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- Energie-, Verkehrs- und Klimapolitik (76) (remove)
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.
The research project seeks to identify the CDM SD tool's possible shortcomings, and to make structured recommendations on how to improve the EB's SD tool. Findings from this project are meant to have a lighthouse effect on the development of provisions on Sustainable Development within other carbon mechanisms of the UNFCCC and beyond. This report represents the consolidated findings of three work packages within this research project. The first chapter provides some background on the subject at hand, and leads into the report. The following chapter covers the assessment and comparison of the SD provisions of selected flexible mechanisms and multilateral standards.
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.
Mobilität dient in der Regel einem bestimmten Zweck - etwa um einzukaufen oder um zur Arbeit zu pendeln. Meistens handelt es sich dabei um kurze Wege oder Wegeketten - immerhin sind 62 % aller Wege in Deutschland kürzer als 5 Kilometer. Elektromobilität auf zwei oder vier Rädern ist genau für diese Wege gut geeignet, allerdings gibt es für die lokale Ebene bereits leistungsstarke umweltfreundliche Verkehrsmittel wie das traditionelle Fahrrad oder den öffentlichen Personennahverkehr (ÖPNV).
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.
Brasiliens Nachfrage nach Strom ist in den vergangenen Jahren stark gewachsen. Auch für die kommenden Jahre ist mit einer weiteren Steigerung von jährlich etwa 3,5 Prozent der Nachfrage zu rechnen. Dies stellt das Land vor eine große Herausforderung. Zusätzlich steht die auf Wasserkraft basierende Stromerzeugung des Landes aufgrund geringer Niederschläge und Wasserstandsmengen vor einem Engpass. Deshalb kommen fossilthermische Reservekraftwerke insbesondere seit dem vergangenen Jahr verstärkt zum Einsatz und verteuern die Stromerzeugung erheblich.
Auch der Ausbau nicht-konventioneller Erneuerbarer Energien zur Diversifizierung der Strommatrix läuft in Brasilien nur sehr langsam an. Eine Planung zur systematischen Integration verschiedener Erneuerbarer Energieträger findet bislang aber nicht statt.
Ziel der Studie ist es deshalb, das zusätzliche THG-Einsparpotenzial durch die systematische Integration von Erneuerbaren Energien, gegenüber dem Business as Usual Szenario (Ausbau der Erneuerbaren ohne systematische Integration) zu ermitteln und in einer Broschüre für ein breites Publikum aufzuarbeiten.
Energieeffizienz weltweit : energieeffiziente Gebäude als Schlüssel für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung
(2015)
Rund ein Drittel der weltweiten energiebezogenen CO2-Emissionen sind auf den Verbrauch durch Gebäude zurückzuführen. Ohne eine sogenannte Gebäudewende sind die notwendigen CO2-Einsparungen nicht zu ereichen. Eine Internetplattform bündelt das weit verstreute Wissen zu diesem Thema und bietet Orientierung.
This report is a synthesis of the research and re-evaluates the options previously considered in this project (Vieweg et al (2014)) in the light of the negotiation process up to today. The mitigation-related design elements considered are:
Participation and differentiation of countries; Types of commitments, including also the compulsory character of the commitments and time aspects; Guidance on ambition of the commitments to assure adequacy of global and individual countries' efforts; Transparency of commitments.
Market mechanisms - the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Joint Implementation (JI) and Art. 17 emission trading - have been a central feature of the Kyoto Protocol. The Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) intend to adopt a new comprehensive climate agreement at this year's Conference of the Parties (COP) in Paris. The shape of the new agreement is emerging only slowly, including the role market mechanisms will play.
To gauge the potential scope of market mechanisms in the forthcoming Paris agreement, this paper surveys the submitted INDCs on the question to what extent they envisage the use of market mechanisms. In detail, the paper looks at five questions for each INDC:
- Does the INDC make any mention of market mechanisms?
- Does the Party plan to use market mechanisms to achieve its contribution to the Paris agreement?
- If a Party intends to use market mechanisms, does the INDC specify which mechanisms or types of units the country intends to use?
- Does the Party quantify the extent to which it intends to use market mechanisms? Under the Kyoto Protocol, use of mechanisms has been supposed to be supplemental to domestic action, though this principle has never been quantified.
- Does the Party specify how the use of mechanisms will ensure environmental integrity and avoid double counting?
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.
