ALBERT

Description: Der derzeit hohe Verbrauch an Plastikverpackungen stellt ein komplexes sozial-ökologisches Risiko dar. Am Institut für transformative Nachhaltigkeitsforschung (IASS) haben Umweltpsychologinnen und -psychologen im Rahmen des vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung geförderten Verbundprojektes ENSURE erforscht, wie eine Reduktion des individuellen Verbrauchs von Plastikverpackungen für Lebensmittel gefördert werden kann. Laut einer im ENSURE-Projekt durchgeführten repräsentativen deutschlandweiten Online-Befragung mit 1200 Teilnehmenden erleben 92 Prozent der Befragten Plastikmüll in der Umwelt als bedrohlich im Hinblick auf den Erhalt unserer natürlichen Lebensgrundlagen. Trotz des hohen Problembewusstseins nimmt der Verbrauch an Verpackungen im Alltag weiterhin stetig zu: 2018 fielen in Deutschland über drei Millionen Tonnen Kunststoffverpackungsabfälle an, womit sich die Menge seit 1997 mehr als verdoppelt hat. Die Ergebnisse des ENSURE-Projektes zeigen, dass die Bereitschaft der Konsumentinnen und Konsumenten ihren Verbrauch an Plastikverpackungen zu reduzieren zwar gegeben ist, jedoch durch persönliche sowie strukturelle Barrieren behindert wird. Es bedarf politischen Handelns, um diese vielfältigen Barrieren abzubauen und die Konsumentinnen und Konsumenten in ihren Bemühungen zu unterstützen. Der vorliegende Policy Brief schlägt drei Strategien vor, die zur Reduktion des Verbrauchs von Verpackungen im Alltag beitragen. Auf den folgenden Seiten werden nach einer Vorstellung des Kontextes diese drei Empfehlungen ausführlicher erläutert. Im Fazit heben wir die Notwendigkeit eines systemischen Ansatzes zur Reduktion von Verpackungen hervor.

Description: Despite the fact that every single plane journey compounds climate change, many people still decide to fly. False incentives are to blame, says Katharina Beyerl. I was recently asked to answer the question "Is it still OK to fly?" for a TV programme - in just ten sentences.

Description: Plastic pollution has become a major global risk. The European Union (EU) obligates all member states to implement measures according to the waste management hierarchy, with the highest priority given to waste prevention and reuse. Currently, several policies tackle the plastic crisis, while effective measures for prevention are hardly introduced. Moreover, approaches are rarely tailored to individual consumers’ needs for reducing plastic waste. This paper is the first to collect and structure stakeholder knowledge on measures that enable consumers to use plastic more sustainably and, in particular, to prevent the generation of new plastic waste. The present study explores perspectives of 28 selected German stakeholders from the political, economic, civil and scientific sector. Written expert interviews with open questions captured stakeholders’ perceptions of the plastic problem and their approaches to enabling consumers to reduce plastic packaging for food and beverages. Results showed that the interviewed stakeholders did not point out consumers as the most important agents for change, but considered all societal agents responsible for implementing a wide range of consumer-enabling measures. The analysis revealed six groups of suggested measures, the most predominant ones being (1) the creation of alternatives for consumers and (2) political measures. Further suggested measures were (3) communication and awareness raising, (4) change in consumer behavior, (5) technical innovation and development, and (6) networking with other stakeholders. Based on our empirical results, we derived nine recommendations for action on three levels of the waste management hierarchy: prevention, recycling and disposal.

Description: Germany aims to reduce its carbon emissions by at least 40 per cent compared to 1990 levels by the year 2020 and achieve an emissions reduction of 80 to 95 per cent by 2050. Kiel University is one of the research institutes that are already playing their part in this process.

Description: Inhabitants of Pacific small island states are facing multiple socio-ecological pressures, with climate change being one of the most prominent. Nevertheless, the agency of local stakeholders in decisions on how to adapt to climate-related environmental change has been largely underappreciated in the climate change sciences as well as in policy decisions. We, therefore, conducted a survey study in Tuvalu, Samoa, and Tonga, asking specifically how residents perceive their situation regarding climate-related challenges, what adaptation strategies they have devised and implemented, and what they expect of governmental and nongovernmental organisations in these efforts. In contrast to the common perception that Pacific small island states are primarily threatened by rising sea levels, residents’ perceptions indicate that drought, cyclones and other flood-related problems pose a far more imminent danger. Our results suggest that further research on those perceived environmental changes is advisable to provide reliable data for scientific models and policy decisions.

Description: The response to the coronavirus pandemic has brought about changes that would once have seemed unthinkable. As part of its precautionary measures, the state has been permitted to limit freedoms in order to protect the health of its citizens. The flood of mass tourism has become a trickle and the number of people commuting to work has plummeted. As economies slow, so too do greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, Germany has reached its climate goals for 2020 after all. The pandemic has also seen a surge in solidarity, with citizens helping each other with the shopping, collecting donations for shuttered cinemas and much more. Parliaments have seen bipartisan support for bridging loans, debt moratoriums, and stimulus programmes to keep businesses afloat and support struggling families.

Description: Plastic waste is perceived as one of the major environmental problems of our times. Nevertheless, rates of consumption of plastic packaging are constantly increasing. Based on focus group discussions with German consumers this study identified personal and structural barriers that hinder a reduced plastic packaging consumption. Combining our findings with those of previous studies, we conclude that fundamental changes in infrastructures and lifestyles, as well as cultural and economic transformation processes, are needed to make zero-waste shopping the norm and unpackaged goods the most affordable and convenient option. The questions ‘Who is shopping?’, ‘What are we shopping?’, ‘Where do we go shopping?’, and ‘When/how often do we go shopping?’ help in identifying the levers for a dissemination of the unpacked concept and also reveal factors that have so far only been marginally discussed in the discourse on the plastic problem and have not yet been systematically linked to it.