ALBERT

Description: Geo-Engineering, früher Stoff für Science Fiction, hat den wissenschaftlichenMainstream erreicht—und die internationale Politik. Doch dasKlimaschutzpotential der Technologien scheint entweder stark begrenztoder mit kaum kalkulierbaren Risiken und Nebenwirkungen verbunden.

Description: Haben wir die Zeiten des Imperialismus nicht längst hinter uns gelassen? Wenn man erwägt, in welchem Maße sich der Globale Norden nach wie vor an den ökologischen und sozialen Ressourcen des Globalen Südens bedient, rücken die Begriffe »Globaler Kapitalismus« und »Imperialismus« wieder näher zusammen. Unsere Muster von Produktion und Konsum erfordern einen überproportionalen Zugriff auf Ressourcen, Arbeitskraft und biologische Senken der restlichen Welt. Mit anderen Worten: Die Ausbeutung von Mensch und Natur hält nach wie vor an – und nimmt weiter an Fahrt auf.Ulrich Brand und Markus Wissen legen in ihrem Buch eine umfassende Krisenbeschreibung vor, die zeigt, wie inadäquat die aktuellen, oft marktförmigen und technischen Strategien der Problemlösung im Kapitalismus sind. Das Buch erinnert eindringlich daran, wie notwendig eine umfassende »sozial-ökologische Transformation« hin zu einer solidarischen Lebensweise ist und wie man sie auf den Weg bringen kann.

Description: Danksagung 7Kapitel 1An den Grenzen einer Lebensweise 9Kapitel 2Multiple Krise und sozial-ökologische Transformation 21Kapitel 3Der Begriff der imperialen Lebensweise 43Kapitel 4Die historische Entstehung der imperialen Lebensweise 69Kapitel 5Die globale Verallgemeinerung und Vertiefung der imperialen Lebensweise 95Kapitel 6Imperiale Automobilität 125Kapitel 7Falsche Alternativen. Von der grünen Ökonomie zum grünen Kapitalismus? 147Kapitel 8Konturen einer solidarischen Lebensweise 165Anmerkungen 187Literaturverzeichnis 202Abkürzungsverzeichnis 222Über die Autoren 224

Description: Focusing on critical aspects of infrastructure, such as energy, this brief argues that Africa, and African cities in particular, need infrastructure that advances both basic needs and industrialization, and avoids a lock-in of unsustainable, high-carbon technologies. G20 countries can promote and support quality of life in Africa by: (1) aligning and cementing the G20 Agenda for Africa with African initiatives, SDGs and the Paris Agreement, (2) mitigating economic risks of climate change through supporting low carbon development pathways in Africa, (3) creating and enabling a level playing field for low carbon technologies, which includes integrated strategies for de-risking renewable energy investments, and (4) supporting smart and sustainable urban planning.

Description: This chapter is a joint effort by natural and legal scientists to make the case for the dramatic consequences black carbon (BC) emissions mainly from outside the Arctic region have on the Arctic ecosystem, and how BC has recently become the specific focus of a regime complex. The authors provide scientific knowledge about the sources, pathways, and climate impacts of BC emissions, and stress the special relevance of possible near-immediate climate benefits from BC emission reduction in the Arctic. Further consideration is given to the crucial importance of the governance responses to these opportunities and challenges. Thus, the second part of the chapter critically discusses the status and prospects of current multilateral BC emission reduction efforts in the context of the Arctic Council, the International Maritime Organization, and the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution.

Description: Mit der Neuauflage der Deutschen Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie hat die Bundesregierung die Wissenschaft zur Bildung einer Plattform aufgefordert, die systematisch in die Steuerungs-, Dialog- und Umsetzungsprozesse der Agenda 2030 und somit die neue Nachhaltigkeitsarchitektur eingebunden ist. Träger der Plattform sind die internationalen wissenschaftlichen Netzwerke Sustainable Development Solutions Network Germany (SDSN Germany), das Deutsche Komitee für Nachhaltigkeitsforschung in Future Earth (DKN Future Earth) sowie das Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), das zusätzlich die Geschäftsstelle der Wissenschaftsplattform beherbergt. Die inhaltliche und operative Ausgestaltung der Arbeit der Plattform liegt in der Verantwortung des Lenkungskreises aus derzeit 26 Mitgliedern aus Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und organisierter Zivilgesellschaft. Der Lenkungskreis formuliert das Arbeitsprogramm und initiiert Arbeitsprozesse sowie die Vernetzung mit weiteren Akteuren aus Wissenschaft, Politik, Wirtschaft und Zivilgesellschaft, um eine effektive wie auch repräsentative und international verankerte Plattform aufzubauen. Die Plattform wird auf Seiten der Bundesregierung von einem für alle Ressorts offenen Kreis begleitet, in dem zurzeit BMBF, BMUB, BMZ, BMEL sowie Bundeskanzleramt mitwirken. Die Wissenschaftsplattform Nachhaltigkeit 2030 wurde am 8. Mai 2017 mit der konstituierenden Sitzung ihres Lenkungskreises etabliert und im Rahmen des 13. BMBF-Forums für Nachhaltigkeit am 9. Mai 2017 der Öffentlichkeit vorgestellt.

Description: US-Präsident Donald Trump möchte mit seinem „America First EnergyPlan“ die Wirtschaft ankurbeln, Arbeitsplätze schaffen und unabhängig von Energieimportenwerden. Durch einen neuen Fokus auf die Förderung fossiler Energieträger vollziehtTrump eine Abkehr von der Klima- und Energiepolitik der Obama-Administration.Die Wende hin zu einer nachhaltigeren Energieversorgung kann der Präsident so nichtaufhalten. Doch seine Energieagenda stellt durchaus ein Risiko für Klimaschutz und Wirtschaftdar. Sie hat Auswirkungen auf Forschung, Entwicklung und Investitionen im Bereicherneuerbare Energietechnologien und bedeutet eine Distanzierung von der internationalenGemeinschaft im Klimaschutz. US-Staaten wie Kalifornien verbleiben als Hoffnungsträgerfür die amerikanische Energiewende. Doch ihre Ambitionen werden sich noch immenssteigern müssen, um internationale Klimaschutzziele zu verwirklichen.

Description: The BEST PATHS project is focused on the development and demonstration of grid equipment suitable for bulk power transmission across Europe. This work summarises the different cable conductor designs envisioned during the first 2.5 years of the superconducting demonstrator, taking benefit of the improved performance of MgB2 wires produced by Columbus Superconductors. The results of extensive validation tests carried out at CERN on two cables manufactured by Nexans are also presented.

Description: Mit den im September 2015 von den Vereinten Nationen verabschiedeten Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) der Agenda 2030 wurden erstmals soziale und ökologische Nachhaltigkeitsziele systematisch verknüpft. Bei den sozialen Nachhaltigkeitszielen wurden ebenfalls erstmals auch die Industrieländer zum Adressaten und nicht ausschließlich die sogenannten Entwicklungsländer. Inwieweit verändern sich jedoch soziale und vor allem sozialpolitische Modernisierungsziele im Kontext der Nachhaltigkeitsperspektive? Lässt sich überhaupt von Sozialer Nachhaltigkeit sprechen und wenn ja, was ist damit genau gemeint? Genügen die unter dem Begriff sozial-ökologische Forschung und Politik formulierten Fragestellungen den komplexen Anforderungen der SDG und eines Programms zur Sozialen Nachhaltigkeit? Da hier berechtigte Zweifel bestehen, beauftragte das IASS im Sommer 2016 das ISÖ mit einer Studie zu 〉Soziale Nachhaltigkeit. Konzept und Operationalisierung〈, die im Frühjahr 2017 unter dem Titel 〉Soziale Nachhaltigkeit. Auf dem Weg zur Internalisierungsgesellschaft〈 im oekom Verlag erschien. Das gemeinsam von IASS und ISÖ am 2. November 2017 in Potsdam veranstaltete Symposium lotete anlässlich der Studie und ihrer Buchveröffentlichung die wissenschaftlichen und politischen Perspektiven des Konzepts Soziale Nachhaltigkeit aus. Diese Veröffentlichung enthält die zur Vorbereitung des Symposiums erstellten Beiträge.

Description: Lumbini, in southern Nepal, is a UNESCO world heritage site of universal value as the birthplace of Buddha. Poor air quality in Lumbini and surrounding regions is a great concern for public health as well as for preservation, protection and promotion of Buddhist heritage and culture. We present here results from measurements of ambient concentrations of key air pollutants (PM, BC, CO, O3) in Lumbini, first of its kind for Lumbini, conducted during an intensive measurement period of 3 months (April–June 2013) in the pre-monsoon season. The measurements were carried out as a part of the international air pollution measurement campaign; SusKat-ABC (Sustainable Atmosphere for the Kathmandu Valley – Atmospheric Brown Clouds). The main objective of this work is to understand and document the level of air pollution, diurnal characteristics and influence of open burning on air quality in Lumbini. The hourly average concentrations during the entire measurement campaign ranged as follows: BC was 0.3–30.0 µg m−3, PM1 was 3.6–197.6 µg m−3, PM2. 5 was 6.1–272.2 µg m−3, PM10 was 10.5–604.0 µg m−3, O3 was 1.0–118.1 ppbv and CO was 125.0–1430.0 ppbv. These levels are comparable to other very heavily polluted sites in South Asia. Higher fraction of coarse-mode PM was found as compared to other nearby sites in the Indo-Gangetic Plain region. The ΔBC ∕ ΔCO ratio obtained in Lumbini indicated considerable contributions of emissions from both residential and transportation sectors. The 24 h average PM2. 5 and PM10 concentrations exceeded the WHO guideline very frequently (94 and 85 % of the sampled period, respectively), which implies significant health risks for the residents and visitors in the region. These air pollutants exhibited clear diurnal cycles with high values in the morning and evening. During the study period, the worst air pollution episodes were mainly due to agro-residue burning and regional forest fires combined with meteorological conditions conducive of pollution transport to Lumbini. Fossil fuel combustion also contributed significantly, accounting for more than half of the ambient BC concentration according to aerosol spectral light absorption coefficients obtained in Lumbini. WRF-STEM, a regional chemical transport model, was used to simulate the meteorology and the concentrations of pollutants to understand the pollutant transport pathways. The model estimated values were ∼ 1. 5 to 5 times lower than the observed concentrations for CO and PM10, respectively. Model-simulated regionally tagged CO tracers showed that the majority of CO came from the upwind region of Ganges Valley. Model performance needs significant improvement in simulating aerosols in the region. Given the high air pollution level, there is a clear and urgent need for setting up a network of long-term air quality monitoring stations in the greater Lumbini region.

