Dr. Michael Schaller

Michael Schaller, born in 1964, is the founder and owner of the sustainability agency sustainable (sustainable – Agentur für Nachhaltigkeit). As early as during his studies of Industrial Engineering at the Graz University of Technology he specialized in environmental management and ecological product design. After his doctorate and assistant professorship at the Graz University of Technology, Institute of Economics, his involvement in development political issues led him to the UNIDO – the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, on behalf of which he worked both in San José (Costa Rica) and in Vienna.
From 1997 to 2002, he gained comprehensive management experience as secretary general of the Catholic Action Styria (Katholische Aktion Steiermark). In 2003 he founded the sustainability agency sustainable.

Core fields of activity:

• CSR, sustainability and environment (stakeholder analysis, sustainability check-up, sustainability reporting, environmental and sustainability communication, ethically correct value-added chains etc.)
• human rights, development cooperation and fair trade (communication of these issues and their relevance for economy and society; consultancy of business establishments, politics, public administration and non-profit organisations), SA8000
• joint ventures between non-profit and profit organisations (sponsorship, CSR-projects etc.)
• media relations, employment of electronic media and new media (TV and film projects, radio reportage, podcasting, edutainment, audio-visual media in public relations as well as in campaigns and communication)
• more than twenty years of close contacts with Central America – particularly with Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica
• municipal consulting in the fields of intercommunal cooperation, realisation of youth participation processes and steering of the audit Family- and Child-Friendly Commune