Dr. Jörg Wagner

The following three projects by Dr. Jörg Wagner are exemplary of this:

Project 1: Luftfahrtbundesamt

In 2012, following a failed bomb attack on a cargo aircraft, the Luftfahrtbundesamt (Federal Aviation Office) was to be enlarged by a new Air Cargo Security division with 600 new staff members, more than doubling its workforce. The local staff council (Personalrat) blocked the recruitment of new personnel, because it wanted a proportionate share of the positions approved for this purpose by the legislature to be used for the authority's existing staff as well. In a mediation between the authority's management and the staff council, an alternating ("zipper") procedure between external and internal applicants for the higher-graded new positions could be established under his leadership, combined with organizational changes within the authority.

Project 2: Stakeholder dialogues in the field of environment and urban planning

On the basis of his studies in mediation, the steering and organization of political stakeholder dialogues in the field of environment and urban planning is a matter of particular concern to him. To steer societal developments before they escalate with individual lobby and interest groups is better than putting out fires after the fact.

National Water Strategy

"How does Germany intend to deal with the scarce resource of water in the year 2050?" From this dialogue on water that he initiated in the years 2016 to 2017 with the water, environmental and agricultural associations, the National Water Strategy emerged.

Trace-substances dialogue

In the trace-substances dialogue from 2017 to 2021, discussions were held with pharmaceutical, water and environmental associations on whether the manufacturers of pharmaceutical products and medicines or the operators of wastewater treatment plants should take responsibility for reducing the pollution of water bodies with trace substances (micropollutants). In the end, the European Commission introduced so-called producer responsibility (Herstellerverantwortung) with the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive.

Heat Planning Act and the Bau-Turbo

In spring 2023, under a media barrage from the Bild newspaper ("Habeck wants to introduce an energy Stasi"), the traffic-light coalition drew up the Wärmeplanungsgesetz (Heat Planning Act). After it came into force in 2024, Dr. Jörg Wagner, together with colleagues from the Ministry for Economic Affairs, the Dena and the BBSR, organized the dialogue on municipal heat planning with municipalities, energy suppliers and experts from the Competence Center for the Heat Transition. In facilitated workshops, the aim was to demonstrate simple ways to draw up municipal heat plans. After the so-called Bau-Turbo (a fast-track building-permit provision), following his technical preparation and support, had been adopted by the Bundestag in October 2025, there was great uncertainty among municipalities, building-permit authorities and developers as to how this temporary experimentation clause was to be applied as a swift alternative to the elaborate binding land-use plan (Bebauungsplan). In a stakeholder dialogue organized together with the DifU and Project Together, suitable application examples for the Bau-Turbo were worked out with the stakeholders and subsequently presented by him to numerous municipalities on a lecture tour.

Project 3: Infringement procedure concerning the EU Nitrates Directive

His strategic expertise was sharpened by his handling of the eight-year infringement procedure against Germany for violating the EU Nitrates Directive. Facing a federal government that was hesitant out of fear of the farmers' protests, the European Commission threatened another conviction by the European Court of Justice. High daily penalty payments and a loss of reputation for Germany were imminent. In a political environment involving two federal ministries of differing political colors, more than twenty state ministries, repeated tractor demonstrations by irate farmers and media interventions by the water sector, high-level political talks with the EU Commission in Brussels were prepared together with colleagues from the Ministry of Agriculture or conducted by him personally. In the end, strict regulations to reduce the input of nitrate into groundwater were set in motion. Forward-looking project management helped to absorb the political pressure and ultimately to convince the EU Commission to close the infringement procedure in 2022.

As a manager, he has repeatedly trained aspiring executives of the construction and transport administration in over 150 courses in practical project management and in leadership tasks, and examined them at the Oberprüfungsamt (federal higher examination office).

Dr. Jörg Wagner has given numerous lectures on these and many other projects in the ministries and has published the results academically. Some of the projects he has realized can be found in the reference list. A selection of his legal commentaries, handbooks and articles on urban planning law, climate and environmental law and on mediation in public law can be found in the publications list.