The discrepancy between ecologically conscious attitudes and actual behaviour is described as an inner resistance, and as connected with a propensity to ignore the external costs of wealth. Evidence is presented that this propensity is based on pro-material traits such as the positional attitude and the passion for goods. These traits are traced back to control orientation, whereas ecological responsibility is shown to be related to autonomy orientation. The societal origins of these basic orientations, and hence the conditions of reinforcing post-materially and ecologically minded behaviour, are discussed.
The Federal Republic of Germany committed itself in June 1990 to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 25% of the 1987 level by the year 2005, as a measure of slowing down the increase in the greenhouse effect. The issue of a human-caused climate change, however, did not surface in Germany for the first time just a few years ago. The potential threat was recognized a half a century ago. This article traces the history of the German climate change debate in the last 50 yr and discusses the forces and events that shaped it. The way in which various societal actors - among them scientists, the government, industry, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the media - entered into and influenced the debate is also examined. Unfolding the history of the global warming debate in Germany reveals how the country's current policy stance evolved.
Sustainable economy
(1994)
This paper claims that countries of the North must develop a new model of wealth - one less harmful to the environment and capable of being applied throughout the world. There are reasons to be hopeful they will do so: first, they have the means at their disposal; second, it is a misconception that environmental protection is a cost; and third, there is mounting pressure for change as indicated by air, water and soil quality data. The challenge is to move the emphasis away from end-of-the-pipe pollution control to improving resource productivity. The best way of doing this is through the imposition of "green taxes" to raise resource prices. If governments compensate by cutting other taxes to make the change revenue-neutral, there would be real benefits to the environment and the economy, particularly in developing countries.
Ökologischer Stadtverkehr
(1995)
Ökologische Steuerreform : Pro gegen Kontra ; eine Antwort auf die häufigsten Einwände der Kritiker
(1996)
Sustainable development, as it emerged in Agenda 21 from the Rio conference in 1992, will only be meaningful when it touches the lives of ordinary people; then it becomes a reality. Local Agenda 21 (LA21) seeks to achieve that objective. This article assesses the origins of LA21, reviews its social and political significance, and considers its prospects in the light of case study experience emerging from the UK, Germany and Norway, focusing on the role of local government as a major stakeholder in Agenda 21 (A21). The range of response to LA21 has proved to be varied. A successful transformation to a more sustainable world will require visionary political leadership, supportive administrations, networks of experience sharing, alliances with non‐governmental organisations and local industry, and effective community mobilisation. All of that, in turn, requires equally supportive economic and social policy backing from national governments. This article will indicate that, not surprisingly, it is the domestic political context, nationally and locally, which in the main determines the speed and nature of response to LA21, now and in the future. By understanding and being aware of these contexts, factors impeding progress towards LA21 may be addressed, whilst at the same time retaining the diversity of response which is an essential part of local sustainability.
Eine neue Stahl-Welt
(1996)
In the discourse about sustainable development, "constant natural capital" is frequently referred to as a criterion for ecological sustainability. But what is "natural capital"? The concept will be analyzed by presenting arguments in favour of using the term and different versions of sustainability (strong and weak). Subsequently, a critique of the "natural capital" concept is brought forward, from an ecological as well as from an economic perspective. Following this critique, the use of material inputs and the material input per unit of service (MIPS) as a measure for the environmental impact potential is suggested. Dematerialisation is understood to be an alternative management rule for sustainability. In conclusion, a change of perspective is proposed. Due to the conceptual and measurement problems associated with the "constant-natural-capital" criterion (which refers to a stock), it seems more reasonable from a scientific as well as from a practical perspective to add flows (i.e. material inputs) to a decision criterion for whether a development is sustainable or not.
This paper compares the one-sector neoclassical (Solow) growth model with a neo-Austrian growth model. The solutions of the neoclassical growth model in terms of the golden rule of accumulation and the Ramsey rule are well known, and these conditions are compared with the outcomes of the neo-Austrian growth model, which we derive using a basic three-process model.
The issue or concept of "sustainable development" entered onto the public and political agenda only relatively recently, and, five years after signing Agenda 21, perceptions of it are still ambiguous. A review of organisational adjustments and of German communications to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development shows that the German government's level of commitment to Agenda 21 is still low. This view is supported by an assessment of developments, and the Government's poor performance so far, in three institutional indicators. However, there is evidence that some incremental steps towards a sustainability transition are being taken as in some areas of business and industry and local government attitudes are begining to change. In addition, awareness of sustainable development is being raised by the efforts of non‐governmental organisations and the scientific community. Generally though, the lack of institutional reorganisation is the major obstacle to a German sustainability transition. This is an expression of the generally low priority of environmental and global development issues in the aftermath of German unification and the related economic and social problems. The traditional economic paradigm where economic growth is believed to be the precondition for welfare prevails and is considered by a majority of decision‐makers not to be compatible with the sustainability transition.
Global climate
(1997)
Five years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the hesitancy of developed countries is turning out to be the main impediment to implementing an effective policy for sustainable development. Alongside the further development of international environmental regimes, setting up national action plans is necessary to close the action-gap in the North. However, this can only succeed if the action plans include binding objectives that can be monitored and evaluated. Current national strategies for sustainable development only meet this criterion in exceptional cases; in most cases only qualitatively and legally nonbinding objectives are included. In the present paper, a suggestion for a cluster of environmental policy targets is put forth, which - using Germany as an example - establishes the sustainability concept at the national level. Particular emphasis is placed on the normative dimension of target setting.
Global climate
(1998)
This report will first provide a brief account of the political developments that led to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol. Second, it will provide a preliminary analysis of the Kyoto Protocol itself, and, third, it will assess the prospects for the further development of international climate policy and law in 1998 and beyond. Developments outside of the Kyoto negotiations will be included to further elucidate the actual international negotiations.
The European Commission has established the Eco Management and Auditing Scheme (EMAS) to promote and institutionalize corporate environmental management and environmental audits. This article summarizes a study primarily concerned with the execution of an ecoaudit in a medium-sized furniture enterprise according to the rules of EMAS. Material flow accounting was used to assess and analyze the "gate-to-gate" and "cradle-to-grave" environmental impacts related to the firm's products and activities. A resource management strategy was developed that permits the determination of methods for firm-specific material flow management, product management, and ecological product design to improve environmental performance as seen from the vantage point of resource efficiency.
Differences in climate change policy in Germany and the U.S. from a political science perspective
(1998)
International and national climate change policies may either mutually support or block each other. The international political debate can on the one hand be a driving force, mainly because of its "agenda-setting" power for the national political debate, but on the other hand the outcome of international climate change policy depends on the capability of national governments to formulate adequate political goals and programs, and to have the power for their realisation and implementation in the national political process.
The following analysis will focus on the differences in climate change policy in Gerrnany and the United States. From a po1itical science perspective, it has to deal with the determinants and restrictions of the policy-making processes and their impact on policy formulation and implementation in both countries. Two kinds of determinants will be considered: structural "internal" determinants deriving from the specific setting and mode of operation of the political-administrative systems, and external determinants, such as public opinion, the role of the media. interest groups, and cultural values, which favour or restrict the process of a pro-active climate change policy.
"Joint Implementation" (JI) is considered by many participants in the international negotiations on aclimate protocol to be an important economic instrument for the implementation of greenhouse gas obligations. Apart from a wide range of problems that still have to be resolved on the project level, the institutional and procedural design of such a mechanism is of vital importance. Because JI has a "perverse incentive" to overstate results achieved by individual projects, careful reporting, monitoring and verification procedures are essential. Furthermore, the institutional structure must reconcile the sometimes conflicting demands of overall effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. This paper explores the possible design of a future international mechanism for JI and makes recommendations with regard to the institutional and procedural requirements.
Since the early 1980s, there has been a lively discussion about the rhetoric of economics. Ecological economists, however, so far have not tried to incorporate this discussion into their work. This paper is a first step towards including the discourse on rhetoric into the self-awareness of ecological economics. After a brief outline of what this discourse is about, the importance of metaphors as one aspect of rhetoric is examined. Connections of the rhetorical discourse to ecological economics as a post-normal science are shown. It is argued that two rhetorics of ecological economics can be distinguished: internal and external rhetoric. While the former refers mostly to methodological issues, the latter is of particular importance for the political impact that ecological economics can have. Finally, some suggestions for research are made.
Statisticians avoid getting involved in data analysis, leaving data users on their own in interpreting the results of their work. This is particularly unfortunate in a new area of applied statistics such as environmental accounting with which few are really familiar. Earlier this year data producers and users explored, in a national seminar, possible policy applications of the results of a "green accounting" project in the Philippines. The main findings of the author's contribution to the seminar, on which the present paper is based, are that environmental accounts: (1) present evidence of sustainable economic performance in the country during the relatively short-time period of 1988–1994; (2) provide information for environmental cost internalization; (3) may guide investment to environmentally sound production processes; (4) help to specify and monitor policies of natural wealth conservation, distribution and management; and (5) reveal major data gaps. The paper concludes that environmental accounts help to assess the sustainability of economic growth in terms of broadly defined capital maintenance. The sustainability of development, however, would have to be measured by alternative or supplementary physical indicators linked to quantifiable standards or targets.
Global climate
(1999)
The discussion of sustainable development focused attention on new environmental goals and raised the issue of improving resource productivity. A first step towards sustainability would be to slow-down and reduce the man-induced movements of materials: this is the focus of dematerialization approach which emphasizes what socialist countries used to neglect most – minimizing the use of scarce input factors. This paper applies the dematerialization approach to the discussion on sustainable development in central and eastern Europe. In the early 1990s all countries in eastern Europe have developed new environmental programs which mainly focus on reducing pollution. Environmental strategies focusing on reducing emissions are important but not sufficient for reaching sustainability. A new orientation in the environmental policy in the young market economies is required. Dematerialization approach can be a new option for environmental policy in central and eastern Europe. Dematerialization requires a mix of instruments. Important role can be played by an ecological fiscal reform which covers ecological tax reform and the restructuring of subsidies.
It is not the scarcity of resources that constitutes environmental problems, but their use, the physical throughput of our economies. Material flows are a proxy for the totality of the unspecific environmental risks from human activities. As a strategic goal, an increase of the life-cycle-wide resource productivity by a factor 10 is suggested, including the materials bought and sold and the not-valued materials: we have to take into account the product itself and its "ecological rucksack". Material flows are best measured at the input side of the economy, where their number as well as the number of entry gates is limited. Thus here regulation and economic incentives can work more efficiently and less bureaucratically than today. The material intensity of products and services can be expressed as MIPS, the material input per unit of service, and as TMR, the total material requirement on the macro level, an important element in physical input–output tables.
Dematerialization, MIPS and factor 10 : physical sustainability indicators as a social device
(1999)
Gemeinsames Umweltmanagement in Unternehmensnetzwerken : das Beispiel der Eco-Industrial Parks
(2000)
Der Beitrag erörtert Möglichkeiten und Grenzen eines gemeinsamen Umweltmanagement in Unternehmensnetzwerken am Beispiel von ökologisch ausgerichtete Industrieansiedlungen ("Eco-Industrial Parks"). Der erste Teil untersucht Netzwerke als marktnahe Institutionen. Es wird dargestellt, dass vertikale und horizontale Netzwerkformen die Produktions-, Entsorgungs- und Transaktionskosten von Unternehmen absenken können. Technologische sowie kognitiv-institutionelle Pfadabhängigkeiten können diesen Vorteil begrenzen. Im Umweltmanagement können über Netzwerke Kosten abgesenkt sowie Innovationen angestoßen werden. Im zweiten Teil werden Eco-Industrial Parks analysiert. Als Fallbeispiele werden Kalundborg, Fairfield, Burnside, Brownsville und Kitakyushu betrachtet. Der Beitrag kommt zu dem Schluss, dass die Startphase der Parks Anlass zu vorsichtigem Optimismus gibt. Augenmerk sollten der Ausgestaltung institutioneller Kooperationsformen für eine kontinuierliche Umweltentlastung sowie Prüfverfahren gelten.
Sustainable development is the globally embraced paradigm for integrating environment and development policies. Agreement ends with attempts at quantifying the elusive notion of sustainability. A contentious debate among "environmentalists" and "environmental economists" has brought about a confusing proliferation of indicators and policy advice on sustainable development. Generating a common language by means of integrated physical and monetary environmental accounting could moderate the debate. Economic and ecological sustainability is thus distinguished and operationalised in terms of capital maintenance and dematerialisation of economic activity. Empirical results presented are not conclusive, however. Moreover, the reconciliation of environmental and economic policies requires more than comparable statistics strategies and instruments of environmental cost internalisation need to be evaluated and combined with those of raising resource productivity. A social compact between government and civil society should provide the necessary support for achieving consensus and partnership. The sustained implementation of sustainable development depends on it.
Sustainability as defined by the Brundtland Commission, is a composite and thus ambitious policy target. It comprises environmental, economic, social, and institutional criteria with equal importance. Because of this complexity the first step of a (Local) Agenda 21 process should be to develop a vision of a sustainable society - a "leitbild" - useful as a compass, not a road map (or, even worse, a blueprint), attached by indicators that help to measure progress, distance to target, and failures of plans or their implementations. In the following article a model is proposed how local sustainability indicators can be developed and how they can help to reduce the complexity of sustainability and to concretize a program for the Local Agenda 21. To get a practical impression of the theoretical presentation an example is given in the last part of the article. It shows the experiences made while developing sustainability indicators in the City of Iserlohn.
The contribution of natural resources and ecosystems to economic processes still remains under-assessed by market evaluation and productivity analysis. Following the historical lines of the classical productivity debate ranging from the French Physiocrats to early neoclassical growth theories, the productivity concept underwent a gradual transformation from its previous understanding based on natural resources and other environmental factors to its contemporary narrow notion. This paper claims that the course of the classical debate has shaped the scope of predominant contemporary analysis. Except for some very recent findings, multifactor productivity largely focusses on a two-factor model. Material Flow Analysis (MFA) provides a useful step for widening the measurement and notion of productivity.
Strategic Environmental Assessment aims to incorporate environmental and sustainability considerations into strategic decision making processes, such as the formulation of policies, plans and programmes. In order to be effective, the assessment must take the real decision making process as the departure point. Existing SEA approaches are frequently tailored after an EIA model conceived from a rational perspective on decision making. However, there are good reasons to assume that most strategic decision making processes are characterised by a bounded rationality. Furthermore, the predictability of environmental consequences generally becomes weaker at strategic levels than at the project level and complexity increases in terms of the numbers of actors involved in the decision. This paper examines various theoretical perspectives to decision making and discusses the implications for decision support in general and SEA in particular. The authors argue that the design of the SEA must be more sensitive to the real characteristics of the decision making context.
International climate policy is one of the most fascinating issues in foreign policy, yet in recent years it has become one of the most contentious. The failure of the conference in The Hague revealed, among other things, strongunderlying rifts in the transatlantic relationship. As the self-acclaimed worldleader, the United States is not in a position to exert leadership in this vital area owing to a mixture of constitutional constraints and an ever-growing cultural dependence on fossil fuels such as oil and gas. It therefore falls to the European Union to take up this challenge. This will require careful coalition building with the rest of the world as well as confidence in the ability of Europe to develop a united position, to stick to that position and to translate the rules of the Kyoto Protocol into stringent domestic climate policy. The climate change regime is at a crossroads. At the resumed COP-6 con-ference, the Parties must decide whether to continue the process under theassumption ‘that global problems require global solutions’ or whether to turn to the more regional concept of "think globally, act locally". In either case, steering climate policy in this century on to a successful path will require the skills and dedication not only of natural scientists and technology developers, but also of those in the foreign policy community.
The paper examines the "Declaration of German Industry on Global Warming Prevention (DGWP)" in its updated version of 1996. The analysis draws on the findings of empirical case studies in the cement and glass sector as well as on a general analysis of the policy process including monitoring experience so far. The findings emphasise the weak impact of the agreement on the most important driving forces for industrial energy consumption. However, an improved design and a more stringent procedural framework would allow better advantage to be taken of the particular strengths of the approach. The paper concludes by making a number of recommendations that would improve the scope and quality of commitments, and would enhance learning effects during the course of the policy process.
This article provides a short account of the international climate negotiations that took place in Bonn from 16 to 27 July 2001. After the Sixth Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change failed in November 2000, the Parties had decided to suspend the meeting. The ministers present at the resumed session successfully adopted the "Bonn Agreement to the Kyoto Protocol", a set of political compromises for the most contentious issues left open by the Kyoto Protocol. Although many details had been transferred to the Seventh Conference of the Parties, November 2001 in Marrakesh, Morocco, the Bonn Agreement already paved the way for ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and its entry into force. The Marrakesh Accord adopted on 10 November 2001 transforms, with a few exceptions, this political agreement into bindinglegal text.
The objective of this paper is to identify those areas of consumption in which private households can make significant contributions to environmental sustainability, and to present a transparent and comprehensive set of indicators for them. The analysis of the environmental impacts of households focuses on consumption clusters that allow different life spheres of private households to be distinguished. Two criteria guided the investigation of the relevance of these clusters: (i) the environmental significance of the consumption cluster in terms of resource consumption, and (ii) the potential influence of households compared with other actors. Resource consumption was chosen as a simplified but reliable representation of environmental pressure dynamics. Growing resource consumption goes together with growing environmental pressures and vice versa, although not necessarily proportionally. The key resources analysed are energy and material consumption, and land use. Based on this analysis, three consumption clusters were identified as priority fields for action by households: construction and housing, food/nutrition and transport (in this order). All other consumption clusters can be considered environmentally marginal, providing combined saving potentials of less than 10% of the total resource consumption. Finally, from a description of the respective roles of actors based on anecdotal evidence, a semi-quantitative "actor matrix" is presented, indicating the relative influence of different actors in each consumption cluster.
Nach dem überwiegend vollzogenen Schritt von der genossenschaftlichen zur marktwirtschaftlichen Mobilitätsdienstleistung scheint das kommerzielle Car-Sharing in Deutschland am Beginn eines Systemwandels zu stehen. Dieser Wandel ist wahrscheinlich die Voraussetzung für den angestrebten breiten Markterfolg. Eine unerwünschte Nebenfolge könnte allerdings sein, dass die positiven ökologischen Effekte, mit denen auch das kommerzielle Car-Sharing bis heute verbunden wird, in der Zukunft deutlich zurückgehen oder sich sogar ins Gegenteil verkehren. Ob sich ein positiver oder negativer ökologischer Saldo einstellt, hängt entscheidend davon ab, wie sich die Angebotsstrategien der Car-Sharing Unternehmen einerseits und die Nutzerpräferenzen andererseits entwickeln.
Unsustainable consumption patterns of the North (or rather of the global affluent consumers class) have been identified by Agenda 21 as one of the key driving forces behind the unsustainable development. However, neither accounting based on the system of national accounts SNA nor household economics provide the proper instruments to assess the environmental impact of household decision making. Eco-efficiency assessments as familiar in the business sector provide no appropriate tool for households. As an alternative an environmental space based assessment scheme is suggested covering the major pressures on the environment caused by household decisions. The methodology is used twice: once to analyse the environmental relevance of the main activity clusters of household consumption and once to identify the dominant acts of consumption within each cluster. The latter provide the basis for deriving environmental performance indicators. A rough analysis of household influence potentials permits to identify housing, eating and mobility as the three priority fields for action for minimising the environmental impact of households. Extending the influence analysis actor matrixes are derived allocating influence and thus responsibility for environmental pressures to different groups of economic agents.
The paper summarises the findings and the work carried out within the Voluntary Agreements - Implementation and Efficiency project and examines five agreement schemes in the field of industrial energy efficiency in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, France and Sweden. It provides a brief characterisation of the different approaches and discusses the related implementation effort and transaction costs. An assessment of performance and environmental effectiveness is given, followed by a discussion of the transferability of voluntary agreements among countries and to the European level.
The paper sketches out a theoretical framework for analysing the interplay between eco-efficiency, cognition and institutions. It derives from analytical shortfalls of the prevailing literature, which features strongly engineering and business economics, by using insights from New Institutional Economics, from Cognitive Science and, partly, from Evolutionary Economics. It emphasises the role cognition and institutions play in the adoption of "green" technologies by firms. A cognitive perspective derives from recent research on simple heuristics and context-based rationality; it is proposed that those findings can serve to analyse decision-making of individual actors respectively firms and, thus, should complement economic analysis. A second proposition is that eco-efficiency and normative rules such as a Factor Four strongly rely upon institutions, i.e. the ability of institutions to evolve over time and the development of those institutions that are most appropriate to enhance technological change. In this regard, business institutions and competition are crucial, but regulatory needs remain in order to safeguard continuity of knowledge creation. The framework allows for an analysis why overall adoption of eco-efficiency still can be considered relatively slow and why some markets and firms are far ahead. As a brief case study the article reflects upon German waste law's ability to enhance eco-efficiency.
Rationale for and interpretation of economy-wide materials flow analysis and derived indicators
(2003)
Economy-wide material flow analysis (MFA) and derived indicators have been developed to monitor and assess the metabolic performance of economies, that is, with respect to the internal economic flows and the exchange of materials with the environment and with other economies. Indicators such as direct material input (DMI) and direct material consumption (DMC) measure material use related to either production or consumption. Domestic hidden flows (HF) account for unused domestic extraction, and foreign HF represent the upstream primary resource requirements of the imports. DMI and domestic and foreign HF account for the total material requirement (TMR) of an economy. Subtracting the exports and their HF provides the total material consumption (TMC). DMI and TMR are used to measure the (de-) coupling of resource use and economic growth, providing the basis for resource efficiency indicators. Accounting for TMR allows detection of shifts from domestic to foreign resource requirements. Net addition to stock (NAS) measures the physical growth of an economy. It indicates the distance from flow equilibrium of inputs and outputs that may be regarded as a necessary condition of a sustainable mature metabolism. We discuss the extent to which MFA-based indicators can also be used to assess the environmental performance. For that purpose we consider different impacts of material flows, and different scales and perspectives of the analysis, and distinguish between turnover-based indicators of generic environmental pressure and impact-based indicators of specific environmental pressure. Indicators such as TMR and TMC are regarded as generic pressure indicators that may not be used to indicate specific environmental impacts. The TMR of industrial countries is discussed with respect to the question of whether volume and composition may be regarded as unsustainable.
The reductionist trend of equating sustainable development with sustained economic growth needs to be reversed. New accounts and balances help to operationalize the elusive notion of sustainability: they provide a coherent picture of the interaction between environment and economy. "Greened" national accounts measure economic sustainability in terms of (produced and natural) capital maintenance; balances of material flows assess ecological sustainability as the dematerialization of production and consumption. Both concepts aim to preserve environmental assets, but differ in scope, strength and evaluation of sustainability. First results for Germany indicate weak sustainability of the economy; strong sustainability is not in sight because of insufficient reduction of material throughput. Attaining sustainability through integrated policies needs the support of share- and stakeholders of sustainable development.
Nachhaltigkeit in Banken und Versicherungen : aktuelle Entwicklungen und Zukunftsperspektiven
(2003)
This article proposes a policy framework for analysing corporate governance toward sustainable development. The aim is to set up a framework for analysing market evolution toward sustainability. In the first section, the paper briefly refers to recent theories about both market and government failures that express scepticism about the way that framework conditions for market actors are set. For this reason, multi-layered governance structures seem advantageous if new solutions are to be developed in policy areas concerned with long-term change and stepwise internalisation of externalities. The paper introduces the principle of regulated self-regulation. With regard to corporate actors| interests, it presents recent insights from theories about the knowledge-based firm, where the creation of new knowledge is based on the absorption of societal views. The result is greater scope for the endogenous internalisation of externalities, which leads to a variety of new and different corporate strategies. Because governance has to set incentives for quite a diverse set of actors in their daily operations, the paper finally discusses innovation-inducing regulation. In both areas, regulated self-regulation and innovation-inducing regulation, corporate and political governance co-evolve. The paper concludes that these co-evolutionary mechanisms may assume some of the stabilising and orientating functions previously exercised by framing activities of the state. In such a view, the government's main function is to facilitate learning processes, thus departing from the state's function as known from welfare economics.
Environment and human rights
(2004)
Wolfgang Sachs argues for environmental human rights as a fundamental prerequisite to end the violence of development. He outlines the numerous conflicts over natural resources in the struggle for livelihoods and argues for a transition to sustainability in the more affluent economies, in both the North and South, as a necessary condition for the safeguarding of the subsistence rights of those whose livelihood depends on direct access to nature.
In February 2000, the German Bundestag established a Study Commission on "Sustainable Energy Supplies in View of Globalisation and Liberalisation" (cf. Final Report, 2002). The Commission's Final Report is a contribution made by Germany toward implementing the sustainable development objectives defined in 1992 at the World Summit in Rio de Janeiro (Agenda 21). Despite minority votes of several members of the Study Commission, the main outcomes of the Final Report are worthwhile discussing in other industrial countries. The Commission had been given the mandate to identify "robust, sustainable development paths" for the energy sector for the period up to 2050, which represent a scientific basis for the German parliament's further decision-making in the field of long-term energy policy. The applied backcasting approach showed that an ambitious climate-protection goal - reducing CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050 - is technically and economically feasible. The main strategies and instruments for protecting the climate while ensuring asustainable energy supply are summarised.
Global climate
(2004)
The objective of analytical strategic environmental assessment (ANSEA) is to provide a decision-centred approach to the SEA process. The ANSEA project evolved from the realisation that, in many cases, SEA, as currently practised, is not able to ensure an appropriate integration of environmental values. The focus of SEA is on predicting impacts, but the tool takes no account of the decision-making processes it is trying to influence. At strategic decision-making levels, in turn, it is often difficult to predict impacts with the necessary exactitude. The decision-making sciences could teach some valuable lessons here. Instead of focusing on the quantitative prediction of environmental consequences, the ANSEA approach concentrates on the integration of environmental objectives into decision-making processes. Thus, the ANSEA approach provides a framework for analysing and assessing the decision-making processes of policies, plans and programmes (PPP). To enhance environmental integration into the decision-making process, decision windows (DW) can be identified. The approach is designed to be objective and transparent to ensure that environmental considerations are taken into account, or - from an ex-post perspective - to allow an evaluation of how far environmental considerations have been integrated into the decision-making process under assessment. The paper describes the concepts and the framework of the ANSEA approach and discusses its relation to SEA and the EC Directive.
Resource flows constitute the materials basis of the economy. At the same time, they carry and induce an environmental burden associated with resource extraction and the subsequent material flows and stocks, which finally end up as waste and emissions. A reduction of this material throughput and the related impacts would require a reduction of resource inputs. And breaking the link between resource consumption and economicgrowth would require an increase in resource productivity. Material flow analysis (MFA) can be used to quantify resource flows and indicate resource productivity. In this article, we study the available empirical evidence on the actual (de-)linkage of material resource use and economic growth. We compare resource use with respect to total material requirement (TMR) and direct material input (DMI) for 11 and 26 countries, respectively, and the European Union (EU-15). The dynamics of TMR, as well as of the main components are analysed in relation to economic growth in order to show whether there is a decoupling (relative or absolute) from GDP and a change of the metabolic structure in the course of economicdevelopment. DMI/cap so far only decoupled from GDP/cap in relative terms; that is, in most countries, it reached a rather constant level but - with the exception of Czech Republic - showed no absolute decline yet. TMR/cap was reduced in two high-income countries and one low-income country due to political influence. Changes in TMR were more influenced by hidden flows (HF) than by DMI. We analyse the dynamics of the structure and composition of TMR in the course of economic development. In general, the economic development of industrial countries was accompanied by a shift from domestic to foreign resource extraction. Different relations can be discovered for the share of biomass, fossil fuel resources, construction resources and metals and industrial minerals.
Der vorliegende Artikel vergleicht die Nutzung nachwachsender Rohstoffe zur Erzeugung von Energie (Wärme und Elektrizität), Kraftstoffen und Gebrauchsprodukten anhand von vier ausgewählten Umweltbelastungskategorien. Dazu wurden Ökobilanzdaten aus 11 verschiedenen Publikationen für insgesamt 45 Produktpaare auf Basis nachwachsender und fossiler Rohstoffe analysiert und bezogen auf Einwohneräquivalente pro Hektar landwirtschaftliche Fläche miteinander verglichen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen im Allgemeinen Vorteile für die nachwachsenden Produktalternativen in den Kategorien Nichterneuerbarer Energieverbrauch und Treibhauspotenzial, während Produkte aus fossilen Ausgangsstoffen beim Eutrophierungspotenzial günstiger abschneiden und sich in der Kategorie Versauerungspotenzial uneinheitliche Resultate ergeben. Durch die Nutzung nachwachsender Rohstoffe zur Erzeugung von Gebrauchsgütern und Energie lassen sich durch Substitution der fossilen Produktalternativen größere ökologische Entlastungen realisieren als durch die Herstellung von Biokraftstoffen, die als Vollsubstitute für Diesel eingesetzt werden. Wesentliche Nachteile der Biomassenutzung sind mit dem Pflanzenanbau im Rahmen der konventionellen Landwirtschaft verbunden. Durch andere Bewirtschaftungsformen (z. B. Extensivierung) und eine besser an die jeweiligen Verwendungszwecke angepasste Auswahl bzw. Verarbeitung der nachwachsenden Rohstoffe könnten die Umweltbelastungen durch Energie, Kraftstoffe und Gebrauchsprodukte aus nachwachsenden Rohstoffen deutlich verringert werden.
The development of this paper was inspired by the increase in the number of different eco-label like quality assurance schemes established in the European Union in the past few years. These schemes are flooding the market and the researchers raise the question, is there enough credibility in these schemes? This piece of research is based on 58 eco-labeling like food schemes and dissects them into the building blocks of the different factors that makes a scheme credible and analyses the structure of these blocks as well as a literature survey on the perceptions of both the consumers and producers to these schemes. The sort of credibility structure that the building blocks of the schemes (ownership, stakeholder dialogue, traceability, transparency, etc.) have created was discussed and it was questioned if they meet the expectations of the consumers. The main findings of the research indicate that although small groups of consumers may be satisfied with a number of the different schemes, the majority of them fall short of providing a credible quality assurance scheme. Improvements were suggested such as involving a more diverse range of stakeholders and expanding the responsibility of processors and retailers. An alternative to the current form of labeling is also discussed.
New energy efficiency policies have been introduced around the world. Historically, most energy models were reasonably equipped to assess the impact of classical policies, such as a subsidy or change in taxation. However, these tools are often insufficient to assess the impact of alternative policy instruments. We evaluate the so-called engineering economic models used to assess future industrial energy use. Engineering economic models include the level of detail commonly needed to model the new types of policies considered. We explore approaches to improve the realism and policy relevance of engineering economic modeling frameworks. We also explore solutions to strengthen the policy usefulness of engineering economic analysis that can be built from a framework of multidisciplinary cooperation. The review discusses the main modeling approaches currently used and evaluates the weaknesses in current models. We focus on the needs to further improve the models. We identify research priorities for the modeling framework, technology representation in models, policy evaluation, and modeling of decision-making behavior.
Global climate
(2005)
The first Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (MOP 1) took place from 28 November to 10 December 2005 in Montreal, in conjunction with the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 11). This meeting signifies a successful start into a new era of international climate policy: The Kyoto Protocol, which in the past had been sometimes declared as being dead, has become operational.
The challenges of the meeting were framed along the "Three Is", Implementation, Improvement and Innovation. The first challenge (Implementation) entailed in particular the adoption of the Marrakesh Accords, the agreements reached at COP 7 in Marrakesh that set out the detailed rules for making the Kyoto Protocol operational. The second challenge (Improvement) referred to improving the work of the Framework Convention and the Kyoto Protocol in the near future. The third and most important challenge (Innovation) referred to the further evolution of the regime.
This article by Bettina Wittneben, Wolfgang Sterk, Hermann E. Ott und Bernd Brouns provides an account of the main developments in Montreal along the lines of the "Three Is". The paper concludes with an assessment and outlook on international climate policy.
Using natural gas for fuel releases less carbon dioxide per unit of energy produced than burning oil or coal, but its production and transport are accompanied by emissions of methane, which is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide in the short term. This calls into question whether climate forcing could be reduced by switching from coal and oil to natural gas. We have made measurements in Russia along the world's largest gas-transport system and find that methane leakage is in the region of 1.4%, which is considerably less than expected and comparable to that from systems in the United States. Our calculations indicate that using natural gas in preference to other fossil fuels could be useful in the short term for mitigating climate change.
Gerhard Berz leitete lange Jahre die GeoRisikoForschung der Mü̈nchener Rück. Die Gründung seines Kompetenzzentrums ergab sich aus den Schutzzielen und dem Selbstverständnis des Unternehmens: Risiken müssen sachlich begründet eingeschätzt und existenzbedrohende Risiken ausgeschlossen werden können. Und da das dazu notwendige Wissen außen nicht verfügbar ist, muß es im eigenen Haus verfügbar gemacht werden. Mit der Einrichtung eines Forschungsinstituts seitens einer privatrechtlichen "Gesellschaft" ist eine überzeugende und modellhafte Antwort auf die Frage gegeben, welches Wissen zu welchem Zweck generiert, aufbereitet und - auch öffentlich, an Kunden - verbreitet werden muß, um Schäden von der Gesellschaft abzuwenden. Die Ausrichtung der GeoRisikoForschung der Münchener Rück als ein Modell für die internationale Klima- und Erdsystemwissenschaft im Verhältnis zu der sie tragenden Gesellschaft?
Based on different current long-term energy scenarios the paper discusses the future perspectives of hydrogen in the German energy system as a representative example for the development of sustainable energy systems. The scenario analysis offers varying outlines of the future energy system that determine the possible role of hydrogen. The paper discusses the possibilities of expanding the share of renewable energy and the resulting prospects for establishing clean hydrogen production from renewable energy sources. Emphasis is given to the questions of an ecologically efficient allocation of limited renewable energy resources that can only be assessed from asystems analysis perspective. Findings from recent studies for Germany reveal a strong competition between the direct input into the electricity system and an indirect use as fuel in the transport sector. Moreover, the analysis underlines the paramount importance of reducing energy demand as the inevitable prerequisite for any renewable energy system.
Mit Inkrafttreten des Kyoto-Protokolls am 16.2.2005 gelten für Deutschland und die meisten anderen Industrieländer völkerrechtlich bindende Minderungsziele für die 6 im Kyoto-Protokoll erfassten Treibhausgase. Damit erlangt eine durchaus kontrovers diskutierte Klimaschutzstrategie, die auf eine stärkere Umstellung der Energienutzung von Öl und Kohle auf mehr Erdgas setzt, zusätzlich an Bedeutung. Der nachfolgende Beitrag setzt sich mit der Klimabilanz des Erdgases unter Berücksichtigung der gesamten Prozesskette auseinander. Insbesondere werden neue Messergebnisse aus Russland dargestellt (Wuppertal Institut 2004), die zeigen, dass die dem Export von russischem Erdgas nach Deutschland zuzuordnenden indirekten Emissionen nur etwa ein Viertel der bei der Erdgasverbrennung entstehenden direkten Emissionen betragen. Damit bleibt Erdgas auch unter Berücksichtigung der indirekten Emissionen in Russland der fossile Energieträger mit den mit Abstand geringsten Treibhausgasemissionen.
Within one decade a fundamental choice will have to be made: Should the energy system follow the historical trends of risky and unsustainable energy use patterns? Or should it take the course towards sustainable development and climate protection, giving top priority to energy efficiency and to a broad mix of renewable energies? Both roads are technically feasible. "Back-casting"-scenarios could help to answer the question, what technological options are available for climate protection and how societal goals can be achieved in a cost-effective way. Lessons learned from world energy scenarios and possible implementation options will be discussed. A case study of the German Parliament ́s Enquete Commission on Sustainable Energy Systems will be taken as illustration. The analysis shows that sustainable energy systems can be financed and that economic growth can be decoupled from absolute levels of non-renewable energy consumption by stepping up energy productivity.
Holiday travel behavior, individual characteristics of holiday travelers and strategies to change holiday travel behavior are the subjects of this article. From the environmental perspective, the journey to the destinations is the most critical aspect of traveling. Based on a 2003 survey of 1991 German inhabitants, the kilometers traveled and the choice of transportation mode for holiday purposes have been quantified. According to the number of trips and kilometers traveled, four travel groups have been identified. The groups vary according to socio-demographics, psychological factors, number of holiday trips, and travel mode choice. Persons who traveled to more distant destinations also traveled more often and used air travel for more than 60% of their trips. For the other groups, car travel was more important. Correlating the four travel groups with greenhouse gas emissions reveals that the smallest group - the long-haul travelers - was responsible for 80% of the emissions of the whole sample. Income, education, and openness to change were main indicators of individual greenhouse gas emissions. Target group oriented strategies to reduce the environmental impact of holiday mobility are discussed against the background of 84 in-depth interviews conducted with selected representatives of the first survey.
Combining environmental with employment objectives, ecological tax reform (ETR) envisages a double dividend. While research has mainly focused on the socio-economic and environmental impacts of ETR, there is less literature on the social responses. This paper gives an overview and history of German ETR as well as investigating the understanding of perceptions and attitudes towards ETR of those being "subject to tax". The research is based on qualitative social research methods. As with the other PETRAS papers, interviews were conducted with policy-makers and business leaders and focus groups were formed with lay persons. The results show that responses of policy-makers and business leaders are modest. Although some criticisms about the specific design of the German ETR remain, complaints towards ETR are settled. Attitudes appear influenced by more fundamental convictions such as economic interest or altruistic views. In contrast, ETR appears to politicise common people. Attitudes are influenced by the overall comprehension of the ETR concept, the expected impacts, perceived information deficits, as well as a general distrust in politics. Our data show that the linking of environmental and employment objectives is not understood and not welcomed. In order to increase social acceptance, the paper discusses refocusing ETR on environmental objectives, modestly increasing the share of ETR revenue spent for environmental purposes, removing inconsistencies in the ETR design, and improving information policy.
In the long term, any definition of adequacy consistent with UNFCCC Article 2 will require increased mitigation efforts from almost all countries. Therefore, an expansion of emission limitation commitments will form a central element of any future architecture of the climate regime. This expansion has two elements: deepening of quantitative commitments for Annex B countries and the adoption of commitments for those countries outside of the current limitation regime. This article seeks to provide a more analytical basis for further differentiation among non-Annex I countries. To be both fair and reflective of national circumstances, it is based on the criteria of responsibility, capability and potential to mitigate. Altogether, non-Annex I countries were differentiated in four groups, each including countries with similar national circumstances: newly industrialized countries (NICs), rapidly industrializing countries (RIDCs), ‘other developing countries’, and least developed countries (LDCs). Based on the same criteria that were used for differentiating among non-Annex I countries, a set of decision rules was developed to assign mitigation and financial transfer commitments to each group of countries (including Annex I countries). Applying these decision rules results in (strict) reduction commitments for Annex I countries, but also implies quantifiable mitigation obligations for NICs and RIDCs, assisted by financial transfers from the North. Other developing countries are obliged to take qualitative commitments, but quantifiable mitigation commitments for these countries and the LDC group would be not justifiable. As national circumstances in countries evolve over time, the composition of the groups will change according to agreed triggers.
Accounting for the social dimension of sustainability : experiences from the biotechnology industry
(2006)
Accounting for the social dimension of sustainability proves to be a challenge for corporate practitioners, due to its intangible, qualitative nature and lack of consensus on relevant criteria. We suggest a semi-quantitative approach based on stakeholder involvement to identify relevant aspects for a sector specific assessment of the social dimension. Our case study on biotechnology illustrates that the dialogue with internal and external stakeholders enabled the creation of a key performance indicator (KPI) set to account for social sustainability in the early design stages of biotechnological processes and product development. Indicators for eight aspects are identified for the social assessment: health and safety, quality of working conditions, impact on employment, education and training, knowledge management, innovation potential, customer acceptance and societal product benefit, and social dialogue. We describe the integration of the KPI set in a software application, tailor made for practitioners of the sector, and highlight first user experiences.
In a German case study, environmental input-output analyses (eIOA) combined with NAMEA-type tables were conducted for eleven selected environmental pressure variables. (NAMEA is an acronym for national accounts matrix including environmental accounts.) The analyses were conducted to derive the production-cycle-wide resource use and environmental impact potentials of final-demand product groups. The methodology permits identification and preliminary ranking of 10 product chains along which about two-thirds of German production-born environmental pressures arise. The most relevant product groups are construction work, food, motor vehicles, basic metals, and electricity. The ten product groups are characterized by both high resource requirements and high residual outputs (air emissions, wastes). The EU policy areas of integrated product policy and sustainable use of natural resources may address these product chains as a priority in order to identify and explore the possibility of reducing the environmental impacts from products throughout their life cycles and to decouple environmental impacts from resource use.
In der Studie "Analyse und Bewertung der Nutzungsmöglichkeiten von Biomasse" wurden Optionen zur Strom- und Wärmeerzeugung durch Biogas mit Techniken zur Holznutzung verglichen. Im ersten Teil dieses Aufsatzes (BWK 3/2006) wurden Potenziale, Techniken, Kosten und Klimaschutzaspekte der Biogasnutzung vorgestellt. Der zweite Teil befasst sich mit der Gewinnung von Biomethan aus der Holzvergasung, der Aufbereitung und Einspeisung von Biogas sowie den Anforderungen und Restriktionen der Einspeisung ins deutsche Erdgasnetz.
In der Studie "Analyse und Bewertung der Nutzungsmöglichkeiten von Biomasse" mit Schwerpunkt auf stationäre Anwendungen wurden die Optionen zur Strom- und Wärmeerzeugung durch Biogas mit Techniken zur Holznutzung verglichen. Hinzu kommt die Betrachtung des Einsatzes von Biogas als Kraftstoff an Erdgastankstellen. Im folgenden ersten Teil werden die Ergebnisse der Studie mit Schwerpunkt auf den Biogaspotenzialen, den Techniken und Kosten sowie den Klimaschutzaspekten der Biogasnutzung vorgestellt. Ein zweiter Teil vertieft die Themen der Gewinnung von Biomethan aus der Holzvergasung, der Aufbereitung und Einspeisung von Biogas sowie den Anforderungen und Restriktionen der Einspeisung ins deutsche Erdgasnetz (BWK 5/2006).
Considering the enormous ecological and economic importance of the transport sector the introduction of alternative fuels - together with drastic energy efficiency gains - will be a key to sustainable mobility, nationally as well as globally. However, the future role of alternative fuels cannot be examined from the isolated perspective of the transport sector. Interactions with the energysystem as a whole have to be taken into account. This holds both for the issue of availability of energy sources as well as for allocation effects, resulting from the shift of renewable energy from the stationary sector to mobile applications. With emphasis on hydrogen as a transport fuel for private passenger cars, this paper discusses the energy systems impacts of various scenarios introducing hydrogen fueled vehicles in Germany. It identifies clear restrictions to an enhanced growth of clean hydrogen production from renewable energy sources (RES). Furthermore, it points at systems interdependencies that call for a priority use of RES electricity in stationary applications. Whereas hydrogen can play an increasing role in transport after 2030 the most important challenge is to exploit short–mid-term potentials of boosting car efficiency.
The role of hydrogen in long run sustainable energy scenarios for the world and for the case of Germany is analysed, based on key criteria for sustainable energy systems. The possible range of hydrogen within long-term energy scenarios is broad and uncertain depending on assumptions on used primary energy, technology mix, rate of energy efficiency increase and costs degression ("learning effects"). In any case, sustainable energy strategies must give energy efficiency highest priority combined with an accelerated market introduction of renewables ("integrated strategy"). Under these conditions hydrogen will play a major role not before 2030 using natural gas as a bridge to renewable hydrogen. Against the background of an ambitious CO2-reduction goal which is under discussion in Germany the potentials for efficiency increase, the necessary structural change of the power plant system (corresponding to the decision to phase out nuclear energy, the transformation of the transportation sector and the market implementation order of renewable energies ("following efficiency guidelines first for electricity generation purposes, than for heat generation and than for the transportation sector")) are analysed based on latest sustainable energy scenarios.
