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PublicationNicht nur technische Innovationen, auch neue Gruppenformate beschleunigen den Weg zur Nachhaltigkeit in Wirtschaft und Staat( 2022)Energieeffizienz-Netzwerke werden seit rund zwanzig Jahren in Unternehmen in Deutschland und Österreich eingesetzt – in der Schweiz sogar schon seit 30 Jahren. Die beschleunigte Effizienz-Verbesserung und die schnelleren CO2-Emissionsminderungen gegenüber dem Durchschnitt nicht teilnehmender Unternehmen sind auf sozial- und individualpsychologische sowie ökonomische Wirkmechanismen zurückzuführen. Ein Ausblick auf die weitere Entwicklung dieser Netzwerke in anderen Industrie- und Schwellen-Ländern und für Gebietskörperschaften und andere Institutionen bestätigt die Universalität dieses Policy-Instruments und der beobachteten Zusammenhänge.In einer Dekade, in der der Klimaschutz extrem beschleunigt werden muss, hat dieser sozialwissenschaftlich belegte "Beschleuniger" seinen möglichen Beitrag zu leisten.
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PublicationNational responsibilities for adaptation strategies: Lessons from four modelling frameworks( 2010)Most of the literature about adaptation and vulnerability deals with decision making on a local level. This chapter examines the possible relevance of developing national or global adaptation strategies, and shorts out possible challenges. Firstly, the challenge in balancing mitigation and adaptation is discussed. Adaptation is very efficient, but substantial damages will remain even after optimal adaptation. Large regional differences in adaptation costs indicate the importance of establishing an international adaptation regime. Secondly, a closer examination of the energy system identifies innovations required to utilise the full potential for adaptation, and emphasises that successful R&D strategies may turn challenges into a competitive advantage. Thirdly, the possible market barriers to adaptation are identified. It is shown that climate change is likely to increase migration of labour and capital to urban areas. This adaptation is, however, hampered because capital, labour and natural resources are immobile to a certain extent. Finally, depending on the economic and financial vulnerability of an economy and its key actors, and the extent and frequency of disasters, countries may exhibit differential economic follow-on effects after a disaster. It shown that increased frequencies and intensities of disasters, such as floods, may have substantial fiscal and macroeconomic consequences. An identification of governments' roles in adaptation strategies is important, but is far from comprehensive when it comes to potential issues. Public goods are used as a common denominator for the identification of subjects to which governments should pay attention. A lot of research remains before an extensive overview of adaptation options, which can be characterised as public goods on a national scale, can be provided.
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PublicationClimate policy and inter-linkages between adaptation and mitigation( 2010)The objective of this chapter is to provide a better understanding of the interlinkages, trade-offs and synergies between adaptation and mitigation, building on the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report. The chapter elaborates on three different perspectives for assessing the two domains and illustrates these with examples from the ADAM research: the analysis of mitigation and adaptation in the European energy system based on integrated assessment models; mitigation and adaptation opportunities and barriers in the context of urban planning to reflect on social learning and capacity building; and an analysis of present and future climate governance challenges in the EU as an example of institutional policy analysis. In an explorative section, the chapter then provides a meta-analysis of European climate policies of the past ten years. The analysis shows that the inter-relationships between the two domains of adaptation and mitigation are complex and may involve different temporal, spatial and organisational scales. This leads us to conclude that:(i) mitigation efforts today may lead to climate vulnerabilities in the future if the life cycles specific to each sector are not adequately taken into account; (ii) development of response capacity in one domain does not lead to capacity in the other because adaptation and mitigation involve mostly different sectors, actors and institutions; (ii) climate impacts may lead to growing welfare inequalities, which can be balanced through co-ordinated policies at higher levels, but which need to overcome existing institutional barriers; and (iv) synergies between adaptation and mitigation are most easily found where mitigation efforts are reinforced by behavioural changes, which lead to an overall increase in resilience by implementing broad concepts of sustainability. Further consideration of these adaptation-mitigation linkages is a research priority. Policy innovation will be needed to capture synergistic benefits and avoid the introduction of new climate vulnerabilities or accelerated emissions of greenhouse gases.
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PublicationThe economics of low stabilisation: Implications for technological change and policy( 2010)The European Union (EU) is committed to the goal of keeping the increase in global temperatures from pre-industrial levels to no more than 2°C with a better than even chance. Achieving this 2° target would require stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations at less than 450ppm. This chapter examines whether and how this can be done by probing the technological and economic feasibility of reaching such a low level of stabilisation with acceptable means. We explore both aspects for three carbon dioxide equivalent concentration levels, set at 550, 450 and 400 parts per million (ppm) carbon dioxide equivalents, which have different probabilities of reaching the 2°C target. To investigate the robustness of results on mitigation costs and technological options, we compare findings from different state-of-the-art-energy-environment-economy models for the time horizon 2000-2100. An in-depth sectoral analysis of how the transformation of the energy system could proceed in Europe follows this global analysis. Our results suggest that low stabilisation is feasible in terms of technologies and moderate in costs. A broad range of technologies can be used to achieve stabilisation targets such as 550ppm that have only a low likelihood of reaching the 2°C goal. Much more ambitious reduction targets, such as 400pm, however, rely heavily on the availability of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in combination with biomass as options for removing carbon from the atmosphere and on the expansion of renewable energy. This target alone has a high likelihood of reaching the 2°C goal. Overall, global mitigation costs, expresses as cumulative gross domestic product (GDP) losses until 2100 relative to the baseline, are found to be below 0.8 per cent for the 550 ppm target, but nearly 2.5 per cent for the most ambitious of the three stabilisation targets, 400 ppm. These costs could be twice as high if biomass availability was smaller than first assumed or if the CCS storage potential was more limited. One model reports GDP gains for all stabilisation pathways as it incorporates existing inefficiencies. A detailed analysis of the transformation of the energy systems in Europe leads to the conclusion that improving energy productivity and substituting renewable energy for fossil fuels are the most important means for achieving the 2°C goal.
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PublicationEffizienzsteigerung der Energieforschung - ein Bewertungsverfahren( 2009)
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PublicationEnergy flows and losses - the industrial countries in the iron age of history in the energy sector( 2009)The paper first outlines the challenges the global energy system is facing. It then summarises the present knowledge on energy efficient solutions in all energy using sectors from primary energy to useful energy and, more importantly, from useful energy to energy services (material efficiency and substitution). The examination of these potentials considers the lifetimes of manufactured artefacts: buildings and infrastructure that will save or waste energy within the next 60 to 70 years. The result - a reduction of present energy use per capita by a factor of 3, labelled as a 2000 Watt/capita society, is shortly discussed as well as organisational measures and entrepreneurial innovations which could be immediately taken up. Besides the traditional reasoning why many profitable energy efficiency potentials are not realised, the article also calls for more creativity to rely on the motivation and opportunities of actors and to analyse the relevant actors of the related innovation system. Finally, the recent activities of the Energy Summit of the German government and the Commisssion's Action Plan for Energy Efficiency are shortly discussed under the criteria developed in the article.
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