Klimapolitik
(2015)
After a wave of privatizations in the end of the 1990s, the electrical power supply of many municipalities in Germany has been returned into public hands. Many municipalities discover chances and possibilities for local action, which arise with remunicipalisation. The local policy-makers realize that remunicipalisation offers the opportunity of implementing an independent energy policy at local level which is critical in creating a transformation to a sustainable energy system based on energy efficiency and renewable energies.
This scoping study provides an introduction to the topic of establishing municipal utilities in Germany. The findings of the authors' study provide important new insights into the possibilities to decentralise and democratise the German power sector. The findings were identified on the basis of a comprehensive screening of all newly established municipal utilities in Germany. As most network concession contracts in Germany expire by 2016, there has now existed a window of opportunity to rebuild the local energy supply. As a result, 72 new local power companies were established in Germany within just seven years (between early 2005 and late 2012). The results of this unique study will inform about details regarding regional concentration, the size of municipalities, the legal forms of the newly founded municipal public utility and the role of strategic partnerships.
Furthermore, the founding of 72 municipal utilities since 2005 leads us to ask for the reasons. The study reviews the German trend towards municipal ownership of local utilities, assessing their performance based on 10 targets related to the energy transition, climate protection, and the local economic impact. Based on expert opinions, the study finds out that the likelihood of these targets being reached is "high to very high".
The Japanese translation of the scoping study is completed by a foreword by Prof. Dr. Jörg Raupach-Sumiya (Professor, College of Business Administration, Ritsumeikan University) highlighting the importance of this study for Japan's energy policy.
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.
Decoupling resource consumption and economic growth : insights into an unsolved global challenge
(2015)
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.
Small-scale residential biomass combustion for space heating and warm water production already holds a considerable share on overall energy production from biomass in Europe. In the existing regulative framework of EU air quality and climate protection targets, an extended usage of renewable biomass heating without an increase of harmful emissions is urgently needed. In this context, the FP7 project "EU-UltraLowDust" (ULD) aimed at the demonstration of highly efficient and ultra-low emission small-scale biomass combustion technologies and the development of supporting policy recommendations.
New combustion technology operating at almost zero particulate matter (PM) emissions has been demonstrated, rivalling even the performance of state-of-the-art natural gas fuelled systems. In this context, the authors analysed EU policy options for a faster diffusion of these new innovative technologies. The analysis presented in this paper is based on results from an original impact assessment with special focus on energy efficiency and emission scenarios, including the potential effects of a broad deployment of the new ULD technologies as well as the early replacement of poor performing existing installations.
As the derived results show that major shares of energy consumption and emissions from residential biomass combustion in the EU are caused by old heating systems, specific policy measures for new and existing installations have been analysed. Following this, a recommended and harmonized policy package for new Small Combustion Installations (SCI) to be put on the market as well as for existing SCI in the stock has been developed, which will be presented in this paper. The basic policy package addresses new installations and consists of a two-step approach, aiming at enhancing the current and forthcoming policies addressing the SCI market in Europe. A complementary second policy package for existing installations aims specifically at the early replacement of SCI already installed in the stock, which are characterized by low efficiency and high emissions.
Investments in urban transport should deliver the maximum economic, social and environmental benefits; in times of constrained budgets, projects' economic viability is often the deciding factor. This paper discusses the current practices and challenges facing cities in assessing urban transport interventions. On this basis, it develops options for decision-makers to appraise small-scale, sustainable urban transport policy measures.
The analysis of current appraisal practice shows that data requirements and complexity are cities’ main obstacles appraising projects and comparing potential alternatives. Additionally, there is often a risk that project appraisal enters the planning process too late to play any meaningful role. Conducting a Cost-benefit
analysis (CBA) ex-ante is often only approved if the implementation of the measure in question is already likely. Often, a CBA is a means to access funds rather than a basis for decision-making. Project appraisal of small-scale and non-infrastructure-based measures is often simply too expensive.
On the basis of these findings, the paper discusses the following alternatives to comprehensive CBAs: 1) learn from others, 2) use a simplified assessment method, 3) rely on norms and values. All of these options aim to cope with the trade-off between effort and certitude. In practice, some policy-makers may already apply one or more of these options, but this has not been documented in a systematic manner. A systematic documentation of such practices could be a major step forward for implementation of sustainable and integrated urban transport projects, as it would shed some light on the reasoning behind decisions, from which conclusions could be drawn on the likely follow-on effects thereof and also possible improvements to the process.
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.