Description: Die industrielle Produktion durchläuft aktuell einen erheblichen Transformationsprozess, ermöglicht durch die rasante Entwicklung der Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien. Welche Rolle spielt die Industrie 4.0. für eine sozial-ökologische Entwicklung?

Description: Soll die Energiewende gelingen, muss jeder Einzelne einen Beitrag leisten. Privathaushalte müssen nicht nur Energie sparen, sondern ihren Verbrauch künftig auch stärker an die schwankende Einspeisung aus Wind- und Solarenergie anpassen. Eine Arbeitsgruppe des Akademienprojekts „Energiesysteme der Zukunft“ (ESYS) hat untersucht, wie sich Verbraucher motivieren lassen, ihr Verhalten dauerhaft zu ändern und ihren Energiebedarf zu reduzieren. Die Stellungnahme „Verbraucherpolitik für die Energiewende“ fasst die Ergebnisse zusammen. Ein zentrales Element sind zielgruppengerechte, gut verständliche Informationen und Beratungsangebote. Auch sogenannte „Nudges“ (sanfte „Stupser“) können Privathaushalte anregen, Energie nachhaltiger zu nutzen. Sieht man etwa auf der Stromrechnung, dass die Nachbarn im Durchschnitt weniger verbrauchen als man selbst, kann das zu sparsamerem Verhalten motivieren. Da es für Deutschland bisher wenige Studien zum „Nudging“ gibt, sollte die Wirksamkeit dieser Methode jedoch weiter erforscht werden. Beteiligen sich Verbraucher am Lastmanagement, tragen sie dazu bei, die schwankende Stromversorgung aus Wind und Sonne auszugleichen. Ein geeignetes Mittel wären zum Beispiel Lieferverträge mit dynamischer Preisgestaltung: Ist viel Strom im Netz, sinken die Preise, bei einem Engpass steigen sie. Voraussetzung dafür wäre eine intelligente Steuerungstechnik sowie die Bereitschaft der Verbraucher, einige ihrer Geräte wie Stromzähler und Kühlsysteme von außen „fernsteuern“ zu lassen. Mit Apps könnten sie zudem nicht nur ihren Stromverbrauch, sondern auch ihren Wärmebedarf bequem selbst anpassen und dadurch Energie sparen.

Description: PAH concentrations were measured in total suspended particle (TSP) samples collected from six sites along two south-north transects across the central Himalayas from April 2013 to March 2014. The annual average TSP and PAH (especially 5- and 6-ring compounds) concentrations were found to decrease noticeably northwards along both transects. At rural and urban sites, the TSP and PAH concentrations showed clear seasonal variations, with the lower concentrations around the mid-monsoon season and the higher values in the winter season. Meanwhile, at the remote sites (e.g., Nyalam and Zhongba), these pollutants generally remained constant throughout the year but with relatively higher levels during the pre-monsoon season. Both IndP/(IndP + BghiP) and Fla/(Fla + Pyr) ratios suggested that atmospheric PAHs from urban and rural sites were mainly associated with emissions from biomass burning, coal burning and petroleum combustion. However, the contribution of biomass burning increased at remote sites. Similar compositions of PAHs were found at three remote sites located on both sides of the Himalayas (Jomsom, Zhongba, and Nyalam), suggesting that the northern side of the Himalayas may be affected by anthropogenic emissions from the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) via long-range atmospheric transport. This work provides a database of PAHs in central Himalayas for further assessing environmental risk of air pollution in the remote regions.

Description: This volume explores the governance of the transforming Arctic from an international perspective. Leading and emerging scholars in Arctic research investigate the international causes and consequences of contemporary Arctic developments, and assess how both state and non-state actors respond to crucial problems for the global community. Long treated as a remote and isolated region, climate change and economic prospects have put the Arctic at the forefront of political agendas from the local to the global level, and this book tackles the variety of involved actors, institutional politics, relevant policy issues, as well as political imaginaries related to a globalizing Arctic. It covers new institutional forms of various stakeholder engagement on multiple levels, governance strategies to combat climate change that affect the Arctic region sooner and more strongly than other regions, the pros and cons of Arctic resource development for the region and beyond, and local and trans-boundary pollution concerns. Given the growing relevance of the Arctic to international environmental, energy and security politics, the volume helps to explain how the region is governed in times of global nexuses, multi-level politics and multi-stakeholderism.

Description: Partnering for a Sustainable Ocean: The Role of Regional Ocean Governance in ImplementingSDG14 highlights the major role that regional ocean governance can play in theimplementation of SDG14. It assesses the mandates of different regional frameworks, showcasesexisting regional efforts contributing to the specific targets underpinning SDG14, andidentifies key contributions that regional initiatives can make to the overarching challengesof the 2030 Agenda. AcknowledgementsKey messages1. Regional cooperations are is essential for ocean sustainabilityRegional approaches to ocean governance make it possible for States and stakeholders tocooperate at an ecosystem scale and work together across sectors and national boundaries.2. Most of the SDG14 targets can be addressed through regional initiativesRegional approaches and instruments can play a key role in meeting most of the SDG14 targets,with particular relevance in the areas of marine pollution, sustainable ocean management,fisheries, conservation, and economic benefits for Small Island Developing States and LeastDeveloped Countries.3. Regional ocean governance is a driver for the development of integrated approachesRegional approaches can help advance ocean governance by bringing all relevant actorstogether, taking the interdependencies among SDG14 targets into account, and providingco-benefits for the other SDGs.4. Regional ocean governance efforts require greater support to overcome gaps and institutionalweaknesses.Regional cooperation is key to the success of SDG14 and the 2030 Agenda, and should befurther strengthened, including through capacity building and the development of regionalpartnerships.

Description: Deutschland soll international mehr Verantwortung übernehmen – an dieser Forderung muss sich die deutsche Politik neu ausrichten. Die neue Agenda heißt: Außen-, Entwicklungs- und Sicherheitspolitik gemeinsam denken. Denn nur nachhaltige Entwicklung schafft die Grundlagen für Stabilität und Sicherheit über nationale Grenzen hinweg. Das zeigt sich seit der Flüchtlingskrise stärker denn je. Die Bekämpfung der Fluchtursachen macht deutlich, wie anspruchsvoll und notwendig die neue außenpolitische Verantwortung Deutschlands ist.Dieses Buch präsentiert Beiträge der wichtigsten Köpfe aus Politik, Wissenschaft und Praxis, liefert interessante Lesestücke zu brisanten Themen und gibt klare Handlungsempfehlungen an die Politik. Pflichtlektüre für alle, die über Deutschlands Grenzen hinaus denken.

Description: The Best Paths European project investigates the feasibility of technological innovations that could advance high-capacity transmission links. These innovations include a demonstrator project dedicated to superconducting electric lines, which aims to validate the novel MgB2 technology for GW-level HVDC power transmission. This paper focuses on the research, development and design activities for the 10 kA cable conductor, which were carried out in the first two years of the project.

Description: Next week thousands of leaders and ocean experts will descend upon New York City to wrestle with an urgent problem: How can we protect the world’s oceans?

Description: Despite a growing literature on the climate response to solar geoengineering – proposals to cool the planet by increasing the planetary albedo – there has been little published on the impacts of solar geoengineering on natural and human systems such as agriculture, health, water resources, and ecosystems. An understanding of the impacts of different scenarios of solar geoengineering deployment will be crucial for informing decisions on whether and how to deploy it. Here we review the current state of knowledge about impacts of a solar geoengineered climate and identify major research gaps. We suggest that a thorough assessment of the climate impacts of a range of scenarios of solar geoengineering deployment is needed and can build upon existing frameworks. However, solar geoengineering poses a novel challenge for climate impacts research as the manner of deployment could be tailored to pursue different objectives making possible a wide range of climate outcomes. We present a number of ideas for approaches to extend the survey of climate impacts beyond standard scenarios of solar geoengineering deployment to address this challenge. Reducing the impacts of climate change is the fundamental motivator for emissions reductions and for considering whether and how to deploy solar geoengineering. This means that the active engagement of the climate impacts research community will be important for improving the overall understanding of the opportunities, challenges and risks presented by solar geoengineering.

Description: Der Band vereint die wichtigsten Forschungsergebnisse der Helmholtz-Allianz ENERGY-TRANS zur Energiewende aus dem Blickwinkel unterschiedlicher Fachbereiche: u.a. der Soziologie, der Psychologie, der Politikwissenschaft und der Wirtschaftswissenschaften.

Description: Decision-support tools are increasingly popular for informing policy decisions linked to environmental issues. For example, a number of decision-support tools on transport planning provide information on expected effects of different measures (actions, policies, or interventions) on air quality, often combined with information on noise pollution or mitigation costs. These tools range in complexity and scale of applicability, from city to international, and include one or several polluting sectors. However, evaluation of the need and utility of tools to support decisions on such linked issues is often lacking, especially for tools intended to support local authorities at the city scale. Here we assessed the need for and value of combining air pollution and climate change mitigation measures into one decision-support tool and the existing policy context in which such a tool might be used. We developed a prototype decision-support tool for evaluating measures for coordinated management of air quality and climate change; and administered a survey in which respondents used the prototype to answer questions about demand for such tools and requirements to make them useful. Additionally, the survey asked questions about participants’ awareness of linkages between air pollution and climate change that are crucial for considering synergies and trade-offs among mitigation measures. Participants showed a high understanding of the linkages between air pollution and climate change, especially recognizing that emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants come from the same source. Survey participants were: European, predominantly German; employed across a range of governmental, non-governmental and research organizations; and responsible for a diversity of issues, primarily involving climate change, air pollution or environment. Survey results showed a lack of awareness of decision-support tools and little implementation or regular use. However, respondents expressed a general need for such tools while also recognizing barriers to their implementation, such as limited legal support or lack of time, finances, or manpower. The main barrier identified through this study is the mismatch between detailed information needed from such tools to make them useful at the local implementation scale and the coarser scale information readily available for developing such tools. Significant research efforts at the local scale would be needed to populate decision-support tools with salient mitigation alternatives at the location of implementation. Although global- or regional-scale information can motivate local action towards sustainability, effective on-the-ground implementation of coordinated measures requires knowledge of local circumstances and impacts, calling for active engagement of the local research communities.

Description: Democracy and Climate Change explores the various ways in which democratic principles can lead governments to respond differently to climate change. The election cycle can lead to short-termism, which often appears to be at odds with the long-term nature of climate change, with its latency between cause and effect. However, it is clear that some democracies deal with climate change better than others, and this book demonstrates that overall stronger democratic qualities tend to correlate with improved climate performance.Beginning by outlining a general concept of democratic efficacy, the book provides an empirical analysis of the influence of the quality of democracy on climate change performance across dozens of countries. The specific case study of Canada’s Kyoto Protocol process is then used to explain the mechanisms of democratic influence in depth. The wide-ranging research presented in the book opens up several new and exciting avenues of enquiry and will be of considerable interest to researchers with an interest in comparative politics, democracy studies and environmental policies.

