The International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility (INES) is a multidisciplinary independent professional non-profit organization dedicated to fostering peace and sustainability. It represents scientists and engineers worldwide, either as individual members or through its member organizations.

The primary aims of INES are to facilitate discussions, organize and support campaigns, organize conferences, run projects and offer critical, fact-based evidence in support of international peace and security, sustainability and – as a crucial element of it – intra- and international justice.

INES pursues these objectives by addressing decision makers and the public at large with professional advice promoting a sustainable and just world free of weapons of mass destruction (in collaboration with its affiliate INESAP, the International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation) and a shift of financial investment and intellectual capacities from military to peaceful purposes. Through its project INESPE (International Network of Engineers and Scientists’ Projects on Ethics) INES calls upon all members of the scientific and engineering community to work for a responsible use of science and technology. It supports individuals, who have been victimized as a consequence of taking a stance and speaking out against violations of this principle.

Science and technology – together with political will and investment – will be needed to overcome or mitigate the main challenges to humankind in the early 21st century, such as climate change and biodiversity loss, global poverty and inequality, discrimination based on race, religion, gender etc., the threat from stockpiled weaponry including weapons of mass destruction, the rising military expenditures and the overexploitation of resources.

Today both science and technology are Janus-headed. They contribute to military ambitions, overexploitation of resources and to the illusion the world could manage a turnaround to a sustainable future based upon the current Western life styles and the prevailing patterns of production and consumption. While science and technology are a driving force in these developments, simultaneously many scientists and engineers are warning of the risks of climate change and climate conflicts, nuclear proliferation, resource wars and the overexploitation of nature and biodiversity loss, to name but a few.
Individually they can contribute to the development of sustainable economies through resource efficient technologies, closed material cycles and adapted land use patterns. Other key elements of a sustainable world, such as promoting justice and accepting limits they can support in their capacity as informed and concerned citizens.

By organizing and participating in conferences, media work, campaigns (for the latest ones see the INES homepage www.inesglobal.net and in publications INES contributes to spreading these deliberations. It publishes books featuring many Nobel Prize winners’ contributions, a regular free news service on all issues related to its activities (What’s New in INES), and through its own open access journal, the INES Global Responsibility Newsletter. Through all these channels INES and its members speak out against imperial attitudes in international relations, and promote equality, peaceful cooperation and respect for cultural diversity. It supports the quest for a development pattern that minimizes the still growing inequalities and the injustice in and between countries, respects the limits of nature’s carrying capacity and wishes to overcome the threat of weapons of mass destruction. INES actively campaigns for a nuclear weapon-free world.

Towards the scientific community, INES seeks to promote a professional ethic rejecting false claims of technical promises where political solutions are needed. It encourages a permanent reflection of values and standards of behaviour, taking into account human needs and our interrelationship with the biosphere.