This article presents the findings of a European study on energy efficiency in the public sector, entitled "Public procurement of Energy Saving Technologies in Europe" (PROST), completed in 2003. Energy efficiency in the public sector goes far beyond energy savings and climate protection. Energy efficiency must be seen as a strategy, which deals both with scarce public funds and with profound energy and climate challenges. The gains to be made are substantial. The study assessed the potential for energy and cost savings and the greenhouse gas reductions that are linked to energy efficiency in the European public sector. To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first time such an analysis has been carried out. The study concluded that there are no fundamental legal obstacles that would a priori disable the public sector from procuring energy efficient technologies or applying energy efficiency considerations in its daily building management routines. However, at the level of implementation obstacles can occur. It is therefore of paramount importance that there is sufficient political will and adequate incentive systems at all relevant levels. It appeared to be particularly effective when public procurement is energy-efficiency minded in all its operations and life cycle costing is applied for investments instead of conventional public budgeting procedures. The study demonstrates that consistent and EU-wide application of these principles and instruments can result in rather substantial savings both in terms of energy and in terms of money. With additional annual investments in energy efficiency of 80 million Euro, energy savings in the (EU15) Member States' public sector worth up to 12 billion Euro per year can be achieved. A supplementary analysis was performed for a selection of the new Member States, which indicated that the potential for energy and fiscal savings is substantial in those countries as well.
After two weeks of negotiations, climate diplomats completed the implementation of the Protocol, refined some of its instruments for implementation and agreed on processes for moving forward beyond the first Kyoto commitment period. The report by the Wuppertal Institute provides an overview and assessment of the agreements reached in Montreal.
Because of high efficiency, low environmental impacts and a potential role in transforming our energy system into a hydrogen economy, fuel cells are often considered as a key technology for a sustainable energy supply. However, the future framing conditions under which stationary fuel cells have to prove their technical and economic competitiveness are most likely characterised by a reduced demand for space heating, and a growing contribution of renewable energy sources to heat and electricity supply, which both directly limit the potential for combined heat and power generation, and thus also for fuelcells. Taking Germany as a case study, this paper explores the market potential of stationaryfuelcells under the structural changes of the energy demand and supply system required to achieve asustainable energy supply. Results indicate that among the scenarios analysed it is in particular a strategy oriented towards ambitious CO2-reduction targets, which due to its changes in the supply structure is in a position to mobilise a market potential that might be large enough for a successful fuel cell commercialisation. However, under the conditions of a business-as-usual trajectory the sales targets of fuel cell manufacturers cannot be met.
Grave concerns with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) have increasingly surfaced in the international climate policy arena. The sectoral approaches described in this paper may be a way to address some of the shortcomings of this Kyoto mechanism. The paper outlines the criticisms that have been raised against the CDM as well as the conflicting interpretations of a sectoral approach and examines in how far it might resolve the mechanism’s perceived shortcomings. Furthermore, it outlines issues that need to be resolved when implementing a sectoral approach: distributing costs and benefits, defining the sector and its baseline, ensuring additionality and tackling procedural issues. A sectoral approach can enable countries to guide their structural development but it also opens up a gap between public and private investment that needs to be addressed before conflicts arise. Sectoral CDM activities may be able to lower transaction costs for projects that otherwise cannot compete in the CDM market and might even pave the way to sectoral greenhouse gas limitation targets in developing countries by establishing the necessary infrastructure for data collection. However, a sectoral CDM cannot be mistaken for a panacea. Some of the mechanism's problems remain, which highlights the need to establish additional instruments to support Southern countries in furthering sustainable development and embarking on a low-emission trajectory.
Die Nanotechnologie verspricht eine Fülle positiver Auswirkungen auf die Gesellschaft. Gleichzeitig werden diverse potentielle Risiken diskutiert. Es ergeben sich eine Vielzahl an ethischen Fragestellungen. Zunächst wird beschrieben, was unter Nanotechnologie zu verstehen ist. Es wird dann das Problemfeld ethischer Fragestellungen skizziert. Im Anschluss wird dargestellt, wie Chancen und Risiken der Nanotechnologie in einem Praxisprojekt adressiert werden können.
Global climate
(2006)
Global climate
(2007)
The Russian natural gas industry is the world's largest producer and transporter of natural gas. This paper aims to characterize the methane emissions from Russian natural gas transmission operations, to explain projects to reduce these emissions, and to characterize the role of emissions reduction within the context of current GHG policy. It draws on the most recent independent measurements at all parts of the Russian long distance transport system made by the Wuppertal Institute in 2003 and combines these results with the findings from the US Natural Gas STAR Program on GHG mitigation options and economics.
With this background the paper concludes that the methane emissions from the Russian natural gas long distance network are approximately 0.6% of the natural gas delivered. Mitigating these emissions can create new revenue streams for the operator in the form of reduced costs, increased gas throughput and sales, and earned carbon credits. Specific emissions sources that have cost-effective mitigation solutions are also opportunities for outside investment for the Joint Implementation Kyoto Protocol flexibility mechanism or other carbon markets.
A number of "roadmapping" activities are being carried out internationally with the aim of planning and facilitating transitions to hydrogen energy systems. However, there is an evident discrepancy between the treatment of quantitative and qualitative information in the majority of roadmapping efforts. Whilst quantitative information is frequently analysed in numerical and computational models, conversely qualitative information tends to be incorporated on a significantly more ad hoc basis. Previous attempts at incorporating qualitative considerations have not usually been systematised. In this paper we present a methodology aimed at increasing the rigour with which qualitative information is treated in hydrogen roadmapping activities. The key changes and actor mapping (KCAM) methodology was developed as the primary qualitative component of the European Hydrogen Energy Roadmap project "HyWays". KCAM, developed from a well known general systems development model, constitutes a means of qualitatively analysing variable hydrogen supply chains that is structured, systematic and flexible.
The enhanced use of biomass for the production of energy, fuels, and materials is one of the key strategies towards sustainable production and consumption. Various life cycle assessment (LCA) studies demonstrate the great potential of bio-based products to reduce both the consumption of non-renewable energy resources and greenhouse gas emissions. However, the production of biomass requires agricultural land and is often associated with adverse environmental effects such as eutrophication of surface and ground water. Decision making in favor of or against bio-based and conventional fossil product alternatives therefore often requires weighing of environmental impacts. In this article, we apply distance-to-target weighing methodology to aggregate LCA results obtained in four different environmental impact categories (i.e., non-renewable energy consumption, global warming potential, eutrophication potential, and acidification potential) to one environmental index. We include 45 bio- and fossil-based product pairs in our analysis, which we conduct for Germany. The resulting environmental indices for all product pairs analyzed range from -19.7 to +0.2 with negative values indicating overall environmental benefits of bio-based products. Except for three options of packaging materials made from wheat and cornstarch, all bio-based products (including energy, fuels, and materials) score better than their fossil counterparts. Comparing the median values for the three options of biomass utilization reveals that bio-energy (-1.2) and bio-materials (-1.0) offer significantly higher environmental benefits than bio-fuels (-0.3). The results of this study reflect, however, subjective value judgments due to the weighing methodology applied. Given the uncertainties and controversies associated not only with distance-to-target methodologies in particular but also with weighing approaches in general, the authors strongly recommend using weighing for decision finding only as a supplementary tool separately from standardized LCA methodology.
Scenarios for the future of renewable energy through 2050 are reviewed to explore how much renewable energy is considered possible or desirable and to inform policymaking. Existing policy targets for 2010 and 2020 are also reviewed for comparison. Common indicators are shares of primary energy, electricity, heat, and transport fuels from renewables. Global, Europe-wide, and country-specific scenarios show 10% to 50% shares of primary energy from renewables by 2050. By 2020, many targets and scenarios show 20% to 35% share of electricity from renewables, increasing to the range 50% to 80% by 2050 under the highest scenarios. Carbon-constrained scenarios for stabilization of emissions or atmospheric concentration depict trade-offs between renewables, nuclear power, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) from coal, most with high energy efficiency. Scenario outcomes differ depending on degree of future policy action, fuel prices, carbon prices, technology cost reductions, and aggregate energy demand, with resource constraints mainly for biomass and biofuels.
The material stocks in the anthroposphere are growing faster than ever due to urbanization and growing per capita use. Owing to the growing potential insecurity of raw material supply the evaluation of resources gains increasing attention. Despite growing utilization of anthropogenic deposits, ‘urban mining’ has not yet sufficiently been supported by specific exploration methods. An exploration method for anthropogenic deposits is proposed and described by application to the copper stocks of Switzerland. The method combines material flow analysis with a bottom‐up analysis of material stocks. The stock composition and temporal characteristics are analysed by surveys and literature analysis. The stock amounts to 269±31 kg capita -1 for the year 2000. The retrospective data are used as parameters to construct a dynamic stock model, which is calibrated by historical trade statistics. The potential for drafting scenarios is discussed. The stock situation in Switzerland is reviewed and compared with that of other regions.
The use of materials and the generation of waste are linked to economic activities and in many projections these are assumed to be a constant ratio of the economic activities. This may be the case considering detailed economic activities and unchanged technology. However, the assumption of constant coefficients is questionable when linking material use and waste generation to aggregated economic activities. Therefore, in this paper, econometrics is used to test the assumption of constant waste coefficients empirically. The analyses show that an assumption of constant waste coefficients is not supported, generally, and amodel allowing for trendwise changing coefficients is developed and used for projections of waste and material flows in 25 European countries.
In this study, the relevance of psychological variables as predictors of the ecological impact of mobility behavior was investigated in relation to infrastructural and sociodemographic variables. The database consisted of a survey of 1991 inhabitants of three large German cities. In standardized interviews attitudinal factors based on the theory of planned behavior, further mobility-related attitude dimensions, sociodemographic and infrastructural characteristics as well as mobility behavior were measured. Based on the behavior measurement the ecological impact of mobility behavior was individually assessed for all participants of the study. In a regression analysis with ecological impact as dependent variable, sociodemographic and psychological variables were the strongest predictors, whereas infrastructural variables were of minor relevance. This result puts findings of other environmental studies into question which indicate that psychological variables only influence intent-oriented behavior, whereas impact-oriented behavior is mainly determined by sociodemographic and household variables. The design of effective intervention programs to reduce the ecological impact of mobility behavior requires knowledge about the determinants of mobility-related ecological impact, which are primarily the use of private motorized modes and the traveled distances. Separate regression analyses for these two variables provided detailed information about starting points to reduce the ecological impact of mobility behavior.
For the option of “carbon capture and storage”, an integrated assessment in the form of a life cycle analysis and a cost assessment combined with a systematic comparison with renewable energies regarding future conditions in the power plant market for the situation in Germany is done. The calculations along the whole process chain show that CCS technologies emit per kWh more than generally assumed in clean-coal concepts (total CO2 reduction by 72-90% and total greenhouse gas reduction by 65-79%) and considerable more if compared with renewable electricity. Nevertheless, CCS could lead to a significant absolute reduction of GHG-emissions within the electricity supply system. Furthermore, depending on the growth rates and the market development, renewables could develop faster and could be in the long term cheaper than CCS based plants. Especially, in Germany, CCS as a climate protection option is phasing a specific problem as a huge amount of fossil power plant has to be substituted in the next 15 years where CCS technologies might be not yet available. For a considerable contribution of CCS to climate protection, the energy structure in Germany requires the integration of capture ready plants into the current renewal programs. If CCS retrofit technologies could be applied at least from 2020, this would strongly decrease the expected CO2 emissions and would give a chance to reach the climate protection goal of minus 80% including the renewed fossil-fired power plants.
The United Nations climate change conference in Nairobi came at the end of a year where public awareness of climate change had reached unprecedented heights. Nonetheless, the conference proceeded with its usual diplomatic ritual, apparently unaffected by time pressure. While it did see some progress on important issues for developing countries such as the Adaptation Fund, the Nairobi Work Programme on Impacts, Vulnerability, and Adaptation to Climate Change, and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), on questions regarding the future of the regime it proved to be at best a confidence-building session that served to hear further views. More serious work on the future of the regime must therefore be expected of the next Conferences of the Parties.
This article by Wolfgang Sterk, Hermann E. Ott, Rie Watanabe and Bettina Wittneben summarises the results of the conference.
The "South-North Dialogue" Proposal, developed by researchers from developing and industrialised countries, outlined equitable approaches to mitigation. These approaches were based on the criteria of responsibility, capability and potential to mitigate, and include deep cuts in industrialised (Annex I) countries and differentiated mitigation commitments for developing countries. This paper quantitatively analyses the implications of the proposal for countries' emissions and costs. The analysis focuses on a "political willingness" scenario and four stabilisation scenarios. The analysis shows that stringent stabilisation targets imply that many developing countries would have to take on quantitative mitigation obligations by 2030, even when the Annex I countries take on ambitious mitigation commitments far beyond the Kyoto obligations. The "political willingness scenario" will probably not suffice to limit a warming of the Earth's atmosphere to below 2 °C.
National welfare is no longer an effective frame of reference for enlightened foreign policy. Policy consideration must encompass the common welfare of a world society. Environmental and resource crises are inextricably tied to security and justice. Sixty years after the founding of the United Nations there should be a new effort to establish a genuinely sustainable global order - a "San Francisco 2.0".
Stabilizing the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere at levels compatible with sustainable development is the objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and an imperative for the global community. This is a daunting task, and its magnitude and costs are debated among scientists as well as policy-makers [Stern, 2006]. While most GHGs in the past have been emitted by developed countries and they are called upon to reduce their emissions and take responsibility for past mistakes, the contribution of developing countries in the future will reach similar magnitudes and is equally threatening for life on this planet. While developing countries have no commitments under the UNFCCC, they can still contribute voluntarily to climate change mitigation. The Global Environment Facility (GEF), as the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC and the leading multilateral entity promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy in developing countries and countries in transition, needs to provide significant support to these countries with respect to reaching a path of sustainable energy supply and sustainable economic and social development. Since 1992, the GEF has provided around US$ 2 billion in grants to support projects in the climate change focal area, leveraging over US$ 10 billion in total investments. Most of these funds have been spent on climate change mitigation projects. The GEF's mandate with respect to mitigation is to develop, expand, and transform markets for energy and mobility in developing countries, enabling them to grow toward and efficiently operate on a less carbon-intensive path. In doing so, the GEF applies the incremental cost principle and is restricted in the selection of technologies by a number of factors. Developing markets for sustainable energy technologies and sustainable framework conditions is a long-term effort, and it is hard to understand how effective the GEF is or can be in fulfilling this mission. This paper discusses the magnitude of the challenge, and demonstrates that this challenge is too big for the GEF's limited funds, and provides some suggestions for the GEF's programming for maximizing its impact on global GHG emissions by seeking out the most rewarding opportunities and maximizing replication of successful project examples by effective outreach and knowledge management.
Approaches to address unsustainable ways of societal development constantly proliferate, but total consumption of resources and aggregate environmental impacts continue rising. This could partially be explained by weak attempts to develop comprehensive sustainability strategies that address the entire life cycle of products and especially resource extraction and use phases. This paper seeks to explore to what extent these life cycle stages and associated impacts are taken into account when various actors employ life cycle thinking and how these concerns can be better attended to in policy-making, business strategies and lifestyle choices. To accomplish this, we evaluate the efforts of the main stakeholders in reaching sustainable consumption and sustainable resource management, and impediments to further progress, and study whether and how deficits in these phases coincide and can potentially contribute to more holistic practical realization of life cycle thinking. We demonstrate that new approaches are needed to be able to tackle the international dimension of production and consumption.
This paper presents the educational program "Encouraging Sustainability", initiated and realized by the "Foundation Forum für Verantwortung", the "ASKO EUROPA-FOUNDATION", and the "Europäische Akademie Otzenhausen/European Academy Otzenhausen" in cooperation with the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. The goal is to intensify the public discourse on sustainability within civil society concerning options of sustainable consumption and production patterns. The innovative program consists of two parts: (1) Twelve Books About the Future of the Earth (see section 2), (2) six didactical modules (section 3): From Knowledge to Action. The educational modules focus on important topics and key issues discussed in the context of sustainability: climate change, resource use, energy efficiency, population growth, water use, securing future food supplies, biodiversity etc. The didactical materials are developed as “open learning scenarios: all materials can be linked to many communication forms and situations in a flexible manner. For the creation and realisation of the educational materials the authors have chosen the concept of Sinus-Milieus, developed by Sinus Sociovision, in order to address specific target groups (section 4). The main target groups in the program "Encouraging Sustainability" are "leading groups of society" and multipliers because of their high resource and energy consumption on the one hand and because of their skills and educational background on the other hand. In the last section of this paper (section 5) the first experiences from the implementation of the modules are presented. The authors emphasize that the broad and flexible approach chosen, should work effectively in a period in which green issues rank high in the public opinion worldwide.
Because of a growing global energy demand and rising oil prices coal-abundant nations, such as China and the United States, are pursuing the application of technologies which could replace crude oil imports by converting coal to synthetic hydrocarbon fuels - so-called coal-to-liquids (CtL) technologies. The case of CtL is well suited to analyse techno-economic, resources-related, policy-driven and actor-related parameters, which are affecting the market prospects of a technology that eases energy security constraints but is hardly compatible with a progressive climate policy. This paper concentrates on Germany as an example - the European Union (EU)'s largest member state with considerable coal reserves. It shows that in Germany and the EU, CtL is facing rather unfavourable market conditions as high costs and ambitious climate targets offset its energy security advantage.
Japan
(2008)
Because of a growing dependence on oil imports, powerful industrial, political and societal stakeholders in the UnitedStates are trying to enhance national energy security through the conversion of domestic coal into synthetic hydrocarbon liquid fuels - so-called coal-to-liquids (CtL) processes. However, because of the technology's high costs and carbon intensity, its market deployment is strongly affected by the US energy, technology and climate policy setting. This paper analyses and discusses policy drivers and barriers for CtL technologies in the United States and reaches the conclusion that an increasing awareness of global warming among US policy-makers raises the requirements for the technology's environmental performance and, thus, limits its potential to regional niche markets in coal-producing states or strategic markets, such as the military, with specific security and fuel requirements.
Die Ausarbeitung eines Konzepts für Nachhaltigkeitsbildung, welches das Ziel hat, nachhaltige Lebensstile zu befördern, muss zwei Barrieren überwinden können: die eine vom Nichtwissen zum Wissen, die andere vom Wissen zum Handeln. Sie zu überwinden, haben sich u. a. zwei Forschungsstränge zum Ziel gesetzt: Die pädagogische Kompetenzforschung, welche die für eine nachhaltige Denk- und Handlungsweise notwendigen Fähigkeiten aufdeckt, und die umweltpsychologische Theorieentwicklung, welche das Zusammenspiel von Umweltbewusstsein und andere auf das Umwelthandeln einwirkende Faktoren fokussiert. Die "Forschungsgruppe Nachhaltiges Produzieren und Konsumieren" des Wuppertal Instituts hat durch den Versuch, beide Stränge zu integrieren, ein eigenes Bildungs- und Kommunikationskonzept zur Förderung nachhaltiger Denk- und Handlungsweisen entwickelt und in die praktische Bildungsarbeit übersetzt. Die Theorie und Praxis dieses Bildungskonzepts sollen hier vorgestellt werden.
In this article, we analyze flows of the platinum group metals (PGMs) platinum, palladium, and rhodium and the environmental impacts associated with their supply in Europe. A model of the use of PGMs in Europe has been developed, and this is combined with a model of environmental pressures related to PGM production. Seven industrial sectors and product groups form the main users of PGMs in Europe, comprising the chemical, petroleum, and glass industries; jewelry, dentistry, electronic equipment, and car catalysts. Most relevant environmental impacts of secondary production in Europe and primary PGM production in South Africa, Russia, and Canada are taken into account, including emissions of sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide and total material requirement. The article quantifies the PGM flows to, from, and within Europe in 2004. The automotive industry is the single largest user of primary PGMs, and catalytic converters represent the major PGM end use. The chemical and glass industries also require large amounts of PGM but rely mostly on secondary metals. The environmental impacts of primary production exceed those of secondary production by far. An analysis of the use of car catalytic converters shows that as a result of efforts to reduce air pollutant emissions in Europe, other negative environmental impacts, such as point-source pollution and mining waste, are occurring elsewhere - for example, at extraction and refining sites in Siberia and South Africa.
Die drei Partner der Europäischen Gesetzgebung haben sich Ende Juni 2008 auf die Einbeziehung des Luftverkehrs in den Europäischen Emissionshandel verständigt. Das Besondere daran ist, dass nicht lediglich der EU-interne, sondern der "internationale" Luftverkehr der EU adressiert wurde, d.h. sämtliche EU-Territorium berührenden Flüge einbezogen sind. Diese "sektorale" Ausweitung des Emissionshandels hat in mehrererlei Hinsicht Pilotcharakter: (i) für die regionale Ausweitung des Emissionshandels der EU; (ii) für den Typ "Sektorabkommen" unter der UNFCCC-Nachfolgeregelung ab 2013; und (iii) für den Ansatz "asymmetrischer" Erweiterung des Klimaregimes seitens einer Regionalmacht, die gewillt ist, eine Vorreiterrolle einzunehmen, aber nicht bereit ist, dafür Wettbewerbsnachteile hinzunehmen. Dass der für (Langstrecken-) Luftverkehr spezifische zusätzliche Klimaeffekt nicht in Ansatz gebracht wurde, hat hier, in der WTO-Konfliktträchtigkeit des Vorgangs, seinen Grund.
Building a "theory of sustainable development" : two salient conceptions within the German discourse
(2008)
This paper identifies a lack in sustainability science, of a well-founded normative basis, for the justification of sustainable development. In order to fill this gap, we aim at calling attention to two of the salient conceptions in the German discourse, namely the "Theory of Strong Sustainability" developed at the University of Greifswald and the "Integrative Sustainability Concept" proposed by the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HGF), the biggest research institution in Germany. Both conceptions highly value the justification of a strong theoretical and normative core of sustainable development. This paper suggests that a well-founded "theory of sustainable development" provides the distinctiveness that allows the assessment whether or not there is progress towards sustainability. A clear scientific comprehension of sustainability may inform politics in sustainability affairs and function as a rational corrective for the otherwise diffuse discussion in the general public.
This article introduces elements of a global governance regime for sustainable resource management. It argues that such an approach is needed to combat the negative impacts arising from resource extraction and use as well as to overcome the co‐ordination problems of decentralized action. A first section summarizes main conflicts arising from limited access to natural resources and security of supply, environmental impacts and the performance of resource‐rich developing countries. A second section analyses existing initiatives for sustainable resource management such as resource funds, efforts to increase transparency, programmes in development co‐operation, standards and certification, material efficiency and resource productivity as well as efforts to limit the consumption of natural resources. Though these initiative have their merits, the article concludes that more systematic institutional mechanisms are needed. The third section introduces those institutional mechanisms: it describes the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management (launched in November 2007), outlines elements of an international convention on sustainable resource management, develops the agenda for an international agency on the issue and discusses the interaction with existing international bodies such as the World Trade Organization. Written as a policy paper, the paper formulates proposals for various actors, from small‐scale miners to large‐scale global companies and governments. Its intention is to stimulate the debate and to broaden the horizon on the global dimension of using minerals.
This paper looks at improving resource productivity at global value chains. Resource flows from its extraction through the manufacturing and use phase towards its end-of-life – increasingly crossing national boundaries. Effective improvement in resource productivity requires actions beyond a country’s territory. This article focuses on non-renewable resource flows and analysis how developed countries are involved in four distinct phases of global value chains, and how this involvement links to changes in resource efficiency. Resource extraction and associated early processes activities have been increasingly moved from developed to developing countries. Offshoring manufacturing activities also becomes a common phenomenon. Throughout these activities, lower rates of resource productivity during extraction and manufacturing are frequently observed, leading not only to international burden shifting, but most likely letting these burdens grow. If appropriate international measures across the global divides are applied, resource efficiency potentials could be realised through offshoring and global consumption and recycling could also offer opportunities for resource productivity. International actions to improve resource productivity can help to meet economic and environmental objectives at the same time over a global value chain. It could also safeguard countries against unintended indirect and side effects from the relocation of resource flows and help the private sector to benefit from opportunities in global markets for resource efficiency.
The international climate negotiations have seen endless struggles between countries from South and North for almost 17 years, ever since the initiation of negotiations by the International Negotiation Committee (INC) for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC and the 3rd meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP 13 / CMP 3) held in Bali in December 2007 (the Bali conference) could mark the beginning of a rapprochement. Parties agreed on initiating a new "Ad-hoc working group on Long-Term Cooperative Action under the Convention" (AWG-LCA) that aims to negotiate a post-2012 agreement with participation of all parties, including the US and developing countries, by the end of 2009 at COP 15 / CMP 5 in Copenhagen. This article examines the outcomes of the Bali conference, focussing on the negotiations regarding post-2012, flexible mechanisms, financial mechanisms, technology transfer and deforestation. Finally, the article concludes that the Bali Conference saw a significant shift in the battle lines, a rearrangement of positions and alliances that might well announce a decisive new era in global climate policy and provides a real chance to agree on an effective and workable post-2012 agreement in Copenhagen.
World primary copper production is expected to increase due to growing demand. Reflecting the geographical divergence of copper deposits and demanding industries, copper is produced by various production paths, differing in regional and technological aspects and related environmental pressures. For the mitigation of environmental pressures related to global material flows and a more sustainable resource management, policy makers, producers and buyers require information on regional resource efficiencies and effects of the key processes within the global production chain. This study quantifies material flows of refined copper production and environmental pressures along the pyro‐ and hydrometallurgical paths for Chile and Germany. Inventories for involved unit processes are distinguished by region and most commonly applied technologies, including electric power supply. Different production paths are compared by environmental pressure indicators (primary energy requirements, total material requirements, water consumption, GHG emissions, solid waste disposal, sulphur dioxide and arsenic emissions). Alternative options for improvement of technologies and supply patterns in Chile and Germany are compared.
In the aftermath of the controversy on genetically modified organisms it has become clear that in order to harness new technologies for economic and social benefit, a wide range of social, ethical and regulatory concerns need to be addressed. This document summarises some key results from Nanologue, a project that brought together leading research and opinions on the social, ethical and legal implications of nanotechnology applications (NT) in Europe. The document presents information about the project's findings of "societal aspects of NT", based upon the results from interviews with NT scientists and researchers. Insights gained during the project have been translated into future scenarios as well as into an internet-based support tool for NT researchers and product developers called NanoMeter. The scenarios as well as the NanoMeter are briefly introduced and conclusions drawn.
The sensitivity of climate phenomena in the low latitudes to enhanced greenhouse conditions is a scientific issue of high relevance to billions of people in the poorest countries of the globe. So far, most studies dealt with individual model results. In the present analysis, we refer to 79 coupled ocean–atmosphere simulations from 12 different climate models under 6 different IPCC scenarios. The basic question is as to what extent various state-of-the-art climate models agree in predicting changes in the main features of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the monsoon climates in South Asia and West Africa. The individual model runs are compared with observational data in order to judge whether the spatio-temporal characteristics of ENSO are well reproduced. The model experiments can be grouped into multi-model ensembles. Thus, climate change signals in the classical index time series, in the principal components and in the time series of interannual variability can be evaluated against the background of internal variability and model uncertainty.
There are large differences between the individual model predictions until the end of the 21st century, especially in terms of monsoon rainfall and the Southern Oscillation index (SOI). The majority of the models tends to project La Niña-like anomalies in the SOI and an intensification of the summer monsoon precipitation in India and West Africa. However, the response barely exceeds the level of natural variability and the systematic intermodel variations are larger than the impact of different IPCC scenarios. Nonetheless, there is one prominent climate change signal, which stands out from model variations and internal noise: All forced model experiments agree in predicting a substantial warming in the eastern tropical Pacific. This oceanic heating does not necessarily lead to a modification of ENSO towards more frequent El Niño and/or La Niña events. It simply represents a change in the background state of ENSO. Indeed, we did not find convincing multi-model evidence for a modification of the wavelet spectra in terms of ENSO or the monsoons. Some models suggest an intensification of the annual cycle but this signal is fairly model-dependent. Thus, large model uncertainty still exists with respect to the future behaviour of climate in the low latitudes. This has to be taken into account when addressing climate change signals in individual model experiments and ensembles.
Klimasensitivität, Leben und die Grenzen der Science-Kultur : zum vierten IPCC-Sachstandsbericht
(2008)
Das IPCC hat mit seinem jüngsten Bericht eine Alarmstimmung ausgelöst. Unter anderem erhöhte es die "beste Schätzung" der Klimasensitivität (Temperaturerhöhung bei Verdoppelung der CO2-Konzentration) von 2,5 Grad auf 3 Grad. Ist diese Korrektur der Beginn einer Tendenz? Das Klimaproblem drängt die Science-Kultur, ihre Grenzen zu überschreiten und das Klimasystem als Teil des Klima-Erdsystems zu fassen, wobei zunehmend Lebensphänomene zu berücksichtigen sind. Diese dürften die Sensitivität des Systems besonders beeinflussen.
What is the significance of the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali? The formal outcomes, especially the "Bali Action Plan", are described and commented on, along with the challenges for negotiating a post-2012 agreement in Copenhagen during 2008 and 2009. The article concludes that the outcome of the Bali meeting is insufficient when compared to the nature of the challenge posed by climate change. However, it can nevertheless be considered a success in terms of "Realpolitik" in paving the way for the negotiations ahead, because some real changes have been discerned in the political landscape. The challenges for the road towards Copenhagen are manifold: the sheer volume and complexity of the issues and the far-reaching nature of decisions such as differentiation between non-Annex I countries pose significant challenges in themselves, while the dependency on the electoral process in the USA introduces a high element of risk into the whole process. The emergence of social justice as an issue turns climate policy into an endeavour to improve the world at large - thereby adding to the complexity. And, finally, the biggest challenge is the recognition that the climate problem requires a global solution, that Annex I and non-Annex I countries are mutually dependent on each other and that only cooperation regarding technology in combination with significant financial support will provide the chance to successfully tackle climate change.
Ziel - In diesem Beitrag sollen die mit der Erdgasbereitstellung für den deutschen Markt verbundenen Treibhausgasemissionen entlang der gesamten Prozesskette dargestellt werden, um eine Gesamtbewertung der mit seiner Nutzung verbundenen Treibhausgasemissionen und einen Vergleich mit den entsprechenden Emissionen anderer Energieträger zu ermöglichen. Dabei werden die in bis 2030 zu erwartenden dynamischen Veranderungen sowohl der Gasherkunft, als auch der Technik bei Förderung, Aufbereitung und Transport detailliert berücksichtigt. Ein besonderer Schwerpunkt liegt auf den Emissionen der Erdgasbereitstellung aus Russland, das seine Rolle als führender Erdgaslieferant ggf. noch weiter ausbauen wird.
Ergebnisse und Diskussion - Die Analysen dieses Beitrags zeigen, dass sich die Bezugsstrukturen für Erdgas in den nächsten zwei Jahrzehnten signifikant verändern werden. Die Förderung in der EU wird deutlich zurückgehen und der Anteil russischen und norwegischen Erdgases sowie von verflüssigtem Erdgas LNG (z.B. aus Algerien und Ägypten) wird zunehmen. Obwohl hierdurch die Emissionssituation potentiell ungünstiger wird, können steigende Emissionen durch die erforderlichen umfangreichen Investitionen teilweise kompensiert werden, weil ältere und ineffizientere Technik durch den aktuellen Stand der Technik ausgetauscht wird. Im Ergebnis werden sich die gegenläufigen Trends in etwa aufheben und die Treibhausgasemissionen der Erdgasbereitstellung - je nach Investitionsumfang - leicht sinken, d.h. bei etwa 12% der direkten Treibhausgasemissionen liegen. Für die beiden hier berechneten Szenarien-Varianten wird eine Senkung der gesamten Vorketten-Emissionen des in Deutschland genutzten Gases von rund 23 Mio. t CO2-Äquivalent (2005) auf 19,5 bzw. 17,6 Mio. t CO2-Äquivalente bis 2030 angenommen. Bei der ersten Variante können trotz steigenden Gasverbrauchs die Emissionen mittels technischer Verbesserungen reduziert werden, während bei der zweiten Variante der erhebliche Rückgang des Gasimports Hauptgrund für die Emissionsreduktion ist.
Schlussfolgerungen - Derzeit liegen die indirekten Treibhausgasemissionen der Erdgasbereitstellung etwa auf dem Niveau der anderen fossilen Energieträger, Öl und Steinkohle. Beim Erdgas wird diese Höhe in den nächsten Jahrzehnten sogar stark absinken, wenn die großen Optimierungspotentiale konsequent umgesetzt werden. Allerdings sind für die Sicherstellung der Erdgasversorgung umfangreiche Investitionen erforderlich. Diese sollten mit der aus Emissionssicht jeweils best verfügbaren - und damit langfristig auch wirtschaftlichsten - Technik erfolgen. Erdgas wird unter diesen Voraussetzungen auch in Zukunft - als relativ sauberer fossiler Energieträger - eine wichtige Übergangsfunktion zur regenerativen Energieversorgung übernehmen können.
Klima-Weltmacht Europa
(2008)
Global climate
(2008)
Global climate
(2008)
While the number of projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is expanding rapidly, there currently are relatively few transport projects in the global CDM portfolio. This article examines existing CDM transport projects and explores whether sectoral approaches to the CDM may provide a better framework for transport than the current project‐based CDM. We ask: Would a sectoral approach to the CDM promote the structural change and integrated policymaking needed to achieve sustainable transport policy, making it hence more desirable than the framework of the current project‐based CDM? We conclude that it is possible to design sectoral transport activities within clear project boundaries that fit into a framework of a programmatic or policy‐based CDM. Although we are able to ascertain that transport policy research yields several modelling tools to address the methodological requirements of the CDM, it becomes apparent that sectoral approaches will accentuate transport projects' problems regarding high complexity and related uncertainties. The CDM may need new rules to manage these risks. Nonetheless, sectoral approaches allow the scaling up of activities to a level that affects long‐term structural change.
Der Ölpreis wird von zahlreichen Faktoren beeinflusst. Die OPEC spielt bei der Preisbildung derzeit nur eine geringe Rolle. Ein Peak Oil wird die Ölpreise stark beeinflussen und zahlreiche Ausweichdynamiken in Gang setzen, die in ihrer Struktur und Quantität bisher jedoch meist unverstanden sind. Ein ökonomischer Ansatz zu deren Bewertung greift aufgrund vorliegender nicht-ökonomischer Hemmnisse zu kurz. Eine Folge von Rohstoffverknappungen ist eine steigende Energieunsicherheit auf globaler Ebene. Daher ist ein grundsätzlicher Umbau der heutigen Versorgungsstrukturen geboten, um in Zukunft besser gegen strukturelle Unsicherheiten gerüstet zu sein.
Die Vision einer klimafreundlichen zukünftigen energetischen Nutzung von Wasserstoff ist untrennbar mit dessen Erzeugung auf der Basis von regenerativer Energie verknüpft. Für einen Übergangszeitraum kann der Rückgriff auf anderweitig in Industrieprozessen erzeugten Wasserstoff einschließlich vorhandener Infrastrukturelemente sinnvoll sein. Nordrhein-Westfalen bietet hierfür mit dem Rhein-Ruhr-Raum besonders günstige Voraussetzungen und verfügt über zahlreiche Standorte, die sich für energetische Pioniernutzungen von Wasserstoff anbieten. Der Beitrag verknüpft die Erhebung der verfügbaren Wasserstoffmengen in NRW mit der Modellierung des Aufbaus einer Wasserstoffinfrastruktur in NRW und stellt dabei die besondere Ausgangslage des Bundeslandes heraus.
Finanzmärkte und Klimasystem haben eines gemeinsam: Sie sind Gemeingüter, wurden aber übernutzt wie die sprichwörtliche Gemeindewiese. Sie sollten allen zugutekommen, wurden jedoch nach dem Recht des Stärkeren zur Bereicherung weniger missbraucht. Damit sich das in den jetzigen Krisen nicht wiederholt, müssen die Industrieländer sicherstellen, dass die staatlichen Mittel, die sie für die Bankenliquidität mobilisieren, zugleich für klimapolitische Projekte eingesetzt werden. Bisher jedoch geschieht das Gegenteil: Unsere Wirtschaftsordnung lädt die (Finanz-) Marktakteure geradezu ein, die öffentlichen Güter auszubeuten.
Energy efficiency is a national priority for China as rapid energy consumption growth aggravates its greenhouse gas emissions, local air pollution and energy scarcity. In the 1990s, a large number of voluntary agreements emerged in industrialised countries in order to improve industrial energy efficiency. These experiences are now taken into account in China. This article analyses the drivers for voluntary agreements on industrial energy efficiency in China, based on a case study of three enterprises in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Furthermore, the article reviews the institutional set-up of energy policy and investigates the pertaining policy culture. From the findings, conclusions are drawn on the role of voluntary agreements within China's larger policy context. We conclude that opposed to avoiding stricter regulation, voluntary agreements in Nanjing are reinterpreted in view of more stringent national provisions on energy efficiency in the 11th Five Year Plan. Hence, agreements have evolved into an implementation tool of national policy at the local level. For industry, another major driver for participation was identified as improving its relations with local authorities. Voluntary agreements showed to have the potential to overcome traditional constraints of implementing top-down policies at the local level in China.
A model of the use of the platinum group metals (PGMs) platinum, palladium, and rhodium in Europe has been developed and combined with a model of the environmental pressures related to PGM production. Compared to the base case presented in Part I of this pair of articles, potential changes in PGM production and use are quantified with regard to cumulative and yearly environmental impacts and PGM resource use, for the period 2005–2020. Reducing sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions of PGM producer Norilsk Nickel could cut the cumulative SO2 emissions associated with the use of PGMs in Europe by 35%. Cleaner electricity generation in South Africa could reduce cumulative SO2 emissions by another 9%. Increasing the recycling rate of end-of-life catalytic converters to 70% in 2020 could save 15% of the cumulative primary PGM input into car catalysts and 10% of the SO2 emissions associated with PGM production. In 2020, PGM requirements and SO2 emissions would be, respectively, 40% and 22% lower than the base case. Substituting palladium for part of the platinum in diesel catalysts, coupled with a probable palladium price increase, could imply 15% more cumulative SO2 emissions if recycling rates do not increase. A future large-scale introduction of fuel cell vehicles would require technological improvements to significantly reduce the PGM content of the fuel cell stack. The basic design of such vehicles greatly influences the vehicle power, a key parameter in determining the total PGM requirement.
More and more countries are incorporating the instrument of emissions trading into their national climate policies. This emerging mosaic of emissions trading schemes (ETS) raises the question of whether they should be linked with each other. From an economic point of view, linking of domestic schemes is supposed to increase the economic efficiency of carbon markets. In addition, linking is also expected by some to yield substantial political benefits in terms of the evolution of the UNFCCC/Kyoto regime. However, these optimistic prospects are based on a best-case scenario where all major countries establish environmentally effective emissions trading systems and then link them with each other. Real-life politics might develop rather differently. This paper therefore examines to what extent the current status of emissions trading in industrialised countries provides a basis for reinforcing and moving forward the international climate regime through linking domestic ETS. After comparing emerging emissions trading schemes from an institutional perspective, it emerges that not only emissions trading is at a very early stage in most countries, in addition the emerging systems are probably going to be designed very differently from the EU ETS. While for some design features such as the coverage design differences do not matter, there are some areas where the plans in many non-EU countries look crucially different from the EU system. The outlook for a linked international ETS is therefore currently still very uncertain. Given this state of affairs, the EU should pro-actively engage with the non-EU countries to try to harmonise their developing national emissions trading schemes with the EU ETS, widely disseminate the lessons it has learned from the EU ETS, strongly make the case for environmental integrity and at the same time make clear that systems that want to link to the EU ETS will need to meet certain quality criteria.
Entertainment-Education (E-E) ist eine Kommunikationsstrategie, die unterhaltende und bildende Elemente in Medienbotschaften integriert. Dieser Artikel zeigt, wie die "Unterhaltungsseite" und die "Bildungsseite" in den Niederlanden und den USA zusammen gebracht werden, um gesellschaftliche Gruppen zu erreichen, die auf eine emotionale Art der Informationsvermittlung ansprechen. Es wird diskutiert, was diese Modelle für die Entwicklung und Umsetzung von Entertainment-Education in Deutschland bedeuten könnten.
Purpose - This paper sets out to tackle the issue of climate change from a business perspective. It seeks to discuss why it is important to take climate change considerations into account in business decisions, how this can be done and what further action is required from managers and business scholars.
Design/methodology/approach - The paper describes ways of reducing emissions and adapting to climate change that can be implemented by any business. As an illustration, the proposed climate strategy of a large European utility company, RWE, is provided.
Findings - There are numerous ways to reduce emissions within business operations, along the supply chain and surrounding product usage and disposal. Climate-proofing operations is also becoming increasingly pertinent to businesses.
Research limitations/implications - New ways have to be found yet in order to take emission reductions to a more ambitious level by altering patterns of production and consumption.
Practical implications - The paper discusses how businesses can reduce their carbon footprint and anticipate changes in the physical and political environment related to climate change.
Originality/value - The paper is of value to managers who, today, are expected not only to reduce emissions from operations, but also to gain an awareness of the physical, political and social risks stemming from the impacts of climate change.
The current emissions trading debates in the EU and the USA were examined and the prospects for creating a transatlantic carbon market were analysed. A future US Emissions Trading Scheme (US ETS) may be designed very differently from the EU ETS, raising questions of compatibility. Crucial differences relate to the stringency of targets, the recognition of offsets, and price control mechanisms. These differences flow directly from the different policy and economic perspectives on emissions trading and climate policy in the USA and the EU. The two sides should therefore seek a way forward that reconciles potentially different climate policies. For example, the USA and the EU should consider an effort to harmonize carbon prices, and US legislation could phase out cost-containment mechanisms after some time period. Finally, both US and EU policies should have mechanisms that allow periodic recalibration, which would allow each to adjust to new technology, react to developing-country climate policies, and learn from each other. In the longer term, this would allow both sides to strive for greater policy convergence, either through linked trading systems, harmonized prices, or a transition from harmonized prices to linkage.
The barriers to linking greenhouse gas cap-and-trade schemes are assessed, based on an analysis of existing and emerging trading schemes, including those in the USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the EU. The feasibility of different forms of linking and the time frames for their implementation are examined. In particular, the barriers to direct bilateral linking are considered. It was found that only a few direct bilateral links will be viable in the short term, due to the divergent policy priorities of different nations and regions, reflected in critical design features, such as costcontainment measures. However, in the short term, cap-and-trade markets will very likely be indirectly linked via unilateral links to the CDM or new crediting mechanisms, which may be adopted within a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol. In order to ensure a harmonization of critical design elements in the mid to long term, early institutional cooperation may become necessary. Necessary policy steps and the appropriate institutional framework for such harmonization and, overtime, further integration of trading schemes are briefly delineated.
Achieving sustainable mobility in developing countries : suggestions for a post-2012 agreement
(2009)
In December 2009, countries meet in Copenhagen to establish a new global climate agreement. This article links the need for reducing transport-related greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries with the current international climate negotiations. Arguing that a sustainable transport approach requires comprehensive policy packages, it assesses the suitability of current climate negotiation proposals in promoting sustainable transport. The project-based approach under the current climate regime incentivises neither comprehensive sustainable transport and mobility policies, nor sufficient numbers of local projects. Current proposals to increase efforts by developing countries, to reform the Clean Development Mechanism, and to create new emission trading mechanisms are promising but still have to overcome several obstacles. One obstacle involves how to properly assess the impact of actions while maintaining streamlined procedures. The authors conclude from their analysis that the best way forward would be to establish an international mitigation fund with a dedicated transport window financed by industrialised countries. This fund would enable developing countries to implement national policies and local projects. Developing countries would outline low-carbon development strategies, including a sectoral strategy for low-carbon transport.
