The 10 most recently published documents
Le changement climatique appelle une transformation. Le problème central, qui explique pourquoi les stratégies n'ont jusqu'ici ni pris en compte la société et ses réalités ni amorcé de changement, est la prégnance structurelle de l'androcentrisme qui façonne la perception de la réalité par les expert-e-s.
Resilienz im Quartier
(2024)
Next to primary functions, energy-related products have an increasing number of additional functions. This affects the overall environmental footprint, but the question is how? A number of European policy strategies, initiatives and measures, such as the Green Deal, the Circular Economy Action Plan,the Ecodesign Directive and the EU Energy Labelling, aim to ensure that the environmental impact of the overall product is better determined, communicated and finally reduced. A core element of these efforts is the DIN EN 4555x series of standards. However, there is currently no comprehensive and systematic classification of the additional product functions or an approach to assess the associated positive and negative environmental impacts. Therefore, we present in this study an environmental assessment approach for additional product functions and illustrate its application in the case of fridge-freezers. A key element of the life-cycle-oriented methodology is an assessment matrix to categorize and evaluate the direct, indirect and systemic impacts of products' functions. Based on semi-quantitative assessments of experts, the matrix provides an indication of how the additional function affects the overall environmental product impact as well as specific product aspects such as durability or reparability. Based on the results experts can discuss and better understand how specific functions can influence various stages of the product life cycle and how intended systemic changes or rebound effects could occur. As part of the approach, a representative survey was conducted to analyze consumers' knowledge and information needs. Based on the results, recommendations for purchasing decisions and the consumer information were developed. This paper presents the results from the assessment of the additional functions of fridge-freezers. Furthermore, the paper highlights practical experiences made from applying the presented approach. Conclusions are drawn on the potential of the approach to develop a more comprehensive understanding of additional product functions supporting circular design strategies and sustainable purchasing decisions of consumers.
Where and how do people live? : Modelling the occupation of the German building stock by households
(2024)
Living space needs to be heated in winter and partially cooled in summer and the construction of new buildings requires high amounts of energy and materials. Total living space is increasing, driven by continuously rising average per-capita spaces. The reasons for this are numerous and include the trend to smaller households who live in larger flats, increasing numbers of single-family houses, elderly people remaining in oversized dwellings, e.g. after their children moved out, the unavailability of adequately sized and priced dwellings on the market, and ongoing construction of new buildings even in regions with shrinking or stagnating populations.
Prospective scenarios for a sustainable transition of the building stock thus need to account for these factors, in order to be able to endogenously model impacts of different policy measures and other influencing parameters on the distribution and amount of living space.
This paper presents the approach of the INHABIT model for the German building sector which is currently under development. Based on Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data, we model dwelling occupancy, by matching the German population to the dwelling stock.
Historical data shows that dwelling space is increasing for older and wealthier households, even more so in single family homes, and that under-occupation of dwellings concerns exactly these groups: over 50 % of households aged >60 live in under-occupied dwellings.
Finally, we find that also moving rates follow similar patterns and are on average lower for these groups, perpetuating the situation. The proposed model will aim at a simulation of the future of possible occupancy pathways, also as a function of policies that may address prevailing inequalities and inefficiencies in German dwelling occupation.
Using impact chains for a feasibility assessment of sufficiency policies in the mobility sector
(2024)
Energy savings through modal shift and demand reduction (avoid) are key to decarbonising the transport sector. This is the aim of transport sufficiency policies. Some of them are already implemented and serve as best practice examples, and there are many planned and proposed policies, e.g., in the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) of EU Member States and in the literature on decarbonisation of the transport sector.
The European Sufficiency Policy Database of the Energy Sufficiency junior research group (EnSu) currently contains 120 sufficiency policies for passenger transport, grouped into seven different policy strategies and covering different types of policy instruments. In this paper, we take a closer look at 74 of them.
Methodologically, we refer to the concept of impact chains as developed by Zell-Ziegler and Thema (2022) and analyse the chain from policy stimulus to impact with a particular focus on those factors that seem relevant to the feasibility of policy implementation.
In our feasibility assessment, we seek to answer the following questions: 1) How do particular policy instruments work from cause to effect and what can we learn from them for implementation feasibility? 2) Within a particular policy strategy, how do individual policy instruments differ in terms of implementation feasibility? 3) Does implementation feasibility vary between instrument types?
Regarding the first question, we take the impact chain of the good practice example of "superblocks" in Barcelona - neighbourhoods with restricted car access - as an example of a policy that could also be implemented in cities in Germany as well. We conclude that this can work well if good public transport is available and administrations are flexible in their urban planning. However, barriers and risks such as the risk of gentrification or protests from local shopkeepers should not be neglected and must be taken seriously. All of the other 73 impact chains, which cannot be described in such detail, are provided in a supplementary table.
Regarding the second question, we focus our analysis on the enabling and hindering factors of policy instruments. We find that policies with many supporting factors often also have many barriers and risks. This is mainly because they are meta-level policies with more diverse relevant factors. The policy strategy "Reduce trips: local supply" has the most risks and the promotion of active transport has the least, suggesting a no-regret policy. Another pattern we see is that pull policies (such as incentives or infrastructure) have fewer barriers than push policies (such as banning air travel and converting road space to cycling and walking).
On the third question, we find out that regulatory instruments do not have the most risks (but do have the most barriers) and even have the most supporting factors compared to economic and fiscal instruments. In conclusion, this analysis supports a detailed consideration of decarbonisation options for passenger transport and paves the way for further research on a comprehensive policy mix in this sector.
Nordrhein-Westfalen ist durch seine starken Industriezweige einer der wichtigsten und wirtschaftlich bedeutendsten Standorte in Deutschland. Aufgrund der Transformation hin zu einer nachhaltigen und klimaneutralen Wirtschaft stehen aber gerade diese Sektoren in NRW zunehmend unter Druck, da sie einen hohen Energie- sowie Ressourcenverbrauch aufweisen. Hier setzt das Konzept der digitalen zirkulären Wirtschaft, oder auch digitale Circular Economy, an. Dabei handelt es sich um die Transformation des aktuell linearen Wirtschaftsmodell hin zu einer ressourcenschonenden energieeinsparenden Kreislaufwirtschaft, die mit Hilfe digitaler Technologien ermöglicht wird. Der Digitalisierung kommt eine besondere Bedeutung zu, da sie Zirkularität nicht nur messbar macht, sondern zirkuläre Strategien in komplexen Wertschöpfungsketten überhaupt erst ermöglicht.
Dieses Papier untersucht die aktuelle Ausgangslage NRWs als Industriestandort im Hinblick auf eine solche digital-zirkuläre Transformation. Dabei werden Treiber der digitalen Kreislaufwirtschaft beleuchtet und die Circular Economy Readiness als auch die Data Economy Readiness analysiert. Es zeigt sich, dass Unternehmen im Bezug zur Circular Economy Readiness häufig eher inkrementelle statt disruptiver Anpassungen vornehmen. Zirkuläre Dienstleistungen, die z.B. Sharing- oder Mietmodelle umfassen, spielen bisher noch keine prominente Rolle. Bezüglich der Data Economy Readiness zeigt sich großes Potenzial beim adäquaten Nutzen der Daten, wobei die Datenspeicherung schon weitgehend digitalisiert ist. Insbesondere das Data-Sharing ist ein wesentlicher Bestandteil eines digital gestützten zirkulären Wirtschaftens, hier zeigen sich in der Untersuchung jedoch noch deutliche Defizite.
