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On 12 December 2015, the Parties to the UNFCCC adopted the "Paris Agreement". With this step, the world community has agreed on a collective and cooperative path to fight human-induced climate change: After 25 years of UN climate diplomacy, the world's governments have for the first time in history negotiated a treaty which envisages climate action by all nations. The Agreement sets the world on a path that might lead to a decarbonised economy in the second half of the century. Researchers from the Wuppertal Institute have observed COP 21 and elaborated a detailed analysis of the results. The assessment provides an overview of the most important negotiation outcomes, assesses their results as well as shortfalls and provides an outlook of the next steps needed to implement the Paris Agreement's goals and to set the world firmly on a non-fossil based development path.
Limiting global warming to below 2 °C or even 1.5 °C requires a fundamental transformation of global socio-economic systems. This need for transformation has been taken up by international climate policy. This article synthesizes criteria of transformational change from transition research and climate finance agencies. On this basis, the article conducts a multi-criteria evaluation of the transformative potential of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), currently the world's largest market-based climate policy. From this case it can be inferred that emissions trading can "destabilize" incumbent high-emission practices, but its effectiveness in fostering innovation is limited. Furthermore, the analysis shows that details in the arrangements of the scheme such as allocation rules can have a strong detrimental impact on its outcome. If a global carbon market with a uniform price were introduced, this could lead to developing countries "buying in" with large amounts of freely allocated allowances. This, however, has been shown to thwart transformational effects and instead contribute to further carbon lock-in.
Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit den strukturkonservierenden Regime-Elementen der deutschen Energieversorgung. Methodisch wird dabei der Transitionsansatz von Geels genutzt. Mithilfe der Multi-Level-Perspektive wird am Beispiel der örtlichen Stromverteilnetze gezeigt: Innovationen finden in Nischen statt und müssen die Hemmnisse und das Beharrungsvermögen des nuklear-fossilen Altregimes überwinden, Anhand empirischer Analysen wird gezeigt, dass die Widerstandsfähigkeit sowie die kollektive Marktmacht des etablierten Regimes auf der Stromverteilnetzebene die zur Transformation der Energiewirtschaft erforderliche Dezentralisierung entscheidend ausbremst. Auf der anderen Seite wird dargelegt, dass Stadtwerke als örtliche Verteilnetzbetreiber wichtige Schlüsselakteure der deutschen Energiewende sind und zahlreiche Voraussetzungen erfüllen, einen grundlegenden Strukturwandel voranzutreiben. Der Trend zur Rekommunalisierung und zur Neugründung von Stadtwerken belegt dabei den Wunsch einer Verstärkung kommunalpolitischer Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten. In diesem Kontext werden Zielvorstellungen formuliert und auf erfolgversprechende Strategien zur Veränderung des Altregimes eingegangen.
Decision-making in sustainable urban mobility planning : common practice and future directions
(2015)
The European Commission aims to foster sustainable local transport systems through the concept of "Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans" (SUMPs). This paper is intended as a think piece highlighting the challenges for cities in selecting sustainable and cost-effective transport and mobility measures. Not only does the paper convey an understanding of the challenges of determining a transport project's viability, but it also presents five case studies of sustainable urban mobility planning and the role of project appraisal in those policy-making processes.
Achieving a truly sustainable energy transition requires progress across multiple dimensions beyond climate change mitigation goals. This article reviews and synthesizes results from disparate strands of literature on the coeffects of mitigation to inform climate policy choices at different governance levels. The literature documents many potential cobenefits of mitigation for nonclimate objectives, such as human health and energy security, but little is known about their overall welfare implications. Integrated model studies highlight that climate policies as part of well-designed policy packages reduce the overall cost of achieving multiple sustainability objectives. The incommensurability and uncertainties around the quantification of coeffects become, however, increasingly pervasive the more the perspective shifts from sectoral and local to economy wide and global, the more objectives are analyzed, and the more the results are expressed in economic rather than nonmonetary terms. Different strings of evidence highlight the role and importance of energy efficiency for realizing synergies across multiple sustainability objectives.
