ALBERT

Description: In 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine had a profound effect on EU energy and climate policies. The EU redesigned its approach to the geopolitics of energy security as it sought alternatives to Russian supplies with accelerated urgency. It upgraded its commitments to energy transition internally and through external actions too, whilst member states balanced these with the domestic politics of a cost-of-living crisis triggered by the war. The new era of geopolitical power had repercussions for the conceptual contours of EU approaches to energy and climate security, which were elevated to hard security issues. The article reviews the key developments in EU energy and climate policies in 2022 and notes three emerging and inter-related conceptual shifts in these: the securitization of the green transition, a more realpolitik approach to external climate actions and a rebalancing towards state intervention.

Description: Background This article asks the following question: how well are coal regions, affected by phase-out plans, represented in mediating commissions, to what extent do local communities participate in the decision-making process and how are the political negotiations perceived by the communities? We look at the case of the German lignite phase-out from a procedural justice perspective. Informed by literature on sociotechnical decline and procedural justice in energy transitions, we focus first on aspects of representation, participation and recognition within the German Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment (“Coal Commission”). Second, we analyze how to exnovate coal in two regions closely tied to the coal- and lignite-based energy history in Germany: Lusatia and the Rhenish Mining District. Results Based on interview series in both regions, we connect insights from local communities with strategies for structural change and participation programs in the regions. We find significant differences between the two regions, which is primarily an effect of the challenging historical experiences in Lusatia. Participation within existing arrangements is not sufficient to solve these problems; they require a comprehensive strategy for the future of the regions. Conclusions We conclude that the first phase-out process was a lost opportunity to initiate a community-inclusive sustainable transition process. As the phase-out process is not yet concluded, additional efforts and new strategies are needed to resolve the wicked problem of lignite phase-out.

Description: This paper explores the potential for collaborative governance in the textile sector to act as a catalyst for sustainability transformation. The article originated from a 4-year research project examining a multi-stakeholder initiative (MSI), the German Partnership for Sustainable Textiles. It sheds light on the complex but interdependent connections between collaborative governance and personal relationships. While emphasising the role played by MSIs in creating important space for negotiating interests, it points towards the co-benefits of building relationships beyond stakeholder boundaries. Obstacles such as governance structures and the fragmentation of the governance landscape hinder opportunities for personal, political, and practical transformation. While highlighting the importance of private governance, it also stresses the role of state regulation in global economies, e.g. in the current debate on the EU Due Diligence Act. Finally, suggestions are made for designing governance spaces that support the development of social relationships while promoting transformation by ensuring the equal participation of stakeholders, employing learning and facilitation experts, and promoting joint decision-making processes.

Description: Mineral economics is a genuine multidisciplinary field dealing with economic and policy matters related to the production, distribution, and consumption of mineral commodities. We discuss why the increasing complexity, ambiguity, ambivalence, and social contestation of subjects of mineral economics promote the participation of mineral economists in transdisciplinary processes. These processes relate (a) knowledge from targeted interdisciplinary processes and (b) mitigated discourses among different stakeholders to provide (c) a shared problem definition and to attain shared basic knowledge about problem transformation science and practice. We discuss known examples of misperceptions regarding minerals (phosphorus), such as an imminent scarcity threat, the incorrectly understood causations of the 2007/2008 price peak and present the phosphorus ore-grades increased by 3.2% between 1983 and 2013 fallacies (which is based on the Simpson’s paradox), and only few countries have mineable reserves fallacy. Here, we also illuminate motivations underlying several mineral economics–related misunderstandings. We argue that societally relevant questions require an honest mineral economics knowledge brokership. The example of the Global TraPs project, which targeted sustainable phosphorus management, is presented. Honest brokership to attain a clearinghouse function of science requires trust formation in society. We argue that this calls for increasing the understandability of relationships that are not well-understood, such as “if prices rise, so do stocks.” Wellmer and Becker-Platen’s feedback control cycle may be considered an example of how complex mineral economics can become and how challenging it is to be understandable to scientists from different disciplines and faculties as well as to practitioners whose knowledge may well be used to cope with the complexity of given problems. Thus, the present paper represents a plea for mutual learning between science and practice in order to understand the complex social and economic challenges of mineral resource dynamics.

Description: There has been a recent proliferation of research and practice on the interior dimensions of sustainability, such as values, beliefs, worldviews and inner capacities. This nascent field of inner transformation is dynamic and emerging, with varied terminology, a breadth of applications, and intense debate about possible contributions as well as limitations and shortcomings. In this article, we aim to provide some orientation by systematising the core contributions of the emerging domain of inner transformation research via the acronym IMAGINE. We show that ontologically, inner transformation research highlights (i) the Interdependence of inner/outer and individual/collective/system phenomena, as well as (ii) the Multiple potential that is latent within each of us to enable transformative change. Correspondingly, it underscores the implications of inner phenomena for sustainability and related action-taking, particularly through: (iii) the Activation of inner dimensions across individual, collective and system levels, and (iv) the Generation of inner transformative capacities through intentional practices. Epistemologically, this necessitates the (v) INclusion of diverse perspectives, required for (vi) Expanding knowledge systems for sustainability. The presented heuristic offers a framework to systematically support and guide sustainability researchers, educators and practitioners to incorporate inner transformation into their work, which is a key requirement for sustainability outcomes and necessary to effectively formulate related policy frameworks.