CO2-Abscheidung und -Lagerung bei Kohlekraftwerken : kein Beitrag zur Lösung des Klimaproblems
(2009)
Kohlekraftwerken nachgeschaltetes Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) dominiert die Debatte um CCS - zu Unrecht. Die Förderung dieser Anwendung torpediert den Übergang zu einem klimaneutralen Energiesystem: Sie schafft Anreize, weiter in die Kohleverstromung zu investieren und sie bedingt Wettbewerbsvorteile gegenüber Strom aus erneuerbaren Quellen. Dabei verursacht die Technologie aufgrund des Energieaufwands zur CO2-Abscheidung hohe Treibhausgasemissionen: Somit kann sie kein Element zur Lösung des Klimaproblems sein. Selbst ob und wie stark sie zur Emissionsminderung beiträgt, ist strittig - und hängt von der Wahl der Systemgrenzen ab.
The global land area required to meet the German consumption of agricultural products for food and non-food use was quantified, and the related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly those induced by land-use changes in tropical countries, were estimated. Two comprehensive business-as-usual scenarios describe the development corridor of biomass for non-food use in terms of energetic and non-energetic purposes. In terms of land use, Germany was already a net importer of agricultural land in 2004, and the net additional land required by 2030 is estimated to comprise 2.5–3.4 Mha. This is mainly due to biofuel demand driven by current policy targets. Meeting the required biodiesel import demand would result in an additional GWP of 23–37 Tg of CO2 equivalents through direct and indirect land-use changes. Alternative scenario elements outline the potential options for reducing Germany's land requirement, which reflect future global per capita availability.
This paper argues that Entertainment-Education (E-E) is a striking communication strategy for reaching middle and lower socio-economic classes with climate-friendly lifestyle messages. On the international level (e.g. in the US and the Netherlands) E-E approaches are being theoretically grounded, whereas in Germany they are not yet. Therefore further theoretical discussion and mapping of E-E approaches is central for future research. As a first step towards providing further theoretical foundations for E-E in the field of sustainability, the authors suggest a threefold mapping of E-E approaches. The threefold mapping of E-E approaches for communicating climate-friendly lifestyles to middle and lower class consumers is based on recent results from academic research and practical developments on the media market. The commonalities among the three is that they all promote pro-sustainability messages in an affective-orientated rather than cognitive-orientated, factual manner. Differences can be found in: the sender of the sustainability message, the targeted consumer groups and the media approach in use. Based on this, the paper draws the conclusion that two new paths for further research activities in the field of Entertainment-Education can be proposed: (1) Improving the existing approaches in practice by using theoretical foundation from the E-E field. This comprises at its core (A) to do formative, process and summative effect research on the messages and (B) to use E-E theory from the field of social psychology, sociology and communication science for further improvement and (2) Generating new E-E theories by analyzing the existing practical approaches in the media to communicate climate change.
The paper aims to shed light on the methodological challenges of GHG monitoring at local level and to give an overview on current practices. Questions addressed are as follows: How do the methodologies which underlie different GHG inventory tools differ? What are the critical variables explaining differences between inventories? Can different GHG inventory tools be compatible - and/or interoperable - and under which conditions? The first section discusses methodological challenges related to the formation of local GHG inventories. Rather than giving a comprehensive overview on methodological problems, this section mainly highlights some of the central methodological challenges posed by local GHG inventories. This overview identifies critical variables and clarifies concepts that are necessary for the understanding of the subsequent analysis. In section two, some of the most advanced GHG inventory tools are analysed and the most important differences between these tools are highlighted. The paper concludes that the methodologies are not consistent. Local GHG inventories can thus hardly be compared. The paper gives research and policy recommendations towards greater comparability and sketches the requirements of an international protocol on urban GHG inventories.
This paper presents the strategy for a large EU-funded Integrated Project: EXIOPOL ("A New Environmental Accounting Framework Using Externality Data and Input-Output Tools for Policy Analysis"), with special attention for its part in environmentally extended (EE) input-output (IO) analysis. The project has three principal objectives: (a) to synthesize and further develop estimates of the external costs of key environmental impacts for Europe; (b) to develop an EE IO framework for the EU-27 in aglobal context, including as many of these estimates as possible, to allow for the estimation of environmental impacts (expressed as LCA themes, material requirement indicators, ecological footprints or external costs) of the activities of different economic sectors, final consumption activities and resource consumption; (c) to apply the results of the work to external costs and EE I-O for illustrative policy questions.
Pit stop Poznan : an analysis of negotiations on the Bali action plan at the stopover to Copenhagen
(2009)
This paper analyzes the international climate negotiations that took place at the 14th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP) and the 4th Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) held in Poznan, December 1–12, 2008. It works out the main issues at stake in the negotiations, contrasts divergences in interests amongst negotiating Parties, and summarizes the main results achieved in Poznan. Furthermore, it contextualizes the Poznan negotiations within the broader political and economic context, which has shaped climate policy making throughout 2008. The paper ends with an outlook on the tasks ahead in 2009, until the next COP/CMP in December 2009 in Copenhagen.
Global climate
(2009)
It is now widely recognized that effective communication and demand-side policies for alternative energy require sound knowledge of preferences and determinants of demand of the public and consumers. To date, public attitudes towards new transport technologies have been studied under very different conceptual frameworks. This paper gives an overview of the various conceptual frameworks and methodologies used, where four main approaches can be distinguished: general attitudinal surveys, risk perception studies, non-market economic valuation studies, and other approaches such as those based on semiotic theory. We then review the findings of the recent literature on acceptance, attitudes and preferences for hydrogen and fuelcell end-use technologies, focusing on vehicles. These studies are then contrasted with related research into alternative fuel vehicles. The paper finally discusses the main trends in research and avenues for further work in this field. We recommend, among other things, the use of approaches that build knowledge and familiarity with the technology prior to the exploration of attitudes, and the set up of studies that take a whole-systems perspective of hydrogen technologies and that look at hydrogen in the context of other competing clean technologies.
A promising candidate that may follow conventional vehicles with internal combustion engines combines hydrogen from regenerative sources of energy, fuelcells and an electric drive train. For early fleets introduced the refuelling infrastructure needs to be in place at least to the extent of the vehicles operational reach. The question arises which strategies may help to keep initial hydrogen and infrastructure cost low? Industrial production, distribution and use of hydrogen is well-established and the volumes handled are substantial. Even though today's industrialhydrogen is not in tune with the long-term sustainable vision, hydrogen production and infrastructure already in place might serve as a nucleus for putting that vision into practice. This contribution takes stock of industrial production and use of hydrogen in North Rhine-Westphalia based on a recently finalized project. It demonstrates to which extent industrial hydrogen could be used for a growing number of vehicles and at which time additional capacity might need to be installed.
This paper reviews the current EU policy framework in view of its impact on hydrogen and fuel cell development. It screens EU energy policies, EU regulatory policies and EU spending policies. Key questions addressed are as follows: to what extent is the current policy framework conducive to hydrogen and fuel cell development? What barriers and inconsistencies can be identified? How can policies potentially promote hydrogen and fuel cells in Europe, taking into account the complex evolution of such a potentially disruptive technology? How should the EU policy framework be reformed in view of a strengthened and more coherent approach towards full deployment, taking into account recent technology-support activities? This paper concludes that the current EU policy framework does not hinder hydrogen development. Yet it does not constitute a strong push factor either. EU energy policies have the strongest impact on hydrogen and fuel cell development even though their potential is still underexploited. Regulatory policies have a weak but positive impact on hydrogen. EU spending policies show some inconsistencies. However, the large-scale market development of hydrogen and fuel cells will require a new policy approach which comprises technology-specific support as well as a supportive policy framework with a special regional dimension.
Renewable energy can become the major energy supply option in low-carbon energy economies. Disruptive transformations in all energy systems are necessary for tapping widely available renewable energy resources. Organizing the energy transition from non-sustainable to renewable energy is often described as the major challenge of the first half of the 21st century. Technological innovation, the economy (costs and prices) and policies have to be aligned to achieve full renewable energy potentials, and barriers impeding that growth need to be removed. These issues are also covered by IPCC's special report on renewable energy and climate change to be completed in 2010. This article focuses on the interrelations among the drivers. It clarifies definitions of costs and prices, and of barriers. After reviewing how the third and fourth assessment reports of IPCC cover mitigation potentials and commenting on definitions of renewable energy potentials in the literature, we propose a consistent set of potentials of renewable energy supplies.
This paper undertakes a step to explaining the international economics of resource productivity. It argues that natural resources are back on the agenda for four reasons: the demand on world markets continues to increase, the environmental constraints to using resources are relevant throughout their whole life cycle, the access to critical metals could become a barrier to the low carbon economy, and uneven patterns of use will probably become a source of resource conflicts. Thus, the issue is also of relevance for the transition to a low carbon economy. "Material Flow Analysis" is introduced as a tool to measure the use of natural resources within economies and internationally; such measurement methodology now is being harmonized under OECD auspices. For these reasons, the paper argues that resource productivity - that is the efficiency of using natural resources to produce goods and services in the economy - will become one of the key determinants of economic success and human well-being. An empirical chapter gives evidence on time series of resource productivity increases across a number of economies. Introducing the notion of "material flow innovation", the paper also discusses the innovation dynamics and issues of competitiveness. However, as the paper concludes, market barriers make a case for effective resource policies that should provide incentives for knowledge generation and get the prices right.
The papers for this special issue were originally contributed to the 2nd International Wuppertal Colloquium on "Sustainable Growth, Resource Productivity and Sustainable Industrial Policy - Recent Findings, new Approaches for Strategies and Policies" that was held from 10 to 12 September 2009 in Wuppertal, Germany. The intensive discussion during the Colloqium and the subsequent rigorous review process have helped to facilitate this process - we wish to thank all participants and contributers, as well as Sevan Hambarsoomian and Deniz Erdem for administrative support.
The physical dimension of international trade. Part 1: Direct global flows between 1962 and 2005
(2010)
The physical dimension of international trade is attaining increased importance. This article describes a method to calculate complete physical trade flows for all countries which report their trade to the UN. The method is based on the UN Comtrade database and it was used to calculate world-wide physical trade flows for all reporting countries in nine selected years between 1962 and 2005. The results show increasing global trade with global direct material trade flows reaching about 10 billion tonnes in 2005, corresponding to a physical trade volume of about 20 billion tonnes (adding both total imports and total exports). The share from European countries is declining, mainly in favour of Asian countries. The dominant traded commodity in physical units was fossil fuels, mainly oil. Physical trade balances were used to identify the dominant resource suppliers and demanders. Australia was the principal resource supplier over the period with a diverse material export structure. It was followed by mainly oil-exporting countries with varying volumes. As regards to regions, Latin America, south-east Asian islands and central Asia were big resource exporters, mostly with increasing absolute amounts of net exports. The largest net importers were Japan, the United States and single European countries. Emerging countries like the "Asian Tigers" with major industrial productive sectors are growing net importers, some of them to an even higher degree than European countries. Altogether, with the major exception of Australia and Canada, industrialized countries are net importers and developing countries and transition countries are net exporters, but there are important differences within these groups.
Ein institutionelles Reformprogramm zur Förderung transdisziplinärer Nachhaltigkeitsforschung
(2010)
Die deutsche Politik orientiert sich in weiten Teilen an Nachhaltigkeit. Da erstaunt es, dass transdisziplinäre Nachhaltigkeitsforschung im Land kaum etabliert ist. Ein institutionelles Reformprogramm, das die besonderen Strukturbedingungen des deutschen Wissenschaftssystems berücksichtigt, vermag dies zu ändern.
The Gulf countries are largely dependent on exporting oil and natural gas for their national budgets. They mainly use domestic fossil fuels for their domestic energy supply. In spite of favorable geographic conditions, especially for solar energy, renewable energies are still a niche application. Abu Dhabi, besides Dubai, the most important emirate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has now started a process of "transforming oil wealth into renewable energy leadership", and has set the long-term goal of a "transition from a 20th Century, carbon-based economy into a 21st Century sustainable economy." This article is a case study about "Masdar City", a planned carbon-neutral town in Abu Dhabi. The article describes the key characteristics of Masdar City, analyses the drivers behind the project, identifies the main actors for its implementation, and seeks obstacles to creation and development as well as the policy behind Masdar City. Finally, a first judgment of possible diffusion effects of the project is done.
This study provides insight into the feasibility of a CO2 trunkline from the Netherlands to the Utsira formation in the Norwegian part of the North Sea, which is a large geological storage reservoir for CO2. The feasibility is investigated in competition with CO2 storage in onshore and near-offshore sinks in the Netherlands. Least-cost modelling with a MARKAL model in combination with ArcGIS was used to assess the cost-effectiveness of the trunkline as part of aDutch greenhouse gas emission reduction strategy for the Dutch electricity sector and CO2 intensive industry. The results show that under the condition that a CO2 permit price increases from €25 per tCO2 in 2010 to €60 per tCO2 in 2030, and remains at this level up to 2050, CO2 emissions in the Netherlands could reduce with 67% in 2050 compared to 1990, and investment in the Utsira trunkline may be cost-effective from 2020–2030 provided that Belgian and German CO2 is transported and stored via the Netherlands as well. In this case, by 2050 more than 2.1 GtCO2 would have been transported from the Netherlands to the Utsira formation. However, if the Utsira trunkline is not used for transportation of CO2 from Belgium and Germany, it may become cost-effective 10 years later, and less than 1.3 GtCO2 from the Netherlands would have been stored in the Utsiraformation by 2050. On the short term, CO2 storage in Dutch fields appears more cost-effective than in the Utsira formation, but as yet there are major uncertainties related to the timing and effective exploitation of the Dutch offshore storage opportunities.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has matured over the past decades and become part of the broader field of sustainability assessment. To strengthen LCA as a tool and eventually increase its usefulness for sustainability decision-making, it is argued that there is a need to expand the ISO LCA framework by integration and connection with other concepts and methods. This paper explores the potential options for deepening and broadening the LCA methodologies beyond the current ISO framework for improved sustainability analysis. By investigating several environmental, economic and social assessment methods, the paper suggests some options for incorporating (parts of) other methods or combining with other methods for broadening and deepening the LCA.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are major oil and natural gas producing countries that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council. The six GCC countries fall in the top 25 countries of carbon dioxide emissions per capita and are perceived as the main actors blocking international climate change negotiations. The aim of this article is to discuss from a policy perspective the capacities of the GCC states to switch toward an ecological modernization of their energy sectors. At the beginning of the paper, I analyze the benefits of transforming oil wealth into funding for renewable energy and energy efficiency. After this, I discuss obstacles to such a transformation process based on the rentier states theory. Finally, I investigate governance of the GCC on all levels (international, regional, and local). The article shows that the GCC countries have recently adopted a more pro-active approach toward ecological modernization. This reorientation has not yet resulted in the development of consistent strategies and policies, however. The concluding assumption based on the concept of policy transfer is that pioneering projects such as Masdar City and innovative regulation like the green building code in Dubai will spread within the GCC.
This study analyzes the usefulness of an attitude-based target group approach in predicting the ecological impact of mobility behavior. Based on a survey of 1,991 inhabitants of three large German cities, constructs derived from an expanded version of the Theory of Planned Behavior were used to identify distinct attitude-based target groups. Five groups were identified, each representing a unique combination of attitudes, norms, and values. The groups differed significantly from each other with regard to travel-mode choice, distances traveled, and ecological impact. In comparison with segmentations based on sociodemographic and geographic factors, the predictive power of the attitude-based approach was higher, especially with regard to the use of private motorized modes of transportation. The opportunities and limits of reducing the ecological impact of mobility behavior on the basis of an attitude-based target group approach are discussed.
The optimization of value chains is an important process to promote sustainable development, since value chains are closely linked to the satisfaction of human needs and combine different driving forces for environmental change. This article presents a methodological approach for the participatory development of value-chain wide sustainability indicator sets and their integration into a decision support tool in the specific case study of the chain "construction and refurbishment with wood". There are numerous indicator sets for sustainable development of forests and sustainable forestry available at different levels, ranging from local, regional and national to global scale assessments. Some efforts were also made to integrate later production stages of forest value chains (such as wood processing) in the assessment scope (e.g. for chain-of-custody certification). However, no indicator set has so far been available covering environmental, social and economic aspects for the entire value chain of building with timber. This gap was closed through applied sustainability research in the project "Holzwende 2020: Sustainable future markets for wood in the building sector".
Several energy scenario studies consider concentrated solar power (CSP) plants as an important technology option to reduce the world's CO2 emissions to a level required for not letting the global average temperature exceed a threshold of 2–2.4 °C. A global ramp up of CSP technologies offers great economic opportunities for technology providers as CSP technologies include highly specialised components. This paper analyses possible value creation effects resulting from a global deployment of CSP until 2050 as projected in scenarios of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and Greenpeace International. The analysis focuses on the economic opportunities of German technology providers since companies such as Schott Solar, Flabeg or Solar Millennium are among the leading suppliers of CSP technologies on the global market.
Comparative analysis of environmental impacts of maize-biogas and photovoltaics on a land use basis
(2010)
This study aims to stimulate the discussion on how to optimize a sustainable energy mix from an environmental perspective and how to apply existing renewable energy sources in the most efficient way. Ground-mounted photovoltaics (PV) and the maize-biogas-electricity route are compared with regard to their potential to mitigate environmental pressure, assuming that a given agricultural area is available for energy production. Existing life cycle assessment (LCA) studies are taken as abasis to analyse environmental impacts of those technologies in relation to conventional technology for power and heat generation. The life-cycle-wide mitigation potential per area used is calculated for the impact categories non-renewable energy input, green house gas (GHG) emissions, acidification and eutrophication. The environmental performance of each system depends on the scenario that is assumed for end energy use (electricity and heat supply have been contemplated). In all scenarios under consideration, PV turns out to be superior to biogas in almost all studied impact categories. Even when maize is used for electricity production in connection with very efficient heat usage, and reduced PV performance is assumed to account for intermittence, PV can still mitigate about four times the amount of green house gas emissions and non-renewable energy input compared to maize-biogas. Soil erosion, which can be entirely avoided with PV, exceeds soil renewal rates roughly 20-fold on maize fields. Regarding the overall Eco-indicator 99 (H) score under most favourable assumptions for the maize–biogas route, PV has still a more than 100% higher potential to mitigate environmental burden. At present, the key advantages of biogas are its price and its availability without intermittence. In the long run, and with respect to more efficient land use, biogas might preferably be produced from organic waste or manure, whereas PV should be integrated into buildings and infrastructures.
This article analyses the negotiations on the future of the international climate regime at the United Nations Climate Summit in Copenhagen. It also discusses key issues in the ongoing business of implementing the Climate Convention and the Kyoto Protocol. The article lays out the main issues at stake in the negotiations, contrasts divergences in interests amongst negotiating parties, and summarises the results achieved in Copenhagen. The report discusses these results in detail and concludes with an outlook on how the challenges ahead could be overcome.
Die multilaterale Politik bekennt sich zum Zwei-Grad-Ziel, um den Klimawandel zu begrenzen. Sie stützt sich dazu explizit auf Empfehlungen "der Wissenschaft". Bemerkenswert ist, dass sie sich dabei nicht - was doch naheläge - auf das IPCC beruft. Dieses Gremium hat sich nämlich explizit versagt, "Werturteile" wie das Zwei-Grad-Ziel zu formulieren. Da die Politik aber nach solchen Urteilen verlangt, bedient sie sich pragma tisch an anderer Stelle - bei einer Wissenschaft, die nicht strikt zwischen Fakten und Werturteilen trennt. Letzteres sollte auch ein Kennzeichen einer Wissenschaft von der Nachhaltigkeit (sustainability science) sein.
Hintergrund: Die Bezugsquellen und Transportwege von fossilem Erdgas werden sich in den kommenden beiden Dekaden diversifizieren. Veränderungen der Lieferstruktur, verbunden mit weiteren Transportentfernungen und dem Neubau von Pipelines sowie der verstärkte Einsatz von verflüssigtem Erdgas (LNG - Liquefied Natural Gas) sind zu erwarten. Entsprechend werden sich auch die vorgelagerten Prozessketten und die damit verknüpften THG-Emissionen verändern. Im Sinne einer korrekten und ganzheitlichen Bilanzierung der Lebenszyklusemissionen und weitgehender Treibhausgasminderungsziele, sind die vorgelagerten Emissionen eine nicht zu vernachlässigende Größe. Gleichzeitig wird Biomethan als Beimischung zum fossilen Erdgas an Bedeutung gewinnen. Obwohl seine Verbrennung als klimaneutral gewertet wird, sind die Prozesse zur Herstellung von Biomethan mit Emissionen verbunden.
Die Treibhausgasemissionen (THG) der Vorketten von in der EU eingesetzten Energieträgern werden in der neuen EU-Kraftstoffqualitätsrichtlinie (vom Dez. 2008) reguliert. Ihre Höhe und ihre Entwicklung wird für die klimapolitischen Diskussionen und politische Entscheidungen somit immer wichtiger.
Ziel: Vor dem Hintergrund der angesprochenen Aspekte sollen die zukünftige Entwicklung der Gasversorgung in Deutschland und die Veränderungen der vorgelagerten THG-Emissionen von Erdgas und Biomethan ermittelt werden. In zwei Szenarien werden die mit der Herstellung und dem Transport von Erdgas und Biomethan verknüpften Emissionen bis zum Jahr 2030 einschließlich des zu erwartenden technischen Optimierungspotenzials bilanziert. Mittels dieser Analyse können Einschätzungen der zukünftigen Emissionspfade und der durchschnittlichen Emissionen (Klimaqualität) des eingesetzten Gases (als Mischung fossiler und biogener Gase einschließlich der damit verbundenen Prozesskettenemissionen) gegeben werden. Diese können als Grundlage für energie- und klimapolitische Entscheidungen dienen.
Ergebnisse und Diskussion: Nach Erläuterung der Prozesskette von Biomethan werden die zu erwartenden technischen Entwicklungen der einzelnen Prozessschritte (Substratbereitstellung, Fermentierung, Aufbereitung, Gärrestnutzung) diskutiert und die Höhe der hiervon zu erwartenden Emissionen bilanziert. Basis sind Ergebnisse der wissenschaftlichen Begleitforschung des Wuppertal Instituts zur Einspeisung von Biomethan ins Erdgasnetz. Dabei gehen wir davon aus, dass die nächste Anlagengeneration "optimierte Technik" das aus heutiger Sicht bestehende Optimierungspotenzial des heutigen Stands der Technik ausschöpfen wird, sodass sich die spezifischen, auf den Heizwert des Biomethan bezogenen, THG-Emissionen der Vorkette von aktuell 27,8 t CO2-Äq/TJ auf 14,8 t CO2-Äq/TJ in 2030 fast halbieren werden.
Die zu erwartenden Emissionen der Erdgasprozesskette wurden in einem Vorgängerartikel bereits im Detail analysiert. Bei der Förderung und der Transportinfrastruktur ist ebenfalls eine Optimierung der Technik zu erwarten. Die dadurch erzielte Verringerung der spezifischen THG-Emissionen kann die aus den künftig längeren Transportstrecken und aufwendigen Produktionsprozessen resultierende Erhöhung ausgleichen.
Abschließend werden zwei Szenarien (Hoch- und Niedrigverbrauch) der künftigen Gasversorgung Deutschlands bis 2030 aufgestellt. Im Hochverbrauchszenario wird damit gerechnet, dass der Gaseinsatz in Deutschland um 17 % steigen wird. Im Niedrigverbrauchszenario wird er dagegen um etwa 17 % sinken. Gleichzeitig wird der Anteil von Biomethan am eingesetzten Gas auf 8 bzw. 12 % ansteigen. Die - direkten und indirekten - Treibhausgasemissionen der Gasnutzung in Deutschland werden im Niedrigverbrauchszenario um 25 %, d. h. überproportional von 215,4 Mio. t CO2-Äq auf 162,4 Mio. t CO2-Äq zurückgehen. Im Hochverbrauchsszenario steigen die Gesamtemissionen leicht um 7 % (auf 230,9 Mio. t CO2-Äq) an.
Schlussfolgerungen: Gasförmige Energieträger werden in den kommenden beiden Dekaden eine zentrale Säule der deutschen Energieversorgung bleiben. Insgesamt zeigt sich, dass die THG-Emissionen der Nutzung von Erdgas v. a. von den Verbrauchsmengen der Gasversorgung abhängig sind. Das heißt, dass sowohl aus klima- als auch aus energiepolitischer Sicht die Steigerung der Energieeffizienz ein zentraler Faktor ist. Daneben bestehen sowohl in der verstärkten Nutzung von Biomethan als auch in der weiteren Investition in emissionsoptimierte Technologien entlang der Vorketten signifikante Emissionsminderungspotenziale. Hierdurch kann die "Klimaqualität", d. h. die spezifische Treibhausgasemissionshöhe über alle Prozessstufen, des eingesetzten Gases deutlich verbessert werden. Die spezifischen Gesamtemissionen pro TJ eingesetzten Gases werden hierdurch um ca. 9 % von heute 63,3 t CO2-Äq pro TJ auf etwa 54,5 t/TJ sinken. Entscheidend ist hierfür der verstärkte Einsatz von Biomethan, dessen Verbrennung aufgrund der biogenen Herkunft des Kohlenstoffs weitgehend klimaneutral ist (im Vergleich zu direkten Emissionen von 56 t CO2/TJ bei der Verbrennung von Erdgas oder 111 t CO2/TJ bei z. B. Braunkohle). Die Vorteile der gasförmigen Energieträger in der Klimaqualität und effizienten Nutzung werden - insbesondere auch in der künftig zu erwartenden Beimischung von Biomethan - auch zukünftig Bestand haben.
Renania del Norte-Westfalia (RNW) es el mayor estado federal (land) de la República Federal de Alemania. Hasta la década de 1970, la región del Rin-Ruhr, con una población de unos 12 millones de habitantes y una potente industria química, del carbón y del acero, se vio afectada por graves problemas de contaminación. En los años setenta, la protección medioambiental apareció en las agendas políticas nacionales e internacionales. Los gobiernos federales y el estatal lanzaron múltiples intervenciones legislativas y económicas para limpiar ríos, suelos y aire. Como resultado, surgió una ecoindustria muy competitiva. En este artículo, se resumen las características de las ecoindustrias y se describe el cambio estructural de la región del Ruhr. Asimismo, centrándose en el mesonivel y empleando los ejemplos de la gestión energética y la gestión municipal de residuos, se destacan los puntos fuertes y los puntos débiles de las políticas económicas regionales de clusters que apoyan las ecoindustrias en RNW.
In 1990 a sovereign wealth fund was founded in Norway in which the country invests surpluses from oil and gas industry sales. The fund is designed to secure the state's ability to act in a post-petroleum era. At the end of the 1990's the voice of Norwegian civil society insisted that the sovereign wealth fund should not only ensure intergenerational justice, but should also contribute to the implementation of values and norms of the present country. At the end of 2004 the parliament finally agreed upon ethical regulations for the investment of the sovereign wealth fund. Now the second largest sovereign wealth fund in the world only invests in businesses that adhere to those ethical regulations. In the present paper, I seek to illustrate the emergence and outcomes of this new development in the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund.
Purpose - The Hot Spot Analysis developed by the Wuppertal Institute is a screening tool focussing on the demand of reliable sustainability-oriented decision-making processes in complex value chains identifying high priority areas ("hot spots") for effective measures in companies. This paper aims to focus on this tool.
Design/methodology/approach - The Hot Spot Analysis is a qualitative method following a cradle-to-cradle approach. With the examples of coffee and cream cheese hot spots of sustainability indicators throughout the entire life cycle are identified and evaluated with data from literature reviews and expert consultations or stakeholder statements. This paper focuses on the indicator resource efficiency as an example of how the methodology works.
Findings - The identified hot spots for coffee are the raw material procurement phase in terms of abiotic material, water and energy consumption, the production phase concerning biotic material and the energy consumption in the use phase. For cream cheese relevant hot spots appear in the raw material procurement phase in terms of biotic materials and water as well as biotic materials and energy consumption during the production phase.
Research limitations/implications - Life cycle analyses connected to indicators like resource efficiency need to be applied as consequent steps of a Hot Spot Analysis if a deeper level of analysis is eventually aimed at which is more cost and time intensive in the short term. The Hot Spot Analysis can be combined with other sustainability management instruments.
Practical implications - Research and management can be directed to hot spots of sustainability potential quickly which pays off in the long term.
Originality/value - The paper shows that companies can address sustainability potentials relatively cost moderately.
Preventing the worst consequences of climate change would require that GHG emissions be reduced to levels near zero by the middle of the century. To respond to such a daunting challenge, we need to rethink and redesign the currently highly energy-dependent infrastructures of industrial societies and particularly the urban infrastructures to become low- or even zero-carbon cities. Sustainable urban infrastructures need technology. In this paper focused on Western European Cities, we discuss a wide set of technologies in the fields of building, energy and transport infrastructures that can significantly contribute to a reduction of energy and/or GHG emissions and are already available or are in the pipeline. Based on the review of a recent study for the city of Munich, we then present how a mix of these technologies could reduce CO2-emissions by up to 90% for the metropolis of 1.3 million inhabitants and that this strategy could be economically attractive despite a high initial investment.
All of the residential buildings of a city like Munich could be entirely redesigned for EUR 200 per inhabitant annually, which is about one third of an average annual natural gas bill.
Energy used in buildings is responsible for more than 40% of energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the EU and their share in cost-efficient GHG mitigation potentials is estimated to be even higher. In spite of its huge savings potential of up to 80%, achievements are very slow in the building sector and much stronger political action seems to be needed. One important step in this direction has been the recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) in autumn 2009. However, strong national implementation including powerful packages of flanking measures seems to be crucial to really make significant progress in this important field. In order to directly improve political action, we provide a differentiated country-by-country bottom up simulation of residential buildings for the whole EU, Norway, Iceland, Croatia and Liechtenstein. The analysis provides a database of the building stock by construction periods, building types, as well as typical building sizes. It includes a simulation of the thermal quality and costs of the components of the building shell for new buildings as well as the refurbishment of the existing building stock. Based on this differentiated analysis, we show in detail what would be needed to accelerate energy savings in the building sector and provide a more precise estimate of the potentials to be targeted by particular policies. We demonstrate, e.g. that the potential of building codes set via the EPBD would be located mainly in those countries that already have quite stringent codes in place. We show as well the high relevance of accelerating refurbishments and re-investment cycles of buildings. By providing a clear estimate of the full costs related to such a strategy, we highlight a major obstacle to accelerated energy-efficient building renovation and construction.
Der (Flug-)Verkehr nimmt zu - auch in Zeiten des Klimawandels : wie kommt es zu diesem Paradox?
(2010)
Zum Flugverkehr als klimapolitischem "Ausreißer" wird zweierlei gefragt: 1. Nach dem zentralen Grund für die auf Expansion gerichtete Sonderstellung des (Flug-)Verkehrs; 2. Wie im konkreten Falle, bei der Erweiterung der Kapazität des Flughafens München, die klimapolitischen Randbedingungen marginalisiert werden.
For parabolic trough power plants using synthetic oil as the heat transfer medium, the application of solid media sensible heat storage is an attractive option in terms of investment and maintenance costs. One important aspect in storage development is the storage integration into the power plant. A modular operation concept for thermal storage systems was previously suggested by DLR, showing an increase in storage capacity of more than 100 %. However, in these investigations, the additional costs needed to implement this storage concept into the power plant, like for extra piping, valves, pumps and control had not been considered. These aspects are discussed in this paper, showing a decrease of levelized energy costs with modular storage integration of 2 to 3 %. In a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) a comparison of an AndaSol-I type solar thermal power plant [1] with the original two-tank molten salt storage and with a "hypothetical" concrete storage shows an advantage of the concrete storage technology concerning environmental impacts. The environmental impacts of the “hypothetical” concrete based AndaSol-I decrease by 7 %, considering 1 kWh of solar electricity delivered to the grid. Regarding only the production of the power plant, the emissions decrease by 9.5 %.
Scientization : putting global climate change on the scientific agenda and the role of the IPCC
(2010)
Since the 1970s, climate change has dominated the international scientific and political agenda. In particular, the foundation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at the end of the 1980s played a major role for the further enhancement of efforts in the field of climate change sciences. However, to understand the interaction of the worldwide coordination of climate change sciences as well as the role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and its consequences, it is worthwhile to take a look at the self-conception of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's tasks and work. This paper gives an idea of the history of international climate change science, its representation in public discourse and the role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change by comprehensively illustrating its tasks, organization and self-image. Furthermore, the article tries to argue that the hitherto accepted concept of science followed within this body fails to integrate the idea of scientific ethics. It can be concluded that the conception of science represented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has heavily influenced worldwide attention to climate change, its becoming part of the political agenda as well as the ethical consequences.
Overviewing the European carbon (C), greenhouse gas (GHG), and non-GHG fluxes, gross primary productivity (GPP) is about 9.3 Pg yr-1, and fossil fuel imports are 1.6 Pg yr-1. GPP is about 1.25% of solar radiation, containing about 360 × 1018 J energy - five times the energy content of annual fossil fuel use. Net primary production (NPP) is 50%, terrestrial net biome productivity, NBP, 3%, and the net GHG balance, NGB, 0.3% of GPP. Human harvest uses 20% of NPP or 10% of GPP, or alternatively 1‰ of solar radiation after accounting for the inherent cost of agriculture and forestry, for production of pesticides and fertilizer, the return of organic fertilizer, and for the C equivalent cost of GHG emissions. C equivalents are defined on a global warming potential with a 100-year time horizon. The equivalent of about 2.4% of the mineral fertilizer input is emitted as N2O. Agricultural emissions to the atmosphere are about 40% of total methane, 60% of total NO-N, 70% of total N2O-N, and 95% of total NH3-N emissions of Europe. European soils are a net C sink (114 Tg yr−1), but considering the emissions of GHGs, soils are a source of about 26 Tg CO2 C-equivalent yr-1. Forest, grassland and sediment C sinks are offset by GHG emissions from croplands, peatlands and inland waters. Non-GHGs (NH3, NOx) interact significantly with the GHG and the C cycle through ammonium nitrate aerosols and dry deposition. Wet deposition of nitrogen (N) supports about 50% of forest timber growth. Land use change is regionally important. The absolute flux values total about 50 Tg C yr-1. Nevertheless, for the European trace-gas balance, land-use intensity is more important than land-use change. This study shows that emissions of GHGs and non-GHGs significantly distort the C cycle and eliminate apparent C sinks.
Japan
(2010)
This article addresses informational barriers to energy efficiency. It is a widely acknowledged result that an energy efficiency gap exists implying that the level of energy efficiency is at an inefficiently low level. Several barriers to energy efficiency create this gap and the presence of asymmetric information is likely to be one such barrier. The article finds that problems of moral hazard and adverse selection indeed can help explain the seemingly low levels of energy efficiency. The theory reveals two implications to policies on energy efficiency. First, the development of measures to enable contractual parties to base remuneration on energy performance must be enhanced, and second, the information on technologies and the education of consumers and installers on energy efficiency must be increased. Finally, it is found that the preferred EU policy instrument on energy efficiency, so far, seems to be the use of minimum requirements. Less used in EU legislation is the use of measuring and verification as well as the use of certifications. Therefore, it is concluded that the EU should consider an increased use of these instruments.
New technologies can be the basis for resource-efficient products and services and thus create eco-innovations, either by creating new functionalities in existing or new application fields or by substituting existing technologies in existing or new application fields. In this paper, an overview over different technology fields, products and strategies with resource efficiency potential, such as nanotechnolo- gies, material science, manufacturing technologies, process technologies and cross-cutting issues, is presented. There is a special focus on applications from nanotechnology issuing, e.g. functional surfaces or new "smart" materials with special functionalities. Furthermore, it is shown how companies can use the method Resource Efficiency Technology Radar to identify and evaluate technolo- gies with resource efficiency in order to incorporate them into their development activities.
Biogas and bio-methane that are based on energy crops are renewable energy carriers and therefore potentially contribute to climate protection. However, significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from agricultural production processes must be considered. Among those, the production and use of fertilizer, and the resulting leaching of nitrous oxide (N2O), are crucial factors. This article provides an integrated life cycle assessment (LCA) of biogas (i.e. bio-methane that has been upgraded and injected into the natural gas grid), taking into account the processes of fermentation, upgrading and injection to the grid for two different types of biogas plants. The analysis is based on different feedstocks from crop rotation systems for different locations in Germany. A special focus is on the sensitivity of assumptions of nitrous oxide emissions to overall GHG emissions. Much research exists on the measurement or modeling of the actual N2O emissions that result from farming processes. Since there is as yet no precise regional data, most analyses use tier-1 data from the IPCC national GHG inventories as a default. The present article coincides with recent research in indicating that this data varies at the regional level. However, it is not the scope of the article to evaluate the quality of existing data for N2O emissions, but to show the effects of different assumptions on the LCA of GHGs from bio-methane. Thus, a link between the provision of emission data and the practical implementation of biogas technology is provided. The main result is that the supply chain of substrates from agricultural processes appears to contribute the most to the GHG emissions of bio-methane. The "worst case" scenario where 5% of the nitrogen fertilizer used is emitted in form of N2O shows that the GHG mitigation potential of bio-methane versus natural gas is very small, so there is not much margin for error in the plant technology.
Natural gas makes an increasing contribution to the European Union's energy supply. Due to its efficiency and low level of combustion emissions this reduces greenhouse gas emissions compared to the use of other fossil fuels. However, being itself a potent greenhouse gas, a high level of direct losses of natural gas in its process chain could neutralise these advantages. Which effect will finally prevail depends on future economical as well as technical developments. Based on two different scenarios of the main influencing factors we can conclude that over the next two decades CH4 emissions from the natural gas supply chain can be significantly reduced, in spite of unfavourable developments of the supply structures. This, however, needs a substantial, but economically attractive investment into new technology, particularly in Russia.
Global climate
(2010)
The fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the fifth Conference of the Parties serving as Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 5) took place on 7–18 December 2010 in Copenhagen. According to the "Bali Action Plan", the "roadmap" of the negotiations agreed at COP 13/CMP 3 in Bali in 2007, the Copenhagen conference was to deliver a comprehensive agreed outcome on the future climate regime. Meeting this deadline was of urgency not only because of the ever more alarming messages from climate science, but also because the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. As ratification of a new agreement can be expected to take at least two years, a timely agreement on post-2012 emission targets is needed to prevent a "gap" after 2012. Expectations were high as more than 100 Heads of State and Government had announced their attendance and more than 40,000 participants had registered their names.
However, despite a record number of five preparatory meetings over the course of 2009, the fundamental differences between Parties proved to be too difficult to overcome. The main outcome of the conference, the "Copenhagen Accord", is only a political declaration, and even this declaration was not supported by all countries. In addition, Parties agreed to continue negotiations into 2010.
Northrhine-Westphalia (NRW) is the largest land of the Federal Republic of Germany. Until the 1970ies the Ruhr-area with a population of about 12 million people and a strong coal, steel and chemical industry had been plagued with severe pollution. In the 1970ies environmental protection had emerged on the international and national policy agendas. The federal and regional government launched massive legislative and economic public interventions for cleaning-up rivers, soils and air. As a result, a highly competitive eco-industry emerged. The article outlines main features of ecoindustries, the structural change of the Ruhr area and regional economic cluster policies in support of eco-industries in NRW. It draws conclusions for eco-industry policy developing from end-of-pipe towards integrated preventive approaches.
The importance of intact ecosystems for human-wellbeing as well as the dependence on functions and services they provide is undoubted. But still neither the costs of ecosystem degradation nor the benefits from ecosystem functions and services appear on socio-economic balance sheets when development takes place. Consequently overuse of natural resources is socio-economically promoted by conventional resource management policies and external effects (externalities), equally positives and negatives, remain unregarded. In this context the potential of payments for hydrological ecosystem services as a political instrument to foster sustainable natural resource use, and rural development shall be investigated. This paper introduces the principle concept of such payments, presents a case study from Nicaragua and highlights preliminary effects of the application of this instrument on natural resource use and development.
Concentrated solar power (CSP) plants are one of several renewable energy technologies with significant potential to meet a part of future energy demand. An integrated technology assessment shows that CSP plants could play a promising role in Africa and Europe, helping to reach ambitious climate protection goals. Based on the analysis of driving forces and barriers, at first three future envisaged technology scenarios are developed. Depending on the underlying assumptions, an installed capacity of 120 GWel, 405 GWel or even 1,000 GWel could be reached globally in 2050. In the latter case, CSP would then meet 13–15% of global electricity demand. Depending on these scenarios, cost reduction curves for North Africa and Europe are derived. The cost assessment conducted for two virtual sites in Algeria and in Spain shows a long-term reduction of electricity generating costs to figures between 4 and 6 ct/kWhel in 2050. The paper concludes with an ecological analysis based on life cycle assessment. Although the greenhouse gas emissions of current (solar only operated) CSP systems show a good performance (31 g CO2-equivalents/kWhel) compared with advanced fossil-fired systems (130–900 CO2-eq./kWhel), they could further be reduced to 18 g CO2-eq./kWhel in 2050, including transmission from North Africa to Europe.
During the last century, the consumption of materials for human needs increased by several orders of magnitude, even for non-renewable materials such as metals. Some data on annual consumption (input) and recycling/waste (output) can often be found in the federal statistics, but a clear picture of the main flows is missing. A dynamic material flow model is developed for the example of copper in Switzerland in order to simulate the relevant copper flows and stocks over the last 150 years. The model is calibrated using data from statistical and published sources as well as from interviews and measurements. A simulation of the current state (2000) is compared with data from other studies. The results show that Swiss consumption and losses are both high, at a level of about 8 and 2 kg/(cap year), respectively, or about three times higher than the world average. The model gives an understanding of the flows and stocks and their interdependencies as a function of time. This is crucial for materials whose consumption dynamics are characterised by long lifetimes and hence for relating the current output to the input of the whole past. The model allows a comprehensive discussion of possible measures to reduce resource use and losses to the environment. While increasing the recycling reduces losses to landfill, only copper substitution can reduce the different losses to the environment, although with a time delay of the order of a lifetime.
Veränderungsprozesse hin zu nachhaltigen Gesellschaften werden bis heute blockiert. Im Text werden diese Blockaden auf der Ebene der Theorie und Konzeption untersucht. Oft soll das Neue der Nachhaltigkeit mit alten Rationalitätsmustern erreicht werden - mit alten Konzepten von Gerechtigkeit, Produktivität, Eigentum. Aber der nachhaltige Gerechtigkeitsanspruch, der Rücksicht auf zukünftige Generationen einfordert, kann mittels der Theorie von John Rawls nicht eingelöst werden. Denn dort besteht unter dem Schleier der Unwissenheit der jeweils Andere nur abstrakt, ohne eigene Stimme. Und der nachhaltige Anspruch des Produktivitätserhalts kann mit dem in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften vorherrschenden Produktivitätskonzept, das auf Adam Smith zurückgeht, ebenfalls nicht eingelöst werden, da es die sorgenden Tätigkeiten von Frauen und die Produktivität der Natur aus dem Ökonomischen ausgrenzt. Und schließlich das Eigentum: In der erstmals von John Locke konzipierten bürgerlichen Eigentumsgesellschaft entstehen Eigentum und Wert nur im unmittelbaren Umwandlungsakt von Natur in Waren. Herrschafts-Eigentum über Ressourcen schließt andere von der Nutzung aus. Die Geschichte einer nachhaltigen gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung bedarf daher ganz anderer, neuer Erzählungen.
