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- Energie-, Verkehrs- und Klimapolitik (1328) (remove)
Klimaneutralität wird im Zuge des Pariser Klimaabkommens zur politischen Zielgröße. Die Nationalstaaten, die das Abkommen unterzeichnet haben, müssen regeln, wie sie das Ziel erreichen möchten. Das deutsche Klimaschutzgesetz unterscheidet dabei zwischen "klimaneutral" und "treibhausgasneutral". Das kann zu Missverständnissen führen, kann aber auch sinnvoll sein.
Mixed-method research to foster energy efficiency investments by small private landlords in Germany
(2020)
The decarbonisation of the building stock is an important element for the success of the German Energiewende (energy transition). Despite some progress having been made, the rate of energy renovation falls below the level required to meet political commitments. This gives rise to the question: what deters property owners from making energy efficiency investments and how can the policy framework foster such investments? To answer this question, the paper focuses on a widely neglected property owner group: small private landlords (SPL). Although they manage 37% of all residential rental properties in Germany, very little is known about their decision-making processes for energy efficiency investments. We applied a mixed-method design to identify factors that hindered and supported their investments. In an explorative study, we initially conducted 18 problem-centred interviews. Subsequently, we carried out a postal survey and analysed the questionnaires using a hierarchical linear regression model. The results show that energy renovation is a multi-dimensional decision-making process, which can only be adequately addressed by a comprehensive policy package. To develop such a package, the author recommends that the specific investment behaviour of SPL must be better targeted, their knowledge about energy efficiency investments must be improved through exchange and networking, a sense of responsibility for the neighbourhood must be fostered, and greater focus must be placed on improving local framework conditions
Climate researchers agree that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions significantly contribute to climate change, and that radical measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of no longer avoidable climate change are needed. The German Federal Government with its Climate Protection Plan 2050 reinforced its target to reduce Germany's greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 95 percent compared with 1990. The achievement of these targets requires nothing less than a fundamental transformation of spatial planning.
In the paper a methodology to scientifically assess the likely impacts of possible combinations of policies or strategies to achieve the energy transition, i.e. to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of urban mobility and transport is proposed and demonstrated, using the Ruhr Area, the largest conurbation in Germany, as an example.
The results of the policies examined so far can be summarised as follows: Push measures as high energy prices, speed limits or reduction of the number of lanes of main roads are more effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions than pull measures as the promotion of cycling, walking, electric cars or public transport. Between policies or policy packages there can be positive or negative synergies, i.e. the impacts of measures can reinforce or weaken each other. The results show that even with ambitious policies the greenhouse gas emission targets of the national and state governments will not be achieved and that more radical policies are needed.
In the light of Germany's chosen path towards the energy transition, the regulatory framework has changed considerably. New players have succeeded in entering the market, and renewable energies have become increasingly competitive. Greater electrification of the transport and heating sectors will be needed in the future to achieve national climate targets. Against this background, Germany's big energy companies need to be sure that their sales will increase. However, they were unable to anticipate this development, and made strategic mistakes in the past. The development of sustainable business models in line with the energy transition failed to materialize. Now it is becoming increasingly clear that companies must create new business models to survive in the long term. These business models have to keep with the tradition, whilst meeting the needs of low-carbon power supplies. In this paper, we will examine the past and future challenges of the four energy companies and develop a proposal for evaluating sustainable business models. For this purpose, we use the multi-level perspective to categorize developments in the electricity market over the last 50 years, and then apply a multi-criteria analysis to derive five suitable business models from the results.