Description: Die Studie „Bildung und Sicherheit“ wurde zur Vorbereitung auf den XIV. Workshop desForschungforum Öffentliche Sicherheit bei Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Ortwin Renn und Dr. Piet Sellke(Dialogik – gemeinnützige Gesellschaft für Kommunikations- und KooperationsforschungmbH) in Auftrag gegeben.Die Autoren gehen davon aus, dass sich eine tiefgehende Auseinandersetzung mit den ThemenRisiko, Sicherheit und Bildung nicht auf die Vermittlung von technischem oder statistischemWissen beschränken kann. Es geht vielmehr darum, die Behandlung von Risiken in einem pluralenUmfeld von konkurrierenden Wissensansprüchen, unterschiedlichen Werten und Lebensstilenund verschiedenen kulturellen Traditionen zu lokalisieren. Gleichzeitig sind die modernen Risikenkomplexer, unsicherer und mehrdeutiger geworden. Das erschwert auch ihre wissenschaftlicheErfassung.Vielfältigkeit von Bildungsangeboten ist grundsätzlich sehr zu begrüßen, allerdings leidendie Bildungsangebote an eben genau der Unschärfe des Sicherheitsbegriffs. Entweder wird derBegriff der Sicherheit diszipliniert vereinnahmt, was den Integrationsgedanken des Risikos alsübergeordnetes Maß für die relative Gefährdung einer Zielgröße widerspricht, oder aber es führt zueiner verschwommenen Diskussion von allgemeinen Sicherheitskriterien, die den unterschiedlichenAusgangslagen selten gerecht wird. Es fehlt also häufig die integrierende Sicht- und Arbeitsweisebei gleichzeitiger Trennschärfe der Begriffe und Konzepte. Das schlägt sich dann auch in denBildungsangeboten nieder. Hier gibt es eine Vielzahl von Angeboten, die entweder Sicherheit alsOptimierung von technischen Systemen sehen (und dabei die Schnittstelle zu individuellem undsozialem Handeln ausblenden) oder aber unter dem Dach der Sicherheit alles unterbringen wollen,was an denkbaren Gefährdungen für ein System infrage kommt.Damit die mit Risiken beschäftigten Fachkräfte aus Wirtschaft, Verwaltung und Regulierungsinstitutionendiese komplexen Zusammenhänge besser verstehen und bearbeiten können, sinderhebliche Reformen im Bereich der Risikobildung unabdingbar. Erforderlich ist zum einen eineIntegration von interdisziplinärem Risikowissen in die Prozesse der Ausbildung und Bildung mithilfevon verbessertem Lehrmaterial und projektbezogenem Unterricht. Zum anderen ist vor allemfür die Praktiker eine auf interdisziplinäres und systemisches Verständnis von Risiko basierendeStrategie der Fort- und Weiterbildung unerlässlich, um die hohen Anforderungen an ein effektivesRisikomanagement mit den Erfordernissen und benötigten Kompetenzen einer pluralen undinformierten Öffentlichkeit in Einklang zu bringen.Aus der Diskussion über die Erfordernisse und Kompetenzen lassen sich Anforderungendefinieren, die an Organisationen gestellt werden müssen, um einen kompetenten und mündigenUmgang mit Risiken sicherzustellen. Diese Anforderungen müssen in das Bildungssystem der Schulen ebenso eingearbeitet werden wie in das der Universitäten und Weiterbildungsstätten.Selbst wenn Sicherheit studiert wird, wird doch deutlich, dass eine integrative und systemischeSichtweise weiterhin in den Studienprogrammen unterbetont ist.

Description: The Kathmandu Valley, located in the Himalayan foothills in Nepal, is heavily polluted. In order to investigate ambient particulate-bound mercury (Hg) in the Kathmandu Valley, a total 64 total suspended particulates (TSP) samples were collected from a sub-urban site in the Kathmandu Valley, the capital region of Nepal during a sampling period of an entire year (April 2013-April 2014). They were analyzed for ambient particulate-bound Hg (PBM) using thermal desorption combined with cold vapor atomic spectroscopy. In our knowledge, it is the first study of ambient PMB in the Kathmandu Valley and the surrounding broader Himalayan foothill region. The average concentration of PBM over the entire sampling period of a year was found to be 850.5 (±962.8) pg m-3 in the Kathmandu Valley. This is comparable to those values reported in the polluted cities of China and significantly higher than those observed in most of urban areas in Asia and other regions of world. The daily average Hg contents in TSP (PBM/TSP) ranges from 269.7 to 7613.0ngg-1 with an average of 2586.0 (±2072.1) ng g-1, indicating the high enrichment of Hg in TSP. The average concentrations of PBM were higher in the winter and pre-monsoon season than in the monsoon and post-monsoon season. The temporal variations in the strength of anthropogenic emission sources combined with other influencing factors, such as ambient temperature and the removal of atmospheric aerosols by wet scavenging are attributable to the seasonal variations of PBM. The considerably high dry deposition flux of PBM estimated by using a theoretical model was 135μgm-2 yr-1 at the Kathmandu Valley. This calls for an immediate attention to addressing ambient particulate Hg in the Kathmandu Valley, including considering it as a key component of future air quality monitoring activities and mitigation measures. © 2016 Elsevier B.V.

Description: For a long time the European Union (EU) has been considered a transnational project securing peace and security. In the light of the recent developments of the deep international financial crisis, we argue that the EU suffers from a substantial legitimacy crisis threatening its existence. This crisis combines symptoms of a structural democratic deficit on the one hand and a general lack of solving common problems effectively on the other. The two strengthen and reinforce each other and lead to eroding support and acceptance for the European project and pose questions about opportunities and limits to transnational democracy. Based on a literature review, we discuss different streams of the discourse on institutional reforms of the European Union and develop an argument in favour of a more citizen-oriented Union. We follow arguments for institutional reforms but suggest more specifically to strengthen and redesign specific elements of participatory democracy, which are anchored in the constitutional framework of the Union. Thus, we discuss the benefits and potential application of citizen dialogues and deliberation in the European context. Finally, we briefly exemplify our institutional proposal in applying it to the policy field of the common European energy policy.

Description: Um die Luftqualität nachhaltig zu verbessern, müssen Dieselfahrzeuge endlich den gleichen Emissionsstandards wie andere Fahrzeuge unterworfen und Steuervorteile für Diesel-Treibstoff abgeschafft werden, fordert Tim Butler in seinem Standpunkt.

Description: Through the present report, we would like to share with you theinspiring outcomes of our joint experience at the Global Soil Week2017, and offer you an opportunity to reflect on the high potential ofpreparatory events to the HLPF, and of using its thematic reviews asmeans to achieve an integrated implementation of the SDGs.

Description: This work analyses the limiting parameters for long-length superconducting cables and examines their interdependencies. The calculations are carried out for different fluid options and geometries.

Description: This paper investigates how risks are anticipated in national bioenergy policies and in which way related expectations that harms can be prevented or mitigated have actually been met. The paper draws on the national biofuel policies of ten countries and the EU, selected to represent a diverse sample of regions, producers and consumers, and pioneers and latecomers. It proceeds in two steps: firstly, it identifies three risk categories most frequently mentioned across the investigated national policies. Secondly, it conducts a systematic review of available empirical research about biofuels’ effects in these risk categories. Findings are discussed regarding the empirical conditions under which related expectations to do no harm have materialized or failed; and concerning the challenges of risks perception and management in actual policies. We observe issues of crop selection and inadequate sectoral governance of biofuels, but also challenges of large-scale modes of intensive production. Effective risk mitigation was often the result of risk adverse choices by contract farmers engaged in biofuels production. National policy documents have insufficiently conceptualized ‘do no harm’ concepts and strategies in place to address these performance issues; while remaining silent on the particular risk governance and accountability framework that keeps track of actual developments, commitments and responsibilities.

Description: Mit den im September 2015 von den Vereinten Nationen verabschiedeten Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) der Agenda 2030 wurden erstmals soziale und ökologische Nachhaltigkeitsziele systematisch verknüpft. Bei den sozialen Nachhaltigkeitszielen wurden ebenfalls erstmals auch die Industrieländer zum Adressaten und nicht ausschließlich die sogenannten Entwicklungsländer. Inwieweit verändern sich jedoch soziale und vor allem sozialpolitische Modernisierungsziele im Kontext der Nachhaltigkeitsperspektive? Lässt sich überhaupt von Sozialer Nachhaltigkeit sprechen und wenn ja, was ist damit genau gemeint? Genügen die unter dem Begriff sozial-ökologische Forschung und Politik formulierten Fragestellungen den komplexen Anforderungen der SDG und eines Programms zur Sozialen Nachhaltigkeit? Da hier berechtigte Zweifel bestehen, beauftragte das IASS im Sommer 2016 das ISÖ mit einer Studie zu 〉Soziale Nachhaltigkeit. Konzept und Operationalisierung〈, die im Frühjahr 2017 unter dem Titel 〉Soziale Nachhaltigkeit. Auf dem Weg zur Internalisierungsgesellschaft〈 im oekom Verlag erschien. Das gemeinsam von IASS und ISÖ am 2. November 2017 in Potsdam veranstaltete Symposium lotete anlässlich der Studie und ihrer Buchveröffentlichung die wissenschaftlichen und politischen Perspektiven des Konzepts Soziale Nachhaltigkeit aus. Diese Veröffentlichung enthält die zur Vorbereitung des Symposiums erstellten Beiträge.