The North African countries Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt have been and are currently experiencing rapid growth in energy demand. This development confronts their political leaders with the question of how to expand or diversify their countries' generation capacities. In this context, renewable energies and nuclear power constitute options that have rarely been exploited so far in the region. This article analyzes the drawbacks and benefits of both alternatives, with a special focus on import and export dynamics. When attempting to make the strategic decision between renewables and atomic power, North African regional specifics and circumstances have to be taken into account. Hence, in a first step, the article characterizes the energy systems of the North African countries and presents scenarios for their future development. In a second step, it scrutinizes the energy challenges these states face in terms of domestic concerns and foreign affairs. Finally, a case study of Algeria is used to demonstrate how renewable energies, but not nuclear power, are able to respond to North African energy challenges.
Die globalen Rohstoffmärkte weisen Defizite mit erheblichem Konfliktpotenzial auf. Die Bewältigung von Umweltbelastungen, Ressourcenkonflikten, illegalem Handel und Preissprüngen bedürfen einer institutionellen Ordnung. Eine global nachhaltige Ressourcennutzung erfordert verbesserte und neue Governance-Mechanismen, die sowohl privatwirtschaftliche als auch staatliche Akteure einbeziehen. Mögliche neue Governance-Ansätze wären die Gründung einer International Resource Management Agency, die Schaffung eines internationalen Metall-Covenants und eines Abkommens zum nachhaltigen Ressourcenmanagement.
Resultado de la intervención intensiva antropogénica, la subcuenca ahora enfrenta serios problemas como la degradación de los suelos, deforestación y contaminación del agua. Estos impactos ambientales han provocado escasez del agua y disminución de su calidad a lo largo del transcurso del río y sus afluentes afectando la producción agropecuaria tanto como los ecosistemas dependientes del agua. Reconociendo estos problemas la administración municipal llegó a priorizar el territorio de la subcuenca. En este se promovió un proceso de concertación con actores locales de la subcuenca del Gil González con el fin de definir zonas de conservación, regeneración natural y fomento de sistemas de producción agrícola sostenible. Como mecanismo para promover estas medidas se estableció el Proyecto de Pagos por Servicios Ambientales Hídricos (PPSA-H) en la subcuenca del Río Gil González en el año 2007, lo cual forma parte del Programa Manejo Sostenible de los Recursos Naturales y Fomento de las Competencias Empresariales de la Cooperación Técnica Alemana (GIZ GmbH) en Nicaragua. El concepto de Pago por Servicios Ambientales Hídircos (PSA-H) esta aplicado como un mecanismo de incentivos financieros. Los planteamientos generales de la investigación están relacionados al concepto de PSA-H como una herramienta para la gestión integral de cuencas hidrográficas. Aparte de los planteamientos generales esta investigación trata de verificar específicamente la eficacia de la implementación del Proyecto de Pagos por Servicios Ambientales Hídricos (PSA-H) en la Subcuenca del Gil González como un caso de estudio.
Nationale und internationale Umweltdebatten fokussieren oft auf das Ziel, eine Senkung der Treibhausgasemissionen zur Schonung des Klimas zu erreichen. Entsprechend stehen die Themen "Erneuerbare Energien" und "Energieeffizienz" vermehrt im Vordergrund. Die Ökodesign-Richtlinie 2009/32/EG war ein Beispiel für diese Vorgehensweise. Obwohl die Richtlinie prinzipiell alle Umwelteffekte im Lebenszyklus eines Produktes in den Blick nimmt, lag der Fokus der bislang beschlossenen Durchführungsmaßnahmen auf der Steigerung der Energieeffizienz.
Im Rahmen der Richtlinie wurde bereits bedeutsam in die Gestaltung von energiebetriebenen Produkten wie z. B. Kühlschränken und Lampen eingegriffen und durch die erlassenen Mindesteffizienzanforderungen ein entscheidender Beitrag geleistet, die CO2-Emissionen zu reduzieren.
Mit der geänderten Ökodesign-Richtlinie 2009/125/EG wurde der Geltungsbereich auf energieverbrauchsrelevante Produkte erweitert, so dass sich die Frage stellt, ob im Zuge dieser Erweiterung andere Umweltziele stärker in den Mittelpunkt rücken. Zwar spielt die Wirkung auf den Energieverbrauch auch bei zahlreichen nichtenergiebetriebenen bzw. energieverbrauchsrelevanten Produkten eine entscheidende Rolle, doch gerade die Frage, welche weiteren Ressourcen bei den einzelnen Produktgruppen klimapolitisch bedeutsam sind, muss produktspezifisch neu beantwortet werden.
Vor diesem Hintergrund wird dieser Artikel aufzeigen, welche Fragen bei der Untersuchung neuer Produktgruppen wie z. B. Dämmstoffe und Fenstern aufkommen werden und es wird eine erste Einschätzung gegeben, wie eine neue Ressourcenbetrachtung innerhalb der Ökodesign-Richtlinie aussehen kann.
Domestic emission trading systems in Non-Annex I countries : state of play and future prospects
(2011)
Since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, the establishment of a harmonised international carbon market has been seen as one of the main strategies in international climate policy. So far, however, the market is far from being globally harmonised or systematically linked. Instead, a mosaic of national and sub-national markets has been under development, differing in timing, location, relationship to the Protocol and their levels of legal commitment.
Nevertheless, creating a global carbon market is a key goal of EU climate policy. As plans for the establishment of emissions trading systems (ETS) emerge in various non-Annex I countries, prospects for linking them to existing systems seem to finally get in reach. We have analysed the prospects of emission trading in non-Annex I countries in a recent paper on behalf of the German environment ministry. In the following we first give a theoretical overview of what design factors need to be taken into account when establishing national emission trading systems. The following elaborates on the status of emissions trading discussion in various non-Annex I countries.
Mit dem Kernenergieunfall im japanischen Fukushima im März 2011 ist die Diskussion über das Für und Wider der Nutzung der Kernenergie für die Stromerzeugung in Deutschland neu entbrannt. Die Frage nach den Auswirkungen eines beschleunigten Ausstiegs aus der Kernenergienutzung auf die Entwicklung der Strompreise in Deutschland bildete in den vergangenen Monaten einen Schwerpunkt der öffentlichen Diskussion. Allerdings halten nicht alle Aussagen, die hierzu veröffentlicht wurden, einer kritischen Analyse stand, was zum Teil auch an zugrunde liegenden politischen Motiven gelegen haben mag. Eine Untersuchung fundierter Studien und ausgewählter Stellungnahmen zeigt, dass sich die befürchteten kurzfristigen Preiseffekte in ü̈berschaubaren Grenzen halten werden.
80 % weniger Treibhausgasemissionen pro Person bis 2050 im Vergleich zum Basisjahr 1990 - mindestens - aber besser noch: 95 % weniger! So lautet die Herausforderung, die der Klimaschutz an ein zukunftsfähiges Deutschland und an einen zukunftsfähigen Stadtverkehr stellt. Das ist keine Kleinigkeit, die sich mit Verbesserungen im Detail erreichen ließe. Mit welchen Strategien kann also das angesagte Leitbild einer (fast) CO2-emissionsfreien Stadt im städtischen Personenverkehr verfolgt werden? Und in welchen Größenordnungen muss dabei eigentlich gedacht und gehandelt werden? Diesen Fragen nach den erforderlichen CO2-Minderungen wird mit einem Backcasting-Szenario, einem "Szenario des Erforderlichen" am Beispiel der Großstadt Wuppertal nachgegangen.
Um das vom Weltklimarat (IPCC) geforderte 2°C-Ziel einhalten zu können, ist eine Reduktion der globalen CO2-Emissionen um 80% bis 2050 gegenüber dem Stand von 1990 zwingend notwendig. Hierbei wird auch solarthermischen Kraftwerken eine immer größere Bedeutung beigemessen. Im BLUE Map-Szenario der Internationalen Energieagentur (IEA), das von einer CO2-Reduktion um 50% bis 2050 gegenüber 2005 ausgeht, müssen im Jahr 2050 ca. 11% (4.754 TWh) des weltweiten Strombedarfs durch Sonnenenergie gedeckt werden (IEA 2008). Neben Photovoltaik sollen solarthermische Kraftwerke (Concentrated Solar Power, CSP) etwa 46% (ca. 2.200 TWh) der prognostizierten Menge an Solarstrom erzeugen. Im Energy[R]evolution Szenario von Greenpeace International und EREC (European Renewable Energy Council) aus dem Jahr 2008 werden rund 6.000 TWh an CSP-Strom im Jahr 2050 angenommen (bei einer installierten Leistung von 801 GW), während andere Studien bis zu 1.000 GW installierter Leistung in 2050 betrachten (Viebahn et al. 2010). Die DESERTEC-Initiative gibt ein Ziel von 5.000 GW installierter Leistung im Jahr 2050 vor.
Der Export von CSP-Technologien in die "Sunbelt"-Regionen bietet große Chancen für deutsche Anlagenbauer. So sind u.a. Schott Solar, die Ferrostaal Group mit ihrem Geschäftssegment "Solar Energy", Flagsol, die Solar Power Group, Solar Millenium und Fichtner Solar auf dem Gebiet CSP aktiv. Schott Solar (Receiver) und Flabeg (Spiegel) haben eine weltweit führende Markstellung inne. Große deutsche Energieversorger und Anlagenbauer wie E.On, RWE und Siemens gehören zum Industriekonsortium der Desertec Industrial Initiative, die den Ausbau von CSP in der MENA-Region vorantreiben will. Die Initiative wurde von der Münchener Rück angestoßen.
In diesem Artikel wird dargestellt, welche Aktivitäten deutsche Unternehmen entlang der Wertschöpfungskette bislang aufweisen und wie ihre Marktstellung im Vergleich zu führenden internationalen Unternehmen zu bewerten ist. Anschließend wird auf Basis von vorliegenden Energieszenarien ermittelt, welche messbaren ökonomischen Effekte für deutsche Unternehmen, z.B. zusätzliche Wertschöpfung und die Schaffung neuer Arbeitsplätze, aus den genannen Potentialen resultieren. Die Ergebnisse basieren auf einer Studie des Wuppertal Instituts, die im Auftrag von Greenpeace Deutschland und der DESERTEC Foundation erstellt wurde.
Die Effizienz- und die Konsistenzstrategie können den globalen Energie- und Ressourcenverbrauch nicht eindämmen - vielmehr bedarf es wirksamer Suffizienzmaßnahmen, also einer Mäßigung in bestimmten Lebensbereichen, damit die natürlichen Ressourcen nicht weiter übernutzt werden. Doch wie können sich suffiziente Lebensstile durchsetzen? Dazu muss ein gesellschaftlicher Transformationsprozess initiiert werden, der sowohl eine Umdeutung des Konsumverhaltens als auch eine Umdeutung von Produkten einschließt. Beispiele aus unserer Kulturgeschichte zeigen, dass dies funktionieren kann.
This contribution presents the state of the art of economy-wide material flow accounting. Starting from a brief recollection of the intellectual and policy history of this approach, we outline system definition, key methodological assumptions, and derived indicators. The next section makes an effort to establish data reliability and uncertainty for a number of existing multinational (European and global) material flow accounting (MFA) data compilations and discusses sources of inconsistencies and variations for some indicators and trends. The results show that the methodology has reached a certain maturity: Coefficients of variation between databases lie in the range of 10% to 20%, and correlations between databases across countries amount to an average R2 of 0.95. After discussing some of the research frontiers for further methodological development, we conclude that the material flow accounting framework and the data generated have reached a maturity that warrants material flow indicators to complement traditional economic and demographic information in providing a sound basis for discussing national and international policies for sustainable resource use.
As illustrated by the case studies of end-of-life vehicles and waste electric and electronic equipment, the approach of an extended producer responsibility is undermined by the exports of used and waste products. This fact causes severe deficits regarding circular flows, especially of critical raw materials such as platinum group metals. With regard to global recycling there seems to be a responsibility gap which leads somehow to open ends of waste flows and a loss or down-cycling of potential secondary resources. Existing product-orientated extended producer responsibility (EPR) approaches with mass-based recycling quotas do not create adequate incentives to supply waste materials containing precious metals to a high-quality recycling and should be amended by aspects of a material stewardship. The paper analyses incentive effects on EPR for the mentioned product groups and metals, resulting from existing regulations in Germany. It develops a proposal for an international covenant on metal recycling as a policy instrument for a governance-oriented framework to initiate systemic innovations along the complete value chain taking into account product group- and resource group-specific aspects on different spatial levels. It aims at the effective implementation of a central idea of EPR, the transition of a waste regime still focusing on safe disposal towards a sustainable management of resources for the complete lifecycle of products.
This paper analyses drivers for resource use and material productivity acrosscountries. This is not only relevant in light of soaring raw material prices but also because EU policies, such as the "Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources" (COM [2005] 670), the EU Raw Materials Initiative (COM [2008] 699) and various similar policies internationally, seek to better manage materials along their life-cycle and across economies. In order to better understand the system dynamics of material use, our paper applies methodologies of material flow analysis and regression analysis to identify the major drivers for resource use and decoupling from GDP. Drivers are understood as those factors that exert influence on human activities to use resources. A panel data set is taken for the European Union for the years 1980–2000 (EU-15) and 1992–2000 (EU-25). The main drivers of resource use were found to be energy efficiency, new dwellings and roads construction activities. Shortcomings of the methodology are also discussed.
Biogas and bio-methane that are based on energy crops are renewable energy carriers and therefore potentially contribute to climate protection. However, significant greenhouse gas emissions resulting from agricultural production processes must be considered, mainly resulting from agricultural production processes, as fertilizer use, pesticide etc.
This paper provides an integrated life cycle assessment (LCA) of biogas (i.e. bio-methane that has been upgraded and injected into the natural gas grid), taking into account the processes of fermentation, upgrading and injection to the grid for two different types of biogas plants thus examining the current state of the art as well as new, large-scale plants, operated by industrial players. Not only technical and engineering aspects are taken into account here, but also the choice of feedstock which plays an important role as to the overall ecological evaluation of bio-methane.
The substrates evaluated in this paper - aside from maize - are rye, sorghum, whole-crop-silage from triticale and barley, and the innovative options of agricultural grass (Landsberger Gemenge, a mixture of hairy vetch (vicia villosa), crimson clover (trifolium incarnátum) and Italian ryegrass (lolium multiflorum)) as well as a combination of maize and sunflower.
Globale Szenarien wie der Klimawandel erfordern in Industrienationen ein innovatives Leitbild, wie das der nachhaltigen Entwicklung. Das Leitbild zu kommunizieren und mit den Menschen eine nachhaltige Entwicklung zu gestalten, ist eine zentrale Aufgabe der Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation. Der Artikel argumentiert, dass die Potenziale in massenmedialen Unterhaltungsformaten bislang unzureichend ergründet und für eine Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation nutzbar gemacht worden sind. Das wird anhand der Kommunikationsstrategie Entertainment-Education (E-E) näher erörtert. E-E ermöglicht eine wissenschaftliche Betrachtung von Nachhaltigkeitsinhalten und zeigt Einflussmöglichkeiten, in Wissen, Einstellungen und Verhalten der Nutzer/-innen und für soziale Wandlungsprozesse, auf.
The purpose of the paper is to share the findings of a European innovation transfer project (2008-2010) for strengthening sustainability in European handicraft with the aim of transferring a German qualification and consulting concept. The focus of the paper is a train-the-trainer design, which was developed, tested and evaluated with regard to the specific qualification needs and the existing qualification concepts of five European countries. The paper provides content, didactic approach and methods of the train-the-trainer design and the key results of the related analysis of research data. Furthermore, the train-the-trainer design is embedded within the project approach, the methodology of realising an innovation transfer and the associated project products. The results of the train-the-trainer design evaluation are reflected upon with regard to starting points of a European qualification concept for sustainability in handicraft.
Global climate
(2011)
The article discusses the process and outcomes along the central "building blocks" of the negotiations. According to the Bali Action Plan, the negotiations are proceeding under two tracks. First, the "Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments by Annex I Countries under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP)", which was established at CMP 1 in Montreal in 2005, is negotiating future emission targets for industrialised countries (listed in Annex I of the UNFCCC). Second, while the "Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA)" also negotiates commitments for Annex I countries, in practice this was originally deemed to relate in particular to those that have not ratified the Protocol - that is, the USA. In addition, the AWG-LCA negotiates "nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs)" of developing countries, which are to be supported and enabled by industrialised countries through technology, financing and capacity building. Both the NAMAs and the support are to be undertaken in a measurable, reportable and verifiable manner. Finally, the AWG-LCA negotiates ways to enhance adaptation efforts of developing countries, which are also to be financially and technologically supported by industrialised countries.
The study presents the results of an integrated assessment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the power plant sector in Germany, with special emphasis on the competition with renewable energy technologies. Assessment dimensions comprise technical, economic and environmental aspects, long-term scenario analysis, the role of stakeholders and public acceptance and regulatory issues. The results lead to the overall conclusion that there might not necessarily be a need to focus additionally on CCS in the power plant sector. Even in case of ambitious climate protection targets, current energy policy priorities (expansion of renewable energies and combined heat and power plants as well as enhanced energy productivity) result in a limited demand for CCS. In case that the large energy saving potential aimed for can only partly be implemented, the rising gap in CO2 reduction could only be closed by setting up a CCS-maximum strategy. In this case, up to 22% (41 GW) of the totally installed load in 2050 could be based on CCS. Assuming a more realistic scenario variant applying CCS to only 20 GW or lower would not be sufficient to reach the envisaged climate targets in the electricity sector. Furthermore, the growing public opposition against CO2 storage projects appears as a key barrier, supplemented by major uncertainties concerning the estimation of storage potentials, the long-term cost development as well as the environmental burdens which abound when applying a life-cycle approach. However, recently, alternative applications are being increasingly considered–that is the capture of CO2 at industrial point sources and biomass based energy production (electricity, heat and fuels) where assessment studies for exploring the potentials, limits and requirements for commercial use are missing so far. Globally, CCS at power plants might be an important climate protection technology: coal-consuming countries such as China and India are increasingly moving centre stage into the debate. Here, similar investigations on the development and the integration of both, CCS and renewable energies, into the individual energy system structures of such countries would be reasonable.
The article estimates the natural resource consumption due to nutrition from the supply and demand sides. Using the MIPS (Material Input per Service Unit) methodology, we analyzed the use of natural resources along the supply chains of three Italian foodstuffs: wheat, rice and orange-based products. These figures were then applied for evaluating the sustainability of diets in 13 European countries. The results outline which phases in food production are more natural resource demanding than others. We also observed different levels of sustainability in the European diets and the effect of different foodstuffs in the materials, water and air consumption.
Material flows induced by national economies can be regarded as indirect pressure indicators for environmental degradation. Economy-wide material flow analysis and indicators have been designed to monitor material and energy flows at the macroeconomic level and to provide indicators, which could contribute to management of resourceuse and output emission flows from both economic, environmental and broader sustainability points of view. These indicators can serve various purposes including monitoring the material basis of national economies and related environmental pressures, assessment of the material and resource productivity and monitoring the implications of trade and globalisation.
The main part of this paper compares the material and resourceuse of the Czech Republic, Germany and the EU-15 by means of DMI and TMR indicators over the period of 1991–2004 (1991–2000 for EU-15). At the aggregate level both indicators in all three economies do not show any clear decreasing or increasing trends over the period considered. This means that environmental pressure related to use of materials for production and consumption purposes remains rather stable. All the economies however, recorded an increase in the efficiency of transforming the material/resource inputs into economic output. The analysis further revealed that most of the dynamics of DMI and TMR in the Czech Republic tended towards a higher similarity with Germany and the EU-15. In the future, further decreases in DMI as well as in TMR of fossils fuels might be expected in the Czech Republic, which could be counteracted by increase in DMI and TMR of metal ores/metal resources and non-metallic minerals/non-metallic resources. The future development of total DMI, TMR and material/resource intensity in both the Czech Republic and Germany will depend on further shifts to less material intensive industries and services and on increasing material efficiency in production and consumption of particular products. This is not only a technological, but also a social challenge, as there are barriers in current mode of governance and in shaping of current economic and social systems to do so.
If the current energy policy priorities are retained, there may be no need to focus additionally on carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the power plant sector of Germany. This applies even in the case of ambitious climate protection targets, according to the results of the presented integrated assessment study. These cover a variety of aspects: Firstly, the technology is not expected to become available on a large scale in Germany before 2025. Secondly, if renewable energies and combined heat and power are expanded further and energy productivity is enhanced, there is likely to be only a limited demand for CCS power plants, as a scenario analysis of CCS deployment in Germany shows. Thirdly, cost analysis using the learning curve approach shows that the electricity generation costs of renewable electricity approach those of CCS power plants. This leads to the consequence that, from 2020, several renewable technologies may well be in a position to offer electricity at a cheaper rate than CCS power plants. In addition, a review of new life cycle assessments for CO2 separation in the power plant sector indicates that the greenhouse gas emissions from 1 kW h of electricity generated by first-generation CCS power plants could only be reduced by 68 % to 87 % (95 % in individual cases). Finally, a cautious, conservative estimate of the effective German CO2 storage capacity of approximately 5 billion tonnes of CO2 is calculated, including a fluctuation range yielding values between 4 and 15 billion tonnes of CO2. Therefore, the total CO2 emissions caused by large point sources in Germany could be stored for 12 years (basic value) or for 8 or 33 years (sensitivity values).
Towards a resource policy : unleashing productivity dynamics and balancing international distortions
(2012)
The paper outlines guidelines and pillars of a resource policy. Two reasons favour the formulation of such policy: a demand to increase sluggish resource productivity growth as well as environmental damages occurring along material flows at an international scale. Thus, it is both the innovation and environmental perspective that legitimate policies. The paper surveys recent empirical trends. Referring to research on innovation and transition management, it develops guidelines for a resource policy, namely, market order, provision function, learning processes, market development, and orientation. It furthermore describes four instruments as potential pillars of a future policy mix: a tax on construction minerals, an ecologically differentiated VAT tax, and an international covenant for metals and an international convention for sustainable resource management. The paper finally reflects these guidelines and pillars against weaknesses and ongoing discussions of climate policy. It concludes that despite all uncertainties and complexities, a well-designed resource policy is on the verge of becoming essential for unleashing eco-innovation dynamics.
Eine oft kontrovers diskutierte Frage ist, ob eine massive Dämmung von Häusern in der Gesamtbilanz nicht mehr Ressourcenverbrauch und Emissionen verursacht, als sie im Endeffekt einspart. Zur Untersuchung dieser Frage wurde nun erstmals eine trade-off Analyse durchgeführt. Hierzu wurde ein bottom-up Wirkungsanalyse-Modell entwickelt, dessen Kern ein Emissions- und Energiemodell für den Haushaltssektor bildet, gekoppelt mit einem Ökobilanzierungs-Tool. Den Rahmen für beide Modelle bilden Energieszenarien bis 2050, die für jede Dekade Sanierungsraten und Energiemixe vorgeben. Damit können "reine" Energieszenarien um ressourcenpolitische Analysen erweitert und die Auswirkungen verschiedener Dämmstrategien ermittelt werden.
Das zentrale Ergebnis der Modellierung ist, dass zusätzliche Aufwendungen für Dämmstoffe (untersucht wurden extrudierter Polystyrolhartschaum XPS und Zellulose) sowohl ressourcen- als auch emissionsseitig in fast allen Umweltwirkungskategorien durch erhebliche Einsparungen bei der Gebäudebeheizung überkompensiert werden. Im Wesentlichen sind keine Trade-offs erkennbar und der prozentuale Beitrag der Dämmstoffe an den Umweltwirkungsindikatoren ist gering. Relevant ist dagegen die Wahl des Treibmittels bei den aufgeschäumten XPS-Dämmstoffen: Gegenüber dem in Deutschland verwendeten XPS, das weitgehend mit CO2 aufgeschäumt wird, führt ein Dämmstoff, der hohe Anteile an Fluorkohlenwasserstoffen aufweist, zu einem hohen Trade-off bezüglich der Wirkungskategorie "stratosphärischer Ozonabbau" und zu einer erkennbaren, jedoch nicht so deutlichen Wirkung auf das Treibhaus-Potenzial. Eine Sensitivitätsanalyse mit dem alternativen Dämmmaterial Zellulose zeigt, dass sich die an sich schon geringen Anteile der Dämmstoffe an den Umweltwirkungsindikatoren weiter verringern. Hinsichtlich der Materialintensität sind XPS- und Zellulose-Dämmung jedoch mit vergleichbaren Auswirkungen verbunden.
Zusammenfassend lässt sich festhalten, dass für beide Materialien ambitionierte Dämmstoffstrategien im Hinblick auf alle in dieser Studie analysierten Faktoren einen wesentlichen Beitrag sowohl zu Materialeffizienz- als auch zu Emissionsminderungszielen leisten können.
This paper focuses on market incentives by the introduction of a construction minerals tax as an example of a resource tax. Currently, various European countries levy taxes or duties on primary construction materials, but a harmonisation of the taxation is not planned. Provided the tax rate has a perceptible price effect, the taxation of a resource can foster a demand management or the reduction of the raw material consumption and the governance of side and secondary effects. A construction minerals tax can target the stimulation of demand for secondary raw materials and recycled products, and - because the reuse of construction and demolition waste has technical limits - a stronger emphasis on the conservation of buildings and infrastructures. This has positive effects on the environment and the innovation efforts and it helps to internalise externalities. Germany, used as a case study in this paper, does not raise any taxes on other raw materials than energy sources at the federal level. For this reason, potential impacts of the introduction of a construction minerals tax will be explored and the results of a simulation will be provided.
This paper addresses future perspectives for the management of resources on an international level. Failures of international open markets result in significant material leakage. Here, taking the example of material used vehicles, we develop elements of an international metal covenant that should allow for a more sustainable management of global material flows in that area. Our proposal is based on two principles: any regulation should actively seek industry participation, taking advantage of business interest in supplying a sufficient quantity of materials while lowering materials costs; and it should also address public issues such as sustainability of recycling and waste. In this paper we first analyse contracts as a tool for bridging gaps in knowledge when multiple actors are involved. We then give empirical evidence for material leakage in the case of used vehicles from Germany, before outlining the elements of a proposed international metals covenant. Finally, we analyse potential impacts and discuss legal and institutional issues.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to summarize and discuss the results from the LIVING LAB design study, a project within the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union. The aim of this project was to develop the conceptual design of the LIVING LAB Research Infrastructure that will be used to research human interaction with, and stimulate the adoption of, sustainable, smart and healthy innovations around the home.
Design/methodology/approach - A LIVING LAB is a combined lab-/household system, analysing existing product-service-systems as well as technical and socioeconomic influences focused on the social needs of people, aiming at the development of integrated technical and social innovations and simultaneously promoting the conditions of sustainable development (highest resource efficiency, highest user orientation, etc.). This approach allows the development and testing of sustainable domestic technologies, while putting the user on centre stage.
Findings - As this paper discusses the design study, no actual findings can be presented here but the focus is on presenting the research approach.
Originality/value - The two elements (real homes and living laboratories) of this approach are what make the LIVING LAB research infrastructure unique. The research conducted in LIVING LAB will be innovative in several respects. First, it will contribute to market innovation by producing breakthroughs in sustainable domestic technologies that will be easy to install, user friendly and that meet environmental performance standards in real life. Second, research from LIVING LAB will contribute to innovation in practice by pioneering new forms of in-context, user-centred research, including long-term and cross-cultural research.
Die atompolitische Wende der Bundesregierung hatte zahlreichen Spekulationen und Befürchtungen Raum gegeben. Es wurde gemutmaßt, dass Deutschland zum Nettostromimporteur werden könnte, sollten die Kraftwerke (wie im Sommer 2011 beschlossen) dauerhaft außer Betrieb bleiben. Darüber hinaus nahm man an, dass die in Deutschland entfallende Stromerzeugung durch Kohlekraftwerke oder durch Importe aus französischen oder tschechischen Atomkraftwerken ersetzt würde und dass Strompreise sowie CO2-Emissionen deutlich ansteigen würden. Inzwischen liegen vorläufige Energiebilanzen und Marktdaten für das Jahr 2011 vor, die viele dieser Befürchtungen widerlegen. Der hier vorgenommene Ausblick auf die mögliche Entwicklung in den kommenden Jahren zeigt zudem, dass die Bilanz von 2011 keine Momentaufnahme sein muss, sondern dass der gegenüber 2010 wegfallende Kernenergiestrom - bilanziell gesehen - voraussichtlich bereits ab 2013 allein durch eine erhöhte regenerative Stromerzeugung kompensiert werden kann.
Purpose - Iran as an energy-rich country faces many challenges in the optimal utilization of its vast resources. High rates of population and economic growth, a generous subsidies program, and poor resource management have contributed to rapidly growing energy consumption and high energy intensity over the past decades. The continuing trend of rising energy consumption will bring about new challenges as it will shrink oil export revenues, restraining economic activities. This calls for a study to explore alternative scenarios for the utilization of energy resources in Iran. The purpose of this paper is to model demand for energy in Iran and develop two business-as-usual and efficiency scenarios for the period 2005-2030.
Design/methodology/approach - The authors use a techno-economic or end-use approach to model energy demand in Iran for different types of energy uses and energy carriers in all sectors of the economy and forecast it under two scenarios: business as usual (BAU) and efficiency.
Findings - Iran has a huge potential for energy savings. Specifically, under the efficiency scenario, Iran will be able to reduce its energy consumption 40 percent by 2030. The energy intensity can also be reduced by about 60 percent to a level lower than the world average today.
Originality/value - The paper presents a comprehensive study that models the Iranian energy demand in different sectors of the economy, using data at different aggregation levels and a techno-economic end-use approach to illuminate the future of energy demand under alternative scenarios.
The multi-level perspective has successfully been applied to the analysis of complex sector transitions in the energy, the health or the food production sector. Is this framework also helpful to understand and give prescriptive advice for sustainability transformations within a national science system? Based on a comprehensive study of the diffusion of transdisciplinary sustainability research in Germany, this article analyzes the institutional dimension of a changing science-society relation in the German science system. It uses the multi-level perspective as a fruitful heuristic in order to identify potential pathways for a broader diffusion of transdisciplinary sustainability science. The importance of niche coalitions of frontrunner universities and research institutes are highlighted.
Städte haben in dreierlei Hinsicht eine Verbindung zum Klimawandel. Als Verursacher sind sie für einen wesentlichen Anteil der anthropogen verursachten Treibhausgasemissionen verantwortlich. Gleichzeitig sind sie von den Folgen des Klimawandels, z. B. durch zunehmende Hitzebelastung, Starkregenereignisse und Überschwemmungen, besonders betroffen. Schließlich können Städte als Experimentierfeld für die Entwicklung und Umsetzung von Klimaschutzkonzepten, Technologien und Maßnahmen dienen. Sie sind damit Initiator für einen Transformationsprozess hin zu einer nachhaltigen und zukunftsfähigen Entwicklung.
In einigen Städten und Gemeinden in Deutschland sind in den letzten Jahren Klimaschutzkonzepte erstellt worden. Am Beispiel des vom Wuppertal Institut für die Stadt Köln erstellten Teilkonzeptes "Verkehr" sowie weiterer Erfahrungen und Erkenntnisse im kommunalen Klimaschutz zeigt der Beitrag auf, welche Maßnahmen ergriffen werden sollten, um mittelfristig die verkehrsbedingten Emissionen in den Städten zu verringern.
This paper examines the effects of an increased integration of concentrated solar power (CSP) into the conventional electricity systems of Morocco and Algeria. A cost-minimizing linear optimization tool was used to calculate the best CSP plant configuration for Morocco's coal-dominated power system as well as for Algeria, where flexible gas-fired power plants prevail. The results demonstrate that in both North African countries, storage-based CSP plants offer significant economic advantages over non-storage, low-dispatchable CSP configurations. However, in a generalized renewable integration scenario, where CSP has to compete with other renewable generation technologies, like wind or photovoltaic (PV) power, it was found that the cost advantages of dispatchability only justify CSP investments when a relatively high renewable penetration is targeted in the electricity mix.
Concerns over climate change and the security of industrial feedstock supplies have been opening a growing market for biobased materials. This development, however, also presents a challenge to scientists, policy makers, and industry because the production of biobased materials requires land and is typically associated with adverse environmental effects. This article addresses the environmental impacts of biobased materials in a meta-analysis of 44 life cycle assessment (LCA) studies. The reviewed literature suggests that one metric ton (t) of biobased materials saves, relative to conventional materials, 55 ± 34 gigajoules of primary energy and 3 ± 1 t carbon dioxide equivalents of greenhouse gases. However, biobased materials may increase eutrophication by 5 ± 7 kilograms (kg) phosphate equivalents/t and stratospheric ozone depletion by 1.9 ± 1.8 kg nitrous oxide equivalents/t. Our findings are inconclusive with regard to acidification (savings of 2 ± 20 kg sulfur dioxide equivalents/t) and photochemical ozone formation (savings of 0.3 ± 2.4 kg ethene equivalents/t). The variability in the results of life cycle assessment studies highlights the difficulties in drawing general conclusions. Still, common to most biobased materials are impacts caused by the application of fertilizers and pesticides during industrial biomass cultivation. Additional land use impacts, such as the potential loss of biodiversity, soil carbon depletion, soil erosion, deforestation, as well as greenhouse gas emissions from indirect land use change are not quantified in this review. Clearly these impacts should be considered when evaluating the environmental performance of biobased materials.
The energy potential of agricultural residues in Tanzania has so far not been evaluated and quantified sufficiently. Moreover, the scientific basis for estimations of the sustainable potential of wastes and residues is still very limited. This paper presents an attempt to evaluate the theoretical and technical potential of residues from the sisal sector in Tanzania with regards to energy recovery through anaerobic digestion. The characteristics and availability of sisal residues are defined and a set of sustainability indicators with particular focus on environmental and socio-economic criteria is applied. Our analysis shows that electricity generation with sisal residues can be sustainable and have positive effects on the sustainability of sisal production itself. All sisal residues combined have an annual maximum electricity potential of 102 GW h in 2009, corresponding to up to 18.6 MW of potential electric capacity installations. This estimated maximum potential is equivalent to about 3 % of the country's current power production. Utilizing these residues could contribute to meeting the growing electricity demand and offers an opportunity for decentralized electricity production in Tanzania.
This paper attempts to assess whether renewable energy self-sufficiency can be achieved in the crop production and processing sector in Tanzania and if this could be accomplished in an environmentally sustainable manner. In order to answer these questions the theoretical energy potential of process residues from commercially produced agricultural crops in Tanzania is evaluated. Furthermore, a set of sustainability indicators with focus on environmental criteria is applied to identify risks and opportunities of using these residues for energy generation. In particular, the positive and negative effects on the land-use-system (soil fertility, water use and quality, biodiversity, etc.) are evaluated. The results show that energy generation with certain agricultural process residues could not only improve and secure the energy supply but could also improve the sustainability of current land-use practices.
The Energy End-use Efficiency and Energy Services Directive (ESD) of the European Union requires the member states to define and attain an overall target of at least 9 % annual energy savings between 2008 and 2016. Even if this target is indicative, this is the first international framework mandating countries to report on their energy savings results and prove achievement of their targets. The directive thus also required the development of harmonised calculation methods that can be used by member states for this proof and reporting. Existing literature covers most of the usual issues related to energy savings evaluation, but mostly looking at single, given energy efficiency programmes or policies. The evaluation objective for the ESD implementation is different, as it aims at accounting for the whole energy savings achieved in a country. Moreover, one of the main difficulties is the diversity in history and experience on this topic among the member states. In this context, the European project EMEEES has worked out an integrated system of bottom-up and top-down methods for the measurement of energy savings. The paper presents the overview of its final results. The proposals, inter alia, include 20 bottom-up and 14 top-down case applications of general evaluation methods. They enable more than 90 % of the potential energy savings to be measured and reported. They were used as a starting point by the European Commission to develop the methods recently recommended to the member states. Furthermore, the paper briefly discusses the importance of the quantity to be measured-all or additional energy savings - and the effect of measures implemented before the entering into force of the ESD ("early action"), and what this meant for the methods to be developed. It compares the main elements of calculation needed to ensure consistent results between bottom-up and top-down methods at the overall national level. Finally, general conclusions are drawn about what could be the next steps in developing an evaluation system that enables a high degree of comparability of results between different countries.
This paper presents the evaluation of a regional energy efficiency programme implemented in two "départements" of France. Électricité de France (EDF), a French energy company, provides refurbishment advice and financial incentives to end-users in the residential sector as well as specific training courses and certification to local installation contractors and building firms. Refurbishment measures analysed in this paper are efficient space heating equipment (condensing boilers, heat pumps and wood stoves or boilers), solar water heating systems and the installation of double-glazed windows. A billing analysis based on a survey of programme participants' energy consumption is used to calculate the energy savings attributed to the programme. In order to receive an economic feedback of this demonstration programme, the evaluation of both saved energy and programme costs is of importance. Detailed knowledge of the programme's cost-effectiveness is essential for EDF to achieve the saving obligations imposed by the French White Certificate scheme at the lowest cost. Results of this evaluation can support the development and implementation of further energy efficiency programmes with similar characteristics in other regions of France. The cost-effectiveness is determined from the perspective of the programme participant and the society as well as the energy company in charge of the programme. All cost and benefit components are calculated in Euro per kilowatt-hour, which allows a direct comparison of levelized costs of conserved energy with the avoidable costs of the energy supply system.
Consumption of natural resources should not exceed sustainable levels. The increasing use of biofuels and to some extent biomaterials, on top of rising food and feed demands, is causing countries to use a growing amount of global land, which may lead to land use conflicts and the expansion of cropland and intensive cultivation at the expense of natural ecosystems. Selective product certification cannot control the land use change triggered by growing overall biomass consumption. We propose a comprehensive approach to account for the global land use of countries for their domestic consumption, and assess this level with regard to globally acceptable levels of resource use, based on the concept of safe operating space. It is shown that the European Union currently uses one-third more cropland than globally available on a per capita basis and that with constant consumption levels it would exceed its fair share of acceptable resource use in 2030. As the use of global forests to meet renewable energy targets is becoming a concern, an approach to account for sustainable levels of timber flows is also proposed, based on the use of net annual increment, exemplified with preliminary data for Switzerland. Altogether, our approach would integrate the concept of sustainable consumption into national resource management plans; offering a conceptual basis and concrete reference values for informed policy making and urging countries to monitor and adjust their levels of resource consumption in a comprehensive way, respectful of the limits of sustainable supply.
The exploitation of coltan in Central Africa can be considered a case of conflict minerals due to its nature. Many international organizations and bodies, national governments and private sector organizations seek to address this conflict, in particular via transparency, certification and accountability along the material supply chain. This paper analyses the international trade dimension of coltan and gives evidence on the dimension of illicit trade of coltan. The authors start from the hypothesis that illicit trade of coltan sooner or later will enter the market and will be reflected in the statistics. The paper is structured in the following manner: first, a short section gives a profile of coltan production and markets; second, an overview of the mining situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and related actors. The third section addresses mechanisms, actors and measurement issues involved in the international trade of coltan. The final part draws lessons for certification and conflict analysis and offers some guidance for future research.
The paper identifies two main possible gateways to trace illegal trade in coltan: the neighboring countries, especially Rwanda, and the importing countries for downstream production, in particular China. Our estimation is that the value of such illicit trade comes close to $ 27 million annually (2009), roughly one-fifth of the world market volume for tantalum production. With regard to any certification the paper concludes that this will become challenging for business and policy: (a) Central Africa currently is the largest supplier of coltan on the world market, many actors profit from the current situation and possess abilities to hide responsibility; (b) China will need to accept more responsibility, a first step would be the acceptance of the OECD guidelines on due diligence; (c) better regional governance in Central Africa comprises of resource taxation, a resource fund and fiscal coordination. An international task force may provide more robust data, however more research will also be needed.
Sustainable energy technologies are widely sought-after as essential elements in facing global challenges such as energy security, global warming and poverty reduction. However, in spite of their promising advantages, sustainable energy technologies make only a marginal contribution to meeting energy related needs in both industrialised and developing countries, in comparison to the widespread use of unsustainable technologies. One of the most significant constraints to their adoption and broad diffusion is the socio-economic context in which sustainable energy technologies are supposed to operate. The same holds true for community-based energy projects in developing countries supported by the WISIONS initiative. Practical strategies dealing with these socio-economic challenges are crucial elements for project design and, particularly, for the implementation of project activities. In this paper experiences from implementing community-based projects are reviewed in order to identify the practical elements that are relevant to overcome socio-economic challenges. In order to systematise the findings, an analytical framework is proposed, which combines analytical tools from the socio-technical transition framework and insights from participative approaches to development.
Mit Steigerungen der Energie- und Ressourceneffizienz sind gelegentlich sog. Rebound-Effekte verbunden. Die durch die Effizienzsteigerung eingesparten Kosten führen dann durch verstärkte Nutzung oder zusätzlichen Konsum und damit verbundener Produktion zu weiterem Energie- und Ressourcenverbrauch. Obwohl oft und gerne vergessen wird, dass Rebound-Effekte durchaus auch Indikatoren positiver Entwicklungen sind, reduzieren sie unstrittig erzielte Effizienzgewinne. Aber welchen Umfang haben diese Effekte überhaupt? Und gibt es Möglichkeiten, ihren Einfluss zu schmälern?
Jährlich werden schätzungsweise 800 000 Haushalte aufgrund von Stromschulden von der Energieversorgung abgeklemmt. Würde bei der Standardisierung der zukünftig flächendeckend zum Einsatz kommenden intelligenten Stromzähler (Smart Meter) eine Prepaidfunktion berücksichtigt, ließen sich die mit Energiearmut einhergehenden Probleme mindern. Prepaidzähler vermeiden nicht nur weiter zunehmende Stromschulden, sie führen auch dazu, dass bewusster und sparsamer mit Strom umgegangen wird. Daher ist eine Vorgabe im Energiewirtschaftsgesetz zu empfehlen, die Sperrungen verbietet und stattdessen die kostenlose Installation eines Prepaidzählers vorschreibt.
Ein Stromsystem in Deutschland, das sich zu 100 % aus Sonne und Wind speist, erscheint wie die Vorstellung eines Extrems. Und doch gilt: Darauf hinzulaufen, ist als Entwicklung hierzulande angelegt. Diese Formulierung deutet an, dass wir uns generell in einer sog. pfadabhängigen Entwicklung befinden und überdies aktuell Zeitzeugen einer Gabelungssituation sind. Das wird in Deutschland kaum wahrgenommen. Deshalb wird hier ein Gedankenexperiment geboten, diese Tendenz als Ergebnis eines bestehenden Kräfteparallelogramms darzustellen, das zugleich eine Einschätzung des Energie-Sondergipfels vom 2.11.2012 liefert. Es wird einem Ansatz gefolgt, in dem die Darstellung der Systemveränderung „komparativ statisch“ vorgenommen wird, gemäß der populär formulierten Maxime "Vom Ende her denken" - und das wird verbunden mit der Analyse dynamisch-rückgekoppelter Treiber-Elemente. Für "das Ende", den eingeschwungenen Zustand nach der Systemtransformation, wird das Jahr 2050 gesetzt.
The potential of natural gas as a bridging technology in low-emission road transportation in Germany
(2012)
Greenhouse gas emission reductions are at the centre of national and international efforts to mitigate climate change. In road transportation, many politically incentivised measures focus on increasing the energy efficiency of established technologies, or promoting electric or hybrid vehicles. The abatement potential of the former approach is limited, electric mobility technologies are not yet market-ready. In a case study for Germany, this paper focuses on natural gas powered vehicles as a bridging technology in road transportation. Scenario analyses with a low level of aggregation show that natural gas-based road transportation in Germany can accumulate up to 464 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent emission reductions until 2030 depending on the speed of the diffusion process. If similar policies were adopted EU-wide, the emission reduction potential could reach a maximum of about 2.5 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent. Efforts to promote natural gas as a bridging technology may therefore contribute to significant emissions reductions.
