Josef Göppel

Josef Göppel

Biography und political background

Josef Göppel, born in 1950, farmer’s son, raised in Rauenzell near Ansbach, Bavaria; married, proud father of four daughters. He took up the career of a forester and was working on this profession for 24 years – mostly outdoors.

In 1972 he was elected to the town council of Herrieden, in 1974 to the parliament of Central Franconia. To this day he is member of the district parliament of Ansbach. From 1994 to 2002 he served in the Bavarian State Legislature.

In 2002 he was directly elected to the German Bundestag (56, 4 % of the vote) where he now is a member of the Committee on Environment, Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

Since 1991, Göppel is heading the environmental working group of the Christian Social Party (CSU), whose environmental platform he formed considerably. Within his political party, Goeppel has formed a reputation of being an inconvenient and persistently unconventional thinker. In the media, he is seen as the “green conscience” of his party.

In 2006 he started a cross-party initiative in the federal parliament, joining members of the governing as well as of the opposition parties in order to advocate a common approach for sustainable policy.

Also in 2006 the Network Renewable Energies in Franconia, a cooperation of small and medium-sized enterprises, craftsmen, local universities and regional politicians has been formed on his initiative.

In 1986 Josef Göppel founded the Landcare Association (LCA) of Middle Franconia. His goal was to reduce tension, increase dialogue and encourage cooperation among local politicians, farmers and conservationists in order to manage the area sustainably. The movement has been a huge success and spread rapidly throughout the country with over 140 local organizations in 14 from 16 states today. Josef Göppel has been the chair of the national organization since 1993.

In 2010 Göppel received the Adam-Smith-Award for market-oriented environmental policy in Berlin.

For further information visit www.goeppel.de/english-specials.html; www.lpv.de