Description: Vorwort .................................................................................................................................... 2 1 Die soziale Komponente der Nachhaltigkeit ................................................................... 4 Ortwin Renn 2 Soziale Nachhaltigkeit und Internalisierungsgesellschaft ............................................. 7 Michael Opielka 3 Das Konzept der „Sozialen Nachhaltigkeit“ in der Wohlfahrtsstaatsforschung ......... 28 Birgit Pfau-Effinger 4 Zur Messbarkeit Sozialer Nachhaltigkeit am Beispiel der Klimaforschung ................ 44 Anita Engels 5 Soziale Indikatoren in der Energieforschung ................................................................ 50 Beate Littig, Irina Zielinska 6 Soziale Nachhaltigkeit im Vergleich von ökologischer und konventioneller Landwirtschaft................................................................................................................. 63 Michael Opielka, Sophie Peter 7 Das Soziale Nachhaltigkeitsbarometer der Energiewende 2017 ................................ 90 Daniela Setton, Ira Matuschke, Ortwin Renn 8 Transdisziplinarität in der Nachhaltigkeitsforschung ................................................ 110 Anna Henkel 9 Kritische Reflexion Sozialer Nachhaltigkeit ................................................................ 125 Stephan Lorenz 10 Menschenrechte und Nachhaltigkeit ........................................................................... 138 Felix Ekardt 11 Non-social Science Perspectives in Research on social Sustainability .................... 155 Susan Thieme 12 Politische Verwendung von Sozialer Nachhaltigkeit und SDG .................... 164 Wolfgang Strengmann-Kuhn 13 Die Rolle der privaten Wirtschaft bei der Umsetzung der SDGs ................................ 178 Christoph Brüssel 14 Autorinnen und Autoren ................................................................................................ 187 Übersicht 15 Symposium 2.11.2017 .................................................................................................. 190 Einladung und Programm

Description: Ten years ago, Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen called for research into the possibility of reflecting sunlight away from Earth by injecting sulfur particles into the stratosphere. Across academic disciplines, Crutzen's intervention caused a surge in interest in and research on proposals for what is often referred to as “geoengineering” - an unbounded set of heterogeneous proposals for intentionally intervening into the climate system to reduce the risks of climate change. To mark the 10 year anniversary of the publication of Paul Crutzen's seminal essay, this special issue reviews the developments in geoengineering research since Crutzen's intervention and reflects upon possible future directions that geoengineering research may take. In this introduction, we briefly outline the arguments made in Paul Crutzen's 2006 contribution and describe the key developments of the past 10 years. We then proceed to give an overview of some of the central issues in current discussions on geoengineering, and situate the contributions to this special issue within them. In particular, we contend that geoengineering research is characterized by an orientation toward speculative futures that fundamentally shapes how geoengineering is entering the collective imagination of scientists, policymakers, and publics, and a mode of knowledge production that recognizes the risks which may result from new knowledge and that struggles with its own socio-political dimensions.

Description: This document includes the main policy outcomes of the Global Soil Week 2017 by introducing 1) the principles and methods utilized, 2) the five key policy messages discussed in plenary with the participants and 3) considerations from the discussions at the Global Soil Week supporting the five key policy messages. We respectfully submit the messages below, for consideration by the High Level Political Forum (HLPF), and reinforce our commitment to contribute to strengthening the work and role of the HLPF. We also stand ready to work together with Member States aiming to strengthen the emphasis on soil- and land-related issues in their National Voluntary Reviews and also with platforms aiming to conduct similar reviews.

Description: „Clean Energy“ war während der Amtszeit von U.S. Präsident Barack Obama eines der Hauptinstrumente der Klimapolitik. Zugleich verstand er die Förderung von erneuerbaren Energien, Energieeffizienz und vergleichsweise emissionsarmem Erdgas als Motor für die Wirtschaft der USA (Obama 2017). Donald Trump hat seine neue energiepolitische Linie im „America First Energy Plan“ festgehalten - einem Strategiepapier, dass etwa eine halbe Din-A4-Seite umfasst. Es sieht die Förderung von fossilen Energieträgern (Kohle, Erdöl, Erdgas) vor (The White House 2017a). Dies soll die Wirtschaft ankurbeln und das Land unabhängig von Energieimporten machen. Von erneuerbaren Energien oder Energieeffizienz spricht die Strategie nicht und von der menschlichen Verantwortung für den Klimawandel und der Dringlichkeit dieses Problems ist man in der Trump Administration ohnehin nicht vollständig überzeugt (Meyer 2017). Es ist also deutlich eine Kehrtwende spürbar: Trump hat das Clean Energy Narrativ Obamas durch sein neues Wachstumsnarrativ ersetzt. Wirtschaftswachstum und der Ausbau von Clean Energy werden darin als unvereinbare Gegensätze betrachtet. Welche Implikationen dieses neue Narrativ hat, beginnen wir nach den ersten 100 Tagen der Präsidentschaft zu begreifen. Sie zeigen, dass Trump alles daransetzt, Obamas Vermächtnis der amerikanischen Clean Energy Energiewende zu zerschlagen.

Description: In support of the first Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report (TOAR) a relational database of global surface ozone observations has been developed and populated with hourly measurement data and enhanced metadata. A comprehensive suite of ozone data products including standard statistics, health and vegetation impact metrics, and trend information, are made available through a common data portal and a web interface. These data form the basis of the TOAR analyses focusing on human health, vegetation, and climate relevant ozone issues, which are part of this special feature.Cooperation among many data centers and individual researchers worldwide made it possible to build the world's largest collection of in-situ hourly surface ozone data covering the period from 1970 to 2015. By combining the data from almost 10,000 measurement sites around the world with global metadata information, new analyses of surface ozone have become possible, such as the first globally consistent characterisations of measurement sites as either urban or rural/remote. Exploitation of these global metadata allows for new insights into the global distribution, and seasonal and long-term changes of tropospheric ozone and they enable TOAR to perform the first, globally consistent analysis of present-day ozone concentrations and recent ozone changes with relevance to health, agriculture, and climate.Considerable effort was made to harmonize and synthesize data formats and metadata information from various networks and individual data submissions. Extensive quality control was applied to identify questionable and erroneous data, including changes in apparent instrument offsets or calibrations. Such data were excluded from TOAR data products. Limitations of a posteriori data quality assurance are discussed. As a result of the work presented here, global coverage of surface ozone data for scientific analysis has been significantly extended. Yet, large gaps remain in the surface observation network both in terms of regions without monitoring, and in terms of regions that have monitoring programs but no public access to the data archive. Therefore future improvements to the database will require not only improved data harmonization, but also expanded data sharing and increased monitoring in data-sparse regions.

Description: Seit 2012 beschäftigt sich das Forschungsprojekt ClimPol (Climate Change and Air Pollution)am Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam mit dem Zusammenhängenzwischen Klimawandel und Luftverschmutzung. Mit unseren wissenschaftlichen Untersuchungenwollen wir diese Zusammenhänge besser verstehen. Wir engagieren uns aber auchan der Schnittstelle von Wissenschaft und Politik, indem wir koordinierte und effektiveMaßnahmen für Klimaschutz und bessere Luftqualität prüfen.

Description: Transnational civil society networks have become increasingly important democratizing actors in global politics. Still, the exploration of democracy in such networks remains conceptually and methodologically challenging. Practice theory provides a framework to study democracy as routinized performances even in contexts of fluid boundaries, temporal relations and a diffuse constituency. The author attempts to understand how new forms of democratic practice emerge in the interaction between political actors and their structural environments.During recent decades, the arenas of political decision-making have increasingly shifted from national governments to intergovernmental and transnational political forums. At the same time, the number and relevance of non-state actors in international politics is steadily growing. These trends have led political scientists to study and theorize about new forms of democracy beyond the national political arenas (Archibugi 2004, Bexell et al. 2010, Nasström 2010). However, democracy beyond the nation state is difficult to conceptualize with the idea of an institutionalized democracy within the borders of nation-states. Therefore, many political scientists emphasize the role of civil society actors as a cure for the democratic deficit in inter-national politics (Steffek & Nanz 2008). Yet, normative and empirical problems arise over the extent of access, selection and role of civil society actors in international organizations (Tallberg et al. 2013). Furthermore, the normative relevance of transnational civil society actors makes it necessary to study their own democratic legitimacy.While international organizations are mostly institutionalized and hierarchical governing bodies, the ever growing diffuse conglomerate of non-state actors is characterized by fluid structures, blurry boundaries and a multi-level setting of interaction (Keck & Sikkink 1998). Thus, in studying democratic practice in transnational civil society networks, we must ask: How institutionalized does political practice have to be and how flexible can it be, to still be considered democratic? Normative theorists reconceptualized democracy in the light of this changing context (Bohman 2007). Recent concepts of participatory, deliberative and representative democracy attempt to reconfigure existing democratic institutions through procedural elements (Fung & Wright 2003, Dryzek 2006) or innovative forms of representation (Phillips 1998, Mansbridge 2003, Castiglione & Warren 2006). This emerging theoretical framework is well suited to analyze the extent, to which democratic practice exists within transnational civil society networks.By applying the concept of practice (Giddens 1984, Schatzki 2001) as a bridging tool between the empirical reality of fluid, temporary and open transnational civil society networks on the one hand and the institution-oriented democratic theory on the other hand, this study explores the extent to which democratic practice develops in a field that lacks traditional institutions to guarantee formal representation and deliberation as well citizen participation. As innovative transnational actors, civil society networks can bring up new forms of democratic practice (see Polletta 2006) that can potentially inspire the debate about transnational democracy as such. This study, with its innovate approach, hopes to invigorate the debate about transnational democracy and transnational civil society, which has stalled to some degree in recent years.The study is divided into three parts: first, a conceptual part that clarifies the question of how democracy as practice can be theoretically conceptualized in transnational civil society networks, which is followed by an empirical exploration of political practice in the transnational civil society networks. In this second part, the main question is how participation, representation and deliberation practice develops in transnational civil society networks. Two cases of transnational civil society networks, the Clean Clothes Campaign and Friends of the Earth, are analyzed to provide insights into the democratic practice within transnational civil society. In the final part, the empirical findings are evaluated in the light of the outlined concepts of democratic theory in order to explore how democratic the political practice actually is.The study identifies implicit and in-process practice of democratic norms in transnational civil society networks. Political practice in transnational civil society networks can become democratic through empowerment measures and trustful relationships. However, deliberation practice can be impeded by disembodied digital communication and complex decision-making. The study explores how new forms of democratic practice emerge in the interaction between political actors and the structural environments of actors and networks.

Description: A positive matrix factorization model (US EPA PMF version 5.0) was applied for the source apportionment of the dataset of 37 non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) measured from 19 December 2012 to 30 January 2013 during the SusKat-ABC international air pollution measurement campaign using a proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer in the Kathmandu Valley. In all, eight source categories were identified with the PMF model using the new constrained model operation mode. Unresolved industrial emissions and traffic source factors were the major contributors to the total measured NMVOC mass loading (17.9 and 16.8 %, respectively) followed by mixed industrial emissions (14.0 %), while the remainder of the source was split approximately evenly between residential biofuel use and waste disposal (10.9 %), solvent evaporation (10.8 %), biomass co-fired brick kilns (10.4 %), biogenic emissions (10.0 %) and mixed daytime factor (9.2 %). Conditional probability function (CPF) analyses were performed to identify the physical locations associated with different sources. Source contributions to individual NMVOCs showed that biomass co-fired brick kilns significantly contribute to the elevated concentrations of several health relevant NMVOCs such as benzene. Despite the highly polluted conditions, biogenic emissions had the largest contribution (24.2 %) to the total daytime ozone production potential, even in winter, followed by solvent evaporation (20.2 %), traffic (15.0 %) and unresolved industrial emissions (14.3 %). Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) production had approximately equal contributions from biomass co-fired brick kilns (28.9 %) and traffic (28.2 %). Comparison of PMF results based on the in situ data versus REAS v2.1 and EDGAR v4.2 emission inventories showed that both the inventories underestimate the contribution of traffic and do not take the contribution of brick kilns into account. In addition, the REAS inventory overestimates the contribution of residential biofuel use and underestimates the contribution of solvent use and industrial sources in the Kathmandu Valley. The quantitative source apportionment of major NMVOC sources in the Kathmandu Valley based on this study will aid in improving hitherto largely un-validated bottom-up NMVOC emission inventories, enabling more focused mitigation measures and improved parameterizations in chemical transport models.