Zwischen Anpassungs- und Veränderungsdruck : Klimafolgenanpassung und nachhaltige Transformation
(2015)
Strategien der Klimafolgenanpassung und der nachhaltigen Entwicklung werden in Deutschland kaum aufeinander bezogen. Kurzfristige Maßnahmenplanungen zur Schadensbegrenzung dominieren das politische Handeln, Fragen nach Vorsorge- und Gerechtigkeitsaspekten kommen zu kurz. Die Entwicklung resilienter Entwicklungspfade stellt eine Herausforderung für die real existierende Problembewältigung dar. Für die Umsetzung einer nachhaltigen und resilienten Klimaanpassungsstrategie ist ein Mix aus institutionell basierten Regeln und teilhabeorientierten Realexperimenten zur Erprobung von Neuem naheliegend.
German electricity giants have recently taken high-level decisions to remove selected fossil fuel operations from their company portfolio. This new corporate strategy could be seen as a direct response to the growing global influence of the fossil fuel divestment campaign. In this paper we ask whether the divestment movement currently exerts significant influence on decision-making at the top four German energy giants - E.On, RWE, Vattenfall and EnBW. We find that this is not yet the case. After describing the trajectory of the global fossil fuel divestment campaign, we outline four alternative influences on corporate strategy that, currently, are having a greater impact than the divestment movement on Germany's power sector. In time, however, clear political decisions and strong civil support may increase the significance of climate change concerns in the strategic management of the German electricity giants.
Die Treibhausgasemissionen der Privathaushalte in Deutschland sinken nicht in dem Maße, wie es die Fortschritte in Energieeffizienz und Ausbau erneuerbarer Energien erwarten lassen würden. Ein wesentlicher Grund hierfür ist die kontinuierliche Zunahme von Wohngebäuden, Wohnfläche und Ausstattung von Haushalten. Um dem Einhalt zu gebieten, braucht es Suffizienz-Strategien.
Wohnungsunternehmen können hierzu einen wichtigen Beitrag leisten. Der folgende Artikel beschreibt ein Wohnungsunternehmen, das Suffizienz im Bauen und Wohnen als Chance begreift und aktiv umsetzt. Neben den klima- und umweltrelevanten Aspekten des Bauens und Wohnens in Deutschland und den Entwicklungen der letzten Jahre, werden auch soziale Aspekte beleuchtet bei der Frage, wie ein nachhaltiges Wohnraumangebot aussehen und entwickelt werden kann.
Ziel ist es, eine Bandbreite von möglichen Handlungsoptionen und Maßnahmen vorzustellen, die Wohnungsunternehmen bei der Entwicklung eines zukunftsfähigen Gebäudebestands umsetzen können.
Although a substantial economic energy saving potential exists in the residential sector of the European Union, the energy efficiency service (EES) market is much less developed in this market segment than in other demand sectors (e.g. the industry or the public/service sector).
This paper presents an analysis of the current situation and existing potentials for future expansion. A specific analysis methodology has been developed and applied by a research consortium in 18 EU countries. This methodology has mostly built upon an extensive review of the existing literature and on interviews of a large number of acknowledged experts. Its application has allowed identifying encouraging development trends in specific market segments where the possibility of aggregating the EES demand or of exploiting good relationships with customers have created interesting investment opportunities. These trends have been observed in particular in Germany, Denmark, France, Flanders (BE), Hungary, Romania and UK. The assessment performed has also allowed discussing a series of strategies and policy measures that can be adopted to overcome existing barriers to market development. The general conclusion drawn in the paper is that energy efficiency policies supporting EES markets in the residential sector are highly needed. Although EU policies have typically a limited direct impact, they can increase trust into EESs and EES providers. At the national level, a stronger collaboration of governments or local administrations with banks to finance EESs is still very necessary in many EU countries.
Considerable efficiency gains can be made costeffectively to set the transport sector on a sustainable development pathway. They can be achieved through already available technologies and practices, which will not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly, but also generate social, environmental and economic co-benefits. However, progress in the take-up of low-carbon mobility measures substantially lags behind the potential. A number of barriers contribute to this lack of uptake. This paper explores those barriers by focusing on vehicle fuel efficiency in particular, but will also touch on the wider policy framework to improve the efficiency of the transport sector and reduce emissions. The paper suggests that a combination of fuel pricing, differentiated vehicle taxation, vehicle standards and the provision of modal choice are necessary to minimise rebound effects and significantly curb transport sector greenhouse gas emissions at low- or even negative cost.