ALBERT

Description: The growing demand for energy, natural resources and urban expansion during the last two centuries increased human interference with the geosphere far beyond geothermal usage. The increasing number of large-scale projects intervening the area of life of communities raised public concerns related to their environmental and social impact. Integration of public concerns into such projects should therefore go beyond outreach and communication measures. It requires an open approach to inclusive governance structures with respect to designing research and development processes and to modify technological options. Geoethical concepts emphasize that geoscientific knowledge may assist society in decision making as well as in dealing with risks, user conflicts and environmental threats on local, regional and global scale in order to support more sustainable practices at the intersection of human beings and the geosphere.In the present article, we analyse the social response to recent geothermal development and identify the precondition for public acceptability of geothermal projects. On this basis, the potential contribution of a GeoLaB, a Geothermal Laboratory in the crystalline Basement, to a geoethic approach in geothermal research and technology development is discussed. The underground research laboratory is planned as an infrastructure to answer scientific challenges and to offer the necessary transparency to interact with the public. The GeoLaB approach aims on transparent, tangible science and can serve to enhance mutual understanding of stakeholder groups. It may increase public awareness on geothermal research and potentially enhance the opportunity for public approval of planned activities. As a generic site, GeoLaB can develop scientific-technological solutions for a responsible exploitation of geothermal energy accompanied by sociological studies. The underground research laboratory will serve as a platform for science communication, participation and dialogue of stakeholders from industry, politics, administration and society. This complies with the comprehension of responsible research in a geoethical sense.

Description: Spätestens die Proteste gegen die Erweiterung des Flughafens in Frankfurt am Main, den Bau der Dresdner Waldschlößchenbrücke oder Stuttgart 21 haben gezeigt: Die Bürgerinnen und Bürger möchten auf die konkrete Ausgestaltung ihres unmittelbaren Lebensumfeldes stärker als bisher Einfluss nehmen. Durch eine frühzeitige Einbindung der Bürgerschaft in Entscheidungsprozesse lassen sich u. a. mögliche Konflikte zeitiger erkennen und einvernehmliche Lösungen erarbeiten. Das kann mehr Akzeptanz für Entscheidungen schaffen und hilft langfristig auch, Geld zu sparen. Das praxisorientierte »Methodenhandbuch Bürgerbeteiligung« stellt dafür ein breites Set an Methoden vor, die von der Beteiligungsplanung bis zur Lern- und Ergebnistransfersicherung reichen und auch das Thema Online-Beteiligung berücksichtigen. Es richtet sich u. a. an kommunale Verwaltungen, Politik, Vereine, Bürgerinitiativen, Prozessgestalter und erscheint in fünf Bänden. Band 4: Meistens sind Beteiligungsprozesse interaktiv aufgebaut und wirken grundsätzlich belebend. Dabei zeigt die Praxis: Erfahrene Moderatoren intervenieren regelmäßig mit kleineren Methoden und können so die Produktivität von Beteiligungsverfahren verbessern. Dafür eignen sich etwa Teambildungs- und Feedbacktechniken aber auch Entspannungs- und Wiederholungs-techniken. Der vierte Band stellt 27 dieser Methoden vor.

Description: The German Energiewende (Energy Transition) poses major challenges to all parties involved. Public participation can contribute to the understanding of these challenges and their positive resolution. It is not suitable, however, to expect public acceptance for predetermined solutions. Participation presupposes openness about options. If this does not exist, one can resort to methods of communication that attempt to convince affected citizens of the necessity of adopting a planned measure. Yet if there is room for choosing among options, participation may create a foundation for broad acceptance of a jointly determined solution to pressing problems. Participative procedures that follow the model of analytic-deliberative discourse, by integrating scientific expertise with ethical and moral consideration, are particularly promising. A forward-looking model is drawn from the use of both online and traditional face-to-face methods of interaction, combining the advantages of both methods. An inclusive planning culture based on cooperation and integration is a promising way to achieve fair and effective implementation of the Energiewende.

Description: Transatlantic regulatory patterns overall, and in four key sectors: food, automobiles,chemicals, and pharmaceuticals, indicate that EU risk regulation is not always orgenerally more stringent than US regulation. The reality is a complex mix of parity andparticularity. While there is overall EU-US similarity, there is also variation. In some riskmatters, across and within sectors, the European regulation is more stringent, whereasin others it is the US. Even if they are unusual, such transatlantic regulatory differencescan pose barriers to trade. Still regulatory variation can also be the basis for learning toimprove future regulatory design, both by comparing outcomes across regulations indifferent jurisdictions, and by planning adaptive regulation over time. Internationalregulatory cooperation is not limited to adopting the current standard of one side orthe other: it can also involve collaboration to review existing regulations and designnew approaches that improve outcomes for all.

Description: Drastic measures are required to meet the standards of the Paris Agreement and limit the increase of global average temperatures well below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels. Mining activities are typically considered as unsustainable but, at the same time, metals such as cobalt and lithium are essential to sustain the energy transition. Several sustainability goals defined by the United Nations (UN) require large quantities of raw materials. Exploration and extractives activities are required in order to contribute to meeting sustainability standards. Future sourcing of metals will need to implement procedures that go well beyond current ecological, economic, and social requirements and practices. In this paper we assess the usual sustainability criteria and how they apply to the extractives sector. Sustainability can only be achieved if one accepts that the natural capital can be substituted by other forms of capital (so called weak concept of sustainability). Sourcing the raw materials increasingly demanded by our societies will need transparent and inclusive stakeholder participation as well as a holistic understanding of the impact of extractives activities to reach this weak sustainability status. Our analysis shows that the sustainability of mining cannot be reached without harmonized political instruments and investment policies that take the three pillars of environmental, economic, and social sustainability as a major priority.