Description: The German energy transition (Energiewende) is the subject of intensive research, and thankfully so. We now have reliable estimates relating to the required deployment of technology, the costs for end consumers and society, and the expected consequences for health and the environment. It has been firmly established just how much CO2 we have already saved with the energy transition, and what is required in order to reduce CO2 emissions even further. There is also a range of scientific studies on the impact of the expansion of renewable energies on nature conservation and species protection. However, one question has received little academic attention to date: How does the energy transition affect society? It is astonishing that we know so little about this. After all, experts have long been agreed on the fact that sustainability does not just have an economic and ecological dimension, but also a social one. It is essential that we consider the social impact to the same extent as the economic or ecological effects. So it is high time to give the question of social sustainability a solid empirical base. The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), together with the RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, conducted a panel survey of more than 7,500 households. Now, with the Social Sustainability Barometer for the German Energiewende 2017, we present the results for the first time.

Description: Der Band vereint die wichtigsten Forschungsergebnisse der Helmholtz-Allianz ENERGY-TRANS zur Energiewende aus dem Blickwinkel unterschiedlicher Fachbereiche: u.a. der Soziologie, der Psychologie, der Politikwissenschaft und der Wirtschaftswissenschaften.

Description: Several holistic urban concepts point to the importance of taking an integrated resources approach in the city. The reason for this is obvious: resource flows are highly interconnected. Think for instance of the high water, energy, and land input for most of our food production, or the vast energy input in water desalination processes. In addition, taking a single-resource approach to cities, mostly done for energy, often leads to negative feedbacks on other resource flows. Carbon-neutral cities do not usually account for higher material in- and output for insulation, efficient appliances, or renewable energy systems, and most often do not even account for the embodied energy of these extra material flows. If, on top of that, carbon offsetting is allowed, one should definitely question if the claimed carbon neutrality weighs against all the externalities of realizing this claim. Therefore, on a conceptual basis, an integrated approach towards resources makes a lot of sense. It is, however, in the translation from theory to practice that such concepts often get stuck. One of the obvious obstacles with respect to hindering progress in implementation is the difficulty to realize cooperation between institutions, experts, and bureaucrats that are neatly organized in a sectorial way, the famous silo effect. Other challenges that are often mentioned are short-termism, lack of mandate and financing of local governments and corruption (WFC 2014). While these are well-known obstacles, I will discuss some often missed elements that are crucial for a successful implementation of holistic urban concepts aiming at sustainable cities and regions. These elements are: transformative change, transdisciplinarity, performance measurability, and demand-side change.

Description: The Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will benefit from coordinated contributions from G20 countries. International cooperation is particularly important when addressing the sustainable use and protection of global commons such as the ocean (SDG14), especially on the high seas. At the same time SDG14 should be implemented with consideration of the interactions with other SDGs in order to promote coherent ocean policies as a basis for a thriving and sustainable ocean economy. G20 countries have the opportunity to lead global cooperation through both protection and restoration measures for coastal and marine ecosystems and a carefully approach to sustainable exploitation of marine resources. This T20 Policy Brief draws on various recent policy and analysis papers on the ocean economy, the SDGs and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for oceans, seas and marine space and resources and provides a synthesis for decision makers.

Description: This editorial is the introduction to a Special Issue of Scaling Up Biofuels? A Critical Look at Expectations, Performance and Governance which assesses biofuels contribution to sustainability governance and upscaling. The issue aims to contribute to a more informed, evidence-based policy debate on the role of bioenergy for sustainable development. It comprises six review papers that share a solutions-oriented and policy-focused approach towards the assessment of sustainability. Bioenergy production and consumption is not evaluated as an isolated industry or additionality. Instead, it is assessed as an inherent component of the broader social-ecological system and history of which it forms a part. Synthesizing available empirical evidence on performance, and contextualizing the evidence in view of expectations and bioenergy governance in and over time, the papers address the role of biofuels for climate mitigation; their ability to deliver on socio-economic policy expectations; the actual performance in view of risk anticipation and mitigation; the role of state policy considering sector development and sustainability; and the ability of certification schemes to deliver on market conversion, and quality. The synthesis paper draws on the empirical findings to develop a set of sustainability conditions (sine qua nons) that have to be considered in processes of policy making and upscaling.

Description: This report aims to start a conversation on how these priorities can be achieved, focusingparticularly on the potential of Industry 4.0 to help achieve the UN Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) related to affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), industry and infrastructure (SDG 9),and climate action (SDG 13) along with the implementation of the Paris Agreement.Based on a review of the current literature and on interviews with experts, the report explorespotential opportunities and also the challenges that Industry 4.0 may pose to countries atvarying levels of industrialization. It analyzes the effects of Industry 4.0 along four countrygroups, namely industrialized, emerging industrial as well as developing and least developedcountries (LDCs).2 The report further discusses how Industry 4.0 could foster the implementationof sustainable energy and help curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the industrial sector.It also outlines potential limits, barriers and risks that Industry 4.0 may pose to sustainable andinclusive economic development.

Description: The Arctic is one of the world’s regions most affected by cultural, socio-economic, environmental, and climatic changes. Over the last two decades, scholars, policymakers, extractive industries, governments, intergovernmental forums, and non-governmental organizations have turned their attention to the Arctic, its peoples, resources, and to the challenges and benefits of impending transformations. Arctic sustainability is an issue of increasing concern as well as the resilience and adaptation of Arctic societies to changing conditions.This book offers key insights into the history, current state of knowledge and the future of sustainability, and sustainable development research in the Arctic. Written by an international, interdisciplinary team of experts, it presents a comprehensive progress report on Arctic sustainability research. It identifies key knowledge gaps and provides salient recommendations for prioritizing research in the next decade.Arctic Sustainability Research will appeal to researchers, academics, and policymakers interested in sustainability science and the practices of sustainable development, as well as those working in polar studies, climate change, political geography, and the history of science.

Description: In diesem Jahr widmete sich das „World Forum for Democracy“ (8. -10. November 2017) der Frage „Ist Populismus ein Problem?“ Diskutiert wurde die Rolle politischer Parteien und Medien im Kontext des aufsteigenden Populismus. Am 07. November fand im Rahmen des Forums das „3. Participatory Democracy Incubator Meeting“ im Europe Youth Centre in Straßburg statt. Mit dabei war der Forschungsbereichsleiter PartizipationsKultur Jan-Hendrik Kamlage, der die Keynote zum Paper “Public Participation and Democratic Innovations: Assessing Democratic Institutions and Processes for Deepening and Increased Public Participation in Political Decision-Making” hielt. Das Paper entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit Patrizia Nanz vom IASS (Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V.) in Potsdam. Ziel des Inkubator-Treffens war es einerseits, Leitlinien und praktische Ansätze zu identifizieren, die den Impact partizipativer Demokratie-Initiativen auf kommunaler Ebene stärken. Zum anderen sollten Ideen über die Gründung eines partizipativ-demokratischen Beirates im Europarat gesammelt werden. Dabei ging es z.B. auch um folgende Fragen: Können partizipativ-demokratische Plattformen Einfluss auf Entscheidungsprozesse oder Institutionen nehmen? Wie können Entscheidungsträger davon überzeugt werden, dass Initiierung und Unterstützung von partizipativ-demokratischen Initiativen eine Win-Win Situation sowohl für repräsentative Institutionen als auch für die Demokratie an sich sein kann? Welche Rahmenbedingungen werden benötigt, um partizipative Initiativen sinnvoll zu gestalten und deren Impact auf politische Entscheidungen zu erhöhen? Diese und weitere Fragen wurden mit Hilfe der thematischen Panels beantwortet. Vier ReferentInnen und drei ModeratorInnen diskutierten in drei Gruppen mit den Ergebnissen der Panels sowie der Leitfrage, wie man Partizipativ-Demokratie in unser repräsentatives System einbetten könne. Ziel war die Erstellung einer Roadmap mit spezifischen Vorschlägen aus den Gruppendiskussionen. Nähere Infos erhalten Sie im Netz auf den Webseiten des „World Forum for Democracy“.

Description: We evaluate numerical simulations of surface ozone mixing ratios over the south Asian region during the pre-monsoon season, employing three different emission inventories in the Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) with the second-generation Regional Acid Deposition Model (RADM2) chemical mechanism: the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research – Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution (EDGAR-HTAP), the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment phase B (INTEX-B) and the Southeast Asia Composition, Cloud, Climate Coupling Regional Study (SEAC4RS). Evaluation of diurnal variability in modelled ozone compared to observational data from 15 monitoring stations across south Asia shows the model ability to reproduce the clean, rural and polluted urban conditions over this region. In contrast to the diurnal average, the modelled ozone mixing ratios during noontime, i.e. hours of intense photochemistry (11:30–16:30 IST – Indian Standard Time – UTC +5:30), are found to differ among the three inventories. This suggests that evaluations of the modelled ozone limited to 24 h average are insufficient to assess uncertainties associated with ozone buildup. HTAP generally shows 10–30 ppbv higher noontime ozone mixing ratios than SEAC4RS and INTEX-B, especially over the north-west Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), central India and southern India. The HTAP simulation repeated with the alternative Model for Ozone and Related Chemical Tracers (MOZART) chemical mechanism showed even more strongly enhanced surface ozone mixing ratios due to vertical mixing of enhanced ozone that has been produced aloft. Our study indicates the need to also evaluate the O3 precursors across a network of stations and the development of high-resolution regional inventories for the anthropogenic emissions over south Asia accounting for year-to-year changes to further reduce uncertainties in modelled ozone over this region.

Description: Robust environmental management of deep-sea mining projects must be integrated into the planning and execution of mining operations, and developed concurrently. It should follow a framework indicating the environmental management-related activities necessary at each project phase, and their interrelationships. An environmental management framework with this purpose is presented in this paper; it facilitates the development of environmental information and decision-making throughout the phases of a mining project. It is based environmental management frameworks used in allied industries, but adjusted for unique characteristics of deep-sea mining. It defines the gathering and synthesis of information and its use in decision-making, and employs a conceptual model as a growing repository of claim-specific information. The environmental management activities at each phase have been designed to enable the implementation of the precautionary approach in decision making, while facilitating review of adaptive management measures to improve environmental management as the quantity and quality of data increases and technologies are honed. This framework will ensure fairness and uniformity in the application of environmental standards, assist the regulator in its requirements to protect the environment, and benefit contractors and financiers by reducing uncertainty in the process.