This study aims to investigate whether, to what extent and how a transition toward integrated flood management has taken place in the Dongting Lake area at the middle Yangtze. Accordingly, we conducted a longitudinal research of its flood management (1949–2009). We developed an analytical framework linking regime components to two societal learning types (double and triple-loop learning) that are key to a regime transition. Our study shows that the transition toward integrated flood management has already started, but the whole regime transformation will still take time to complete, due to, for example, the not-yet-ready decision-making processes that shape the structure changes as well as the incompatibilities between what is on paper and real implementation. To understand how the regime transition took place, we investigated where and how triple-loop learning was initiated as well as how so-called "informal learning processes" has contributed to the transition of Dongting flood management.
In the past few decades, geochemically scarce metals have
become increasingly relevant for emerging technologies in
domains such as energy supply and storage, information and
communication, lighting or transportation, which are regarded as
cornerstones in the transition towards a sustainable post-fossil
society. Accordingly, the supply risks of scarce metals and possible
interventions towards their more sustainable use have been
subject to an intense debate in recent studies. In this article, we
integrate proposed intervention options into a generic life cycle
framework, taking into account issues related to knowledge
provision and to the institutional setting. As a result, we obtain
a landscape of intervention fields that will have to be further
specified to more specific intervention profiles for scarce metals
or metals families. The envisioned profiles are expected to have
the potential to reduce action contingency and to contribute to
meeting the sustainability claims often associated with emerging
technol ogies.
For decades, the Chinese government has been searching for solutions to cope with the increasing imbalance between the supply and demand of water in the Yellow River Basin. This paper aims at a better understanding of the development of the water allocation regime in the Yellow River Basin between 1950 and 2009, introducing a fresh perspective based on the notion of "regime transition". Accordingly, we investigated 1) whether so-called "Windows of Opportunity for Transition (WOPTs)" emerged, triggering a transition, and whether WOPT(s) resulted in a stable transition towards the new regime; 2) how informal learning processes and epistemic communities have contributed to the regime change. We adapted Kingdon's "multiple stream model" and identified four WOPTs from the 1950s, analyzing the reconfiguration process of the regime after the onset of the transition. Our examples of two types of informal learning processes demonstrate their contribution to the creation of WOPTs and the reconfiguration of the regime. Furthermore, this study indicates, in a qualitative manner, how epistemic communities contribute to the knowledge base of the regime, and thus to its development. Finally, we have provided a general insight into the further development of the water allocation regime and highlighted potential avenues for further studies.
To achieve an efficient use and allocation of limited water resources and thus resolve increasing water use conflicts due to fast rising societal water demands, in 2000, the Chinese government started a management strategy of 'Construction of a Water Saving Society (WSS)'. It is guided by the principle that socio-economic development should consider the carrying capacity of the ecosystem and focuses on institutional innovation, building on the water rights concept. This paper explores the innovation process during the transition towards WSS by investigating the development course of the innovation process during the transition towards WSS, and the adaptive capacity of the existing water management regime underlying the innovation process. Accordingly, an analysis framework consisting of three types of governance activities and factors determining a regime's adaptive capacity was developed, based on the theory of transition management and adaptive governance. The Tianjin and Zhangye WSS experiments were selected for a deep understanding of local innovations. It is revealed that co-evolution of all three types of governance activities that are claimed to be essential for transition has taken place. However, the current adaptive capacity of the regime still needs further enhancement to support the transition towards the desired WSS in China. Finally, some general insights are provided for policy innovations in other political economies.
The Durban conference decided to establish a new market-based mechanism that is to cover a broad segment of a country's economy. The implementation details are to be agreed at this year's conference in Qatar. The question is, however, which developing countries would actually be able to implement such a new mechanism. The introduction of the EU emission trading system highlighted the many challenges that even advanced developed countries face when establishing a carbon market. This paper by Wolfgang Sterk and Florian Mersmann therefore aims to explore the essential prerequisites for the implementation of new market mechanisms (NMM). In addition to a theoretical discussion it considers the cases of China and Mexico.
The paper analyzes a Bolivian region for possible cultivation of the oil plant Jatropha curcas for sustainable biodiesel production in order to replace in part Bolivia's diesel imports. The specific site for this study is located in the dry region of Gran Chaco in Santa Cruz. The aim of this work is to analyse the potential of useable land and resources for sustainable biodiesel production from Jatropha without competition with edibles production using economic, environmental and social criteria. In addition the article introduces Jatropha as one of the preferred oil plants for biodiesel production in several countries and indicates its different uses. The recommendation to cultivate Jatropha for biodiesel production is based on an exploration of the possibility of land use in the selected region and the benefits Jatropha production could offer. In this manner a sustainable cultivation of Jatropha in the region of Gran Chaco is recommended to produce biodiesel and to improve some of the environmental problems facing the region.
Material footprint of low-income households in Finland : consequences for the sustainability debate
(2012)
The article assesses the material footprints of households living on a minimum amount of social benefits in Finland and discusses the consequences in terms of ecological and social sustainability. The data were collected using interviews and a questionnaire on the consumption patterns of 18 single households. The results are compared to a study on households with varying income levels, to average consumption patterns and to decent minimum reference budgets. The low-income households have lower material footprints than average and most of the material footprints are below the socially sustainable level of consumption, which is based on decent minimum reference budgets. However, the amount of resources used by most of the households studied here is still at least double that required for ecological sustainability. The simultaneous existence of both deprivation and overconsumption requires measures from both politicians and companies to make consumption sustainable. For example, both adequate housing and economic mobility need to be addressed. Measures to improve the social sustainability of low-income households should target reducing the material footprints of more affluent households. Furthermore, the concept of what constitutes a decent life should be understood more universally than on the basis of standards of material consumption.
Der Umbau der durch den Einsatz fossiler Energieträger dominierten Energiesysteme steht weit oben auf der politischen Agenda. Angesichts des fortschreitenden Klimawandels, der Ressourcenverknappung und des ökonomischen Aufholens der Schwellen- und Entwicklungsländer wird diese Frage immer dringlicher. Zahlreiche politische, gesellschaftliche, ökonomische und ökologische Herausforderungen sind mit diesem Umbau verbunden. Angesichts der Langlebigkeit der heute gebauten Infrastrukturen ergibt sich hieraus ein zentrales Feld für die wissenschaftliche Zukunftsforschung. Der Einsatz von Energieszenarios ist über Jahre erprobt und trotz zahlreicher methodischer und inhaltlicher Unsicherheiten bei der Erarbeitung der Szenariostudien bleiben sie unersetzlich - sofern sie wissenschaftliche Standards hinsichtlich der Wertneutralität und Überprüfbarkeit erfüllen. Auch in der geographischen Forschung findet sich das Thema "Energie" wieder verstärkt auf der Agenda. Bereits vor dem Hintergrund der Ölpreiskrisen in den 1970er-Jahren setzten sich Geographinnen und Geographen mit Energiethemen auseinander - angesichts des anstehenden Umbaus der Energiesysteme wird auch wieder die Frage aktuell, inwiefern sich die Transformation des Energiesystems und die Raumstruktur gegenseitig beeinflussen. Dabei werden nicht nur inhaltliche Fragen aufgeworfen, vielmehr ist auch zu klären, wie sich das Thema "Energie" in die etablierten geographischen Forschungsdisziplinen von der Klimageographie über die Wirtschafts- und Bevölkerungsgeographie bis hin zur Siedlungsgeographie eingliedern lässt. Die Ausführungen im vorliegenden Artikel gehen noch einen Schritt weiter und werfen die Frage auf, inwiefern sich durch die Verbindung geographischer Forschung und Energiethemen auch ein neues methodisches Experimentierfeld auftut. Konkret wird aufgezeigt, dass die Geographie verstärkt den Blick in die Zukunft wagen und sich von der Analyse rezenter Strukturen lösen sollte. Die Frage der zukünftigen Raumstrukturen angesichts des Umbaus der Energiesysteme ist von zentraler Bedeutung, unter Anwendung von Methoden der wissenschaftlichen Zukunftsforschung muss die Geographie hier antworten liefern.
Global trade is increasingly being challenged by observations of growing burden shifting, in particular of environmental problems. This paper presents the first worldwide calculations of shifted burden based on material flow indicators, in particular direct and indirect physical trade balances. This study covers the period between 1962 and 2005 and includes between 82 and 173 countries per year. The results show that indirect trade flow volumes have increased to around 41 billion tonnes in 2005. The traded resources with the highest share of associated indirect flows are iron, hard coal, copper, tin and increasingly palm oil. Regarding the burden balance between regions, Europe is the biggest shifter whereas Australia and Latin America are the largest takers of environmental burden due to resource extraction. To evaluate the findings from a global perspective, the results are analysed in terms of resource flow induced environmental pressure related to a country's land area in terms of total and per capita area. Resource endowment and population density seem to be more relevant in determining the physical trade balance, including indirect flows, than income level.
Defining the prevention of waste as top priority of the waste hierarchy - as confirmed by the revised Waste Framework Directive (WFD) - is much more than a simple amendment of ways to deal with waste, but means nothing less than a fundamental change of the socio-technical system of waste infrastructures and requires a transition from end-of-pipe technologies towards an integrated management of resources. The WFD therefore obligates member states to develop national waste prevention programs as a new policy instrument with the development of waste prevention indicators as one of the core elements. The article discusses the limitations of waste-based key figures and shows the need for more process-oriented indicators. As part of the development of national waste prevention programs such indicators reveal the relevance of different barriers that have to be overcome in order to make prevention an effective top priority in the waste hierarchy. With regard to path dependencies caused by sunk costs in end-of-pipe waste infrastructures the absolute amount of integrated environmental investments, as well as their share of the total waste-related investments, can be seen as indicators for the level of innovation activities aimed at waste prevention. Sector-specific indicators for the production phase could be used as benchmarks and to highlight differences in the need for policy interventions.
Increasing resource efficiency can potentially deliver important economic and environmental benefits. Many of these benefits are regularly foregone because the financial sector's capacity to adequately take the opportunities and risks arising from resource utilization and related climate change aspects into account has so far remained relatively undeveloped. Focusing on the case of Germany, a number of barriers to the inclusion of resource efficiency and climate change aspects into financial services' considerations are presented. Corresponding measures for improving the capacity of the financial sector to better integrate resource efficiency considerations and climate change related risks into its operating procedures are introduced. The measures encompass the areas of risk controlling, company reporting, institutional reporting requirements, as well as additional supporting measures.
Multinational mining companies operating in Latin America increasingly publish sustainability reports which outline their contributions to sustainable development. Companies argue that reports help communities better understand the importance of the benefits created by mining. However, we argue that sustainabilityreporting can only play a role in improving a company's performance and reputation if the quality of the reported data is good enough to answer community-raised contentious issues and if such are tackled through a stakeholder engagement process which includes "anti-mining" groups. The paper examines a miningconflict in Argentina's Bajo de la Alumbrera open pit mine. The assessment is based on a content analysis of Alumbrera's Sustainability Report (SR), primarily from 2009, complemented with insights from the 2010 and 2011 reports. The study reveals that environmental and economic indicators are the most contentious and least reported. The reports examined only briefly acknowledge these issues, and fail to detail the procedures followed to identify and engage stakeholders.
Only three days after the beginning of the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima, Japan, on 11 March 2011, the German government ordered 8 of the country's 17 existing nuclear power plants (NPPs) to stop operating within a few days. In summer 2011 the government put forward a law - passed in parliament by a large majority - that calls for a complete nuclear phase-out by the end of 2022. These government actions were in contrast to its initial plans, laid out in fall 2010, to expand the lifetimes of the country's NPPs.
The immediate closure of 8 NPPs and the plans for a complete nuclear phase-out within little more than a decade, raised concerns about Germany's ability to secure a stable supply of electricity. Some observers feared power supply shortages, increasing CO2-emissions and a need for Germany to become a net importer of electricity.
Now - a little more than a year after the phase-out law entered into force - this paper examines these concerns using (a) recent statistical data on electricity production and demand in the first 15 months after the German government's immediate reaction to the Fukushima accident and (b) reviews the most recent projections and scenarios by different stakeholders on how the German electricity system may develop until 2025, when NPPs will no longer be in operation.
The paper finds that Germany has a realistic chance of fully replacing nuclear power with additional renewable electricity generation on an annual basis by 2025 or earlier, provided that several related challenges, e.g. expansion of the grids and provision of balancing power, can be solved successfully. Already in 2012 additional electricity generation from renewable energy sources in combination with a reduced domestic demand for electricity will likely fully compensate for the reduced power generation from the NPPs shut down in March 2011.
If current political targets will be realised, Germany neither has to become a net electricity importer, nor will be unable to gradually reduce fossil fuel generated electricity. Whether the reduction in fossil fuel use will be sufficient to adequately contribute to national greenhouse gas mitigation targets significantly depends on an active policy to promote electricity savings, continuous efforts to increase the use of renewables and a higher share of natural gas (preferably used in combined heat and power plants) in fossil fuel power generation.
Assessing the natural resource use and the resource efficiency potential of the Desertec concept
(2013)
Considering global warming, increasing commodity prices, and the dramatic consequences of the over-exploitation and overuse of resources, a transition to a renewable energy supply is necessary. This requires an (resource) efficient and renewable supply of operating reserve. In this article, a possible solution to this problem is analysed: the Desertec concept. It is meant to convert solar energy in areas with high solar irradiation into electrical energy by means of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) transferring this energy by High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) lines into the whole European Union Middle East and North Africa (EU-MENA) area. In order to assess the resource efficiency potential of Desertec, three different kinds of CSP plants (parabolic trough, Fresnel collector and central receiver of the building classes Inditep, Novatec and Solar Tres) including heat storage systems (Molten Salt and Phase-Changing-Material) and the necessary HVDC are analysed using the Material Input per Service Unit (MIPS) methodology. The assessment is accomplished for three different locations (Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt) and two points of time (2025 and 2050). With these results, a scenario of electricity supply in Germany in 2050 with a 20% share of solar power import is calculated. Central receivers are the most resource efficient ones: their consumption of abiotic materials is only half of parabolic trough plants and two thirds of Fresnel trough plants. Water and air consumption is the lowest of all analyzed CSP plants as well. The scenario for Germany's fuel mix in 2050 shows that a predominantly renewable fuel mix reduces the consumption of abiotic materials by 75%, of water by 60% and of air by 45%. Only the consumption of biotic materials rises due to the higher share of biomass conversion.
Durch einen deutlichen Anstieg der getrennten Erfassung und Verwertung sowie durch Abfallvermeidung und effizientere Methoden zur Abfallbehandlung und -beseitigung konnten bislang etwa 28 Mio. t CO2 reduziert werden. Der vorliegende Beitrag zeigt, welche Handlungspotenziale und -strategien die kommunale Abfallwirtschaft hat, um aufbauend auf den bisherigen Erfolgen einen weiteren Beitrag zur Energiewende in Deutschland zu leisten. Außerdem wird gezeigt, welche Synergien und Kooperationsmöglichkeiten mit anderen kommunalen Spartenunternehmen bestehen, um abfall- und energiebedingte CO2-Emissionen zu vermeiden.
Als einer der weltweit führenden Industriestandorte ist Deutschland abhängig von der Versorgung mit Rohstoffen. Aber nur noch wenige Bau- und Massenrohstoffe wie Kies, Sand oder Kalkstein können aus heimischen Lagerstätten gewonnen werden; Industriemineralien, Energierohstoffe und vor allem metallische Rohstoffe müssen in großem Umfang aus dem Ausland eingeführt werden. Strategische Ansätze wie die Ressourcenstrategie der EU oder die Ressourceneffizienzstrategie des BMU setzen daher in zunehmendem Maße auf die Senkung des Primärrohstoffverbrauchs durch den Einsatz von Sekundärrohstoffen und die Erhöhung der Anteile recycelter Abfälle in Produkten - mit massiven Konsequenzen für die Planung abfallwirtschaftlicher Infrastrukturen.
Global climate
(2013)
This report lays out the major developments in Durban and assesses the main outcomes. It is structured along the Bali roadmap for a future climate agreement that was agreed at the Bali climate conference in 2007. The Bali roadmap comprises negotiations under two tracks. First, the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments by Annex I Countries under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP), established at the conference in Montreal in 2005, has been negotiating future emission targets for developed countries (listed in Annex I of the United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and hence called Annex I countries). As the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period expires in 2012, the AWG-KP is to agree on new targets for a second commitment period post-2012 as well as associated rules for accounting emissions. Second, the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA) has also been negotiating commitments for Annex I countries, intending to cover those that have not ratified the Protocol - that is, the USA. In addition, the LCA negotiates "Nationally appropriate mitigation actions" of developing countries, which are to be supported by Annex I countries with technology, financing and capacity-building. Both the actions and the support are to be "measurable, reportable and verifiable". The LCA also negotiates how such support for developing countries' mitigation actions may be delivered as well as how developing countries may be supported in adapting to the impacts of climate change.
Germany's current efforts to decarbonize its electricity system are analysed. As nuclear power and fossil power plants equipped with carbon capture and storage were ruled out in 2011, renewable electricity generation (RES) together with electricity savings are the primary focus for achieving decarbonization. Germany aims to have RES account for at least 80% of its electricity by 2050. Achieving renewable generation needs strong political support and regulatory provisions for its market integration. Four main technical and regulatory challenges are the maintenance of a steady and efficient expansion of RES, the provision of balancing capacities, the realization of the targeted electricity savings, and the smart adaptation of the transport and distribution grid. An overview of the existing and planned regulatory provisions for decarbonization are described, and some gaps identified, particularly with regard to the overall management of the process, the inclusion of electricity savings and the interference of Germany's decarbonization strategies with neighbouring countries. Policies that both accelerate grid expansion and direct RES expansion should immediately be put in place and can be supported by a targeted mobilization of balancing capacities. Electricity savings are a significant and cost-efficient strategy for low-carbon electricity. Policy relevance: Germany is actively converting its national electricity system towards a fully renewable one. As renewable electricity has reached about a quarter of total consumption, a number of technical and regulatory challenges arise. Current discussions and plans are described for the four main challenges: maintaining and optimizing high investment rates into RES generation technologies, providing balancing capacities, reducing demand, and adapting the grid to the changing needs. Policy recommendations for these four tasks highlight the need to intensify electricity demand reduction and also consider the potential interactions between the German electricity system and its neighbouring countries.
The 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and the consequent accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, have had consequences far beyond Japan itself. Reactions to the accident in three major economies Japan, the UK, and Germany, all of whom were committed to relatively ambitious climate change targets prior to the accident are examined. In Japan and Germany, the accident precipitated a major change of policy direction. In the UK, debate has been muted and there has been essentially no change in energy or climate change policies. The status of the energy and climate change policies in each country prior to the accident is assessed, the responses to the accident are described, and the possible impacts on their positions in the international climate negotiations are analysed. Finally, the three countries' responses are compared and some differences between them observed. Some reasons for their different policy responses are suggested and some themes, common across all countries, are identified. Policy relevance: The attraction of nuclear power has rested on the promise of low-cost electricity, low-carbon energy supply, and enhanced energy independence. The Fukushima accident, which followed the Japanese tsunami of March 2011, has prompted a critical re-appraisal of nuclear power. The responses to Fukushima are assessed for the UK, Germany, and Japan. Before the accident, all three countries considered nuclear as playing a significant part in climate mitigation strategies. Although the UK Government has continued to support nuclear new build following a prompt review of safety arrangements, Japan and Germany have decided to phase out nuclear power, albeit according to different timescales. The factors that explain the different decisions are examined, including patterns of energy demand and supply, the wider political context, institutional arrangements, and public attitudes to risk. The implications for the international climate negotiations are also assessed.
SustChange-Agents - Personen, die im organisationalen Bereich Veränderungen hin zu einer nachhaltigeren Entwicklung voran bringen wollen - benötigen personale, soziale, kognitiv-methodische und sachlich-fachliche Kompetenzen. Dies hat eine qualitative Inhaltsanalyse ausgewählter Kompetenzsystematiken aus den Bereichen "Change Management" (Wandel in Organisationen), berufliche Bildung, Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung und Berufsbildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung gezeigt. Den personalen Kompetenzen fällt dabei eine besondere Bedeutung zu, da sie ebenfalls Persönlichkeitseigenschaften einschließen. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass die allgemein diskutierten Kompetenzsystematiken implizit Aspekte jener Kompetenzen aufweisen, die im Kontext von Nachhaltigkeit angeführt werden - Nachhaltigkeit ist also auf Kompetenzebene an die Konzeptionen von Wandel und beruflicher Bildung anschlussfähig.
Resource efficiency in production and technological innovations are inadequate for considerably reducing the current use of natural resources. Both social innovations and a complementary and equally valued strategy of sustainable consumption are required: goods must be used longer, and services that support collaborative consumption (CC) patterns must be extended. "Using rather than owning" strategies, such as product sharing, have the potential to conserve resources. Based on the results of different German studies, this article highlights the resource-saving potentials of CC patterns and recommendations proposed for policies and further research questions. The purpose of this paper is to show that a general resource-saving potential can be realized by "use rather than own" schemes, depending on the application field and the framework for implementation. CC is suitable for making a positive contribution to achieving the Factor 10 target by playing an important role in changing consumer patterns.
The Low Carbon Future Cities (LCFC) project aims at facing a three dimensional challenge by developing an integrated city roadmap balancing: low carbon development, gains in resource efficiency and adaptation to climate change. The paper gives an overview of the first outcomes of the analysis of the status quo and assessment of the most likely developments regarding GHG emissions, climate impacts and resource use in Wuxi - the Chinese pilot city for the LCFC project. As a first step, a detailed emission inventory following the IPCC guidelines for Wuxi has been carried out. In a second step, the future development of energy demand and related CO2 emissions in 2050 were simulated in a current policy scenario (CPS). In parallel, selected aspects of material and water flows for the energy and the building sector were analyzed and modeled. In addition, recent and future climate impacts and vulnerability were investigated. Based on these findings, nine key sectors with high relevance to the three dimensions could be identified. Although Wuxi's government has started a path to implement a low carbon plan, the first results show that, for the shift towards a sustainable low carbon development, more ambitious steps need to be taken in order to overcome the challenges faced.
The European electricity market is linked to a carbon market with a fixed cap that limits greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, a number of energy efficiency policy instruments in the EU aim at reducing the electricity consumption. This article explores the interactions between the EU's carbon market on the one hand and instruments specifically targeted towards energy end-use efficiency on the other hand. Our theoretical analysis shows how electricity demand reduction triggered by energy efficiency policy instruments affects the emission trading scheme. Without adjustments of the fixed cap, decreasing electricity demand (relative to business-as-usual) reduces the carbon price without reducing total emissions. With lower carbon prices, costly low emission processes will be substituted by cheaper high emitting processes. Possible electricity and carbon price effects of electricity demand reduction scenarios under various carbon caps are quantified with a long-term electricity market simulation model. The results show that electricity efficiency policies allow for a significant reduction of the carbon cap. Compared to the 2005 emission level, 30% emission reductions can be achieved by 2020 within the emission trading scheme with similar or even lower costs for the industrial sector than were expected when the cap was initially set for a 21% emission reduction.
Die deutsche Energiewende ist eingeleitet, doch droht das Projekt ins Stocken zu geraten, wenn die Zuständigkeiten nicht geklärt werden. Da der Energiemarkt allein den Umbau der Energieversorgung nicht stemmen kann, ist die Politik gefordert. Neben dem weiteren Ausbau von erneuerbaren Energien gilt es, Energieeffizienzmaßnahmen zu forcieren und das Potenzial des Energiesparens auszuschöpfen. Energieanbieter müssen verpflichtet werden, bei der Zielerfüllung eine konstruktivere Rolle zu spielen als bisher.
Die "Große Transformation" erfordert neue Formen des Wissens und der Integration von Wissen. Die sich ergebenden Herausforderungen lassen sich mit dem Begriff der transformative literacy rahmen. Sie beschreibt die Fähigkeit, Informationen über gesellschaftliche Veränderungsprozesse zu verstehen und eigenes Handeln in diese Prozesse einzubringen. Sie hat eine technologische, ökonomische, institutionelle und kulturelle Dimension - wobei oft die technologische Sicht auf Veränderungsprozesse dominiert. Um die "Große Transformation" zu meistern, muss dieses Ungleichgewicht beseitigt werden.
The article argues for a need to overcome a conventional notion of product design. In this regard, the article offers an integrative and systemic approach to sustainable design. Instead of focusing on objects, a user-centred perspective is adopted. A sustainable design of products and services requires the integration of production-orientated (efficiency and consistency) and consumption-orientated (sufficiency) strategies. The article introduces the concept of an indicator that is capable of comprehending a lifecycle-wide analysis of products and that favours the integration of existing sustainability strategies. The goal is not to design sustainable products but rather to design systems that manage to foster sustainable lifestyles. The article illustrates the usability of the introduced concept by showing examples of strategic integrative thinking in sustainable design from the Sustainable Summer Schools.
Current production and consumption patterns remain unsustainable: Global economic growth reaches planetary boundaries and puts increasing pressure on the world's natural resources. Whereas most economic actors just react to environmental pressures, proactive market actors and other non-governmental organisations, e.g. greentec firms or fair trade organisations, turn them into market opportunities or even create standards or certification schemes as promising problem-solving market instruments in global value chains. However, how legitimate are standards and certification schemes developed by collaborating non-state actors for sustainability in global value chains? What are conditions for the success of those market-based governance mechanisms? This paper discusses the legitimacy and effectiveness of standard setting in the case of palm oil and focuses on the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) as the first global standard setting initiative in this respect. Conditions for the success of sustainability standard setting in global value chains are identified based on the concept of non-state market-driven (NSMD) governance, based on literature review and expert interviews on standard setting. Results from the case study on RSPO highlight strengths and weaknesses of its standard setting process in the light of increasing market demand for palm oil.
A cost-minimizing electricity market model was used to explore optimized infrastructures for the integration of renewable energies in interconnected North African power systems until 2030. The results show that the five countries Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt could together achieve significant economic benefits, reaching up to EUR 3.4 billion, if they increase power system integration, build interconnectors and cooperate on joint utilization of their generation assets. Net electricity exports out of North Africa to Europe or Eastern Mediterranean regions, however, were not observed in the regime of integrated electricity markets until 2030, and could only be realized by much higher levels of renewable energy penetration than currently foreseen by North African governments.
Both focus group discussions and information-choice questionnaires (ICQs) have previously been used to examine informed public opinions about carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS). This paper presents an extensive experimental study to systematically examine and compare the quality of opinions created by these two research techniques. Depending on experimental condition, participants either participated in a focus group meeting or completed an ICQ. In both conditions participants received identical factual information about two specific CCS options. After having processed the information, they indicated their overall opinion about each CCS option. The quality of these opinions was determined by looking at three outcome-oriented indicators of opinion quality: consistency, stability, and confidence. Results for all three indicators showed that ICQs yielded higher-quality opinions than focus groups, but also that focus groups did not perform poor in this regard. Implications for the choice between focus group discussions and ICQs are discussed.
This article presents the accounts of China's Total Material Requirement (TMR) during 1995–2008, which were compiled under the guidelines of Eurostat (2009) and with the Hidden Flow (HF) coefficients developed by the Wuppertal Institute. Subsequently, comparisons with previous studies are conducted. Using decomposition, we finally examine the influential factors that have changed the TMR of China. The main findings are the following: (1) During 1995–2008 China's TMR increased from 32.7 Gt to 57.0 Gt. Domestic extraction dominated China’s TMR, but a continuous decrease of its shares can be observed. In terms of material types, excavation constituted the biggest component of China's TMR, and a shift from biomass to metallic minerals is apparent; (2) Compared with two previous studies on China's TMR, the amounts of TMR in this study are similar to the others, whereas the amounts of the used part of TMR (Direct Material Input, DMI) are quite different as a result of following different guidelines; (3) Compared with developed countries, China's TMR per capita was much lower, but a continuous increase of this indicator can be observed; (4) Factors of Affluence (A) and Material Intensity (T), respectively, contributed the most to the increase and decrease of TMR, but the overall decrease effect is limited.
Pumpspeicherkraftwerke sind technisch gut für ein Angebot auf Regelenergiemärkten geeignet. Die Vorhaltung von Regelleistung schränkt jedoch die Handlungsspielräume des Speicherbetreibers auf dem regulären Spotmarkt ein. Bisherige Berechnungsmethoden erlaubten es dem Speicherbetreiber nicht, Strategien für einen zweiten Markt zu entwickeln. Die Opportunitätskosten der eingeschränkten Angebotsflexibilität auf dem Spotmarkt bestimmen deswegen die Kapazitätskosten für Gebote auf Reservemärkten, woraus sich Konsequenzen für einen optimierten Speicherbetrieb ergeben.
Global climate
(2013)
The eighteenth Conference of the Parties (COP 18) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the ninth Conference of Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 8) came to a close in the evening of 8 December 2012. This report lays out the main developments in Doha and assesses the main outcomes. The first chapter outlines the overall situation coming into Doha. The subsequent chapters cover the negotiations on the future of the Kyoto Protocol, the discussions under the Durban Platform on developing a new comprehensive climate agreement by 2015 and increasing short-term ambition, and further near-term action under the UNFCCC.
How does an average, aging society deal with the challenges of climatic and demographic change? In reality, the effects vary regionally. This paper explores how an urban society responds to the challenge of increasing summer temperatures using the example of Aachen, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The research started with the perception of heat in the working and living environment of older and thus particularly vulnerable residents. As actors of urban development actively influence living and working conditions, their projected need for action is compared to the results of a survey of the residents. It clearly showed that demographic, socio-cultural, spatial, and construction factors affected the perceptions of the residents. Climate change awareness and possible adaptation measures usually exist, but, in general, initiatives are only taken if the effect is noticed by an individual. Although not all residents and stakeholders of Aachen perceived heat waves as a problem, a variety of adaptation strategies could be established. They ranged from aspired lifestyle over individual and short-term behavioral changes to urban planning, architectural and technical measures. These measures can be used to raise awareness of climate issues and implement adaptation strategies. Thereby, all stakeholders and residents, employers and employees, homeowners and tenants, planners, architects and developers, investors and users, etc., are asked to take responsibility within their field.
Die Entscheidung für ein von volatilen Erzeugungsquellen dominiertes Stromsystem stellt an die Stabilisierung des Systems neue Anforderungen. Zugleich bieten sich neue Optionen. Die bisherige Asymmetrie, nach der für die Stabilisierung die Kraftwerksseite verantwortlich sei, ist überkommene Praxis, deswegen auch heute habituell naheliegend, aber vermutlich nicht länger effizient. Die im Titel genannten nachfrageseitigen Ausgleichsoptionen (SE & DSM) bieten sich an. Im Beitrag wird deren Potential abgeschätzt. In vier Gestaltungsfeldern wird zudem gefragt, ob die bislang von der Politik gegebenen rechtlichen Mandate konsequent SE & DSM als Option berücksichtigen. Das Ergebnis ist viermal (weitgehende) Fehlanzeige.
The relationship between large-scale metal mining and its impacts is a topic of growing discussions in Argentina. Multinational mining corporations publish sustainability reports in order to show their social responsibility and contributions to sustainable development. These reports promote a higher transparency but doubts remain as to its usefulness to improve relationships with communities. By using a descriptive-explanatory method, this study analyses the 2009 Sustainability Report of Bajo de la Alumbrera mine so as to assess its quality and compare the "reality" painted by the company with the views of conflict by critical stakeholders. Results, validated with reports from other years, show the need to improve the information reported for conflictive indicators and, along with local governments, to implement a significant change in the way of making decisions, especially by engaging critical stakeholders.
While strategic studies on natural resources usually focus on the criticality of certain single materials, our paper starts from the inter-linkages between and among resources (called "the resource nexus"). It examines the impact any food and water stress may have on extraction activities in fragile states and regions. According to our approach, conflicts are likely to increase and may escalate in a number of countries, many of which are of relevance for the global supply of strategic materials. Future criticality for European and other industries, thus, is more likely to result from particular regions surpassing their adaptive capacities, and not mainly from limited availability or bottlenecks in the supply chain. The paper first develops a heuristic model of drivers for stress in resource-rich regions. Applying this approach, our paper then develops a global three-layered map along the dimensions of (i) future regional food and water stress, (ii) fragility of countries, and (iii) resource-rich countries with relevant reserves of strategic materials. As a result our paper tentatively identifies 15 countries at high risk and some 30 other countries being at relevant risk of causing resource supply disruptions. The conclusions underline the need to analyse those global inter-linkages and institutional mechanisms for strategic futures studies at a regional scale. As this may go beyond the capacities of actors on commodity markets, our paper also draws conclusions towards the establishment of an international data hub on the global resource nexus and for futures research. The paper points to some of the long-term implications of these issues.
The transport sector is the second largest and one of the fastest growing energy end-use sectors, representing 24% of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. The International Energy Agency has developed scenarios for the transport sector within the overall concept of mitigation pathways that would be required to limit global warming to 2 °C. This paper builds on these scenarios and illustrates various passenger travel-related strategies for achieving a 2° transport scenario, in particular looking at how much technology improvement is needed in the light of different changes in travel and modal shares in OECD and non-OECD countries. It finds that an integrated approach using all feasible policy options is likely to deliver the required emission reductions at least cost, and that stronger travel-related measures result in significantly lower technological requirements.
Current well-being research often overlooks human dependency on natural resources and undervalues the way environmental impacts affect human activities. This article argues that the capability approach provides an applicable framework for inquiring into ecologically sustainable well-being. Therefore, this pilot study aims to develop a research method for integrating the measurement of natural resource use with capability-based well-being research. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 18 Finnish minimum income receivers and their natural resource use (material footprints) was measured in five central functionings by using the Material Input Per Unit of Service (MIPS) method. The connections between capabilities, functionings and material footprints are interpreted from a person-centered perspective in order to explain the individual variety in material footprints. The results show that the material footprints of minimum income receivers are smaller than with an average Finn but they still exceed what is estimated to be an ecologically sustainable level of natural resource use.
This paper argues that the contemporary growth paradigm needs to be reconsidered on a micro level of consumption and product service-systems. This becomes necessary since a dynamic link between macro strategies and micro implementation of sustainable growth is missing up to date. Therefore, mainstream sustainability strategies of efficiency and consistency are extended by sufficiency in order to integrate strategies for individual welfare within their social environment. Limits to and drivers for growth are revised and updated socially in terms of qualitative values, diminishing marginal utility or symbolic social distinction. We elaborate a definition of sustainable growth that fosters individual welfare by enhancing social enactment within the boundaries of environmental space. Shifting focus on social aspects in design fosters more sustainable production and consumption patterns while sustaining individual welfare. We derive latent indications for eco-intelligent product service-arrangements and evaluate to concepts by referring to introduced definitions and according indications. With doing so, we illustrate new pathways for the translation of sustainable growth and strategies into product service-systems.
Das Verfahren der Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung in der Stromnetz-Ausbauplanung : eine erste Bewertung
(2013)
Der Ausbau der Netze stellt nicht nur technisch, sondern auch politisch und rechtlich eine Herausforderung dar. Einigermaßen Einigkeit besteht wohl darüber, dass das Stromnetz im Zuge der Energiewende um- und ausgebaut werden muss. Darüber hinaus herrschen jedoch beträchtliche Differenzen zwischen der Öffentlichkeit sowie den Übertragungsnetzbetreibern und der Bundesnetzagentur in der Frage, welches Maß an Ausbau notwendig ist. Dies sollte sich im Prozess der Aufstellung des Bundesbedarfsplans Stromnetze in einem sauberen Kompromiss lösen lassen. Eine Analyse des ersten Erstellungsprozesses legt jedoch verschiedene Fehlentwicklungen offen, die rasch angepackt werden sollten.
Several studies in Germany aimed at the development of a sound database on existing waste prevention measures by public bodies at the local, regional and federal levels. These results are the starting point for the creation of a national prevention program, which has to be presented by all European Member States until the end of 2013 - due to the revised European Waste Framework Directive. Based on this empirical foundation, this paper draws conclusions with regard to drivers and barriers for eco-innovations in the field of waste prevention. The analysis shows that an optimized adaptation of information on waste prevention to the needs of specific target groups is still missing but could be a relevant driver. With regard to barriers the results of the study show that waste prevention is by no means always a win–win-situation. Institutional frameworks are missing to coordinate the different interests and for the exchange of experiences that could help to realize learning effects regarding innovation approaches.
Resource use of wind farms in the German North Sea : the example of Alpha Ventus and Bard Offshore I
(2013)
The German government aims to obtain at least 40 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. One of the central steps to reach this target is the construction of deep sea offshore wind farms. The paper presents a material intensity analysis of the offshore wind farms "Alpha Ventus" and "Bard Offshore I" under consideration of the grid connection. An additional onshore scenario is considered for comparison. The results show that offshore wind farms have higher resource consumption than onshore farms. In general, and in respect to the resource use of other energy systems, both can be tagged as resource efficient.
Carbon recycling, in which organic waste is recycled into chemical feedstock for material production, may provide benefits in resource efficiency and a more cyclical economy - but may also create "trade-offs" in increased impacts elsewhere. We investigate the system-wide environmental burdens and cost associated with carbon recycling routes capable of converting municipal solid waste (MSW) by gasification and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis into ethylene. Results are compared to business-as-usual (BAU) cases in which ethylene is derived from fossil resources and waste is either landfilled with methane and energy recovery (BAU#1) or incinerated (BAU#2) with energy recovery. Monte Carlo and sensitivity analysis is used to assess uncertainties of the results. Results indicate that carbon recycling may lead to a reduction in cumulative energy demand (CED), total material requirement (TMR), and acidification, when compared to BAU#1. Global warming potential is found to be similar or slightly lower than BAU#1 and BAU#2. In comparison to BAU#2, carbon recycling results in higher CED, TMR, acidification, and smog potential, mainly as a result of larger (fossil-based) energy offsets from energy recovery. However, if a renewable power mix (envisioned for the future) is assumed to be offset, BAU#2 impacts may be similar or higher than carbon recycling routes. Production cost per kilogram (kg) MSW-derived ethylene range between US$1.85 and US$2.06 (Jan 2011 US$). This compares to US$1.17 per kg for fossil-based ethylene. Waste-derived ethylene breaks even with its fossil-based counterpart at a tipping fee of roughly US$42 per metric ton of waste feedstock.
Soll der Staat oder der Markt der Hauptakteur im Prozess einer "Großen Transformation" der Gesellschaft sein? Und: Welcher Staat und welcher Markt? Deutlich wird, dass eine Transformation Richtung Nachhaltigkeit nicht gelingen kann, wenn alte Rationalitäts muster - wie die vom starken Staat und vom selbstregulieren den Markt - fortbestehen. Dagegen muss ein demokratischer Prozess stehen, der auf den Fähigkeiten der Bürger(innen) basiert und der emanzipatorische und herrschafts kritische Bewegungen stärkt.
Die Suche nach einem Ausweg aus den festgefahrenen Klima- verhandlungen ist derzeit eine der wichtigsten Aufgaben der internationalen Politik. Franz Josef Radermacher (2013) versucht, so einen Weg aus dem Politikstau aufzuzeigen: In verstärktem Ausmaß sollten Privatakteure eingebunden werden und Klimaschutzmaßnahmen finanzieren, weil die internationale Staatengemeinschaft bisher daran gescheitert sei, ein Folgeabkommen für das Kyoto-Protokoll abzuschließen. Von der Staatengemeinschaft verlangt Radermacher nur noch, überhaupt irgendein Abkommen zuwege zu bringen, das die globalen Emissionen zumindest einigermaßen deckelt. Weitere Emissionsreduktionen, die "Verhandlungslücke", sollen Unternehmen und Privatpersonen übernehmen, indem sie freiwillig Emissionszertifikate im Umfang von mehreren hundert Milliarden Tonnen CO2 kaufen und stilllegen. Darüber hinaus sollen weitere 150 Milliarden Tonnen CO2 über Aufforstungsprojekte aus der Atmosphäre herausgeholt werden (Sequestrierung).
The Durban Climate Conference agreed on the creation of a new market-based mechanism under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and to consider the establishment of an overall framework for various mitigation approaches, including opportunities for using markets ("Framework"). The creation of such a Framework is therefore of high political significance, as it should ensure on the one hand that new market-based mechanisms contribute to global climate change mitigation and to achievement of targets, and on the other hand, that different market-based approaches can be integrated in a global carbon market. As yet, there is little clarity as to the roles and design of such a framework. This paper contributes to the debate by discussing and evaluating inter alia several design options, and explores how the various options could be implemented and how they interrelate. It concludes that a strong central oversight at the level of the UNFCCC is probably the only option that could reassure the vast majority of UNFCCC Parties that the environmental integrity of new market-based mechanisms is in fact ensured. This does, however, not exclude that some reasonable balance may be struck between centralization and flexibility.
The need for recycling obsolete mobile phones has significantly increased with their rapidly growing worldwide production and distribution. Return and recycling rates are quite low; people tend to keep old, unused phones at home instead of returning them for recycling or further use because of a lack of knowledge and acceptance of return programmes. Thus far, individual use and recycling behavior has not shown any trend towards more sustainable patterns. Consequently, an increased awareness is needed for the high environmental and social impact throughout the whole value chain of a mobile phone - there is simply a lack of information and knowledge regarding sustainability issues around the mobile phone. A teaching material was therefore developed in a German research project, based on the concept of the ecological rucksack, presenting comprehensive information about the value chain of a mobile phone. Its application in different schools led to an increased awareness and interest among pupils for the connection between sustainability, resources and mobile phones. Based on these research results, this paper analyses young people’s knowledge of sustainability issues linked to their mobile phones and their acceptance of more sustainable behavioral patterns regarding their mobile, including return and recycling programmes.
Calculating MIPS 2.0
(2013)
The Wuppertal Institute developed, in the early 1990s, an input-oriented lifecycle-wide resource accounting method, the "Material Input per Service-Unit" concept (MIPS), today also referred to as "Material Footprint". The official handbook applicable to products, services, and processes describes a MS Excel-based sequential approach for calculating MIPS. Today's computing power, available to every researcher, and access to software and databases dedicated to lifecycle analysis make calculating MIPS using matrix inversion possible. This also opens up possibilities for enhancing MIPS-models programmatically: parameterizing the foreground and background systems, batch modeling for producing time series, and computational algorithms enhancing interpretation. The article provides (1) an overview of the methods and tools used for calculating MIPS from its origins to today, and (2) demonstrates some of the programmatically enhanced capabilities offered to MIPS-practitioners.
EXIOPOL (A New Environmental Accounting Framework Using Externality Data and Input–Output Tools for Policy Analysis) was a European Union (EU)-funded project creating a detailed, global, multiregional environmentally extended Supply and Use table (MR EE SUT) of 43 countries, 129 sectors, 80 resources, and 40 emissions. We sourced primary SUT and input–output tables from Eurostat and non-EU statistical offices. We harmonized and detailed them using auxiliary national accounts data and co-efficient matrices. Imports were allocated to countries of exports using United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database trade shares. Optimization procedures removed imbalances in these detailing and trade linking steps. Environmental extensions were added from various sources. We calculated the EU footprint of final consumption with resulting MR EE SUT. EU policies focus mainly on energy and carbon footprints. We show that the EU land, water, and material footprint abroad is much more relevant, and should be prioritized in the EU's environmental product and trade policies.
Apart from the much-debated question of what legal form the 2015 climate agreement is supposed to have, another core issue is the substantive content of countries' commitments. While the climate regime has so far mostly been based on emission targets, literature has identified a broad range of other possible types of mitigation commitments, such as technology targets, emission price commitments, or commitments to specific policies and measures (PAMs). The nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) submitted by developing countries under the Cancún Agreements also show a broad range of different forms of participation. This article surveys the possible commitment types that have so far been discussed in literature and in the UNFCCC negotiations and assesses their respective advantages and disadvantages against a set of criteria: environmental effectiveness, cost effectiveness, distributional aspects and institutional feasibility. The article finds that no commitment option provides a silver bullet. All options have several advantages but also disadvantages. The environmentally most effective way forward may lie in pursuing a multi-dimensional approach, combining emission targets with other commitment types to compensate for the drawbacks of the emission-based approach. However, such an approach would also increase complexity, both in terms of the negotiations and in terms of implementation and administration.