Description: Modell Deutschland has proven to be extremely stable in the past. Nevertheless, the central sector of the German model of capitalism is currently facing profound transformations, the precise contours of which can only be guessed at. Inspired by regulation theory, this article discusses these emerging changes and argues that the international embedding of Modell Deutschland is of central importance not only with regard to the current double crisis of liberal capitalism but also with regard to the material dimension of the German export model. In addition, a more precise understanding of the reconfiguration of automotive value chains is required; these are changing as a result of digitalization, new mobility services, and changes in the manufacturing processes and the demand for raw materials in the course of powertrain electrification, and have a strong influence on both wage ratios and forms of enterprise.

Description: Das „Modell Deutschland“ hat sich in der Vergangenheit als überaus stabil erwiesen. Gleichwohl steht aktuell die Automobilindustrie, die zentrale Branche des deutschen Kapitalismusmodells, vor tief greifenden Transformationen, deren genaue Konturen sich jedoch nur erahnen lassen. Der Beitrag diskutiert aus einer regulationstheoretischen Perspektive die sich abzeichnenden Veränderungen und argumentiert, dass die internationale Einbettung des „Modell Deutschland“ nicht nur im Hinblick auf die aktuelle Doppelkrise des liberalen Kapitalismus, sondern auch im Hinblick auf die materiell-stoffliche Dimension des deutschen Exportmodells von zentraler Bedeutung ist. Darüber hinaus bedarf es eines präziseren Verständnisses der Rekonfiguration der automobilen Wertschöpfungsketten, die sich durch Digitalisierung und neue Mobilitätsdienstleistungen sowie eine Veränderung der Rohstoffbedarfe und industrieller Fertigungsprozesse im Zuge der Elektrifizierung des Antriebsstrangs verändern und sowohl das Lohnverhältnis als auch die Unternehmensformen stark beeinflussen.

Description: Germany, the European Union member state with the largest fiscal space and its leading manufacturer of industrial goods, is pursuing an ambitious hydrogen strategy aiming at establishing itself as a major technology provider and importer of green hydrogen. The success of its hydrogen strategy represents not only a key element in realizing the European vision of climate neutrality but also a central driver of an emerging global hydrogen economy. This article provides a detailed review of German policy, highlighting its prominent international dimension and its implications for the development of a global renewable hydrogen economy. It provides an overview of the strategy's central goals and how these have evolved since the launch of the strategy in 2020. Next, it moves on to provide an overview of the strategy's main areas of intervention and highlights corresponding policy instruments. For this, we draw on a comprehensive assessment of hydrogen policy instruments, which have been systematically analyzed and coded. This was complemented by a detailed analysis of policy documents and information gathered in six interviews with government officials and staff of key implementing agencies. The article places particular emphasis on the strategy's international dimension. While less significant in financial terms than domestic hydrogen-related spending, it represents a defining feature of the German hydrogen strategy, setting it apart from strategies in other major economies. The article closes with a reflection on the key features of the strategy compared to other important countries, identifies gaps of the strategy and discusses important avenues for future research.

Description: The USA and the EU proposed a ‘Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum (GASSA)’ as the first step towards a carbon club for clean steel in 2021. Yet, visions about the core elements of GASSA, a common standard for green steel and a tariff on ‘dirty’ steel, remain far apart. This comment discusses the international developments, domestic priorities, and structural conditions that enable and constrain the negotiations on GASSA. Ultimately, we argue that if the USA and the EU at least conclude an agreement with a definition for green steel and provide an opportunity for including further partners, this initiative might become a valuable endeavor for industrial decarbonization.

Description: The assessment of persistence (P), bioaccumulation (B), and toxicity (T) of a chemical is a crucial first step at ensuring chemical safety and is a cornerstone of the European Union’s chemicals regulation REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals). Existing methods for PBT assessment are overly complex and cumbersome, have produced incorrect conclusions, and rely heavily on animal-intensive testing. We explore how new-approach methodologies (NAMs) can overcome the limitations of current PBT assessment. We propose two innovative hazard indicators, termed cumulative toxicity equivalents (CTE) and persistent toxicity equivalents (PTE). Together they are intended to replace existing PBT indicators and can also accommodate the emerging concept of PMT (where M stands for mobility). The proposed “toxicity equivalents” can be measured with high throughput in vitro bioassays. CTE refers to the toxic effects measured directly in any given sample, including single chemicals, substitution products, or mixtures. PTE is the equivalent measure of cumulative toxicity equivalents measured after simulated environmental degradation of the sample. With an appropriate panel of animal-free or alternative in vitro bioassays, CTE and PTE comprise key environmental and human health hazard indicators. CTE and PTE do not require analytical identification of transformation products and mixture components but instead prompt two key questions: is the chemical or mixture toxic, and is this toxicity persistent or can it be attenuated by environmental degradation? Taken together, the proposed hazard indicators CTE and PTE have the potential to integrate P, B/M and T assessment into one high-throughput experimental workflow that sidesteps the need for analytical measurements and will support the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability of the European Union.

Description: In this paper, the authors discuss the role of China in the emerging geopolitics of hydrogen. It begins with a review of China's external energy policy and its evolution over the past decades, highlighting China's transition to a net-energy importer as an important inflection point in that process. It then goes on to describe the main pillars of China's national hydrogen policy. Building on this the paper provides and overview of China's external hydrogen policy and how this aligns with both its broader energy foreign policy and its hydrogen policy objectives. The paper finds that China’s hydrogen strategy – both internal and external – are still at an emergent stage. National targets remain modest, and policy remains ambiguous regarding the preferred production pathway. China’s long-term vision clearly emphasizes the role of renewable hydrogen to help balance an energy system dominated by wind and solar energy. However, current policy provides ample space for the promotion of other forms of hydrogen production. Rather, than a strong, centralized policy approach, local and provincial governments along with SOEs have been driving investment and policy experimentation in the sector, which includes efforts to boost fossil-based hydrogen production.