Description: Nachhaltige Innovationen ist ein sich neu entwickelndes Forschungsfeld in der Innovationsforschung, das dem zunehmenden Bedeutungszuwachs der Nachhaltigkeit Rechnung trägt. Ausgehend von der kurzen Skizzierung der Entwicklung der Nachhaltigkeitsthematik in der Einleitung werden die verschiedenen Typen von Innovationen und ihre Entwicklung hin zu systemischen Innovationen im zweiten Abschnitt dargestellt. Im dritten Abschnitt werden die drei Dimensionen der Nachhaltigkeit eingeführt, bevor im vierten Abschnitt der aktuelle Stand der Forschung im Bereich nachhaltiger Innovationen vorgestellt wird. Der Beitrag kommt zum Schluss, dass grundsätzlich eine Konvergenz von Innovation und Nachhaltigkeit beobachtet werden kann, wobei Innovationen zukünftig alle drei Dimensionen der Nachhaltigkeit berücksichtigen und nicht nur dem Kriterium des nachhaltigen wirtschaftlichen Erfolgs genügen müssen.

Description: The European project BEST PATHS was initiated with the aim of developing state-of-the-art high-power transmission technologies. In this work, the AC losses in a superconducting MgB2 cable are estimated for various operating conditions. Based on the analysis of the most important parameters, recommendations are given to significantly reduce the AC losses of the cable and consequently decrease the operating cost for long lengths.

Description: Carbon Dioxide Utilisation (CDU) technologies convert Carbon Dioxide (CO2) into carbon-based products. CDU technologies are viewed as a means of helping to address climate change while creating commodities that can be sold to generate financial revenue. While technical research and development into CDU options is accelerating, at present there has been little research into public acceptance of the technology. The current study presents the findings of a series of 28 exploratory interviews conducted with lay people in the United Kingdom and Germany. The results show that awareness of CDU is currently very low in both countries but that there is tentative support for the concept. This support is, however, caveated by considerations of the techno-economic feasibility of the technology and the societal consequences that might result from investment. While the thematic content of discussions was similar in both countries, where appropriate any notable differences are outlined and discussed. In addition to providing fresh insight into the emerging nature of public perceptions and acceptance of CDU, it is reasoned that the findings of this research could help to benefit the design of communication materials intended to engage lay-publics in debate about the nature and purpose of CDU technologies.

Description: Biofuels have been promoted worldwide under the assumption that they can support several strategic policy goals, while mitigating associated risks. Drawing on published evidence on performance, contributing papers to this Special Section question assumptions commonly attributed to biofuels: their carbon neutrality, their positive effect on rural livelihoods, and policymakers’ ability to effectively govern for sustainability. This paper takes these findings as its starting point and asks, “What next?” for countries wishing to advance biofuels as one option for the necessary divestment from fossil fuels. Deriving recommendations for national biofuel programs from past performance is no easy task. Context, complexity, power dynamics and scaling pose significant challenges to achieving policy aims. We are nevertheless able to distill a set of sine qua nons (indispensables) for sustainable biofuel governance from the evidence and change management literatures. They are put forward not as recipes for success, but minimum conditions and “best bet” approaches requiring testing, deliberation, and refinement. Perhaps the most fundamental sine qua non is to pursue options that downscale global demand – as current levels of global energy consumption, if only in the transport sector, cannot be met by biomass-derived agrofuels in a way that meets social and environmental sustainability goals.

Description: The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes a development goal dedicated to the seas and oceans. How can this goal best be achieved, given the complex challenges and diverse actors operating at the international, national and regional levels?

Description: The role of the regional level in addressing and strengthening the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) should not be undermined. As a complementary approach to the ongoing negotiations for an implementing agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of BBNJ under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, it can provide useful lessons learnt and best practices that can inform the global negotiation process. Focusing on the highly productive Southeast Pacific region, this article highlights the institutional and legal challenges faced by this region in the adoption and implementation of the four BBNJ elements and provides options on how to strengthen the legal and institutional framework of the Southeast Pacific to better address the conservation and sustainable use of BBNJ.

Description: Ozone (O3) is an important atmospheric oxidant, a greenhouse gas, and a hazard to human health and agriculture. Here we describe airborne in situ measurements and model simulations of O3 and its precursors during tropical and extratropical field campaigns over South America and Europe, respectively. Using the measurements, net ozone formation/destruction tendencies are calculated and compared to 3-D chemistry–transport model simulations. In general, observation-based net ozone tendencies are positive in the continental boundary layer and the upper troposphere at altitudes above  ∼  6 km in both environments. On the other hand, in the marine boundary layer and the middle troposphere, from the top of the boundary layer to about 6–8 km altitude, net O3 destruction prevails. The ozone tendencies are controlled by ambient concentrations of nitrogen oxides (NOx). In regions with net ozone destruction the available NOx is below the threshold value at which production and destruction of O3 balance. While threshold NO values increase with altitude, in the upper troposphere NOx concentrations are generally higher due to the integral effect of convective precursor transport from the boundary layer, downward transport from the stratosphere and NOx produced by lightning. Two case studies indicate that in fresh convective outflow of electrified thunderstorms net ozone production is enhanced by a factor 5–6 compared to the undisturbed upper tropospheric background. The chemistry–transport model MATCH-MPIC generally reproduces the pattern of observation-based net ozone tendencies but mostly underestimates the magnitude of the net tendency (for both net ozone production and destruction).

Description: Indo-gangetic plain (IGP) and Himalayan foothills have large spatial and temporal heterogeneity in aerosols characteristics. Regional meteorology around 850-500 mb plays an important role in the transformation and transportation of aerosols from west Asia to IGP, into Himalayan foothill, as well to high-altitude region of the Himalayas. In order to quantify the vertical and horizontal variation of aerosol properties in the Himalayan , an airborne campaign was carried out in the Pokhara Valley/Nepal (83°50'-84°10' E, 25°7'-28°15' N, 815 masl ) in two phases: test flights during May 2016 and an intensive airborne sampling flight in December-January 2017. This paper provides an overview of airborne measurement campaign from the first phase of measurements in May 2016. A two-seater microlight aircraft (IKARUS C 42) was used as the aerial platform. This was deemed the feasible option in Nepal for an aerial campaign; technical specification of the aircraft include an approximately 6 hrs of flying time, short-take off run, 〉 100 kgs of payload, suitable for spiral upward and downward profiling. The instrument package consist of GRIMM 1.108 for particle size distribution from 0.3 to 20 um at 6 seconds time resolution, and TSI CPC 3375 for total ultrafine particle (UFP) concentration at 1 s. The package also includes a Magee Scientific Aethalometer (AE42) for aerosol absorption at seven different wavelengths. Meteorological parameters include temperature and dew point at a sampling rate of 1 Hz or higher. The paper provides a snapshot of observed vertical profile (from 800 to 4500masl) of aerosols size, number and black carbon over one of populated mountain valley in Nepal during the pre-monsoon season. During the airborne measurement, local fires- mostly agriculture burn were observed, however no large scale forest fire was captured. Sharp morning and afternoon gradients were observed in the vertical profile for aerosol number and size, mostly dominated by 〈400 nm. The vertical profile in the afternoon showed elevated layer with higher number concentration (than ground) over 〉2000 masl which may indicate regional transport than local contribution. Also presented is the comparison between the measured vertical profile of aerosol properties and columnar measurement (using AERONET) and CALIPSO-derived vertical profile.

Description: Scholarly analysis has, in the past, rarely focused on the role that diverging notions of justice play in the evolution of natural resource conflicts. The consequence of this is a lack of systematic knowledge about the justice claims that actors involved in natural resource conflicts put forward. This is surprising considering that, upon closer inspection, justice claims advanced by affected actors are easily identifiable within any particular resource conflict. Be it the population in the Niger Delta claiming a greater share of oil revenues or an end to the contamination of fragile local ecosystems, or workers of the Marikana mine in South Africa protesting for higher wages and full rights for a particular union, almost all local claimmakers invoke ideas of justice as a basis for their demands. In International Relations, the disregard for considering justice in the context of natural resource conflicts is best illustrated in literature dealing with the causes of civil war. Notable overlaps exist between the concept of justice and the concept of grievance within the so-called greed versus grievance debate (Collier and Hoeffler, 2004; Basedau and Lay, 2009; Collier et al., 2009). However, this literature generally conceptualizes natural resources as an essential element of the greed paradigm rather than as a grievance-related explanation for civil wars. In contrast, disciplines such as political theory and philosophy have long identified the exploitation and distribution of natural resources as a central point of contention in achieving (global) justice (Beitz, 1979; Pogge, 2002; Wenar, 2008; Nili, in this volume). These scholars have, however, mostly been interested in developing abstract principles of justice; as such, when they do mention empirical justice claims made by actors, it is primarily for illustrative purposes. Social anthropologists and scholars engaged in development and regional studies, on the other hand, have frequently conceded analytical priority to justice considerations. Their explanations for the root causes and/or dynamics of ongoing resource conflicts often highlight locally perceived grievances publically expressed in terms of justice (Latouche, 1997: 137-139; Ferguson, 2006: 35-38). Despite having this focus, work done by scholars in these disciplines and research fields apparently does not differentiate between different types of justice claims in any systematic manner. This chapter analyses justice claims by local communities along with the governance initiatives that have emerged in response to these claims. We ask whether these governance initiatives adequately respond to local justice claims and identify the significance of misperceptions or misinterpretations of justice claims made by the actors involved in given conflicts. The chapter demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between various types of justice claims in order to achieve a better understanding of conflict dynamics and increase our knowledge of the governance mechanisms used to address them. In order to analyse local justice claims more systematically, we propose a threefold conceptualization of justice based on the work of Nancy Fraser (2009), which analytically covers distribution, recognition and representation-related claims (section 2, see also Schmitt, in this volume). We argue that the disentanglement of these different justice claims is important as the misperception of particular claims by addressees – such as corporations, state actors, or international organizations – might lead to governance initiatives that prove not only insufficient for satisfying local demands but could even further exacerbate the conflict dynamics. We apply this argument to a mining conflict in Peru, where numerous local conflicts exist in the context of large-scale mining projects (section 3). These conflicts have generally emerged between corporations and the affected communities, though they also invariably involve state institutions. A common response has been to install Dialogue Tables (Mesas de Diálogo) to reach a compromise between parties to the conflict. The case study presented here focuses on the conflict between the population of Ilo, in Peru’s Moquegua region, and the Southern Copper Corporation mining company. The analysis is based on field research carried out between June and August 2013, including interviews conducted with various stakeholders and participant observation in Mesa sessions.2 Our empirical analysis shows that the mesa de diálogo in Ilo has not been successful because of its inadequacy in addressing the local justice claims. While Southern Copper Corporation’s discourse focused on voluntary (financial) contributions to local communities, representatives from these communities emphasized the past damages caused by Southern, principally striving for (official) recognition of the company’s guilt. Hence, compromise-oriented policy instruments such as dialogue tables prove to be ill-suited for dealing with claims where recognition rather than compensation is at stake.