Among the factors that decelerate progress of CCS demonstration and deployment is the lack of public acceptance of local projects in Germany as well as in other countries. The study presented here aims to take the issue of public CCS perceptions further by empirically investigating the relevance of different specifications of the three main steps of the CCS chain, i.e. capture, transport and storage. An experimental approach is chosen and applied in an online survey with a representative sample from Germany with 1830 participants. With regard to possible CO2 sources we varied whether the CO2 of a specific setting is captured i) as part of an energy-intensive industry process (e.g. production of steel or cement), ii) from a power plant running on biomass, or iii) a coal-fired power plant. For transport, half of the settings described made reference to transport of CO2 via pipelines, the other half did not provide information about transport. With regard to storage the setting descriptions i) either explained that CO2 can be stored in saline aquifers, ii) can be used to enhance gas production from an emptying natural gas field or iii) can be stored in a depleted natural gas field. We find that overall the average of the ratings for perception of the settings fall into the neutral part of the answering scale. If the source of CO2 is a coal-fired power plant the setting is perceived less positively than if it includes biomass or industry. A significant interaction effect between transport and storage specifications is observed. This points out that storage in saline aquifers is perceived more negatively than a combination with enhanced gas recovery while storage in a depleted natural gas field is rated less positively if a pipeline is mentioned and more positively if no transport option is mentioned.
A desirable future critically depends on our ability to ensure the supply of key resources while simultaneously respecting planetary boundaries. This paper looks at the potential implications of living within the "safe operating space" for people, business and the economy. It develops a positive vision of the future based on three pillars: a safe and fair use of global resources, a sustainable society, and a transformed economy. We review and build on recent sustainability visions to develop a holistic reflection on what life in 2050 could look like, and explore the key changes in the economy needed to get there. In particular we show that resource efficiency requires a systemic shift in values, innovation, governance and management regimes. We present a bold vision for Europe underlined by indicators and targets, explore transition challenges to getting there and conclude with a list of key policies needed for overcoming challenges and reaching the vision.
The food and agricultural sector will face numerous challenges in the next decades, arising from changing global production and consumption patterns, which currently go along with high resource use, causing ecological and socio-economic impacts. The aim of this paper is to illustrate and evaluate the practical applicability of the Hot Spot Analysis methodology in the context of supply chain management in companies. The HSA is a method to identify social and ecological problems along the entire life cycle of a product. Special emphasis is put on a customized implementation in the value chain beef of McDonald's Germany. The HSA of McDonald's beef value chain shows that the main ecological problems arise in the phase of raw material extraction, whereas the main social problems can be identified in the phase of slaughtering. Finally, the paper shows potentials and shortcomings of such a customized application and how the results can be implemented in the sustainability management of a company.
The paper examines policies and measures that promote the usage of pedelecs and that contribute to climate friendly passenger transportation thereby. As pedelecs allow the rider to pedal at lower efforts, pedelecs provide the potential to increase the share of bicycle trips in metropolitan regions with hilly landscapes and with a significant share of medium commuting distances. The paper develops attitude-based mobility types and defines their specific pedelec affinity based upon differentiated reasons to use a pedelec. Thereafter policies and measures are examined that foster purchase and usage of pedelecs, and factors influencing the modal behaviour of (potential) attitude-based target groups are defined. Quantification of climate protection effects is conducted based on two scenarios for the German city of Wuppertal, a city known for its steep slopes. The first scenario assumes business as usual, and the second scenario is based on the introduction of ambitious policies and measures to encourage purchase and usage of pedelecs. Following a mixed-method approach, qualitative scenario assumptions are calculated by a quantitative model, which incorporates the analyses on attitude-based mobility types respective pedelec affinities.The results indicate that ambitious promotion of pedelecs significantly contributes to climate change mitigation. Compared to business as usual, ambitious policies and measures to purchase and use pedelecs reduce CO2-emissions of passenger transport in Wuppertal by 11 per cent in 2050. A spatially inclusive and comprehensive 30 kph speed limit proves to be particularly effective. In the scenario of ambitious promotion of pedelecs, interventions solely fostering the purchase of pedelecs significantly increase the modal share of pedelecs, whereas in a business as usual case such efforts remain ineffective. The traditional bicycle profits from the promotion of pedelecs, but its increased usage does not bring about similar climate protection effects.
The 2010 UN climate conference in Cancún emphasized that "Parties should, in all climate change related actions, fully respect human rights". However, so far there is no further guidance. This article discusses the relevant legal human rights norms and two case studies from the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The first case (Bajo Aguán, Honduras) shows that the current absence of any international safeguards can lead to registration of highly problematic projects. The second case (Olkaria, Kenya) suggests that safeguards, introduced here as a side effect of World Bank involvement, can have a positive impact, but that it is necessary to have them based on human rights. It therefore seems recommendable that the UN climate regime develop mandatory human rights safeguards. In addition or alternatively, individual buyer countries or groups of countries, such as the European Union, could introduce their own additional requirements for CDM projects.
Global climate
(2014)
In what has become normal procedure at the international climate negotiations, the 2013 United Nations climate conference in Warsaw (the nineteenth Conference of the Parties (COP 19) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the ninth Conference of Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 9)) once again seemed on the brink of collapse and concluded more than one day behind schedule, in the evening of Saturday 23 November 2013. However, on most of the key issues it made only scant progress.
This report lays out the main developments in Warsaw and assesses the main outcomes. It starts with the discussions under the Durban Platform on developing a new comprehensive climate agreement by 2015 and increasing short-term ambition and subsequently covers the issues relating to near-term implementation of previous decisions in the areas of emission reductions and transparency, adaptation, loss and damage, finance and technology.
The present study investigates and compares the public perception of CO2 offshore storage, CO2 onshore storage and CO2 transport via pipeline in Germany nationwide and in two coastal regions. For this purpose, three representative surveys were carried out and analyzed with the methods of descriptive statistics and ordinal regressions. The results of our descriptive statistical analyses show clear regional differences with regard to self-reported awareness, factual knowledge, risk perceptions and general attitudes towards CO2 offshore/onshore storage and CO2 transport via pipeline. With regard to the public perception of the two storage options - offshore and onshore - no major differences could be identified: both are hardly accepted by the German public. In comparison to CO2 offshore storage/CO2 onshore storage, the attitudes towards CO2 transport via pipeline were perceptibly more positive in all regions. Our regression analyses revealed that the perceptions of the personal and societal risks of CO2 transport via pipeline/CO2 offshore storage/CO2 onshore storage as well as the perceptions of the personal and societal benefits of CCS are the most important direct determinants of general attitudes towards CO2 transport via pipeline, CO2 offshore storage and CO2 onshore storage.
The results presented in this article illustrate how the local public was informed on specific Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects by regional newspapers in Germany. The analyzed articles were published in four daily newspapers within the German regions where four CO2 onshore storage projects took place or have been planned. The articles were published between 2007 and 2011. In total, 1,115 newspaper articles about the four CO2 onshore storage projects were gathered and analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Our results showed that the regional media coverage of CCS projects in Germany reached peaks in 2009 and 2010. The main topics changed within the media coverage and it is worth mentioning to what extent the media coverage of CCS disregarded topics with regard to economic, technical, ecological or scientific aspects on CCS. The overall evaluation of CCS within the articles is negative. While commercial CCS projects received more negative evaluation across newspaper articles; opinions about the research and industry project Ketzin were more neutral.
Policy evaluation is widely considered important for assessing policies for effectiveness and impact. Municipalities are among the political actors implementing energy and climate policy. Yet, few municipalities have introduced adequate instruments to monitor the effectiveness of their actions. Often, municipal actors consider local greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories to be sufficient to monitor the impact of their actions. This paper points out why the expectations placed on local GHG inventories as a monitoring instrument can rarely be met in practice. On the basis of German examples, it shall be shown that a thorough calculation of actual local energy and GHG reductions attributable to local efforts is often only partially possible, and is complicated by external factors. A supplementary approach to the top-down method is to evaluate local programmes from the bottom-up. This paper discusses efforts to develop an instrument for a bottom-up monitoring of the city of Hamburg's Climate Action Plan.
The lack of suitable tools to assess sustainable mobility measures' costs, benefits and overall impacts is a significant factor impeding their implementation. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is often applied to large-scale infrastructure projects, but does not capture all relevant socio-economic impacts. Small-scale but potentially highly cost-effective measures often do not have the critical mass to warrant a thorough cost-benefit analysis. This paper reviews existing assessment methodologies, including their advantages, limitations and application to different urban mobility measures, and current assessment practice in cities based on survey results. Based on these analyses, a holistic approach for project appraisal is proposed, consisting of aspects of a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) and CBA and applicable to a variety of urban mobility measures.
Although there are already some qualification offers available for enterprises to support resource efficiency innovations, the high potentials that can be identified especially for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have not been activated until now. As successful change lies in the hands of humans, the main aim of vocational education has to be the promotion of organisational and cultural changes in the enterprises. As there is already a small but increasing number of enterprises that perform very well in resource efficiency innovations one question arises: What are typical characteristics of those enterprises? Leaning on a good-practice approach, the project "ResourceCulture" is going to prove or falsify the hypothesis that enterprises being successful with resource efficiency innovations have a specific culture of trust, which substantially contributes to innovation processes, or even initially enables them. Detailed empirical field research will light up which correlations between resource efficiency, innovation and cultures of trust can be found and will offer important aspects for the improvement of management instruments and qualification concepts for workplace training. The project seizes qualification needs that were likewise mentioned by enterprises and consultants, regarding the implementation of resource efficiency. This article - based on first empirical field research results - derives preliminary indications for the design of the qualification module for the target groups resource efficiency consultants and managers. On this basis and in order to implement "ResourceCulture" conceptual and methodological starting points for workplace training are outlined.
Despite rising prices for natural resources during the past 30 years, global consumption of natural resources is still growing. This leads to ecological, economical and social problems. So far, however, limited effort has been made to decrease the natural resource use of goods and services. While resource efficiency is already on the political agenda (EU and national resource strategies), there are still substantial knowledge gaps on the effectiveness of resource efficiency improvement strategies in different fields. In this context and within the project "Material Efficiency and Resource Conservation", the natural resource use of 22 technologies, products and strategies was calculated and their resource efficiency potential analysed. In a preliminary literature- and expert-based identification process, over 250 technologies, strategies, and products, which are regarded as resource efficient, were identified. Out of these, 22 subjects with high resource efficiency potential were selected. They cover a wide range of relevant technologies, products and strategies, such as energy supply and storage, Green IT, transportation, foodstuffs, agricultural engineering, design strategies, lightweight construction, as well as the concept "Using Instead of Owning". To assess the life-cycle-wide resource use of the selected subjects, the material footprint has been applied as a reliable indicator. In addition, sustainability criteria on a qualitative basis were considered. The results presented in this paper show significant resource efficiency potential for many technologies, products and strategies.
A decent, or sufficient, lifestyle is largely considered an important objective in terms of a sustainable future. However, there can be strongly varying definitions of what a decent lifestyle means. From a social sustainability point of view, a decent lifestyle can be defined as the minimum level of consumption ensuring an acceptable quality of life. From an ecological sustainability point of view, a decent lifestyle can be defined as a lifestyle that does not exceed the carrying capacity of nature in terms of natural resource use. The paper presents results of a study on the natural resource use of 18 single households belonging to the lowest income decile in Finland. The yearly "material footprint" of each household was calculated on the basis of the data gathered in a questionnaire and two interviews. The results show that the natural resource use of the participating households was lower than the one of the average consumer. Furthermore, 12 of 18 households had a smaller material footprint than the "decent minimum" reference budget defined by a consumer panel. However, the resource use of all the households and lifestyles studied is still higher than long-term ecological sustainability would require. The paper concludes that the material footprint is a suitable approach for defining and measuring a decent lifestyle and provides valuable information on how to dematerialize societies towards sustainability.
It is widely accepted that environmental awareness is essential, yet does not inevitably lead to responsible use of resources. Additional factors on the individual level include the meaning constructed by the term "resources" and the individual and social norms that influence the relevant behavior. Current didactic concepts do not take into account such aspects. Therefore, this article uses a didactic-psychological approach for designing an educational concept for raising awareness for a responsible use of natural resources. Combining insights of environmental psychology and of constructivist didactics, a general principal of "norm-oriented interpretation learning" is outlined to enrich the didactic debate on responsible and efficient resource use. Based on the presentation of a qualifying module for resource efficiency consultants as a practical example of resource education, a new didactical approach, namely "open-didactic exploration" (short form: ODE) is introduced. The article discusses the theory-based elements of ODE and illustrates a step by step process for designing educational materials. This adds to the theoretical debate about a didactic design for resource oriented education. Furthermore, this method can be directly used by practitioners developing education and training material (e.g., teachers, trainers in vocational education). The Wuppertal Institute developed and applied this method in numerous projects. The conclusion and outlook discusses future expectations and scope of the introduced ODE method as a contribution to foster "norm-oriented interpretation learning", suggesting perspectives for further development.
Since in 1992 the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) has been held in Rio de Janeiro, efforts to achieve sustainable development appear to have made only insufficient progress, as the results of the 2012 follow-up conference show. One reason for this is that among the various paths to sustainability being discussed, the strategies enjoying greater support are those that continue to be committed to economic and material growth, this as opposed to those that question the growth paradigm. Among the latter are the sufficiency and subsistence approaches. The sufficiency approach delves into the causes and (supposed) boons of a continuous increase in material and immaterial goods. With the demand that individuals not always be forced to always want more, it points out a way to a structural transition in society. The subsistence approach, on the other hand, seeks to draft a path to greater autonomy and quality of life by strengthening regional, local or indi-vidual self-provisioning. To be in harmony with sustainability, it must be possible to freely choose the two ways of life; they must not be mandated by the authorities.
In contrast to the original investigation by William Stanley Jevons, compensations of energy savings due to improved energy efficiency are mostly analyzed by providing energy consumption or greenhouse gas emissions. In support of a sustainable resource management, this paper analyzes so-called rebound effects based on resource use. Material flows and associated expenditures by households allow for calculating resource intensities and marginal propensities to consume. Marginal propensities to consume are estimated from data of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) in order to account for indirect rebound effects for food, housing and mobility. Resource intensities are estimated in terms of total material requirements per household final consumption expenditures along the Classification of Individual Consumption according to Purpose (COICOP). Eventually, rebound effects are indicated on the basis of published saving scenarios in resource and energy demand for Germany. In sum, compensations due to rebound effects are lowest for food while the highest compensations are induced for mobility. This is foremost the result of a relatively high resource intensity of food and a relatively low resource intensity in mobility. Findings are provided by giving various propensity scenarios in order to cope with income differences in Germany. The author concludes that policies on resource conservation need to reconsider rebound effects under the aspect of social heterogeneity.
Sustainability policy in the early 2000s is based on and therefore influenced by scientific literature on "transition". The importance of this link has inspired the authors to explore the structure of cooperating authors and citation networks in the field. In order to understand "transition" literature, we compare it with an alternative term for change, "transformation", which is also used in the context of socio-technical shifts towards sustainability. We expose the different structures of these fields with an overview of keywords, key references, key authors, and the coherence between references and authors. By analysing co-author and citation networks, we find large differences in these groups of documents. The transition literature is characterised by a large network of directly and indirectly cooperating authors with clear clusters; transformation literature contains smaller author networks. Key transition authors are predominantly Dutch. They repeatedly write together and cite each other's work. The transition literature is tightly knit with high degrees of internal references and a clearly distinguishable core. Transformation literature has fewer connections between authors and articles. The connecting articles, each with many global citations, form its basis. This analysis can be used as a step to continue the debate on the role of transition and transformation literature in sustainability and renewable energy policy. The transformation literature teaches us that older streams of thought are still relevant and may be used as "glue" for linking change with respect to sustainable energy to wider developments. Rediscovering existing literature in new combinations may lead to promising new views on sustainable energy.
The current flow of carbon for the production, use, and waste management of polymer-based products is still mostly linear from the lithosphere to the atmosphere with rather low rates of material recycling. In view of a limited future supply of biomass, this article outlines the options to further develop carbon recycling (C-REC). The focus is on carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and use for synthesis of platform chemicals to produce polymers. CO2 may be captured from exhaust gases after combustion or fermentation of waste in order to establish a C-REC system within the technosphere. As a long-term option, an external C-REC system can be developed by capturing atmospheric CO2. A central role may be expected from renewable methane (or synthetic natural gas), which is increasingly being used for storage and transport of energy, but may also be used for renewable carbon supply for chemistry. The energy input for the C-REC processes can come from wind and solar systems, in particular, power for the production of hydrogen, which is combined with CO2 to produce various hydrocarbons. Most of the technological components for the system already exist, and, first modules for renewable fuel and polymer production systems are underway in Germany. This article outlines how the system may further develop over the medium to long term, from a piggy-back add-on flow system toward a self-carrying recycling system, which has the potential to provide the material and energy backbone of future societies. A critical bottleneck seems to be the capacity and costs of renewable energy supply, rather than the costs of carbon capture.
Vom Inter- zum Intra-Wettbewerb : Stufen der Integration erneuerbarer Energien im Strombereich
(2014)
Deutschland ist auf dem Weg zu einem Stromsystem, welches sich zu 100 Prozent aus Erneuerbaren Energien speist. Verschiedene erneuerbare Erzeugungsoptionen stehen dabei zur Verfügung. Noch befinden diese sich in einem koexistenten Wettbewerb mit fossilen Energieträgern (Inter-Wettbewerb). Im vorliegenden Beitrag entwerfen die Autoren ein Marktdesign, welches einen fairen Wettbewerb der erneuerbaren Erzeugungsoptionen garantieren soll (Intra-Wettbewerb). Ihr Ausgangspunkt ist dabei das Gedankenexperiment, welches einen Zustand zugrunde legt, der sich nahe am Ende des anstehenden Transformationsprozesses mit einer Erzeugungsquote von 100 Prozent aus Erneuerbaren Energien befindet. Dabei analysieren sie auch die Kapazitäten und Interessen der Bundesländer beim Zustandekommen eines Intra-Wettbewerbs.
The main objective of this article is to evaluate CO2 mitigation potential and to calculate costs avoided by the use of different CO2 mitigation technologies in China's cement sector, namely energy efficiency improvements, use of alternative fuels, clinker substitution and carbon capture and storage (CCS). Three scenarios are designed based on the projection of cement output and technology development over the next 40 years (2010–2050). 2.5, 4.7 and 4.3 Gt tonnes of CO2 will be saved totally in basic scenario and two low carbon scenarios up to 2050. By comparing these technologies along the scenarios, it can be concluded that CO2 emissions can mainly be reduced by energy efficiency improvements and use of alternative fuels. Clinker substitution, which reduces the clinker-to-cement ratio as well as energy intensity, results in significant cost advantages. CCS, including post-combustion capture and oxy-fuel combustion capture, could play an important role in the capture of CO2 in the cement industry, and is expected to be in commercial use by 2030.
Prospects of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in India's power sector : an integrated assessment
(2014)
Objective: The aim of the present article is to conduct an integrated assessment in order to explore whether CCS could be a viable technological option for significantly reducing future CO2 emissions in India. Methods: In this paper, an integrated approach covering five assessment dimensions is chosen. However, each dimension is investigated using specific methods (graphical abstract).
Results: The most crucial precondition that must be met is a reliable storage capacity assessment based on site-specific geological data since only rough figures concerning the theoretical capacity exist at present. Our projection of different trends of coal-based power plant capacities up to 2050 ranges between 13 and 111 Gt of CO2 that may be captured from coal-fired power plants to be built by 2050. If very optimistic assumptions about the country's CO2 storage potential are applied, 75 Gt of CO2 could theoretically be stored as a result of matching these sources with suitable sinks. If a cautious approach is taken by considering the country's effective storage potential, only a fraction may potentially be sequestered. In practice, this potential will decrease further with the impact of technical, legal, economic and social acceptance factors. Further constraints may be the delayed commercial availability of CCS in India, a significant barrier to achieving the economic viability of CCS, an expected net maximum reduction rate of the power plant’s greenhouse gas emissions of 71-74%, an increase of most other environmental and social impacts, and a lack of governmental, industrial or societal CCS advocates.
Conclusion and practice implications: Several preconditions need to be fulfilled if CCS is to play a future role in reducing CO2 emissions in India, the most crucial one being to determine reliable storage capacity figures. In order to overcome these barriers, the industrialised world would need to make a stronger commitment in terms of CCS technology demonstration, cooperation and transfer to emerging economies like India. The integrated assessment might also be extended by a comparison with other low-carbon technology options to draw fully valid conclusions on the most suitable solution for a sustainable future energy supply in India.
The 2014 United Nations Climate Change Conference had been scheduled from 1 to 12 December in Lima/Peru. While in the run-up to the conference, China and the US in a surprise bilateral move had announced plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions that exceeded expectations, the conference was characterised once again by a deep division between key players from the former so-called "developed" and "developing" world. The negotiations thus took 32 hours longer than planned and ended on Sunday morning at 1.22 am. More importantly, the conference failed almost completely to resolve the tasks it was supposed to do in order to prepare the last round of negotiations before next year's conference in Paris 2015, which is supposed to deliver a comprehensive future climate agreement. A team of researchers from the Wuppertal Institute attended the conference and have compiled a first assessment of the results.
The limited data availability, transparency and harmonisation in environmental assessments of products are bottlenecks for improved environmental and sustainability governance. Despite the progressive developments of information and communication systems, reliable, accurate, up-to-date data for assessing the resource use of products and services is still lacking. Resource accounting systems often have limited scope on single companies, processes or products. This paper presents an approach for an automated bottom-up accounting system for measuring resource efficiency at product and service level. It is based on a global collaborative network of resource accounting nodes connected for the accounting of natural resources use for products and services. Using an Internet-based service-oriented architecture, relevant and timely data is passed from supplier to customer recursively through the whole value chain to produce an "ecoCost" for each product or service. This conceptual paper reflects first experiences from partners of the myEcoCost project funded by European Commission (www.myecocost.com).
At current primary steel production levels, the iron and steel industry will fail to meet the 80% emission reduction target without introduction of breakthrough technologies (Wörtler et al., 2013: 19). The current research analyses the technical and economical long-term potential of innovative primary steel production technologies in Germany throughout 2100. Techno-economic models are used to simulate three innovative ore-based steelmaking routes verses the reference blast furnace route (BF-BOF). The innovative routes in focus are blast furnace with CCS (BF-CCS), hydrogen direct reduction (H-DR), and iron ore electrolysis (EW). Energy and mass flows for the production of one tonne of crude steel (CS) are combined with hypothetical price, cost, and revenue data to evaluate the production routes economically, technically, and environmentally. This is a purely theoretical analysis and hence further external factors that may influence practical implementation or profitability are not considered.
Different future developments are considered by using three scenarios, representing an ambitious, a moderate, and a conservative transformation of the German energy sector. In general, looking into the future bares various uncertainties which should be reflected in a suitable manner.
According to the present scenario analysis, chances are that with rising prices for coal and CO2 allowances BF-BOF and even BF-CCS become unprofitable by mid-century. With a high share of renewable energy sources and high prices for CO2 allowances, H-DR and EW become economically attractive in the second half of the current century, when BF-based routes are long unprofitable. Energy and raw material efficiency is significantly higher for H-DR and EW and furthermore, the 80% reduction target by 2050 can be achieved in the ambitious scenario. However, high investment costs and high dependency on electricity prices prohibit a profitable implementation before 2030–2040 without further subsidies. EW is the most energy and resource efficient production route. Since continuous electricity is needed for the continuous operation, the electricity costs are 20–40% higher than for H-DR (with high-capacity hydrogen storage units). Even though hydrogen production implies efficiency losses compared to the EW route, the decoupling of hydrogen production from continuous operation of the steel plant through hydrogen storage offers the opportunity to use cheap excess renewable electricity. This makes the H-DR economically and environmentally the most attractive route and provides a crucial contribution to stabilize the grid and to store excess energy in a 100% renewable energy system.
Die energetische Sanierung von Wohnhäusern wird in vielen Städten vorangetrieben. Was im Hinblick auf Energieeffizienz sinnvoll ist, kann aufgrund steigender Mietkosten zu einer Verdrängung der alteingesessenen Bewohner(innen) führen. Damit energetische Sanierung nicht dazu beiträgt, soziale Ungleichheiten auf Stadt- und Quartiersebene zu erhöhen, bedarf es sozialpolitischer Regelungen und Förderinstrumente. Doch fehlt noch eine fundierte Datenbasis, die es erlaubt, entsprechende Empfehlungen zu geben.
Energy for transport
(2014)
Global transportation energy use is steeply rising, mainly as a result of increasing population and economic activity. Petroleum fuels remain the dominant energy source, reflecting advantages such as high energy density, low cost, and market availability. The movement of people and freight makes a major contribution to economic development and social well-being, but it also negatively impacts climate change, air quality, health, social cohesion, and safety. Following a review published 20 years ago in the Annual Review of Environment and Resources (then named the Annual Review of Energy and the Environment) by Lee Schipper, we examine current trends and potential futures, revising several major global transport/energy reports. There are significant opportunities to slow travel growth and improve efficiency. Alternatives to petroleum exist but have different characteristics in terms of availability, cost, distribution, infrastructure, storage, and public acceptability. The transition to low-carbon equitable and sustainable transport will take time but can be fostered by numerous short- and medium-term strategies that would benefit energy security, health, productivity, and sustainability.
Zahlreiche Untersuchungen prognostizieren einen erheblichen Anstieg des globalen Ressourcenverbrauchs in den nächsten Jahrzehnten, wenn es nicht zu grundlegenden Veränderungen der Wirtschaftsweise kommt. Gegensteuern ist möglich durch politische Maßnahmen und einem Umdenken sowohl in der Produkt-Dienstleistungs-Entwicklung, bei der Gestaltung von Wertschöpfungsketten als auch im Konsumverhalten. Das Projekt BilRess identifiziert und entwickelt Angebote für alle Bildungsbereiche zum Thema Ressourcenschonung und Ressourceneffizienz.
Die in diesem Artikel vorgenommene Bestandsaufnahme der verschiedenen Bildungsangebote und die Analyse der Bildungsbereiche zeigt eine Vielzahl von Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten und Anknüpfungspunkte zur Implementierung von Ressourcenschonung und -effizienz in die unterschiedlichen Bildungsbereiche. Dabei wird immer wieder deutlich, dass die einzelnen Bildungsbereiche nicht isoliert betrachtet werden können. Die herausgearbeiteten Handlungsempfehlungen fließen in die Erstellung einer "Roadmap Ressourcenbildung" ein.
The concept Material Input per Service Unit (MIPS) was developed 20 years ago as a measure for the overall natural resource use of products and services. The material intensity analysis is used to calculate the material footprint of any economic activities in production and consumption. Environmental assessment has developed extensive databases for life cycle inventories, which can additionally be adopted for material intensity analysis. Based on practical experience in measuring material footprints on the micro level, this paper presents the current state of research and methodology development: it shows the international discussions on the importance of accounting methodologies to measure progress in resource efficiency. The MIPS approach is presented and its micro level application for assessing value chains, supporting business management, and operationalizing sustainability strategies is discussed. Linkages to output-oriented Life Cycle Assessment as well as to Material Flow Analysis (MFA) at the macro level are pointed out. Finally we come to the conclusion that the MIPS approach provides relevant knowledge on resource and energy input at the micro level for fact-based decision-making in science, policy, business, and consumption.
Die Krisen der internationalen Finanzmärkte waren 1998 noch nicht Realität, Atomkraft galt in Deutschland unter der Regierung Kohl immer noch als Zukunftsoption für die kommenden Jahrzehnte und für eine Bundespolitik in Richtung Energiewende war weit und breit kein gesellschaftlicher Konsens in Sicht. Dennoch gab es schon vor der Energiewende Projekte, die sich der Steigerung der Energieeffizienz verschrieben hatten. Mit kombinierten Einspar- und Solarkraftwerken, die an Schulen mit finanzieller Bürgerbeteiligungen entstehen, sollte der Weg zu einer umweltverträglichen Energieversorgung für vier Schulen in Nordrhein-Westfalen eingeschlagen werden. Wie der vorliegende Projektbericht zeigt, konnten die Ziele des Vorhabens erreicht werden: Steigerung der Endenergieeffizienz, verstärkte Nutzung erneuerbarer Energien und der Einsatz dezentraler Kraft-Wärme-Kopplung.
In many developing countries large parts of the population are negatively affected by the lack of access to clean and affordable energy. Providing sustainable energy services to these people has been acknowledged as a key component to reduce poverty. One form of development assistance to address the needs of the energy-poor at the local level are small-scale renewable energy projects. Like all development interventions, these energy projects are not intended to produce short-term outputs, but to create long-term impacts. Thus, it has become increasingly important to evaluate and accurately assess their sustainability. But despite the widely recognized need to identify successes factors and explain failure only few studies exist that address the sustainability of small-scale of energy development efforts post implementation. Against this background the paper presents the results of a post-evaluation of 23 projects supported via the Sustainable Energy Project Support (SEPS) scheme of the WISIONS initiative run by the Wuppertal Institute. The analysis provides insights on the influence that socio-economic, environmental, geographic and gender factors can have on the sustainability of small-scale renewable energy projects in developing countries.
The paper suggests a sustainable material footprint of eight tons, per person, in a year as a resource cap target for household consumption in Finland. This means an 80% (factor 5) reduction from the present Finnish average. The material footprint is used as a synonym to the Total Material Requirement (TMR) calculated for products and activities. The paper suggests how to allocate the sustainable material footprint to different consumption components on the basis of earlier household studies, as well as other studies, on the material intensity of products, services, and infrastructures. It analyzes requirements, opportunities, and challenges for future developments in technology and lifestyle, also taking into account that future lifestyles are supposed to show a high degree of diversity. The targets and approaches are discussed for the consumption components of nutrition, housing, household goods, mobility, leisure activities, and other purposes. The paper states that a sustainable level of natural resource use by households is achievable and it can be roughly allocated to different consumption components in order to illustrate the need for a change in lifestyles. While the absolute material footprint of all the consumption components will have to decrease, the relative share of nutrition, the most basic human need, in the total material footprint is expected to rise, whereas much smaller shares than at present are proposed for housing and especially mobility. For reducing material resource use to the sustainable level suggested, both social innovations, and technological developments are required.
The buildings sector accounts for more than 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the well-known economic viability of many energy-efficient renovation measures which offer great potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meeting climate protection targets, there is a relatively low level of implementation. We performed a citation network analysis in order to identify papers at the research front and intellectual base on energy-efficient renovation in four areas: technical options, understanding decisions, incentive instruments, and models and simulation. The literature was reviewed in order to understand what is needed to sufficiently increase the number of domestic energy-efficient renovations and to identify potential research gaps. Our findings show that the literature on energy-efficient renovation gained considerable momentum in the last decade, but lacks a deep understanding of the uncertainties surrounding economic aspects and non-economic factors driving renovation decisions of homeowners. The analysis indicates that the (socio-economic) energy saving potential and profitability of energy-efficient renovation measures is lower than generally expected. It is suggested that this can be accounted for by the failure to understand and consider the underpinning influences of energy-consuming behaviour in calculations. Homeowners׳ decisions to renovate are shaped by an alliance of economic and non-economic goals. Therefore, existing incentives, typically targeting the economic viability of measures, have brought little success. A deeper understanding of the decisions of homeowners is needed and we suggest that a simulation model which maps the decision-making processes of homeowners may result in refining existing instruments or developing new innovative mechanisms to tackle the situation.
The diversification of the national electricity generation mix has risen to the top of Tunisia's energy planning agenda. Presently, natural gas provides 96% of the primary energy for electric power generation, but declining domestic gas reserves and a soaring electricity demand are urgently calling for alternative fuel strategies. Currently discussed diversification options include the introduction of coal and nuclear power plants and/or an increased use of renewable energies. This article presents a methodology to assess different electricity system transformation strategies. By combining an electricity market model with a subsequent multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), we evaluate five power mix scenarios regarding power generation costs as well as non-economic dimensions such as energy security, environmental impact and social welfare effects. Based on criteria valuations obtained during consultations with Tunisian stakeholders, a final, best-ranking electricity scenario was selected, consisting of 15% wind, 15% solar and 70% natural gas-generated electricity in the national power mix by 2030.
Access to sustainable and affordable energy services is a crucial factor in reducing poverty in developing countries. In particular, small-scale and community-based renewable energy projects are recognized as important forms of development assistance for reaching the energy poor. However, to date only a few empirical evaluations exist which analyze and compare the impact of these projects on local living conditions and their sustainability ex-post implementation.
To better understand the impacts and the conditions that influence sustainability of these projects, the research presented in this paper evaluated 23 local development projects post implementation. By applying an standardized evaluation design to a cross-sectional sample in terms of renewable energy sources (solar, wind, biomass, hydro), user needs (electricity, food preparation, lighting, productive uses), community management models, finance mechanisms and geographical locations, the review results provide valuable insights on the underlying conditions that influence the success or failure of these small-scale local energy interventions. The empirical evidence suggests that the sustainability of small-scale energy implementations (≤100 kW) in developing countries is determined by the same factors, independent of the socio-cultural, political and ecological context. These findings allow to better predict the long-term success of small sustainable energy projects in developing countries, this can help to improve project designs and increase the certainty for future investment decisions.
Die Transition-Town-Bewegung versteht sich als eine BürgerInnenbewegung, die den Wandel hin zu einer zukunftsfähigen Gesellschaft "von unten" vorantreibt. Sie setzt auf das Veränderungspotential von gemeinschaftlichem Handeln und verfolgt einen ganzheitlichen Bildungsansatz, der psychologische Aspekte des Wandels integriert. Die AutorInnen geben einen Einblick in das Konzept, präsentieren erste empirische Daten zur deutschen Bewegung und diskutieren ihre Potentiale und Grenzen.
Living Labs for Sustainable Development aim to integrate users and actors for the successful generation of low-resource innovations in production-consumption systems. This paper investigates potentials of and measures towards the realization of a German Living Lab infrastructure to support actor-integrated sustainability research and innovations in Germany. Information was primarily derived from extensive dialog with experts from the fields of innovation, sustainable development and the Living Lab community (operators, users, etc.), which was facilitated through interviews and workshops. A status quo analysis revealed that, generally, the sustainability and Living Lab communities are hardly intertwined. Twelve Living Labs that explicitly consider sustainability aspects were identified. The application fields "Living and Working", "Town, Region and Mobility", and “Retail and Gastronomy" were identified as particularly suitable for investigation in Living Labs and highly relevant in terms of resource efficiency. Based on the analyses of drivers and barriers and SWOT, keystones for the development of a research infrastructure for user integrated development of sustainable products and services were formulated. Suggested strategies and measures include targeted funding programs for actor-integrated, socio-technical research based on a Living Lab network, a communication campaign, and programs to foster networking and the inclusion of SMEs.
Rund ein Jahrzehnt wurde in der Wissenschaft nur wenig über Suffizienz diskutiert. Im Jahr 1996 sorgte das Motto "Gut leben statt viel haben" aus der Studie "Zukunftsfähiges Deutschland" noch für Schlagzeilen und regte intensive Diskussionen an. Doch in den 2000er Jahren wurde der Suffizienzdiskurs nur noch von wenigen Institutionen vorangetrieben - zu unattraktiv schien eine Debatte über Verzicht. Inzwischen hat eine Gemengelage aus verschiedenen Ereignissen und Erkenntnissen zu einer Vitalisierung des Suffizienzdiskurses geführt. Ein Auslöser von vielen ist der Anstieg der Öl- und Ressourcenpreise. Ein zweiter wichtiger Treiber: Es haben sich Zweifel über die Heilskraft von "grünen Technologien" breit gemacht. Denn die Wirklichkeit sieht, trotz beeindruckender Ausbauerfolge bei den Erneuerbaren im Stromsektor und gutem Willen der Verbraucher, nicht sehr ermutigend aus - der Ressourcenbedarf ist in Deutschland kaum gesunken, die CO2-Emissionen steigen neuerdings sogar. Suffizienz als Konzept des achtsamen Umgangs mit Ressourcen kann dazu beitragen, Verbrauchs- und Emissionsziele dennoch zu erreichen.
Im folgenden Beitrag untersuchen wir die Bürgerbeteiligung im Projekt InnovationCity Ruhr - Modellstadt Bottrop. Im Frühjahr 2010 hat der Initiativkreis Ruhr einen Wettbewerb ausgerufen, bei dem die "Klimastadt der Zukunft" gefunden werden sollte. Ausschlaggebend für den Sieg der Ruhrgebietsstadt war das vorgelegte Konzept, welches Gesellschaft, Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft verbindet. Ziel von InnovationCity Ruhr ist es die CO2-Emmissionen in der Stadt bis 2020 zu halbieren und somit eine Vorbildfunktion zur sozial-ökologischen Transformation für das gesamte Ruhrgebiet einzunehmen. Anhand der (Zwischen-) Ergebnisse zweier Untersuchungen (Best 2013; Roose 2014) werden wir veranschaulichen, wie die Bottroper Bevölkerung die Beteiligungsmöglichkeiten im Projekt wahrnimmt. Darüber hinaus decken wir Hemmschwellen auf und geben Empfehlungen zu einer verbesserten Aktivierung der und breiten Beteiligung durch die Bürgerinnen und Bürger.
Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung (BNE) wird zunehmend als soziale Innovation bezeichnet. In Lernprojekten der BNE können vor Ort Themen der Stadt- und Regionalentwicklung aufgegriffen und durch Lernende projektorientiert bearbeitet werden. In dem Beitrag wird dies an zwei Fallbeispielen verdeutlicht, die jeweils durch lokale BNE-Netzwerke getragen werden. Die Netzwerke werden vor dem Hintergrund der transition theory näher beschrieben und hinsichtlich ihrer Innovations- und Diffusionskraft im lokalen Raum beleuchtet. Abschließend werden notwendige Kompetenzen der Change Agents im Netzwerk skizziert.
In recent decades, better data and methods have become available for understanding the complex functioning of cities and their impacts on sustainability. This review synthesizes the recent developments in concepts and methods being used to measure the impacts of cities on environmental sustainability. It differentiates between a dominant trend in research literature that concentrates on the accounting and allocation of greenhouse gas emissions and energy use to cities and a reemergence of studies that focus on the direct and indirect material and resource flows in cities. The methodological approaches reviewed may consider cities as either producers or consumers, and all recognize that urban environmental impacts can be local, regional, or global. As well as giving an overview of the methodological debates, we examine the implications of the different approaches for policy and the challenges these approaches face in their application on the field.
Implementation von Bildungsinnovationen in Netzwerken : Analyse von Schul-Unternehmens-Kooperationen
(2014)
Der vorliegende Beitrag setzt sich mit der Zusammenarbeit innerhalb eines Netzwerkes auseinander und betrachtet insbesondere die Rolle der Zusammenarbeit für die Implementation schulischer Innovationen. Untersuchungsgegenstand der explorativen Studie ist ein Netzwerk bestehend aus einzelnen Lernpartnerschaften zwischen Schulen und Unternehmen. Anhand von zwölf leitfadengestützten Interviews mit Personen aus vier Kooperationen innerhalb des Netzwerkes wird untersucht, 1) durch welche Kriterien die Qualität der Zusammenarbeit innerhalb des Netzwerkes beschrieben werden kann, 2) welche hemmenden und fördernden Bedingungen die Kooperation beeinflussen und 3) in welchem Zusammenhang die Qualität der Zusammenarbeit im Netzwerk mit der Implementation schulischer Innovationen steht. Befunde der Untersuchung geben Hinweise darauf, dass die Zusammenarbeit in Netzwerken als Instrument bei der Implementation von Innovationen angesehen werden kann und liefern mögliche Ansatzpunkte für die weiterführende Kooperations- und Netzwerkforschung.
Was erreicht eine engagierte Förderung von Pedelecs im städtischen Personenverkehr für den Klimaschutz? Diese Frage wird in zwei Szenarien für die Stadt Wuppertal beantwortet. Während das erste Szenario von einem business as usual ausgeht, nimmt das zweite Szenario eine ambitionierte Förderung von Anschaffung und Nutzung des Pedelecs an. Es stellt sich heraus, dass eine ambitionierte Förderung des Pedelecs deutlich zum Klimaschutz beiträgt. In Wuppertal reduzieren sich die CO2-Emissionen pro Kopf in der Personenmobilität bis 2050 gegenüber einem business as usual um 11%. Als besonders wirksam zur Erhöhung des Anteils des Pedelecs erweist sich die Einführung einer flächenhaften Regelgeschwindigkeit von 30 km/h innerorts inklusive aller Hauptverkehrsstraßen.
Können städtische und stadtregionale Verkehrskonzepte ausdrücklich am Klimaschutzziel orientiert werden, um das politisch formulierte Zwei-Grad-Ziel mit einer massiven Minderung der CO2-Emissionen von -80 bis -95 % bis 2050 gegenüber dem Basisjahr 1990 zu erreichen? Für München, Köln, Wuppertal, Tübingen, das östliche Ruhrgebiet und die Region Hannover liegen klimaschutzorientierten Szenarien zur künftigen Verkehrsentwicklung vor. Sie zeigen, wie es gehen kann.
Ausgehend von internationalen Klimaschutzzielen wird der ÖPNV in Zukunft eine tragende Rolle zur Sicherstellung der Mobilität spielen müssen. Investitionen in ein besseres ÖPNV-Angebot sind auf Grund leerer öffentlicher Kassen allerdings kaum absehbar. Darum wird eine Solidarfinanzierung für den ÖPNV vorgeschlagen: das Bürgerticket. Damit soll eine solide Finanzierungsbasis geschaffen werden. Zugleich könnte die verpflichtende Zahlung bei den Bürgern als ein zusätzlicher Anreiz zur ÖPNV Nutzung wirken.
Prepaid vor dem Rollout?
(2014)
Moderne Vorkassezähler sollten eher als "Sparzähler" bezeichnet werden, denn mehr noch als Smart Meter motiviert das Zahlen nach Bedarf nachweisbar zum sparsamen Umgang mit Energie. Das in der "et" 11/2012 diskutierte und in Großbritannien millionenfach bewährte Konzept wurde jetzt in den schwarz-roten Koalitionsvertrag aufgenommen. Der Vorschlag traf auf breite Zustimmung, rief aber auch kritische Rückmeldungen hervor.
Generating social practices
(2014)
Changing consumer behaviour is key to reducing the environmental effects of industrialised societies. Social practice theories provide an integrated approach to understanding consumer behaviour. The mechanisms underlying the emergence and diffusion of social practices are however until now poorly understood. This paper presents a conceptual framework and an abstract agent-based simulation model for generating social practices which use and extend approaches from social practice theories. The main results are twofold. First, the simulation model is able to generate social practices, what confirms that the conceptual framework captures relevant elements and processes. Second, a new mechanism for behavioural lock-in is identified that provides additional insights into the widely acknowledged challenge of changing social practices and respective consumption.
There are a variety of economic and ecological benefits to increased resource efficiency. Social, institutional and technical innovations can all contribute towards efficiency increases. Companies face different hurdles in fostering such innovation. Small and medium-sized companies are subject to specific constraints that may prevent them from benefiting from innovation-induced resource efficiency improvements. Qualitative interviews were conducted among German small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and intermediaries to identify barriers for resource efficiency innovations and to elaborate a policy mix at the federal level that could help SMEs to overcome these. We found five major barriers to resource efficiency innovations in German SMEs, comprising deficits in innovation culture, inter-firm cooperation along the value chain, finance, awareness and take-up of government funds. We propose a distinct policy mix as a response to this situation. The policy mix comprises the interlocking and synergistic elements of government funding schemes, innovation agents and innovation laboratories.
Crowdsourcing as a method of transdisciplinary research : tapping the full potential of participants
(2014)
Within the scope of citizen science projects, crowdsourcing has already expanded into scientific application areas. In this, its scientific potential is only partly exhausted, however.