Energy efficiency has multiple benefits. It usually is a win-win option for all aspects of sustainability - environment, social objectives, and economy. We need to evaluate and communicate these multiple benefits - to citizens, companies, and policy-makers. Due to strong market barriers, effective governance and policy packages for energy efficiency are needed. Evaluation shows effective policy can achieve around 2% per year of additional energy savings.
Mit Effizienz punkten
(2015)
Das Auslaufen einiger Tausend der rund 20.000 Strom- und Gas-Konzessionsverträge hat in Deutschland zu einer Rekommunalisierungswelle geführt. Von 2005 bis heute gab es über 120 Stadtwerke-Neugründungen und 200 Stromnetzübernahmen. Das Wuppertal Institut hat die Gründe dafür und die damit verbundenen Chancen für die Gemeinden untersucht und die Ergebnisse in einer Sondierungsstudie veröffentlicht.
Vielerorts stellte sich heraus, dass die Altkonzessionäre das örtliche Verteilnetzgeschäft nur suboptimal ausführten. Außerdem haben im Zuge der Energiewende zahlreiche Kommunen erkannt, dass sich mit der Übernahme der örtlichen Strom- und/oder Gasverteilnetze die Gestaltungsspielräume in der Energieversorgung deutlich verbessern lassen.
Die Autoren beschreiben in diesem Artikel fünf Empfehlungen im Hinblick auf Rekommunalisierungen für Städte und Gemeinden.
At COP 17 Durban, parties decided to establish a centralised new market-based mechanism (NMM) and to consider establishing a "framework for various approaches" to govern decentralised initiatives. Parties have also discussed possible use and up-scaling of non market based approaches (NMA) in this context. This Policy Brief summarises the state-of-play regarding the submissions by parties and observers as of Jan 2015. It is an update on previous JIKO policy papers and therefore focuses on comparable aspects of the discussion.
Many have hoped that the CDM's Additionality, if applied to the wider climate finance domain, can contribute to standardizing the funding criteria. This JIKO Policy Brief therefore explore options of applying the CDM's to do just that. The authors highlight issues of environmental system integrity and efficient allocation of funding, and discuss potential limits of the CDM's Additionality concept in its current form, if applied to climate finance.
The prospects are limited, because a clear attribution of emission reductions is almost impossible in a system that does not have as well-defined borders as the zero-sum-game of tradable emission reductions under a capped environment.The authors propose some inroutes to adapting the current approach to Additionality in this context, and pose a number of questions that can help to further discuss and refine the CDM's Additionality concept to make it better applicable for a future, globally inclusive climate regime.
Zum Beispiel Energieschulden
(2015)
Market mechanisms - the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Joint Implementation (JI) and Art. 17 emission trading - have been a central feature of the Kyoto Protocol. The shape of the new climate change agreement to adopted at this year's UN climate change conference in Paris is emerging only slowly, including the role market mechanisms will play. In order to assess the potential scope of market mechanisms in the Paris agreement, this JIKO Policy Brief surveys the intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) to the new agreement which countries have so far submitted. The paper is now available for download.
The Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) intend to adopt a new comprehensive climate agreement at this year's Conference of the Parties (COP) in Paris. The shape of the new agreement is emerging only slowly, including the role market mechanisms will play. A new JIKO Policy Brief assesses the potential scope of market mechanisms in the Paris agreement by surveying the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) so far.
Das Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) hat gemeinsam mit dem Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie in der Studie "STROMbegleitung" Technologien, Perspektiven und Ökobilanzen elektrifizierter PKW untersucht. Die Studie gibt einen umfassenden Einblick in den aktuellen Stand der Technik, identifiziert Trends und analysiert die Ökobilanz unterschiedlicher Fahrzeugkonzepte. Gleichzeitig ordnet sie die deutschen Aktivitäten im Bereich Elektromobilität in einen globalen Kontext ein.
Im Auftrag der Stadt Kempten (Allgäu) untersuchte das Wuppertal Institut auf Basis vorliegender Baupläne, inwieweit zentrale Elemente für die Entwicklung des nachhaltigen und CO2-optimierten Neubauquartiers "Halde-Nord" berücksichtigt wurden. Inhaltlich wurden die Entwürfe entlang folgender Aspekte diskutiert: 1. Nachhaltige Energieversorgung / 2. Gebäudeeffizienzstandards / 3. Energieeffizientes Handeln und Suffizienz / 4. Baumaterialien, Graue Energie und Ressourcen / 5. Klimaresilienz und Verbesserung des Mikroklimas / 6. Siedlungsstruktur und städtebauliche Aspekte von Verkehrsanbindung und Mobilität / 7. Soziale Aspekte.