Description: Despite extensive efforts, greenhouse gases continue to be emitted in vastamounts, with potentially devastating consequences around the world. This iswhy targeted interventions in the climate system, known collectively as ‘climateengineering’, are receiving increased attention. Proposed approaches are oftendivided into two groups: those intended to remove carbon dioxide from theatmosphere and those intended to reduce the amount of solar energy that reachesthe Earth’s surface or is trapped in the atmosphere. There are some similaritiesbetween the two classes of activities, but they often raise different physical,political, and governance concerns. This series provides an introduction to eachset of approaches.

Description: CO2 utilisation technologies—also called carbon dioxide utilisation (CDU) and carbon capture and utilisation (CCU)—convert CO2 via physical, chemical, or biological processes into carbon-based products. CO2 utilisation technologies are viewed as a means of helping to address climate change and broadening the raw material base for commodities that can be sold to generate economic revenue. However, while technical research and development into the feasibility of CO2 utilisation options are accelerating rapidly; at present, there has been limited research into the social acceptance of the technology and CO2-derived products. This review article outlines and explores three key dimensions of social acceptance (i.e., socio-political, market, and community acceptance) pertaining to innovation within CO2 utilisation. The article highlights the importance of considering issues of social acceptance as an aspect of the research, development, demonstration, and deployment process for CO2 utilisation and explores how key stakeholders operating on each dimension might affect the innovation pathways, investment, and siting decisions relating to CO2 utilisation facilities and CO2-derived products. Beyond providing a state-of-the-art review of current research into the social acceptance of CO2 utilisation, this article also outlines an agenda for future research in the field.

Description: Sie ist eine der großen Aufgaben unserer Zeit: die Energiewende. Das anspruchsvolle Ziel dieser Jahrhundertaufgabe lautet, Energie umweltverträglich, wirtschaftlich und sicher bereitzustellen. Der Band »energie.wenden« erläutert dieses in Deutschland und weltweit heftig diskutierte Thema umfassend und für ein großes Publikum verständlich. Neben den Grundlagen beleuchtet das Buch die aktuellen Herausforderungen, die nötige Umstellungen der Bereitstellung, Verteilung und Speicherung von Energie mit sich bringen. Darüber hinaus gibt es Einblicke in Innovationen aus dem Bereich der Energietechnik und stellt vorbildliche Projekte aus aller Welt vor. Das Buch erscheint anlässlich der großen Sonderausstellung zum Thema Energiewende im Deutschen Museum, die in den kommenden Jahren auch in anderen Städten Europas zu Gast sein wird.

Description: G20 should initiate a global Ocean governance process and call for Ocean Economy dialogues, strategies and regional cooperation to ensure that investment and growth in ocean use become sustainable and reach their full potential.The ocean is the largest and a most critical ecosystem on Earth, with many interactions between the ocean Sustainable Development Goal (SDG14) and other SDGs. It is one of the most biologically diverse and highly productive system on the planet, and potentially the largest provider of food, materials, energy, and ecosystem services. However, past and current maritime sectors’ uses of the ocean continue to be unsustainable. Increasing demand for resources, technological advances, overfishing, climate change, pollution, biodiversity and habitat loss, along with inadequate stewardship and law enforcement, are contributing to the ocean’s decline.As a standing agenda item for the G20, and with associated good governance, a sustainable Ocean Economy can improve the health and productivity of ocean ecosystems, and reverse the current cycle of deline. Better governance, appreciation of the economic value of the ocean and ‘Blue Economy’ strategies can reduce conflicts among uses, ensure financial sustainability, ecosystem integrity and prosperity, and promote long-term national growth and employment in maritime industries.

Description: Das Kopernikus-Projekt ENavi will der Komplexität des Energiesystems begegnen, indem es unterschiedliche disziplinäre und soziale Wissensbestände aus allen ENavi-Forschungsarbeiten zusammenführt. Damit dies gelingt, wird das Projektteam in dem Modul Roadsmap und Navigation energiepolitische Entscheidungen aus systemanalytischer Perspektive abschätzen und bewerten und so den Weg zu einem nachhaltigen Energiesystem aufzeigen.

Description: Wissenschaftskommunikation ist zentral für moderne Wissensgesellschaften – und in den vergangenen Jahren immer vielfältiger geworden. Sie findet in der Wissenschaft auf Konferenzen oder in Fachpublikationen statt, in der Politik- und Unternehmensberatung, in Kampagnen, in Massenmedien und in Social Media. Die Kommunikationswissenschaft und andere Sozialwissenschaften haben sich in den letzten Jahren verstärkt mit dem Thema Wissenschaftskommunikation befasst. Der Band kartiert dieses Forschungsfeld, identifiziert zentrale Themen, theoretische Perspektiven und Fragestellungen und stellt den Wissensstand überblickshaft dar.

Description: To better understand the characteristics of biomass burning in the northern Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), total suspended particles were collected in a rural site, Lumbini, Nepal, during April 2013 to March 2014 and analyzed for the biomass burning tracers (i.e., levoglucosan, mannosan, vanillic acid). The annual average concentration of levoglucosan was 734 ± 1043 ng m−3 with the maximum seasonal mean concentration during post-monsoon season (2206 ± 1753 ng m−3), followed by winter (1161 ± 1347 ng m−3), pre-monsoon (771 ± 524 ng m−3) and minimum concentration during monsoon season (212 ± 279 ng m−3). The other biomass burning tracers (mannosan, galactosan, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, vanillic acid, syringic acid and dehydroabietic acid) also showed the similar seasonal variations. There were good correlations among levoglucosan, organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC), indicating significant impact of biomass burning activities on carbonaceous aerosol loading throughout the year in Lumbini area. According to the characteristic ratios, levoglucosan ∕ mannosan (lev ∕ man) and syringic acid ∕ vanillic acid (syr ∕ van), we deduced that the high abundances of biomass burning products during non-monsoon seasons were mainly caused by the burning of crop residues and hardwood while the softwood had less contribution. Based on the diagnostic tracer ratio (i.e., lev ∕ OC), the OC derived from biomass burning constituted large fraction of total OC, especially during post-monsoon season. By analyzing the MODIS fire spot product and 5-day air-mass back trajectories, we further demonstrated that organic aerosol composition was not only related to the local agricultural activities and residential biomass usage but also impacted by the regional emissions. During the post-monsoon season, the emissions from rice residue burning in western India and eastern Pakistan could impact particulate air pollution in Lumbini and surrounding regions in southern Nepal. Therefore, our finding is meaningful and has a great importance for adopting the appropriate mitigation measures, not only at the local level but also by involving different regions and nations, to reduce the biomass burning emissions in the broader IGP region nations.

Description: On 20 January 2017, Donald Trump was inaugurated as the forty-fifth president of the United States. His previous announcements on energy policy mark a clear departure from the climate policy ambitions of his predecessor, Barack Obama. But what exactly should we expect from Trump’s climate and energy policies? Sonja Thielges explains.

Description: The global governance of displaced and trapped populations, forced migration and refugees is not prepared for the numbers likely to manifest under climate change. The Group of Twenty has a responsibility to prepare, push for reform and initiate annual reviews to enhance humanitarian responses to aid climate mobility. International policy and law build on the false assumption that displaced people and refugees can return to their place of origin when conditions improve, conflicts subside or homes are rebuilt. This cannot hold for many of those affected by climate change. Governance reform is needed to strengthen rights and obligations of peoples and governments in countries of origin, transit and destination, recognizing the special circumstances and needs of “climate refugees” or migrants.

Description: In his thesis, Steffen examines this process of 'accommodating' private credit money from a comparative perspective. To understand how and why such accommodation occurred, it develops a theory of private credit money accommodation and applies it on three cases in the respective centres of the global financial system: the 1797 Bank Restriction in the United Kingdom that accommodated bank notes; the 1933 Emergency Banking Act in the U.S. that accommodated bank deposits; as well as the realignment of Federal Reserve policies after the 2008 financial crisis, which led to an accommodation of money market mutual fund shares and overnight repurchase agreements as contemporary forms of ‘shadow money’.

Description: Changes in the Arctic strongly affect ecosystems, people and business both inside the Arctic and at lower latitudes. •We need a better understanding of the interplay between regional and global systems (meteorological, climatic, economic, technological, legal, political) within the Arctic and their impacts beyond the region. •We conduct a study of the impact of Arctic changes on business - specifically resource development - in the Arctic with the purpose of improving stakeholders’ capacity to adapt to climate change. Poster presented at the Conference 2017 International Conference on Arctic Science: Bringing Knowledge to Action n (AMAP) http://www.amap.no/about The 2017 International Conference on Arctic Science: Bringing Knowledge to Action will: Bring together diverse expert communities ranging from scientists to decision-makers in order to identify, explore and create mechanisms and venues where science and knowledge can inform the development of policies and decision-making.

Description: Vegetation has gained importance in respective debates about climate change mitigation and adaptation in cities. Although recently developed remote sensing techniques provide necessary city-wide information, a sufficient and consistent city-wide information of relevant urban ecosystem services, such as carbon emissions offset, does not exist. This study uses city-wide, high-resolution, and remotely sensed data to derive individual tree species information and to estimate the above-ground carbon storage of urban forests in Berlin, Germany. The variance of tree biomass was estimated using allometric equations that contained different levels of detail regarding the tree species found in this study of 700 km2, which had a tree canopy of 213 km2. The average tree density was 65 trees/ha per unit of tree cover and a range from 10 to 40 trees/ha for densely urban land cover. City-wide estimates of the above-ground carbon storage ranged between 6.34 and 7.69 tC/ha per unit of land cover, depending on the level of tree species information used. Equations that did not use individually localized tree species information undervalued the total amount of urban forest carbon storage by up to 15 %. Equations using a generalized estimate of dominant tree species information provided rather precise city-wide carbon estimates. Concerning differences within a densely built area per unit of land cover approaches using individually localized tree species information prevented underestimation of mid-range carbon density areas (10–20 tC/ha), which were actually up to 8.4 % higher, and prevented overestimation of very low carbon density areas (0–5 tC/ha), which were actually up to 11.4 % lower. Park-like areas showed 10 to 30 tC/ha, whereas land cover of very high carbon density (40–80 tC/ha) mostly consisted of mixed peri-urban forest stands. Thus, this approach, which uses widely accessible and remotely sensed data, can help to improve the consistency of forest carbon estimates in cities.