It will be shown that transdisciplinary research is made up in content and structural aspects in such a way that crowdsourcing can fully unfold as a research method through varied participation possibilities, reflective processes and use of contemporary technical possibilities. Furthermore, mutual learning, understanding and the dissemination of knowledge strongly profits from effects that even result automatically in this context.
The scientific application of crowdsourcing represented here makes high demands on project management, but it is expected to turn out as an effective research method precisely in the area of transdisciplinary research.
Die Perspektive einer nachhaltigen Hochschule konzentriert sich häufig auf die ökologische und soziale Qualität des Betriebs der Einrichtung sowie die in Forschung und Lehre behandelten Inhalte. Doch bei der Idee einer nachhaltigen Hochschule geht es um mehr.
Sie stellt die Frage nach dem Verhältnis von Hochschule und Gesellschaft neu. Wie geht eine Hochschule mit zentralen gesellschaftlichen Herausforderungen um? Wie interagiert sie mit den gesellschaftlichen Akteuren in ihrem Umfeld? In welcher Form bringt sie sich in nachhaltigkeits-orientierte Transformationsprozesse ein? Diese Dimensionen spielen bisher in der Diskussion um die nachhaltige Hochschule eine untergeordnete Rolle.
Der Beitrag zeigt auf, was unter einer "True University Sustainability" zu verstehen ist wo sich erste Ansätze in deutschen Hochschulen finden lassen.
The availability of life cycle inventories is one of the biggest challenges for life cycle wide environmental assessment. There are several life cycle assessment (LCA) databases providing inventory data as well as resource and emission profiles of processes for impact assessment methods like ReCiPe or IMPACT 2002+. But the use of these LCA databases for input oriented environmental assessment is very limited as they cover only a part of all relevant input flows. The paper describes current challenges when calculating the input oriented Material Input per Service Unit (MIPS) indicators based on LCA inventory data from the Ecoinvent database. Propositions are made how to address these challenges. As a conclusion, further need of research to reach a full compatibility of LCA databases and the MIPS concept is pointed out.
The European Waste Framework Directive has defined waste prevention as top of the waste hierarchy meaning nothing less than a fundamental change of the sociotechnical system of waste infrastructures with all its economic, legal, social and cultural elements. Based on an empirical analysis of more than 300 waste prevention measures this paper assesses which prevention effects can realistically be achieved by applying the measures described in the German waste prevention programme or in those of other EU member states. Taking into account waste streams like packaging, food waste, bulky waste and production waste the results show that waste generation is not an unavoidable evil but can be significantly reduced at current level of technology.
Purpose - Since the registration of the first clean development mechanism (CDM) project in 2004, the CDM has seen a dynamic expansion: the CDM pipeline currently comprises 6,725 projects generating 2.73 billion certified emission reductions (CERs) up to 2012. These CERs result in a substantial financial flow from Annex I to Non-Annex I countries. But CDM projects also result in investments in low carbon technologies, a substantial share of which is focused on the energy sector. The total installed capacity of all CDM projects amounts to 288,944 MW. However, the CDM is not widely taken up in Africa. This holds true for Africa's share in the CDM project pipeline (2.62 per cent), for Africa's share in CERs generated up to 2012 (3.58 per cent) and for the normalized CERs per capita, per country. Two hypothesizes are commonly discussed: first, the continent features low per capita emissions and low abatement potentials. Second, African countries may be hampered by weak institutional frameworks. This article reviews both hypotheses and presents new empirical data. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach - Investigating the greenhouse gas (GHS) abatement potential of 16 energy-related sectors for 11 selected least developed countries in sub-Saharan Africa shows a total theoretical CDM potential of 128.6 million CERs per year. Analyzing investment indicators confirms that most countries are impeded by below average investment conditions.
Findings - It is concluded that Africa offers a considerable range of substantial abatement potentials. However, the weak institutional framework is limiting the uptake of the CDM in Africa. This is underpinned by an analysis which shows if a CDM sector has high investment cost, Africa will have a low share in the sector. If the sector has low investment needs per CER, Africa's share in the CDM sector will be bigger. Investment needs and Africa's share in the pipeline feature a negative correlation.
Research limitations/implications - Supporting CDM development in Africa should not be constraint to technical assistance. It will be crucial to develop an integrated financing approach, comprising the CDM as a co-financing mechanism, to overcome the institutional challenges.
Originality/value - Until today, there are few empirical studies that use concrete criteria and indicators to show why the CDM is underrepresented in Africa. The work presented here contributes to filling this gap.
This paper analyses the results of the climate conference in Lima 2014 in the light of the coming climate summit in Paris by the end of this year (COP21). The authors from the Wuppertal Institute make recommendations for the improvement of the current cooperation in the context of the climate convention and they suggest to complement the existing UN regime with a club of forerunner countries in order to provide new breath for international climate policy.
Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung und strategische Umweltprüfung als Instrumente des Ressourcenschutzes
(2014)
Vor dem Hintergrund der aktuellen Ressourcenschutzdiskussion wird im Beitrag erläutert, wie Ressourcenschutzbelange in den bestehenden UVPG-Schutzgütern, aber auch darüber hinaus in der Umweltprüfung stärker berücksichtigt werden können. In diesem Zusammenhang stellen die räumlichen und zeitlichen Systemgrenzen der Umweltprüfung eine besondere Herausforderung dar. Es werden erste Ansätze dargestellt, wie ressourcenbezogene Umweltwirkungen und stoffliche und energetische Inanspruchnahmen in die Planungspraxis übernommen werden können.
Aufgrund seiner starken Umweltauswirkungen gilt der Lebensmittelsektor durch Effekte in Produktion, Verarbeitung, Konsum und Entsorgung gemeinhin als ein wichtiges Handlungsfeld, soll eine gesellschaftliche Transformation in Richtung Nachhaltigkeit weiter vorangetrieben werden. Da Ernährungsgewohnheiten sowohl ökologische Auswirkungen induzieren als auch gesundheitliche Folgen für die Verbraucher haben, sind Konzepte gefragt, die ökologische mit gesundheitlichen Indikatoren kombinieren; diese sind jedoch bislang rar. Das vorgestellte Instrument des Nutritional Footprint greift diese Problemstellung auf und verbindet in einem innovativen Konzept jeweils vier Kernindikatoren beider Dimensionen. Mithilfe des Konzepts erhalten Verbraucher einen Überblick zu Umwelt- und Gesundheitswirkungen ihrer Ernährung. Unternehmen können wiederum interne Datensätze verwalten, Benchmarking betreiben und ihre externe Kommunikationsleistung erweitern.
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.
Technologischer Wandel ist wichtig für die Umsetzung und den Erfolg der Energiewende, deswegen strebt die Bundesregierung mit ihrer Politik auch eine positive Innovationswirkung an. Doch welche Auswirkungen hat der politisch angestoßene Wandel des Energiesystems wirklich und welche Dynamiken werden durch ihn induziert? Eine aktuelle Studie untersucht die Sicht auf die Energiepolitik und Innovationsaktivitäten in der Energiewirtschaft und Energietechnologie-Branche. Sie zeigt die durch die Energiewende getriebenen Innovationsdynamiken, aber auch Schwierigkeiten und Herausforderungen für Politik und Unternehmen auf.
Die Transformation des deutschen Energiesystems in Richtung signifikanter Reduktion energiebedingter CO2-Emissionen kann durch eine Abfolge verschiedener Phasen beschrieben werden. Phasenübergänge ergeben sich dabei aus strukturellen Erfordernissen im Gesamtsystem bei kontinuierlichem weiteren Ausbau erneuerbarer Energiewandler, insbesondere Sonne und Wind. Die anstehende zweite Phase ist durch eine umfassende Systemintegration volatiler erneuerbarer Energien insbesondere im Bereich der Strombereitstellung geprägt. Dies erfordert sowohl eine flexible komplementäre Erzeugung als auch die Aktivierung von Flexibilitätsoptionen auf der Verbrauchsseite.
Many countries have started to develop policy programs for the sustainable use of natural resources. Indicators and targets can cover both a territorial and a life-cycle-wide global perspective. This article focuses on how a safe operating space for global material resource use can be outlined based on existing economy-wide material flow indicators. It reflects on issues such as scale and systems perspective, as the choice of indicators determines the target "valves" of the socio-industrial metabolism. It considers environmental pressures and social aspects of safe and fair resource use. Existing proposals for resource consumption targets are reviewed, partially revisited, and taken as a basis to outline potential target values for a safe operating space for the extraction and use of minerals and biomass by final consumption. A potential sustainability corridor is derived with the Total Material Consumption of abiotic resources ranging from 6 to 12 t/person, the Total Material Consumption of biotic resources not exceeding 2 t/person, and the Raw Material Consumption of used biotic and abiotic materials ranging from 3 to 6 t/person until 2050. For policy, a "10-2-5 target triplet" can provide orientation, when the three indicators are assigned values of 10, 2, and 5 t/person, respectively.
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.
Lessons for model use in transition research : a survey and comparison with other research areas
(2015)
The use of models to study the dynamics of transitions is challenging because of several aspects of transitions, notably complexity, multi-domain and multi-level interactions. These challenges are shared by other research areas that extensively make use of models. In this article we survey experiences and methodological approaches developed in the research areas of social-ecological modeling, integrated assessment, and environmental modeling, and derive lessons to be learnt for model use in transition studies. In order to account for specific challenges associated with different kinds of model applications we classify models according to their uses: for understanding transitions, for providing case-specific policy advice, and for facilitating stakeholder processes. The assessment reveals promising research directions for transition modeling, such as model-to-model analysis, pattern-oriented modeling, advanced sensitivity analysis, development of a shared conceptual framework, and use of modeling protocols.
Urbanization and climate change are amongst the greatest challenges of the 21st century. In the "Low Carbon Future Cities" project (LCFC), three important problem dimensions are analysed: current and future GHG emissions and their mitigation (up to 2050); resource use and material flows; and vulnerability to climate change.
The industrial city of Wuxi has been the Chinese pilot city of the project. To establish the pathway for a low carbon future, it is crucial to understand the current situation and possible future developments. The paper presents the key results of the status quo analysis and the future scenario analysis carried out for Wuxi. Two scenarios are outlined. The Current Policy Scenario (CPS) shows the current most likely development in the area of energy demand and GHG emissions until 2050. Whereas the extra low carbon scenario (ELCS) assumes a significantly more ambitious implementation, it combines a market introduction of best available technologies with substantial behavioural change. All scenarios are composed of sub-scenarios for the selected key sectors.
Looking at the per capita emissions in Wuxi, the current levels are already high at around 12 tonnes CO2 per capita compared to Western European cities. Although Wuxi has developed a low carbon plan, the projected results under current policies (CPS) show that the total emissions would increase to 23.6 tonnes CO2 per capita by 2050. If the ELCS pathway was to be adopted, these CO2 emission levels could be reduced to 6.4 tonnes per capita by 2050.
Measuring progress towards sustainable development requires appropriate frameworks and databases. The System of Environmental-Economic Accounts (SEEA) is undergoing continuous refinement with these objectives in mind. In SEEA, there is a need for databases to encompass the global dimension of societal metabolism. In this paper, we focus on the latest effort to construct a global multi-regional input-output database (EXIOBASE) with a focus on environmentally relevant activities. The database and its broader analytical framework allows for the as yet most detailed insight into the production-related impacts and "footprints" of our consumption. We explore the methods used to arrive at the database, and some key relationships extracted from the database.
The current momentum in the electrification of the car fuels hope for a transition in mobility. However, electric vehicles have failed before and it is thus asked: What is the potential of e-mobility developing as a sustainable system innovation? In order to deal with this challenge analytically, a theoretical framework is developed: the concepts of transformative capacity of a new technology (do electric vehicles trigger "social" innovations, e.g. new business models or use patterns?) and system adaptability (how stable is the mobility regime?) are introduced and the issue of sustainability is discussed. This framework will be explored for the German innovation system for e-mobility. It can be shown that electric cars will only be successful when part of a system innovation and that the German innovation system is dominated by regime actors and thus potentially used as a way to fend off more substantial change.
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.
The transformation of energy systems is influencing economic policy agendas all over the world, particularly in industrialized countries. In this process, Germany has taken a pioneering role, and hence the technical innovations, legal frameworks, and business models established there are also of interest for other countries trying to achieve broader use of renewable energies. Energy cooperatives have been an important building block in the energy transition in Germany, although their practical importance is neither quantitatively nor qualitatively reflected in the academic literature. Drawing on recently collected data, this paper presents an overview of German energy cooperatives in terms of organization, financing, and membership. We then review literature from economics and the social sciences that has been used to analyze cooperatives on various levels in other fields. We discuss how these theories could be applied to create a better understanding of energy cooperatives, and we derive a preliminary research agenda for their analysis. We also assess the scope for interdisciplinary work among economists, sociologists, and other disciplines.
To live a life of sufficiency in a consumerist culture may be one of the most ambitious experiments an individual could undertake. To investigate this challenge, we employed a social-practice approach. This article is based on 42 qualitative interviews asking respondents why and how they acted in a sufficient way within a Western infrastructure and culture. The results indicate that sufficiency-oriented people draw on particular meanings in everyday-life practices when adopting relevant resource-extensive actions. These understandings encompass an amalgam of environmentally friendly attitudes, positive social intentions, and/or personal commitments to thriftiness. We further identified a set of specific practices - including sharing, recycling, and reusing - as useful for the adoption of a sufficient lifestyle. For our respondents, many of these sufficiency practices occurred regularly in daily life and were rarely questioned. Using an additional survey, we show that these routines lead to less resource-intensive lifestyles and demonstrate how a small group of people has been able to habitually adopt sufficiency practices. However, the majority does not see a need for more frequent implementation of such routines because daily decision-making processes are widely focused on the consumption of products.
The German government has set itself the target of reducing the country's GHG emissions by between 80 and 95% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. Alongside energy efficiency, renewable energy sources are set to play the main role in this transition. However, the large-scale deployment of renewable energies is expected to cause increased demand for critical mineral resources. The aim of this article is therefore to determine whether the transformation of the German energy system by 2050 ("Energiewende") may possibly be restricted by a lack of critical minerals, focusing primarily on the power sector (generating, transporting and storing electricity from renewable sources). For the relevant technologies, we create roadmaps describing a number of conceivable quantitative market developments in Germany. Estimating the current and future specific material demand of the options selected and projecting them along a range of long-term energy scenarios allows us to assess potential medium- or long-term mineral resource restrictions. The main conclusion we draw is that the shift towards an energy system based on renewable sources that is currently being pursued is principally compatible with the geological availability and supply of mineral resources. In fact, we identified certain sub-technologies as being critical with regard to potential supply risks, owing to dependencies on a small number of supplier countries and competing uses. These sub-technologies are certain wind power plants requiring neodymium and dysprosium, thin-film CIGS photovoltaic cells using indium and selenium, and large-scale redox flow batteries using vanadium. However, non-critical alternatives to these technologies do indeed exist. The likelihood of supplies being restricted can be decreased further by cooperating even more closely with companies in the supplier countries and their governments, and by establishing greater resource efficiency and recyclability as key elements of technology development.
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.
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.
Consumption-based CO2 emissions, which are commonly calculated by means of environmentally extended input-output analysis, are gaining wider recognition as a way to complement territorial emission inventories. Although their use has increased significantly in the last years, insufficient attention has been paid to the methodological soundness of the underlying environmental extension. This should follow the internationally agreed accounting rules of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, which addresses the activities undertaken by the residents of a country, independent from where these take place. Nonetheless, some footprint calculations use extensions that account for all the activities within the territory, which leads to methodological inconsistencies. Thus, this article introduces the most relevant conceptual differences between these accounting frameworks and shows the magnitude of the gap between them building on the data generated for the EXIOBASE model. It concludes that the differences are high for many countries and their magnitude is increasing over time.
For 20 years, the number of resource policy approaches with direct and indirect relations to raw materials, resource and material efficiency has grown enormously at national and international level. This discussion paper makes an inventory of different political and regulatory approaches that contain a direct or indirect reference to resources such as construction materials, industrial minerals, or metals. They are examined and evaluated regarding foci and resource priorities as well as further categories such as target lines, governance levels, indicators used, integration into wider target systems, specification, and implementation. The aim is to provide an overview of the spectrum of resource objectives in international, European, and national strategies, programs, and initiatives. The closer analysis of raw material targets embedded in the policy programs and legal approaches reveals that most goals lack a time frame and a concrete vision, thus remain at a strategic level. To complement the overview, the state of research in the field of modeling and simulation is briefly discussed. Concluding remarks concerning their relation to the objectives identified and the task of target setting complete the discussion.
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.
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.
Social innovations, which transform resource intensive routines and practices into low-resource ones, combined with socio-technically designed transition paths, which are created around sustainability and environmental criteria, are milestones for implementation and diffusion of SCP (Sustainable Consumption and Production). This paper analyses such processes based on eight key components in order to evaluate and explain transformation and transition towards a sustainable lifestyle. Actors on all levels of society are included in this approach, creating a whole framework. Global megatrends, such as climate change, demographic change or resource scarcity will be put into relation with current policies and production trends, which play an important role for the development of transition pathways and future scenarios. This will enable us to work out guidelines and ideas on how to create a more sustainable society specifically.
Nach einer langen Phase der Stabilität ist die Stromwirtschaft in den vergangenen 15 Jahren stark in Bewegung geraten. Mit der Liberalisierung stand zunächst der Wechsel von Gebietsmonopolen hin zu wettbewerblich organisierten Erzeuger- und Verbrauchermärkten an. Derzeit findet ein ganz ähnlicher Umbruch statt, der vom Übergang von konventioneller hin zu erneuerbarer Stromerzeugung gekennzeichnet ist. Aber sind die Paradigmen der einzelnen Phasen miteinander vereinbar und hat jede für sich noch immer ihre Daseinsberechtigung, oder ist hier eine Modifizierung notwendig? Das Strommarktdesign der Zukunft kann nicht auf einem leeren Blatt entworfen, sondern es müssen bestehende Strukturen berücksichtigt werden. Gleichzeitig ist die Frage zu beantworten, ob die Wahl zwischen regulatorischen oder marktbasierten Ansätzen sich auch anhand der mit ihnen möglichen Präzision der Steuerung unterscheidet.
Prospects of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in China's power sector : an integrated assessment
(2015)
Objective: The aim of the present article is to conduct an integrated assessment in order to explore whether CCS could be a viable technological option for significantly reducing future CO2 emissions in China. Methods: In this paper, an integrated approach covering five assessment dimensions is chosen. Each dimension is investigated using specific methods (graphical abstract). Results: The most crucial precondition that must be met is a reliable storage capacity assessment based on site-specific geological data. Our projection of different trends of coal-based power plant capacities up to 2050 ranges between 34 and 221 Gt of CO2 that may be captured from coal-fired power plants to be built by 2050. If very optimistic assumptions about the country’s CO2 storage potential are applied, 192 Gt of CO2 could theoretically be stored as a result of matching these sources with suitable sinks. If a cautious approach is taken, this figure falls to 29 Gt of CO2. In practice, this potential will decrease further with the impact of technical, legal, economic and social acceptance factors. Further constraints may be the delayed commercial availability of CCS in China; a significant barrier to achieving the economic viability of CCS due to a currently non-existing nation-wide CO2 pricing scheme that generates a sufficiently strong price signal; an expected life-cycle reduction rate of the power plant's greenhouse gas emissions of 59-60%; and an increase in most other negative environmental and social impacts. Conclusion and practice implications: Most experts expect a striking dominance of coal-fired power generation in the country's electricity sector, even if the recent trend towards a flattened deployment of coal capacity and reduced annual growth rates of coal-fired generation proves to be true in the future. In order to reduce fossil fuel-related CO2 emissions to a level that would be consistent with the long-term climate protection target of the international community to which China is increasingly committing itself, this option may require the introduction of CCS. However, a precondition for opting for CCS would be finding robust solutions to the constraints highlighted in this article. Furthermore, a comparison with other low-carbon technology options may be useful in drawing completely valid conclusions on the economic, ecological and social viability of CCS in a low-carbon policy environment. The assessment dimensions should be integrated into macro-economic optimisation models by combining qualitative with quantitative modelling, and the flexible operation of CCS power plants should be analysed in view of a possible role of CCS for balancing fluctuating renewable energies.
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.
Prospects for the integration of power markets and the expansion of renewable energy have recently triggered a number of publications dealing with transformation scenarios of the North African electricity systems. This paper compares five studies using economic electricity supply- and demand models to assess possible development pathways of the North African power systems from today until 2030 and 2050. The analysis shows that distinct modeling methodologies as well as different approaches to scenario design and parameter assumptions can strongly influence the studies' results, leading to very heterogenous projections of North Africa's power generation structures as well as the patterns of electricity exchange with other regions, like Europe. Common findings of the studies are that the surplus costs of capital-intensive renewable energy expansion in North Africa can in most cases be offset by avoided fuel costs and avoided investments in conventional power plants. All studies further agree that increased transnational cooperation, notably in terms of market integration and cross-border power exchanges, can bring about important economic advantages for the North African power sector. Renewable energy expansion could also drive electricity exports to Europe, but in integrated power market schemes, such exports only become viable with a very high share of renewable energy exceeding 60% of the North African power demand.
A key challenge of the 21st century is to transform society into one that features sustainable patterns of production and consumption. To achieve this, transition processes need to be designed in key areas such as housing, mobility and nutrition. The design and large-scale implementation of sustainable product service systems (PSS) is regarded a promising approach for sustainability transitions. Real-life socio-technical experiments are an important infrastructure for designing PSS in collaboration with stakeholders and users. In this paper, we argue that transdisciplinary and action research methods are required for institutionalising an experimental set-up and developing PSS within such infrastructures. We present the Sustainable LivingLabs (SLL) research infrastructure and its methodology as an example of such experimental settings. It was collaboratively developed with key stakeholders in three consecutive research projects and applied to e.g. heating and space heating. We show new qualities of SLL in relation to existing LivingLabs and approaches for PSS design and present its methodological three-phase model (insight research, prototyping, field testing) of research. Our article contributes to knowledge on a methodological framework and tool-kit for PSS development in SLL with a clear focus on socio-ecological sustainability. Intermediate findings confirm the high influence of user practices on heating energy consumption and show starting points for PSS development: e.g. transformational products, home-automation combined with consulting along value chains. We hypothesise that developing PSS in user- and stakeholder-integrated settings supports acceptance and diffusion and, by taking into account users' social practices of utilising novelties, reduces rebound effects caused by incorrect application.
Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have decided to establish a "new market-based mechanism" (NMM) to promote mitigation across "broad segments" of developing countries' economies but have so far defined only some broad outlines of how it is to function. This article identifies key design options of the NMM based on a survey of the literature and reviews them against a range of assessment criteria. Furthermore, potential application of the NMM is analysed for five country-sector combinations. The analysis finds that lack of data and of institutions that could manage the NMM are key bottlenecks. In addition, the analysis reveals the existence of substantial no-regret reduction potential, suggesting that sectors may not be sensitive to the market incentives from an NMM. Governmental capacity building and Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) might be more appropriate in the short term, preparing the ground for the adoption of market-based approaches at a later stage. NMM pilots could be based on supported NAMAs but should ideally generate tradable and compliance-grade emission credits in order to fully simulate the real-life conditions of an NMM.
Policy relevance: The Doha conference identified "possible elements" of the NMM to be addressed in the development of the NMM's modalities and procedures. This article identifies available options for these possible elements and reviews these options against a number of criteria, including environmental effectiveness, economic efficiency, political and administrative efficiency, and others. On this basis the article identifies options that are best suited to fulfil the main aims of the NMM as decided at the Durban conference, "to enhance the cost-effectiveness of, and to promote, mitigation actions". In addition, the article analysis potential application of the NMM for five country-sector combinations. The analysis assesses the emission reduction potential that could be mobilized through the NMM as well as the institutional market readiness of the sectors. Finally, the article synthesizes the challenges ahead for the NMM that have emerged from the analysis and suggests possible ways forward.
Critical metals are in great demand by the electrical and electronics industry, so waste electrical and eletronic equipment represents a significant source of secondary raw materials. Owing to low recycling rates and the concomitant supply risks associated with critical metals, the closure of the material cycles is highly relevant to the German economy. Losses of these metals occur from collection until their material recovery, along the entire disposal chain of waste electrical and electronic equipment. This paper develops planning criteria for the design of collection groups to achieve higher recovery amounts of such metals. The aim is to clarify what amounts of metals exist, both product-specific and on the market, how the dismantling of the products is constructed and how collection groups can be arranged with planning criteria oriented towards resource conservation. The analysis is a snapshot using the example of indium and selected products. A procedure is presented and findings identified which are transferable to various critical metals and to waste electrical and electronic equipment. The results show that grouping of products according to resource amounts and the dismantling effort enables forward-looking and resource-efficient planning of the treatment of every single collection group.
A future-oriented and sustainable "Leasing Society" is based on a combination of new and innovative serviceoriented business models, changed product and material ownership structures, increased and improved eco-design efforts, and reverse logistic structures. Together these elements have the potential to change the relationship between producers and consumers, and thereby create a new incentive structure in the economy regarding the use and re-use of resources. While the consumer in a leasing society buys a service (instead of a product), the producer in a leasing society retains the ownership of the product (instead of selling it) and sells the service of using the product. This creates producer incentives to re-use, remanufacture, and recycle products and materials and could become a cornerstone of the circular economy, depending on how the leasing society is implemented. While a predominantly positive picture of the success of a leasing society model and related business cases emerges from the bigger part of the available literature, this paper argues that the resource efficiency of respective business cases is highly dependent on the specific business case design. This paper develops a more cautious and differentiated definition of the leasing society by discussing relevant mechanisms and success factors of leasing society business cases. The leasing society is discussed from a micro business-oriented and a macro environment-oriented perspective complemented by a discussion of conditions for successful business models that reduce environmental impacts and resource footprints.
Der Beitrag widmet sich der Frage, wie suffizient private Haushalte im heutigen Wirtschaftssystem agieren können und welche Grenzen sich offenbaren. Private Haushalte sind neben den Unternehmen, staatlichen Institutionen und intermediären Organisationen eine zentrale Leistungsinstanz für die Produktion von Gütern und Dienstleistungen und nehmen damit die Versorgung der Menschen ein. Haushalte bieten viel Potential für die Verankerung von Suffizienzstrategien, trotzdem gibt es gewissermaßen genauso viele Herausforderungen und Barrieren rund um diesen Themenschwerpunkt. Die Vision dabei: Durch suffizienteren Konsum könnten Haushalte in ihrem privaten Entscheidungsraum langfristig zukunftsfähiger agieren. So würde der haushaltsspezifischer Ressourcenverbrauch gesenkt und suffizientere Unternehmenslösungen würden durch ausgewählte Konsumentscheidungen von Haushalten unterstützt werden. Von dieser Vision ist die Gesellschaft aktuell aber zugegebenermaßen immer noch weit entfernt. Trotzdem erscheint es wichtig, sich diesem Thema empirisch zu nähern, insbesondere um Potentiale und Herausforderungen eines suffizienteren Handelns in den heutigen Haushaltsund Gesellschaftsstrukturen zu skizzieren. Die Argumentation des Beitrags fußt deshalb auf den Ergebnissen aus 42 qualitativen, problemfokussierten Interviews mit Verbraucherinnen und Verbrauchern in ganz Deutschland. Der Beitrag schließt mit einem Fazit und skizziert die Antwort auf die Frage, ob und wie Haushalte suffizient sein können und welche Herausforderungen sich für die Zukunft ergeben.
Im vorliegenden Beitrag soll die Rolle suffizienter Geschäftsmodelle in der Abfallwirtschaft aufgezeigt und anhand konkreter Fallbeispiele diskutiert werden. Daraus lassen sich Schlussfolgerungen zur Rolle technischer Pfadabhängigkeiten, zur Messbarkeit von Suffizienz und zur Integration von Suffizienzaspekten in der Infrastrukturplanung ziehen, die über abfallwirtschaftliche Geschäftsmodelle hinausgehen.
"Suffizienz als Geschäftsmodell" ist besonders für einen auch in jüngerer Zeit diskutierten gewinnenden Typus von Organisation von Bedeutung: den sogenannten Social Entrepreneur. Social Entrepreneure konzentrieren sich auf die Lösung gesellschaftlicher Probleme und die Investoren verzichten in diesem Rahmen auf die Maximierung von Gewinnen. Der vorliegende Beitrag zeigt, warum eine auf den 4 E's (Entrümpelung, Entschleunigung, Entflechtung, Entkommerzialisierung) beruhende Idee der Suffizienz (Sachs, Polit, 1993) als Geschäftszweck von Social Entrepreneurship besonders geeignet ist. Der Beitrag geht dabei auf die Herausforderung ein, aus entsprechenden Geschäftsideen ein belastbares Geschäftsmodell zu machen, das die langfristige Existenz des Social Entrepreneurs gewährleistet. Die Herausforderung der Integration von Suffizienz in das Geschäftsmodell werden am konkreten Beispiel "Utopiastadt" in Wuppertal beleuchtet, einem Social Entrepreneur, der in mehreren Suffizienz-relevanten "Geschäftsfeldern" tätig ist.
The transition towards a circular economy is high on the political agenda and support for innovative business models can be seen as one of the key strategies for its implementation. Nevertheless most of these business models rely on an increasing generation of waste and thus undermine the prevention of waste as top of the waste hierarchy. The paper aims to link this debate to more systemic eco-innovations that offer economic market potentials by reduced material inputs and waste generation. This directs the attention to sufficiency strategies that surpass the level of individual consumer choices and regards the potentials of entrepreneurial sufficiency strategies. It takes the example of waste contracting modelsin Germany as a possible approach of resource-light business models that provide existing utility aspects with altered consumption patterns and decreased resource consumption. It describes environmental and economic benefits and draws conclusions on necessary policy framework conditions.
Societal transitions involve multiple actors, changes in institutions, values and technologies, and interactions across multiple sectors and scales. Given this complexity, this paper takes on the view that the societal transitions research field would benefit from the further maturation and broader uptake of modelling approaches. This paper shows how modelling can enhance the understanding of and support stakeholders to steer societal transitions. It discusses the benefits modelling provides for studying large societal systems and elaborates on different ways models can be used for transitions studies. Two model applications are presented in some detail to illustrate the benefits. Then, limitations of modelling societal transitions are discussed, which leads to an agenda for future activities: (1) better cooperation in the development of dynamic models, (2) stronger interaction with other transition scholars and stakeholders, and (3) use of additional modelling approaches that we think are relevant to and largely unexplored in transitions studies.
The paper reflects the hypothesis that those technological and institutional innovations survive which extend the safe operating range (SOR) of the Humans-Technologies-Institutions (HTI) system (e.g. companies, cities, regions and countries). The multidimensional SOR of a country comprises in particular safe livelihood, quality of life, security, monetary stability, supply security and quality of the environment. A "mechanism of progress" is described involving the search for higher safety and independence of constraints. With innovation and learning in a key role, the mechanism leads to a relative decoupling of resource use and economic value added and a growing share of knowledge generation in the economy. Competition of HTI systems for scarce resources may lead to independence strategies such as enhanced resource efficiency. It may also lead to cooperation of competing HTI systems facilitated by new institutions thus forming an HTI system at higher level of complexity. While the consortium could coordinate their resource consumption within the boundaries of safe operating space, the partner HTI systems would further expand their SOR. Data is provided that net resource importing countries have developed higher material productivity thus increasing their independence from resource supply, and countries with such capability have gained higher innovation capacity.
A lack of proper treatment infrastructure and sufficient capacity for municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment is a crucial barrier for the environmentally sound management of waste. However, overcapacities, especially for waste incineration, also have to be taken into account regarding their potential impacts on recycling markets and waste treatment prices. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of existing MSW incineration plants and their capacities within Europe. In combination with the analysis of imports and exports of MSW for incineration, it provides an indication of over- and undercapacities for incineration plants. Among other things, the results show that in six of the 32 countries analysed in this study, capacities exceed more than 50% of the annual waste generation, while in two countries the total amount of waste generated annually is not enough to fill all the incineration plants.
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.
The bioeconomy is gaining growing attention as a perceived win-win strategy for environment and economy in the EU. However, the EU already has a disproportionately high global cropland footprint compared to the world average, and uses more cropland than domestically available to supply its demand for agricultural products. There is a risk that uncontrolled growth of the bioeconomy will increase land use pressures abroad. For that reason, a monitoring system is needed to account for the global land use of European consumption. The aim of this paper is to take a closer look at the tools needed to monitor global cropland footprints, as well as the targets needed to benchmark development. This paper reviews recent developments in land footprint accounting approaches and applies the method of global land use accounting to calculate the global cropland footprint of the EU-27 for the years between 2000 and 2011. It finds a slight decrease in per capita cropland footprints over the past decade (of around 1% annually, reaching 0.29 ha/cap in 2011) and advocates promoting a further decrease in per capita cropland requirements (of around 2% annually) to reach global land use targets for keeping consumption within the safe operating space of planetary boundaries by 2030. It argues that strategic land reduction targets may still go hand in hand with the growth of a smart, innovative and sustainable bioeconomy by reinforcing the need for policies that support greater efficiency across the life-cycle and reduce wasteful and excessive consumption practices. Recommendations for further improving land footprint accounting are given.
Ein Lernen entlang von Projekten hat eine lange Tradition sowohl in der allgemeinen Erziehungswissenschaft als auch in einer Bildung für Nachhaltige Entwicklung. Durch ein Lernen in Projekten erhalten Lernende die Möglichkeit sich als experimentierende und wirksame Gestalter und Gestalterinnen in Transformationsprozessen zu erleben. Der vorliegende Beitrag überträgt die Idee experimentellen Lernens auf gesellschaftliche Transformationsprozesse. Reallabore werden dann zum zentralen Ort einer lernenden Gesellschaft auf dem Weg zu einer Nachhaltigen Entwicklung.
Heating behavior of households is key for reducing domestic energy demand and mitigating climate change. Recently, various technical devices have been developed, providing households with feedback on their heating behavior and supporting energy conservation behavior.
The impact of such devices on overall energy consumption depends on (1) the impact of a device within a household, (2) the diffusion of devices to other households and the number of adopters, and (3) the diffusion of the induced behavioral change beyond these households. While the first two processes are currently established in assessments of sustainable household devices, we suggest that adding behavior diffusion is essential when assessing devices that explicitly target behavioral change. We therefore propose an assessment framework that includes all three processes. We implement this framework in an agent-based model by combining two existing simulation models to explore the effect of adding behavior diffusion. In three simulation experiments, we identify two mechanisms by which behavior diffusion (1) spreads the effect of such devices from adopters to non-adopters and (2) increases the average speed of behavioral change of households. From these results we conclude that behavior diffusion should be included in assessments of behavior-changing feedback devices.
Der vorliegende Artikel hat das Themenheft "Suffizienz" der Zeitschrift Umweltwirtschaftforum eröffnet. Er hat als Ausgangspunkt die These: Sowohl Dematerialisierung (Effizienz) wie Naturverträglichkeit (Konsistenz) verfehlen ihr Ziel, nämlich Nachhaltigkeit, wenn nicht das Prinzip der Selbstbeschränkung (Suffizienz) an ihre Seite tritt. Aufgefächert wird der Begriff der Suffizienz in fünf Dimensionen: Entschleunigung, Regionalität, Gemeinwohlökonomie, Commons und Lebenskunst. Der Beitrag knüpft an den Artikel "Die vier E's: Merkposten für einen maß-vollen Wirtschaftsstil" (W. Sachs, 1993) an.
Die Landesregierung in NRW hat am 14.4.2015 den in einem aufwändigen Stakeholderprozess erstellten Klimaschutzplan vorgestellt. Eines der Ziele war, die Klimaschutzpolitik als langfristige Strukturpolitik zu implementieren und entsprechende Prozesse in die Breite der Gesellschaft zu tragen. Weitere Bundesländer und der Bund selbst haben inzwischen ähnliche Prozesse eingeleitet. In zahlreichen anderen Ländern gibt es Beschlüsse, die in diese Richtung gehen. Eine Übersicht über den Prozess der Planerstellung in NRW und über den Stand der Diskussion in Deutschland verdeutlicht, wie Klimaschutzpläne durch partizipatorische Elemente in der Erstellungsphase mehr Akzeptanz erfahren können.
This article presents an integrated assessment conducted in order to explore whether carbon capture and storage (CCS) could be a viable technological option for significantly reducing future CO2 emissions in South Africa. The methodological approach covers a commercial availability analysis, an analysis of the long-term usable CO2 storage potential (based on storage capacity assessment, energy scenario analysis and source-sink matching), an economic and ecological assessment and a stakeholder analysis. The findings show, that a reliable storage capacity assessment is needed, since only rough figures concerning the effective capacity currently exist. Further constraints on the fast deployment of CCS may be the delayed commercial availability of CCS, significant barriers to increasing the economic viability of CCS, an expected net maximum reduction rate of the power plant's greenhouse gas emissions of 67%-72%, an increase in other environmental and social impacts, and low public awareness of CCS. One precondition for opting for CCS would be to find robust solutions to these constraints, taking into account that CCS could potentially conflict with other important policy objectives, such as affordable electricity rates to give the whole population access to electricity.
The German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is home to one of the most important industrial regions in Europe, and is the first German state to have adopted its own Climate Protection Law (CPL). This paper describes the long-term (up to 2050) mitigation scenarios for NRW’s main energy-intensive industrial sub-sectors which served to support the implementation of the CPL. It also describes the process of scenario development, as these scenarios were developed through stakeholder participation. The scenarios considered three different pathways (best-available technologies, break-through technologies, and CO2 capture and storage). All pathways had optimistic assumptions on the rate of industrial growth and availability of low-carbon electricity. We find that a policy of "re-industrialisation" for NRW based on the current industrial structures (assumed here to represent an average growth of NRWs industrial gross value added (GVA) of 1.6% per year until 2030 and 0.6% per year from 2030 to 2050), would pose a significant challenge for the achievement of overall energy demand and German greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets, in particular as remaining efficiency potentials in NRW are limited. In the best-available technology (BAT) scenario CO2 emission reductions of only 16% are achieved, whereas the low carbon (LC) and the carbon capture and storage (CCS) scenario achieve 50% and 79% reduction respectively. Our results indicate the importance of successful development and implementation of a decarbonised electricity supply and breakthrough technologies in industry - such as electrification, hydrogen-based processes for steel, alternative cements or CCS - if significant growth is to be achieved in combination with climate mitigation. They, however, also show that technological solutions alone, together with unmitigated growth in consumption of material goods, could be insufficient to meet GHG reduction targets in industry.
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.
Die Kreislaufwirtschaft zielt unter anderem darauf ab, Abfall als Rohstoff für neue Produkte zu nutzen. Bei Ökobilanzen von Produkten stellt sich diesbezüglich die Frage, wie sich im offenen Kreislauf rezyklierter oder thermisch verwerteter Abfall bewerten lässt. Für die Bewertung von Produktsystemen sind zwei Allokationsmethoden üblich: Die Cut-Off Methode, welche den Einsatz von Recyclingmaterialien begünstigt und die Avoided Burden Methode, welche die Abgabe von recyclingfähigem Material begünstigt. Wir diskutieren diese beiden Methoden hinsichtlich ihrer Eignung zur Bewertung einer Kreislaufwirtschaft, gemessen an der europäischen Abfallhierarchie. Als Fallbeispiel dienen verschiedene End-of-Life-Szenarien für Glas und den Kunststoff Polypropylen, die wir mit Hilfe der Umweltindikatoren Material Footprint und Carbon Footprint bewertet haben. Als Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass die Anwendung von Avoided Burden im Fall einer thermischen Verwertung in einer Müllverbrennungsanlage problematisch ist. Zum einen ergibt sich in diesem Fall ein negativer Material Footprint, falls dadurch ein Steinkohlekraftwerk substituiert wird, zum anderen wird die Abfallhierarchie teilweise übergangen, da die thermische Verwertung günstiger erscheint als Recycling. Des Weiteren wurde herausgestellt, dass die oberste Priorität in der Abfallhierarchie, die Vermeidung, durch den Cut-Off Ansatz höher begünstigt wird, als durch die Avoided Burden Methode.
Biodiversity loss is widely recognized as a serious global environmental change process. While large-scale metal mining activities do not belong to the top drivers of such change, these operations exert or may intensify pressures on biodiversity by adversely changing habitats, directly and indirectly, at local and regional scales. So far, analyses of global spatial dynamics of mining and its burden on biodiversity focused on the overlap between mines and protected areas or areas of high value for conservation. However, it is less clear how operating metal mines are globally exerting pressure on zones of different biodiversity richness; a similar gap exists for unmined but known mineral deposits. By using vascular plants' diversity as a proxy to quantify overall biodiversity, this study provides a first examination of the global spatial distribution of mines and deposits for five key metals across different biodiversity zones. The results indicate that mines and deposits are not randomly distributed, but concentrated within intermediate and high diversity zones, especially bauxite and silver. In contrast, iron, gold, and copper mines and deposits are closer to a more proportional distribution while showing a high concentration in the intermediate biodiversity zone. Considering the five metals together, 63% and 61% of available mines and deposits, respectively, are located in intermediate diversity zones, comprising 52% of the global land terrestrial surface. 23% of mines and 20% of ore deposits are located in areas of high plant diversity, covering 17% of the land. 13% of mines and 19% of deposits are in areas of low plant diversity, comprising 31% of the land surface. Thus, there seems to be potential for opening new mines in areas of low biodiversity in the future.
Poor sustainability and increasing economic shortcomings in fossil raw material use besides further technical developments of substitutes lead to a growing potential for CO2-utilisation. Hence, we balanced CO2-based methane and methanol production in a life cycle assessment and identified CO2-utilisation as a greenhouse gas saving method. However, it requires a lot of renewable energy.
This review of sources has assessed existing evidence for economic benefits arising from activities fostering the use of vehicles that use electricity to power an electric motor. It is designed to support cities in their decision making and measure selection process. The article is one of 22 reviews published in this volume.
Cleaner vehicles
(2016)
This review of sources has assessed existing evidence for economic benefits arising from innovations or interventions that aim to improve the environmental performance of vehicles - such as enhancements to engine and vehicle technologies or improved fuels. It is designed to support cities in their decision making and measure selection process. The article is one of 22 reviews published in this volume.
In the future, the capacities of renewable SNG (synthetic natural gas) will expand significantly. Pilot plants are underway to use surplus renewable power, mainly from wind, for electrolysis and the production of hydrogen, which is methanated and fed into the existing gas pipeline grid. Pilot projects aim at the energetic use of SNG for households and transport in particular for gas fueled cars. Another option could be the use of SNG as feedstock in chemical industry.
The early stage of development raises the question of whether SNG should be better used for mobility or the production of chemicals. This study compares the global warming potential (GWP) of the production of fossil natural gas (NG) and carbon-dioxide (CO2)-based SNG and its use for car transport versus chemical use in the form of synthesis gas. Since the potential of wind energy for SNG production is mainly located in northern Germany, the consequences by a growing distance between production in the North and transport to the South of Germany are also examined.
The results indicate that CO2-based SNG produced with wind power would lead to lower GWP when substituting NG for both uses in either transport or chemical production. Differences of the savings potential occur in short-distance pipeline transport. The critical factor is the energy required for compression along the process chain.
Distributed cogeneration units are flexible and suited to providing balancing power, thereby contributing to the integration of renewable electricity. Against this background, we analysed the technical potential and ecological impact of CHP (combined heat and power) systems on the German minutes reserve market for 2010, 2020 and 2030. Typical CHP plants (from 1 to 2800 kWel) were evaluated in relation to typical buildings or supply cases in different sectors. The minutes reserve potential was determined by an optimisation model with a temporal resolution of 15 min. The results were scaled up to national level using a scenario analysis for the future development of CHP. Additionally, the extent to which three different flexibility measures (double plant size/fourfold storage volume/emergency cooler) increase the potential provision of balancing power was examined. Key findings demonstrate that distributed CHP could contribute significantly to the provision of minutes reserve in future decades. Flexibility options would further enhance the theoretical potential. The grid-orientated operating mode slightly increases CO2 emissions compared to the heat-orientated mode, but it is still preferable to the separate generation of heat and power. However, the impacts of a flexible mode depend greatly on the application and power-to-heat ratio of the individual CHP system.
