and responsibility for environmental protection 
(prioritize win-win measures, avoid exceeding EU requirements, streamline information obligations)

- Fair competition in the financing of exports 
(comply with international standards, counter distorted state financing)

D) Cross-Border Policy Coordination and Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships

- Use existing structures, communicate tasks and offers 
(avoid parallel structures, IHKs/AHKs/Germany Trade and Invest as proven platforms)

- Optimize structures in export promotion 
(ensure European added value, include national expertise)

- Achieve the EU internal market 
(reduce bureaucracy, digitalize procedures, "Once Only", unify rules, strengthen enforcement)

- Increase resilience of European and global supply chains 
(avoid interventions, coordinate European measures where necessary, ensure internal market basic freedoms)

Activities of the IHK Organisation: 

(selection)

Commitment to open markets and free world trade, support for German companies through AHKs at 140 locations worldwide, issuance of certificates of origin (over 2 million annually) and other certificates for foreign trade, IHK-foreign trade events (over 3,100 annually), consultations on international business and market entry (annually 523,000), on customs and foreign trade law (annually 400,000), and on projects in developing countries, "Chambers for GreenTech", "Young Energy Europe", Centre of Competence for International Vocational Education and Training, Vocational Education Partnership Mexico, Chamber- and Association Partnership Western Balkans