Description: The EURODELTA-Trends multi-model chemistry-transport experiment has been designed to facilitate a better understanding of the evolution of air pollution and its drivers for the period 1990–2010 in Europe. The main objective of the experiment is to assess the efficiency of air pollutant emissions mitigation measures in improving regional-scale air quality.The present paper formulates the main scientific questions and policy issues being addressed by the EURODELTA-Trends modelling experiment with an emphasis on how the design and technical features of the modelling experiment answer these questions.The experiment is designed in three tiers, with increasing degrees of computational demand in order to facilitate the participation of as many modelling teams as possible. The basic experiment consists of simulations for the years 1990, 2000, and 2010. Sensitivity analysis for the same three years using various combinations of (i) anthropogenic emissions, (ii) chemical boundary conditions, and (iii) meteorology complements it. The most demanding tier consists of two complete time series from 1990 to 2010, simulated using either time-varying emissions for corresponding years or constant emissions.Eight chemistry-transport models have contributed with calculation results to at least one experiment tier, and five models have – to date – completed the full set of simulations (and 21-year trend calculations have been performed by four models). The modelling results are publicly available for further use by the scientific community.The main expected outcomes are (i) an evaluation of the models' performances for the three reference years, (ii) an evaluation of the skill of the models in capturing observed air pollution trends for the 1990–2010 time period, (iii) attribution analyses of the respective role of driving factors (e.g. emissions, boundary conditions, meteorology), (iv) a dataset based on a multi-model approach, to provide more robust model results for use in impact studies related to human health, ecosystem, and radiative forcing.

Description: Das Kopernikus-Projekt Energiewende-Navigationssystem (ENavi) will robustes Wissen für die Entscheidungsfindung im Rahmen der Energie wende bereitstellen. Damit dies gelingt, erarbeitet das ENavi-Team Politikvorschläge, indem es interdisziplinäres Systemwissen in einem transdisziplinären Bewertungsprozess mit dem Praxiswissen von Akteuren aus Politik, Wirtschaft und Zivilgesellschaft zusammenführt.

Description: We report on the molecular structures of the two most abundant conformers of n-octanal observed by molecular beam Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy. Next to limonene, which is the main component of citrus-oil, octanal and other n-alkyl aldehydes strongly enhance the typical fresh smell of lemon-oil. Due to the high flexibility of its n-alkyl chain and the high number of possible conformers, different semi-empirical methods (AM1, PM3, MMFF94) were used to sample the conformational space of octanal before performing more sophisticated quantum chemical calculations at the MP2 level of theory. This technique has previously been shown to be an ideal tool to characterize relevant odorant structures in fragrance chemistry. The structure of octanal and structurally related molecules is discussed in the context of the most abundant chain conformations and the potential use of the microwave validated structures for further studies in biological media.

Description: This piece examines the need to interrogate the role of the conceptions of the future, as embedded in academic papers, policy documents, climate models, and other artifacts that serve as currencies of the science-society interface, in shaping scientific and policy agendas in climate engineering. Growing bodies of work on framings, metaphors, and models in the past decade serve as valuable starting points, but can benefit from integration with STS work on the sociology of expectations, imaginaries, and visions. Potentially valuable branches of work to come might be the anticipatory use of the future: the design of experimental spaces for exploring the future of an engineered climate in service of responsible research and innovation, and the integration of this work within the unfolding context of the Paris Agreement.

Description: Kathmandu Valley is one of the largest and most polluted metropolitan regions in the Himalayan foothills. Rapidly expanding urban sprawl and a growing fleet of vehicles, and industrial facilities such as brick factories across the valley have led to conditions where ambient concentrations of key gaseous air pollutants are expected to exceed Nepal’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. In order to understand the spatial variation of the trace gases in the Kathmandu Valley, passive samples of SO2, NOx, NO2, NH3, and O3 were collected simultaneously from fifteen locations between March and May 2013. A follow-up study during two separate campaigns in 2014 sampled these gases, except ammonia, one site at a time from thirteen urban, suburban and rural stationary sites. In 2013, urban sites were observed to have higher weekly averaged NO2 and SO2 (22.4 ± 8.1 μg m–3 and 14.5 ± 11.1 μg m–3, respectively) than sub-urban sites (9.2 ± 3.9 μg m–3 and 7.6 ± 2.8 μg m–3, respectively). Regions located within 3 km of brick factories had higher SO2 concentrations (22.3 ± 14.7 μg m–3) than distant sites (5.8 ± 1.1 μg m–3). Higher O3 (108.5 ± 31.4 μg m–3) was observed in rural locations compared to urban sites (87.1 ± 9.2 μg m–3), emphasizing the importance of meteorological factors and precursor species for ozone production and titration. Parallel to previous studies, these results suggest that ground-level O3, as its levels frequently exceeded guidelines throughout the sampling periods, is an important concern throughout the valley. NH3 near polluted rivers and SO2 around brick factories are also important pollutants that need more intensive monitoring, primarily due to their importance in particulate matter formation chemistry.

Description: Zentrale Bestandteile des Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetzes (EEG) sind der gesicherte Zugang zu Vergütungszahlungen sowie die administrative Bestimmung der Vergütungssätze und ihrer Abnahmeraten. Die Bundesregierung hat nun im Rahmen der EEG-Novelle 2016/2017 den Umstieg auf Vergütungen, deren Allokation und Höhe in Ausschreibungen ermittelt werden, beschlossen. International gibt es bereits Erfahrungen mit Ausschreibungen zum Ausbau erneuerbarer Energien, aktuelle Analysen der Ausschreibungsergebnisse sind jedoch rar. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, einen aktuellen Vergleich zentraler Ausschreibungsergebnisse in Brasilien, Frankreich, Italien und Südafrika vorzulegen und die beobachteten Entwicklungen und deren Ursachen qualitativ zu diskutieren.

Description: Die Zerstörung der Meeresumwelt schreitet schnell voran, einzelstaatliche Regulierung erzielt nur begrenzt Wirkung. Welche Chancen bietet da die Agenda 2030 der Vereinten Nationen? Was muss getan werden, um die Zusammenarbeit auf internationaler, nationaler und regionaler Ebene zu verbessern?

Description: Die Energiewende ist eine gesamtgesellschaftliche Aufgabe, an der Akteure aus allen gesellschaftlichen Bereichen und Steuerungsebenen mitwirken. Hierbei Orientierung zu bieten und Wegmarken zu setzen hat sich das Forschungsprojekt ENavi zum Ziel gesetzt. Dafür müssen unterschiedliche Wissensbestände generiert und integriert werden sowie die Folgen der gesellschaftlichen und politischen Entscheidungen abgeschätzt werden.

Description: This white paper resulted from a risk dialogue project with climate scientists and experts on the subject of climate engineering – conducted by the neutral and independent Risk-Dialogue Foundation St. Gallen between April 2016 and March 2017. The aim was to identify the current state of research on the topic as well as related risk and to evaluate a potential need for wider public deliberation. The project was carried out on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), Climate Division. In line with views expressed during the dialogue, the sole objective of this paper is to argue for an open and public deliberation process and not to favour or promote any technologies or deployment thereof. The views expressed in this report are solely those of its authors, and do not reflect any official positions.

Description: Der Ausbau von Photovoltaikanlagen ist international ein Megatrend. Eine zentrale Frage bezieht sich dabei auf die technischen Herausforderungen bei der Integration in die Niederspannungsnetze. Welche Erfahrungen machen deutsche Verteilnetzbetreiber als Vorreiter auf diesem Gebiet?

Description: Increasing interest in climate engineering in recent years has led to calls by the international research community for international research collaboration as well as global public engagement. But making such collaboration a reality is challenging. Here, we report the summary of a 2016 workshop on the significance and challenges of international collaboration on climate engineering research with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Because of the region’s interest in benefits and risks of climate engineering, there is a potential synergy between impact research on anthropogenic global warming and that on solar radiation management. Local researchers in the region can help make progress toward better understanding of impacts of solar radiation management. These activities can be guided by an ad hoc Asia-Pacific working group on climate engineering, a voluntary expert network. The working group can foster regional conversations in a sustained manner while contributing to capacity building. An important theme in the regional conversation is to develop effective practices of dialogues in light of local backgrounds such as cultural traditions and past experiences of large-scale technology development. Our recommendation merely portrays one of several possible ways forward, and it is our hope to stimulate the debate in the region.

Description: Patents constitute an important economic mechanism incentivising the development of technologies. Given the immediacy of the need for global access to effective emission cutting technologies, the role of patents requires further consideration in the general climate change mitigation discourse. This paper aims to address this issue, presenting arguments on the role of the patent system from general intellectual property literature, as well as insights from specialized technological fields. The authors find that although patents provide a strong economic incentive for innovation, they limit the further commercialization of mitigation technologies based on previously patented materials and thus hinder global access to mitigation solutions. Development of mitigation technologies, specifically of renewable energies and carbon capture storage, requires predominantly an improvement of existing technologies. Therefore, patents are seen to restrict development and are perceived as an obstacle to climate change mitigation. In order to achieve the targets set by COP21, the transfer of patented technologies is a necessity. However, patents are found to act as one factor that can severely restrict the dissemination of technologies globally. Given these findings, the merits of open-source/copy-left systems of intellectual property deserve further study, especially with regard to their applicability to climate change mitigation solutions.

Description: We present the most important results of two expert surveys of the acceptance of bio-based products in the business-to-business (B2B) sector and in the public sector. Both surveys follow a Delphi approach giving insight into key market drivers and barriers, the most important information requirements, as well as perceptions on the role of product labeling and standardization. The business survey shows that market drivers differ significantly across European countries, a point to be taken into account when developing harmonized approaches for the European Union. Furthermore, the importance of market factors also varies across sub-groups of bio-based products. The labeling of bio-based products, preferably in combination with additional environmental and sustainability criteria, receives broad support from the experts. The procurement survey identifies effective policy measures and informational needs for enhancing the uptake of bio-based products in (green) public procurement. Key findings include that bio-based products are not (yet) considered a relevant category and that bio-based content on its own is typically not viewed as a relevant justification for inclusion in green public procurement schemes. Moreover, eco-labeling schemes are important points of reference, suggesting that the incorporation of bio-based content as criteria in relevant labeling schemes could also promote the acceptance of bio-based products in the public sector.