The so-called "Semesterticket" is a special tariff for university students in Germany which enables them to use public transport in the area of their university. Semester tickets are financed in solidarity by the students: If a university runs a semester ticket, all students automatically have to buy a ticket for one semester (6 months), regardless of whether they want to use public transport or not. In return, the students can use public transport in the area of their university for a very low semester contribution as much as they want without purchasing any extra tickets. In Germany, the first semester ticket was introduced 25 years ago in Darmstadt (1991) as a result of student initiatives. Today, most German universities run a semester ticket.
This article describes the concept of semester tickets in Germany, their development over the time and presents empirical research data on student acceptance and the effects of semester tickets on mode shift to public transport and the reduction of car ownership.
Stockholm, Hamburg, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Nantes, Kopenhagen, Bristol, Ljubljana, Essen - das sind die Europäischen Umwelthauptstädte der Jahre 2010 bis 2017. Sie wurden in einem jährlichen europaweiten Wettbewerb von der Europäischen Kommission als Vorbildstädte ausgewählt. Sie zeigen aus Sicht der Europäischen Kommission, wie eine zukunftsfähige, umweltorientierte Stadtentwicklung im 21. Jahrhundert aussehen kann. Welchen EU-Benchmark markieren diese acht Städte für die Gestaltung eines klimaschonenden Personenverkehrs in der Stadt?
This article analyses drivers and barriers to returning and recycling mobile phones and their consideration in existing communication and collection campaigns.
This is an important issue based on the fact that the mobile phone market is growing rapidly. In 2015 there are nearly 7 billion global mobile cellular subscriptions. This means that, at least theoretically, everyone in the world has access to mobile communication services (ITU 2015). However, the production of mobile phones is linked to an increasing use of natural resources: the "ecological rucksack" of a mobile phone is equal to about 75 kg of resources (Nordmann et al. 2015); while the global recycling rate of mobile phones is under 10 per cent (Nokia 2008, Tanskanen 2012).
In order to adress this issue, the main factors that influence return and recycling behaviour (focussing on mobile phones) will be discussed in chapter 2 of this article. The theoretical analysis is based on the norm activation model by Ellen Matthies (2005). This analysis will be complemented by empirical data and findings generated in the research project "Return and use of old mobile phones", funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy/Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, 2012-2014). To conclude, we will identify and operationalise essential components of mobile phone communication and collection campaigns, based on the theoretical approach of Matthies, literature and empirical studies, in order to develop a set of criteria for analysing and rating such communication and collection campaigns.
The results show that economic incentives as well as education and communication play a very important role in initiating more sustainable behavioural patterns in the ICT sector. The role of emotional factors is often underestimated in the development of communication activities. In summary, successful mobile phone communication and collection campaigns require a combination of several institutional, economic, social and emotional factors.
Energy systems across the globe are going through a radical transformation as a result of technological and institutional changes, depletion of fossil fuel resources, and climate change. At the local level, increasing distributed energy resources requires that the centralized energy systems be re-organized. In this paper, the concept of Integrated community energy systems (ICESs) is presented as a modern development to re-organize local energy systems to integrate distributed energy resources and engage local communities. Local energy systems such as ICESs not only ensure self-provision of energy but also provide essential system services to the larger energy system. In this regard, a comparison of different energy system integration option is provided. We review the current energy trends and the associated technological, socio-economic, environmental and institutional issues shaping the development of ICESs. These systems can be applied to both developed and developing countries, however, their objectives, business models as well as composition differs. ICESs can be accepted by different actors such as local governments, communities, energy suppliers and system operators as an effective means to achieve sustainability and thereby will have significant roles in future energy systems.
Businesses are under increasing pressure to improve the resource efficiency of their products and services. There is a need for practical tools that enable businesses to implement resource efficiency in their value chains. In this paper, a mixed-method approach for assessing the life-cycle-wide use of natural resources in products and services is applied in a case study on a coffee value chain of the company Mars Incorporated. Material inputs along the entire chain were assessed quantitatively using the Material Input Per unit of Service method, while a semi-quantitative Hot Spot Analysis was performed to identify environmental hot spots. This mixed-method approach has been implemented for the first time in practice to assess the value-chain-wide resource consumption and environmental impacts within a specific value chain of Mars Incorporated. The paper concludes that combining the methods provides better insights into the value chain than using just one of either of the methods alone. For the company, the approach has proven to be practicable because it identifies improvement options and their value-chain-wide resource efficiency potential.
In the context of the larger sustainability discourse, "sufficiency" is beginning to emerge as a new value throughout Western societies, and the question asked in this article is: Can we observe and conceptually identify opportunities to link successful business strategies of incumbents to principles of sufficiency? Thus, how feasible is sustainable entrepreneurship for incumbents? In this paper, a conceptual approach is developed combining insights from sociology, transition research, management and sustainable entrepreneurship research with a focus on narratives as a translation mechanism in situations where tensions emerge between corporate narratives and unexpected societal trends, e.g., the emergence of sufficient lifestyles. It will be shown that even though these are still a niche phenomenon, a focus on corporate narratives is an important element in understanding the role of incumbents in transitions to sustainability.
Insulating existing buildings offers great potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meeting Germany's climate protection targets. Previous research suggests that, since homeowners' decision-making processes are inadequately understood as yet, today's incentives aiming at increasing insulation activity lead to unsatisfactory results. We developed an agent-based model to foster the understanding of homeowners' decision-making processes regarding insulation and to explore how situational factors, such as the structural condition of houses and social interaction, influence their insulation activity. Simulation experiments allow us furthermore to study the influence of socio-spatial structures such as residential segregation and population density on the diffusion of renovation behavior among homeowners. Based on the insights gained, we derive recommendations for designing innovative policy instruments. We conclude that the success of particular policy instruments aiming at increasing homeowners' insulation activity in a specific region depends on the socio-spatial structure at hand, and that reducing financial constraints only has a relatively low potential for increasing Germany's insulation rate. Policy instruments should also target the fact that specific renovation occasions are used to undertake additional insulation activities, e.g. by incentivizing lenders and craftsmen to advise homeowners to have insulation installed.
This paper presents a new household-level methodology for transition towards sustainability. The methodology includes measuring the resource use of households on a micro level, testing relevant measures towards a one-planet resource use, and developing mainstreaming options in co-operation with households and providers of services, products, and infrastructures. We use the MIPS (Material Input Per unit of Service) method to calculate the use of natural resources and concentrate on the material footprint as an aggregated indicator for the overall use of material resources. With HST (Household-level Sustainability Transition) methodology, we extend the material footprint methodology from just measuring household resource use to developing visions, conducting experiments, as well as learning and upscaling, all of which contribute to the whole Transition-Enabling Cycle. Results from the first application of the HST methodology on five households in Jyväskylä, Finland, show that it is possible to achieve a significantly more sustainable level of consumption by a relatively few changes in everyday living. Achieving a one-planet use of material resources, however, also requires systemic changes.
The field of nutrition will face numerous challenges in coming decades; these arise from changing lifestyles and global consumption patterns accompanied by a high use of resources. Against this background, this paper presents a newly designed tool to decrease the effect on nutrition, the so-called Nutritional Footprint. The tool is based on implementing the concept of a sustainable diet in decision-making processes, and supporting a resource-light society. The concept integrates four indicators in each of the two nutrition-related fields of health and environment, and condenses them into an easily communicable result, which limits its results to one effect level. Applied to eight lunch meals, the methodology and its calculations procedures are presented in detail. The results underline the general scientific view of food products; animal-protein based meals are more relevant considering their health and environmental effects. The concept seems useful for consumers to evaluate their own choices, and companies to expand their internal data, their benchmarking processes, or their external communication performance. Methodological shortcomings and the interpretation of results are discussed, and the conclusion shows the tools' potential for shaping transition processes, and for the reduction of natural resource use by supporting food suppliers' and consumers' decisions and choice.
This article explores recent developments in the field of remunicipalisation in the German electricity market. Actually, the established socio-technical regime of the electricity market generates considerable inertia and impedes fundamental change. But regarding the energy transition (German Energiewende) a fundamental change is needed; it is essential to promote a broader range of actors and institutions to overcome the existing regime resistance. Many local policy-makers and municipalities in Germany discover chances and possibilities for local action which arise from remunicipalisation. The establishment of municipal power utilities 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 renewable energies and energy efficiency. The municipal ownership allows a strong governance towards more political influence on the local energy market but the current court decisions regarding the takeover of electricity grids taken by the former concession holder of municipal utilities (Stadtwerke) in Germany make it difficult to realise the full potential of energy policy at a local level. The requirements for a legitimate process are still very high and far too complex to be fulfilled by the local authorities without the help of specialised legal advice.
Contrary to "static" pathways that are defined once for all, this article deals with the need for policy makers to adopt a dynamic adaptive policy pathway for managing decarbonization over the period of implementation. When choosing a pathway as the most desirable option, it is important to keep in mind that each decarbonization option relies on the implementation of specific policies and instruments. Given structural, effectiveness, and timing uncertainties specific to each policy option, they may fail in delivering the expected outcomes in time. The possibility of diverging from an initial decarbonization trajectory to another one without incurring excessive costs should therefore be a strategic element in the design of an appropriate decarbonization strategy. The article relies on initial experiences in France and Germany on decarbonization planning and implementation to define elements for managing dynamic adjustment issues. Such an adaptive pathway strategy should combine long-lived incentives, like a pre-announced escalating carbon price, to form consistent expectations, as well as adaptive policies to improve overall robustness and resilience. We sketch key elements of a monitoring process based on an ex ante definition of leading indicators that should be assessed regularly and combined with signposts and trigger values at the subsector level.
Treating waste as a resource and the design of a circular economy have been identified as key approaches for resource efficiency. Despite ambitious targets, policies and instruments that would enable a transition from a conventional waste management to an integrated and comprehensive resource management are still missing. Moreover, this will require innovative policy mixes which do not only address different end-of-pipe approaches but integrate various resource efficiency aspects from product design to patterns of production and consumption. Based on the results of a project funded by the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development named "POLFREE - Policy Options for a resource efficient economy", this paper addresses several aspects of the conceptualization of policy mixes with regard to waste as a specific resource efficiency challenge. The guiding research interest of this paper is the combination of policies necessary to create a full circular economy. In a first step, the present waste policy frameworks, institutions and existing incentives at national level are examined in order to disclose regulatory and policy gaps. Based on this, the second part of the paper describes and analyses specific waste-related resource efficiency instruments with regard to their potential impacts under the constraints of various barriers. Based on the assessment of the country analyses and the innovative instruments, the paper draws conclusions on waste policy mixes and political needs.
To identify the main drivers of transformation, it is helpful to identify the transformation perspectives of three specific schools of thought: idealist, institutional, and technological innovation. By differentiating among these schools of thought, a more informed transformation debate becomes possible, thereby increasing transformative literacy in academia and society.
In a globalized economy, the use of natural resources is determined by the demand of modern production and consumption systems, and by infrastructure development. Sustainable natural resource use will require good governance and management based on sound scientific information, data and indicators. There is a rich literature on natural resource management, yet the national and global scale and macro-economic policy making has been underrepresented. We provide an overview of the scholarly literature on multi-scale governance of natural resources, focusing on the information required by relevant actors from local to global scale. Global natural resource use is largely determined by national, regional, and local policies. We observe that in recent decades, the development of public policies of natural resource use has been fostered by an "inspiration cycle" between the research, policy and statistics community, fostering social learning. Effective natural resource policies require adequate monitoring tools, in particular indicators for the use of materials, energy, land, and water as well as waste and GHG emissions of national economies. We summarize the state-of-the-art of the application of accounting methods and data sources for national material flow accounts and indicators, including territorial and product-life-cycle based approaches. We show how accounts on natural resource use can inform the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and argue that information on natural resource use, and in particular footprint indicators, will be indispensable for a consistent implementation of the SDGs. We recognize that improving the knowledge base for global natural resource use will require further institutional development including at national and international levels, for which we outline options.
Die EnEV ist eine Vorgabe, welche die alternativen Optionen zur Bestimmung des Energiebedarfs und seiner unterschiedlichen Deckungsoptionen mittels einer Metrik, dem ausgelösten Primärenergiebedarf - die Intention gemäß EPBD - bzw. dem ausgelösten nicht-erneuerbaren Energiebedarf - so die EnEV-Adaptation -, vergleichbar macht. Sie normiert somit ein Wettbewerbsverhältnis zwischen Optionen. Die beiden herausgestellten Entscheidungen, die EnEV-Adaptation und die Entscheidung, den Primärenergiefaktor PEFne gegen Null konvergieren zu lassen, verändern somit Wettbewerbsverhältnisse. Der Diskussionsbeitrag geht den damit im Zusammenhang stehenden Fragen nach.
One of the factors decelerating a further diffusion of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is the public's negative perception of early pilot or demonstration activities in Germany as well as in other countries. This study examined the public perception of CCS in more detail by looking into different options within the CCS chain, i.e. for the three elements capture, transport and storage. This was analyzed using an experimental approach, realized in an online survey with a representative German sample of 1830 citizens. Each participant evaluated one of 18 different CCS scenarios created using three types of CO2 source (industry, biomass, coal), two transport options (pipeline vs. no specification), and three storage possibilities (saline aquifer, depleted gas field, enhanced gas recovery (EGR)).
Overall, we found that the ratings of CCS were neutral on average. However, if the CO2 is produced by a biomass power plant or industry, CCS is rated more positively than in a scenario with a coal-fired power plant. The specifications of transport and storage interacted with each other such that scenarios including EGR or a depleted gas field without mentioning a pipeline were evaluated better than storing it in a saline aquifer or a depleted gas field and mentioning a pipeline as means of transport. Exploratory regression analyses indicate the high relevance of the respective CO2 source in general as well as the perceived importance of this source for Germany.
The economic assessment of low-carbon energy options is the primary step towards the design of policy portfolios to foster the green energy economy. However, today these assessments often fall short of including important determinants of the overall cost-benefit balance of such options by not including indirect costs and benefits, even though these can be game-changing. This is often due to the lack of adequate methodologies.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive account of the key methodological challenges to the assessment of the multiple impacts of energy options, and an initial menu of potential solutions to address these challenges.
The paper first provides evidence for the importance of the multiple impacts of energy actions in the assessment of low-carbon options.
The paper identifies a few key challenges to the evaluation of the co-impacts of low-carbon options and demonstrates that these are more complex for co-impacts than for the direct ones. Such challenges include several layers of additionality, high context dependency, and accounting for distributional effects.
The paper continues by identifying the key challenges to the aggregation of multiple impacts including the risks of overcounting while taking into account the multitude of interactions among the various co-impacts. The paper proposes an analytical framework that can help address these and frame a systematic assessment of the multiple impacts.
Marketing and rewarding
(2016)
This review of sources has assessed existing evidence for economic benefits arising from marketing / social marketing and rewards-based schemes encouraging greater use of more sustainable modes and travel behaviours. It is designed to support cities in their decision making and measure selection process. The article is one of 22 reviews published in this volume.
Washing laundry is one of the most widespread housework tasks in the world. Washing machines, performing this task already in many private households, are now responsible for about 2% of the global electricity consumption. Worldwide, more than 840 million domestic washing machines are in use, with an annual consumption exceeding 92 TWh of electricity and 19 billion m3 of water as well as causing emissions of more than 62 megatons CO2eq. In North America, Western Europe and Pacific OECD countries, most households own a washing machine. In these economies standard and label policy programs already addressed and reduced the specific electricity and water consumption of washing machines per wash cycle. Nevertheless, in other world regions, the level of ownership for washing machines is still well below saturation and high growth rates can be observed in developing and newly industrialising countries. As washing machines use water, electricity, chemical substances and process time as resources, also the absolute worldwide resource consumption and emissions of these appliances are still on the rise. Due to different washing habits and practices as well as types of washing machines in different world regions, the specific consumption of resources for doing the laundry is varying to a large extent. On that score, this paper presents an overview of the current situation worldwide as well as respective saving potentials. Bottom-up scenario calculations, carried out for the 11 world regions according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change classification, show that large energy, water and greenhouse gas savings are possible with the "Best Available Technologies" today, and even higher savings will be possible with next generation "Best Not yet Available Technologies". According to model results, these savings are usually also very cost-effective. Following these calculations, it is highly advisable for policymakers world-wide to pay even more attention to improvement options in order to implement ambitious and product-specific policy packages, including minimum performance standards and labelling schemes.
Energiearmut gezielt lindern
(2016)
Die Öl- und Gaspreise sinken seit einigen Jahren wieder. Kann die aufkeimende deutsche Debatte um Energiearmut damit ad acta gelegt werden? Nein, die derzeitige Niedrigpreisphase sollte vielmehr genutzt werden, um sich auf wieder steigende Energiepreise vorzubereiten. Daher gilt es, alternative Ansätze zu diskutieren, um energiearme Haushalte besser als bislang zu identifizieren und zu adressieren. Energiearmut ist ein vielschichtiges Phänomen, das insbesondere im Bereich der Heizkosten noch viel Forschungs- und Handlungspotenzial hat.
Six German scenario studies on urban passenger transport for Munich 2058, Wuppertal 2050, Eastern Ruhr Region 2030, Tuebingen 2030, Cologne 2020 and Hanover Region 2020 investigate the key question: With which strategies and on what kind of scale, is it possible to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of urban passenger transport to accomplish the 2 °C climate protection goal with a consequently huge reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 80% to 95% by 2050 in relation to the base year 1990? The scenarios show that the major challenge of a "climate-friendly city transport" can be achieved by appropriate measures (regarding direction and scale): in small and medium-sized cities, large cities, cities of over a million people, and metropolitan regions. The scenarios demonstrate the extent to which the considered measures contribute to the CO2 reduction, and which gap to the achievement of the goal remains if that which is currently regarded as realistic in practice is really implemented in future. Thus, they illustrate the conflict between that which is necessary for climate protection and that which is currently considered feasible in politics. The scenarios show that it is essential to act quickly and appropriately, and not hesitantly or without conviction.
Die Entwicklung Wolfsburgs ist eng mit dem Unternehmenserfolg der Volkswagen AG verbunden. Die strategische Allianz war lange Zeit für beide Seiten vorteilhaft, führte jedoch zu Abhängigkeiten. Zum einen trug die Verkehrs- und Stadtplanung zu einer autogerechten Stadtentwicklung bei. Zum anderen ist die kommunale Haushaltslage vom unternehmerischen Erfolg VWs abhängig. Dieser Beitrag zeichnet die Verbindung zwischen Kommunalplanung und Unternehmensinteressen nach und zeigt wie ein möglicher Paradigmenwechsel im Bereich der Stadt- und Verkehrsentwicklung aussehen könnte.
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.
In Germany, doubling today's insulation rate of about 1% is an important element for reaching the government's target of reducing the demand for energy in the housing sector by 80% by 2050. A survey among 275 private homeowners was conducted to better understand their insulation activity. The results were incorporated into an agent-based model, which was applied to evaluate new policy options. The results of the survey show that policies should focus on homeowners' wall insulation activity. Homeowners' decision-making processes regarding insulation are largely unaffected by their financial resources, which raises the question of the usefulness of financial incentives. In contrast, non-economic factors were found to have a statistically significant influence: in the year following a house ownership change, a comparatively large number of insulation projects are carried out. The probability of insulating walls can be predicted from knowing the homeowner's age, attitude towards insulation, and the structural condition of the walls. The simulations indicate that information instruments lead to a comparatively small increase in the wall insulation rate, while obligating new homeowners to insulate the walls within the first year after moving in has the potential to increase the total insulation rate by up to 40%.
Emissions Trading Systems and Carbon Pricing schemes are spreading worldwide. This article looks at Carbon Pricing from the international perspective of the UN climate regime and describes what the Paris Agreement adopted in December 2015 means for international Carbon trading. In order to illustrate this, the authors first look back onto the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol and review its flexible mechanisms, namely International Emissions Trading, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI). In a second step, the changes that the Paris Agreement (PA) brings about for the Carbon Markets are described. Art. 6 of the PA is analyzed, stressing that Art. 6 introduces a new element into emissions trading: all activities carried out under Art. 6 must lead to a net mitigation effect with respect to GHG reduction, thus abandoning the principle of "offsetting" that was at the heart of the project-based mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. The different Carbon trading options foreseen by Art. 6 are examined. Finally, the authors discuss ways forward and argue for early piloting schemes for the new "Paris mechanisms".
The need for deep decarbonisation in the energy intensive basic materials industry is increasingly recognised. In light of the vast future potential for renewable electricity the implications of electrifying the production of basic materials in the European Union is explored in a what-if thought-experiment. Production of steel, cement, glass, lime, petrochemicals, chlorine and ammonia required 125 TW-hours of electricity and 851 TW-hours of fossil fuels for energetic purposes and 671 TW-hours of fossil fuels as feedstock in 2010. The resulting carbon dioxide emissions were equivalent to 9% of total greenhouse gas emissions in EU28. A complete shift of the energy demand as well as the resource base of feedstocks to electricity would result in an electricity demand of 1713 TW-hours about 1200 TW-hours of which would be for producing hydrogen and hydrocarbons for feedstock and energy purposes. With increased material efficiency and some share of bio-based materials and biofuels the electricity demand can be much lower. Our analysis suggest that electrification of basic materials production is technically possible but could have major implications on how the industry and the electric systems interact. It also entails substantial changes in relative prices for electricity and hydrocarbon fuels.
Früher war es viel zu umständlich, Strom wie Benzin zu verkaufen. Münzzähler mussten regelmäßig geleert werden. Das war teuer für die Lieferanten und auch lästig für die Kunden. Fortschritte in der Technik haben aber inzwischen die Situation deutlich verbessert und so dafür gesorgt, dass ein breiter Einsatz von Guthabenzählern möglich und ökonomisch vertretbar wird. Dennoch läuft der Einsatz solcher Zähler nur schleppend an. Anderswo wie in Großbritannien und Irland sind sie hingegen millionenfach verbreitet. Der Artikel gibt Hinweise auf die Ursachen und zeigt Perspektiven für eine breite Nutzung auf.
Real-world laboratories are growing in popularity promising a contribution to both: the understanding and facilitation of societal transformation towards sustainability. Baden-Württemberg substantially funds real-world labs as part of the initiative "science for sustainability". To facilitate learning with and from these so-called BaWü-Labs, they are supported by accompanying research conducted by two teams. This article presents first insights and theses on real-world labs as a research format, based in particular on the work of the accompanying research team ForReal. The team supports the labs in their realization and in providing general insights, e.g. by learning from related international research approaches and dialog with international experts, and analyzes suitable quality features and methods (the latter together with the University of Basel team). The theses presented here put up for discussion first insights on real-world labs as a transformative research approach and reflect on them from a theoretical perspective. They illustrate the relevance of a goal-oriented use of methods and present learning processes as core characteristics of real-world labs. The theses were formulated based on discussions with the BaWü-Labs, exchange in international contexts as well as a thematic literature review.
Auf dem Weg vom Energierohstoff zum Endnutzer entstehen Energieverluste durch Transport, Aufbereitung und Umwandlung, die dazu führen, dass der Primärenergieträger, also der Energierohstoff, nur mit einem bestimmten Nutzungsgrad in einen Endenergieträger (vom Endkunden eingekauften Energieträger für die Nutzung im Gebäude) umgewandelt wird. Der Kehrwert dieses Nutzungsgrades heißt "Primärenergiefaktor". Je größer der Primärenergiefaktor, desto größer die Verluste der Bereitstellung.
The amount of land directly disturbed by mining is a key generic environmental pressure indicator. A novel method based on the measurement of the cumulative net area disturbances using Landsat satellite images and its correlation with the cumulative ore production at the mine site was applied. Weighted disturbance rates (WDRs) were calculated indicating the annual quantity of hectares newly disturbed per million metric tons of ore extracted. Results show that open pit (OP) have a smaller average WDR (5.05 ha/Mt) than underground (UG) mines (11.85 ha/Mt). This is explained by the relation between the annual amounts of new net area disturbed and of ore extracted which is larger for UG than for OP mines due to the annual extraction volume (lower for UG). Overall findings demonstrate that bauxite mining has the highest WDR (7.98 ha/Mt), followed by gold (6.70 ha/Mt), silver (5.53 ha/Mt), copper (4.5 ha/Mt) and iron (4.25 ha/Mt).
Staatliche Regulierung ist verpönt. Häufig läuft es dann auf den Appell hinaus: Jeder einzelne Bürger habe es selbst in der Hand. Doch die Alltagsroutinen sind in der Regel mächtiger als das Umweltbewusstsein. Beim Marmor für das Badezimmer spielen Amortisationszeiten keine Rolle. Die solare Warmwasseranlage ist dagegen oftmals "zu teuer". Gesetzliche Standards hingegen verselbstständigen Energieeffizienz und den Ausbau erneuerbarer Energien. Sie machen "Öko zur Routine". Dieser Artikel beschreibt die Notwendigkeit für das Schaffen neuer Routinen und zeigt wie dies durch Standards, Limits und faire Umsetzungsbedingungen sowie attraktive Alternativangebote zum gegenwärtigen, häufig nicht nachhaltigen Verhalten auch möglich ist.
This paper is the first of its kind, providing an identification of the problems encountered in all documented global experiences of cultivating the Jatropha curcas plant, covering 22 case studies. Influential components of the biodiesel production (stakeholders like government, farmers and enterprises as well as resources such as land and water) and how they are interconnected are pinpointed. In addition, the article gives recommendations to the main actors under ecological and socio-economic criteria to ensure a sustainable production of J. curcas oil in regions with appropriate climatic conditions for the plant's viability. Hence, this analysis of experiences discusses the following questions: What are the reasons and factors for the previous unsuccessful and unsustainable cultivation of J. curcas for producing biodiesel? Can it be lucrative and simultaneously achieve poverty alleviation/job creation under the constraints of efficient use of resources (land and water)?
In order to make our lifestyles sustainable, changing our consumption patterns is fundamental. Hence, we need to better understand who the "consumers" are and to consider them as an active actor to directly engage for ensuring effective policies. In order to support a resource-light society, production and consumption need to be considered through an integrated system view; within this, consumers play an important role as co-acting subjects. Almost every activity in private life involves a form of consumption aimed at satisfying the subject's needs and often regarded through an economic lens. Sustainable development is not about abolishing private consumption, but rather about making it environmentally, socially and individually sustainable in its design, organization and realization, also involving ideas of simplicity or renunciation. In this paper, we will assess the status quo of the German and European debates on Consumer Research Policies and discuss the idea to link sustainability research and consumer research - where a strategic relation is currently missing. Within that discussion, an evidence-based and obligatory consumer research strategy in Germany and Europe would represent a significant improvement. A system view perspective is necessary to take into consideration the impressive amount of diversity, and to elaborate realistic economic and consumer policies. Therefore, we propose nine steps for understanding the role of the consumer in implementing sustainable development from a scientific and political perspective. The limitations of this paper are thus a result of the very diverse and often unclear policies and agendas produced by governments. The implementation of the proposed innovative research agenda for a future-orientated and sustainability-based consumer research is not free from challenges. Still, the paper suggests the first steps towards this direction. After a critical discussion of the current EU and German consumer and sustainability policies, nine differentiated and substantial ways to integrate and ameliorate them are proposed.
Das BMUB bereitet eine Novellierung der energieökonomischen Gebäuderichtlinie (EnEV) in Deutschland vor, EnEG/EnEV und EEWärmeG sollen zusammengeführt werden. Hintergrund ist ein Auftrag aus der Europäischen Gebäuderichtlinie. Danach muss ab 2021 das (Fast-)Null-Energie-Gebäude der Standard (bei Neubauten) sein - für Gebäude der Öffentlichen Hand gilt das bereits ab 2019. Also muss definiert werden, was ein "Null-Energie-Gebäude" sein und was dabei "Energie" heißen soll. Gesetzt ist, dass "Energie" als "Primärenergie" verstanden werden soll. Die im Gebäude anfallende Energie muss dazu umgerechnet werden in ihr Äquivalent im System - dies hat der Primärenergiefaktor zu leisten. Es hört sich technisch und unpolitisch an, doch das täuscht. Entschieden wird nämlich über das Gebäudeideal in diesem Lande.
This article reviews the literature on the past cost dynamics of various renewable, fossil fuel and nuclear electricity generation technologies. It identifies 10 different factors which have played key roles in influencing past cost developments according to the literature. These 10 factors are: deployment-induced learning, research, development and demonstration (RD&D)-induced learning, knowledge spillovers from other technologies, upsizing, economies of manufacturing scale, economies of project scale, changes in material and labour costs, changes in fuel costs, regulatory changes, and limits to the availability of suitable sites. The article summarises the relevant literature findings for each of these 10 factors and provides an overview indicating which factors have impacted on which generation technologies. The article also discusses the insights gained from the review for a better understanding of possible future cost developments of electricity generation technologies. Finally, future research needs, which may support a better understanding of past and future cost developments, are identified.
Understanding the diversifying role of civil society in Europe's sustainability pathway is a valid proposition both scientifically and socially. Civil society organisations already play a significant role in the reality of cities, what remains to be explored is the question: what is the role of civil society in the future sustainability of European cities? We first examine the novelty of new forms of civil society organization based on a thorough review of recent case studies of civil society initiatives for sustainable transitions across a diversity of European projects and an extensive literature review. We conceptualize a series of roles that civil society plays and the tensions they entail. We argue that, civil society initiatives can pioneer new social relations and practices therefore be an integral part of urban transformations and can fill the void left by a retreating welfare state, thereby safeguarding and servicing social needs but also backing up such a rolling back of the welfare state. It can act as a hidden innovator - contributing to sustainability but remaining disconnected from the wider society. Assuming each of these roles can have unintended effects, such as being proliferated by political agendas, which endanger its role and social mission, and can be peeled off to serve political agendas resulting in its disempowerment and over-exposure. We conclude with a series of implications for future research on the roles of civil society in urban sustainability transitions.
A reduction in working hours is being considered to tackle issues associated with ecological sustainability, social equity and enhanced life satisfaction - a so-called triple dividend. With respect to an environmental dividend, the authors analyse the time use rebound effects of reducing working time. They explore how an increase in leisure time triggers a rearrangement of time and expenditure budgets, and thus the use of resources in private households. Does it hold true that time-intensive activities replace resource-intensive consumption when people have more discretionary time at their disposal? This study on environmental issues is complemented by introducing the parameters of voluntary social engagement and individual life satisfaction as potential co-benefits of rebound effects. In order to analyse the first dividend, a mixed methods approach is adopted, enabling two models of time use rebound effects to be applied. First, semi-standardised interviews reveal that environmentally ambiguous substitutions of activities occur following a reduction in working hours. Second, estimates for Germany from national surveys on time use and expenditure show composition effects of gains in leisure time and income loss. For the latter, we estimate the marginal propensity to consume and the marginal propensity to time use. The results show that time savings due to a reduction in working time trigger relevant rebound effects in terms of resource use. However, both the qualitative and quantitative findings put the rebound effects following a reduction in working time into perspective. Time use rebound effects lead to increased voluntary social engagement and greater life satisfaction, the second and third dividends.
The climate impact of the iron and steel industry can be mitigated through increased energy efficiency, emission efficiency, material efficiency, and product use efficiency resulting in reduced product demand. For achieving ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation targets in this sector all measures could become necessary. The current paper focuses on one of those four key measures: emission efficiency via innovative primary steelmaking technologies. After analysing their techno-economical potential until 2100 in part A of this publication, the current research broadens the evaluation scope for the crucial year 2050, based on a Multicriteria-Analysis (MCA). 12 criteria from five different categories ("technology", "society and politics", "economy", "safety and vulnerability" and "ecology") are used to assess the same four future steelmaking technologies in a systematic and holistic way in Germany, as one possible location. The technologies in focus are the blast furnace route (BF-BOF), blast furnace with carbon capture and storage (BF-CCS), hydrogen direct reduction (H-DR), and iron ore electrolysis (EW). These four technologies have been selected, as explained in part A of this paper, because they are the most commonly discussed technological options under discussion by policymakers and the iron and steel industry. The results of the current work should provide decision makers in industry and government with a long-term guidance on technological choices.
In 2050 the MCA shows significantly higher preference scores for the two innovative routes H-DR and EW compared to the blast furnace based routes. The main reasons being higher scores in the economical and environmental criteria. BF-CCS shows its greatest weakness in the social acceptance and the safety and vulnerability criteria. BF-BOF has the lowest economy and ecology score of all assessed routes, which is due to the projected high cost for carbon dioxide emission and increasing prices for fossil fuels. A first indicative trend assessment from today towards 2050 shows that H-DR is the preferred MCA option from today on.
Three exemplary weighting distributions (representing the perspectives of the steel industry, environmental organisations and the government), used to simulate different stakeholder angle of view, don't have a strong influence on the overall evaluation of the steelmaking routes. The results remain very similar, with the highest scores for the innovative routes (H-DR and EW). This leads to the conclusion that EW and in particular H-DR can be identified as the preferred future steelmaking technology across different perspectives.
Specific innovation efforts and dedicated programs are necessary to minimize the time until marketability and to share the development burden. The similarity of the MCA results from different perspectives indicates a great opportunity to reach a political consensus and to work together towards a common future goal. Regarding the pressing time horizon a concentrated engagement for one (or few) technological choices would be highly recommended.
The paper presents the results of an ex-ante evaluation of the economy-wide benefits that may be achieved through the implementation of the 20-year Energy Efficiency Action Plan (EEAP) in Thailand. The objective of the EEAP is to reduce energy intensity by 25 % in 2030 compared to 2010. This is to be reached by reducing the projected energy consumption by 20 % or 38 Mtoe until 2030. We have specified an analytical framework, which allows for a calculation of the overall energy cost savings, energy import cost reductions and reduced CO2 emissions. Moreover, we calculated the induced energy efficiency investments, employment effects and impacts on governmental budget. The evaluation shows that an effective implementation of the plan may lead to a reduction in energy expenditure of 37.7 billion EUR by 2030. Moreover, the EEAP-induced energy savings will significantly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions as well as Thailand’s energy import costs and generate private investment in energy efficiency of about 5 billion EUR annually in 2030, which in turn may lead to about 300,000 new jobs. The size of the net impact of the plan on Thailand’s governmental budget is uncertain due to positive and negative effects on corporate and income tax revenues, expenses for unemployment benefits, governmental energy consumption, expenses for energy subsidies and energy tax income.
The paper presents a case study of applying crowdsourcing to library deliveries. The trial was conducted in the city of Jyväskylä in Finland as part of the Resource Wise Communities program funded by The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra. The city has a population of 120 000 inhabitants and is facing the shut-down of half of the public libraries in order to adapt its economy to lowered revenues and compulsory cost savings. The assumption was that the level of service for customers not able to settle for e-books would be lowered and/or customers would have to travel longer distances. However, a research pilot was carried out where - instead of lowering the level of service in the area - books and other library media were delivered to customers' homes by utilizing a novel crowdsourced delivery service called PiggyBaggy.
Crowdsourced delivery means that citizens deliver goods to each other along their way. Ideally, the deliveries would be made with minimal detour, along the way, thus maximizing the reduction in natural resource use and related environmental impacts from the transport. However, the transport fuel forms only one part of the overall footprint and in practice rebound effects such as drivers travelling longer distances motivated by monetary compensation, can reduce the targeted environmental improvement.
The objective of our study was to investigate whether an existing consumer service, in this case the library public service, can adopt crowdsourced deliveries quickly from scratch, and to whether consumers participate in the deliveries in a way that has real sustainability benefits. Despite prevailing regulative challenges, the study found that existing library deliveries can be successfully crowdsourced. Each crowdsourced delivery reduced an average of 1.6 kilometers driven by car, despite 80 percent of the deliveries being made within less than a five-kilometer distance. Mobility related footprint reduction potential for Finland is also estimated.
A key factor to energy-efficiency of heating in buildings is the behavior of households, in particular how they ventilate rooms. Energy demand can be reduced by behavioral change; devices can support this by giving feedback to consumers on their behavior. One such feedback device, called the "CO2 meter", shows indoor air-quality in the colors of a traffic light to motivate so called "shock ventilation", which is energy-efficient ventilation behavior. The following effects of the "CO2 meter" are analyzed: (1) the effect of the device on ventilation behavior within households, (2) the diffusion of "CO2 meter" to other households, and (3) the diffusion of changed behavior to households that do not adopt a "CO2 meter". An agent-based model of these processes for the city of Bottrop (Germany) was developed using a variety of data sources. The model shows that the "CO2 meter" would increase adoption of energy-efficient ventilation by c. 12% and reduce heating demand by c. 1% within 15 years. Technology diffusion was found to explain at least c. 54% of the estimated energy savings; behavior diffusion explains up to 46%. These findings indicate that the "CO2 meter" is an interesting low-cost solution to increase the energy-efficiency in residential heating.
Facing the uncertainty of CO2 storage capacity in China by developing different storage scenarios
(2016)
China is very active in the research and development of CO2 capture and storage technologies (CCS). However, existing estimates for CO2 storage capacity are very uncertain. This uncertainty is due to limited geological knowledge, a lack of large-scale research on CO2 injection, and different assessment approaches and parameter settings. Hence storage scenarios represent a method that can be used by policy makers to demonstrate the range of possible storage capacity developments, to help interpret uncertain results and to identify the limitations of existing assessments. In this paper, three storage scenarios are developed for China by evaluating China-wide studies supplemented with more detailed site- and basin-specific assessments. It is estimated that the greatest storage potential can be found in deep saline aquifers. Oil and gas fields may also be used. Coal seams are only included in the highest storage scenario. In total, the scenarios presented demonstrate that China has an effective storage capacity of between 65 and 1551 Gt of CO2. Furthermore, the authors emphasise a need for action to harmonise storage capacity assessment approaches due to the uncertainties involved in the capacity assessments analysed in this study.
In order to reconfigure global socio-economic systems to be compatible with social imperatives and planetary boundaries, a transition towards sustainable development is necessary. The multi-level perspective (MLP) has been developed to study long-term transformative change. This paper complements the MLP by providing an ontological framework for studying and understanding the role of narratives as the vehicle of meaning and intermediation between individual and social collective in the context of ongoing transitions. Narratives are established as an analytical entity to unpack how disturbances at the level of the socio-technical landscape are translated into and contribute to the transformation of socio-technical regimes. To illustrate and test the approach, it is applied to the case of the Fukushima catastrophe: The narratives in relation to nuclear power in Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom are scrutinized and it is explored how these narratives have co-determined the policy responses and thus influenced ongoing transformation processes in the power sectors of the respective countries.
Die Energiewende erfordert eine neue Energiekultur von Politik, Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft. Der Umstieg auf erneuerbare oder regenerative Energien folgt bislang aber vor allem technologischen und ökonomischen Prämissen. Aus nachhaltiger und vorsorgender Perspektive fehlt die Sorge um und für die Regenerationsfähigkeit der Lebensgrundlagen - auch für zukünftige Generationen. Aufgabe von Politik wäre es, Menschen zu einem regenerativen Umgang mit Energie zu befähigen.
The Paris Agreement marks a milestone in international climate policy. Though, the positive appraisal was not unanimous. This article will argue that the Paris Agreement embraces a new paradigm. Climate change is no longer seen as a clear-cut environmental problem, nor as a developmental issue, but as a challenge to fundamentally transform global societies. While criticism through the lens of the former paradigms is worthwhile, the Paris Agreement should be acknowledged as a pacemaker for the transformation processes that lay ahead of us.
In this paper a new method for the evaluation and comparison of potential future electricity systems is presented. The German electricity system in the year 2050 is used as an example. Based on a comprehensive scenario analysis defining a corridor for possible shares of fluctuating renewable energy sources (FRES) residual loads are calculated in a unified manner. The share of electricity from PV and wind power plants in Germany in the year 2050 is in a range of 42-122% and the load demand has a bandwidth of around 460-750 TWh. The residual loads are input for an algorithm that defines a supplementary mix of technologies providing flexibility to the system. The overall system layout guarantees the balance of generation and demand at all times. Due to the fact that the same method for residual load calculation and mixture of technologies is applied for all scenarios, a good comparability is guaranteed and we are able to identify key characteristics for future developments. The unique feature of the new algorithms presented here is the very fast calculation for a year-long simulation with hourly or shorter time steps taking into account the state of charge or availability of all storage and flexibility technologies. This allows an analysis of many different scenarios on a macro-economic level, variation of input parameters can easily be done, and extensive sensitivity analysis is possible. Furthermore different shares of FRES, CO2-emission targets, interest rates or social acceptance of certain technologies can be included. The capabilities of the method are demonstrated by an analysis of potential German power system layouts with a base scenario of 90% CO2-reduction target compared to 1990 and by the identification of different options for a power sector with a high degree of decarbonisation. The approach also aims at a very high level of transparency both regarding the algorithms and regarding the input parameters of the different technologies taken into account. Therefore this paper also gives a comprehensive and complete overview on the technology parameters used. The forecast on all technologies for the year 2050 regarding technical and economic parameters was made in a comprehensive consultation process with more than 100 experts representing academia and industry working on all different technologies. An extensive analysis of options for the design of potential German energy supply systems in 2050 based on the presented methodology will be published in a follow-up paper.
Global climate
(2016)
This article summarises the main outcomes of the Lima UN Climate Conference (COP20 / CMP10). It starts with the discussions under the Durban Platform on developing a new comprehensive climate agreement and increasing short-term ambition and subsequently covers the issues relating to near-term implementation of previous decisions in the areas of transparency, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, loss and damage, adaptation, finance, and carbon markets.
Vernacular architecture's use of passive building techniques has been developed in response to the prevailing climatic conditions of the past. Today, buildings are designed with complete indifference to the climate and materials. Energy consumption in buildings is mainly connected to space cooling, supply of hot water, lighting, cooking and, use of appliances. Space cooling and lighting are directly influenced by the design of the building. Energy codes should be concerned with "sufficiency" as well as "efficiency". A more economic and ecological approach to building design is needed.
In October 2014, the European Council agreed on a target of improving overall energy efficiency by at least 27 per cent by 2030. According to the European Council's conclusions, this target should not be translated into nationally binding targets. Nevertheless individual Member States are free to set higher national objectives if desired. However, it is difficult to assess the degree of ambition of a national target because so far not much light has been shed upon the exact size of the untapped efficiency potentials.
This paper provides an in-depth analysis and comparison of existing studies on energy efficiency potentials in the European Union's (EU) Member States by 2030. It includes a structured overview of the results, information on the quality of the available data and suggestions for improvement.
The review shows that comprehensive studies on national energy efficiency potentials are rare and hardly comparable. The existing studies agree on the existence of significant potentials for energy efficiency. Their outcomes, however, vary significantly in terms of national levels. Assuming low policy intensity, energy savings between 10 and 28 per cent could be realised by 2030 compared to a baseline development, in the case of high policy intensity 7-44 per cent. Technical energy efficiency potentials in the different EU Member States are estimated at 14-52 per cent. On average, energy savings of 27 per cent by 2030 appear to be feasible with significant policy effort. We conclude that the deviation in Member States' energy efficiency potentials resulting from different studies represents an indication of the so far poor quality of underlying data. In order to allow for a concretisation of efficiency potential estimates, the comparability and detail of information sources should be improved.
Global climate
(2017)
On 7-18 November, the twenty-second Conference of the Parties (COP-22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the twelfth Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP-12) took place in Marrakech. Due to the rapid entry into force of the Paris Agreement, Marrakech also hosted the first Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA-1). Nobody had expected this one year before in Paris - the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol, by comparison, had taken eight years. Many hailed the rapid entry into force as further proof of the commitment of the world community to finally tackle the climate problem.