ALBERT

Description: We describe the physics and features of the ice-sheet model Yelmo, an open-source project intended for collaborative development. Yelmo is a thermomechanical model, solving for the coupled velocity and temperature solutions of an ice sheet simultaneously. The ice dynamics are currently treated via a “hybrid” approach combining the shallow-ice and shallow-shelf/shelfy-stream approximations, which makes Yelmo an apt choice for studying a wide variety of problems. Yelmo's main innovations lie in its flexible and user-friendly infrastructure, which promotes portability and facilitates long-term development. In particular, all physics subroutines have been designed to be self-contained, so that they can be easily ported from Yelmo to other models, or easily replaced by improved or alternate methods in the future. Furthermore, hard-coded model choices are eschewed, replaced instead with convenient parameter options that allow the model to be adapted easily to different contexts. We show results for different ice-sheet benchmark tests, and we illustrate Yelmo's performance for the Antarctic ice sheet.

Description: Several large-scale cryosphere elements such as the Arctic summer sea ice, the mountain glaciers, the Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheet have changed substantially during the last century due to anthropogenic global warming. However, the impacts of their possible future disintegration on global mean temperature (GMT) and climate feedbacks have not yet been comprehensively evaluated. Here, we quantify this response using an Earth system model of intermediate complexity. Overall, we find a median additional global warm-ing of 0.43 ˝C (interquartile range: 0.39´0.46 ˝C) at a CO2 concentration of 400 ppm. Most of this response (55%) is caused by albedo changes, but lapse rate together with water vapour (30%) and cloud feedbacks (15%) also con-tribute significantly. While a decay of the ice sheets would occur on centen-nial to millennial time scales, the Arctic might become ice-free during summer within the 21st century. Our findings imply an additional increase of the GMT on intermediate to long time scales.

Description: More than half of Earth’s freshwater resources are held by the Antarctic Ice Sheet, which thus represents by far the largest potential source for global sea-level rise under future warming conditions1. Its long-term stability determines the fate of our coastal cities and cultural heritage. Feedbacks between ice, atmosphere, ocean, and the solid Earth give rise to potential nonlinearities in its response to temperature changes. So far, we are lacking a comprehensive stability analysis of the Antarctic Ice Sheet for different amounts of global warming. Here we show that the Antarctic Ice Sheet exhibits a multitude of temperature thresholds beyond which ice loss is irreversible. Consistent with palaeodata2 we find, using the Parallel Ice Sheet Model3,4,5, that at global warming levels around 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, West Antarctica is committed to long-term partial collapse owing to the marine ice-sheet instability. Between 6 and 9 degrees of warming above pre-industrial levels, the loss of more than 70 per cent of the present-day ice volume is triggered, mainly caused by the surface elevation feedback. At more than 10 degrees of warming above pre-industrial levels, Antarctica is committed to become virtually ice-free. The ice sheet’s temperature sensitivity is 1.3 metres of sea-level equivalent per degree of warming up to 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, almost doubling to 2.4 metres per degree of warming between 2 and 6 degrees and increasing to about 10 metres per degree of warming between 6 and 9 degrees. Each of these thresholds gives rise to hysteresis behaviour: that is, the currently observed ice-sheet configuration is not regained even if temperatures are reversed to present-day levels. In particular, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet does not regrow to its modern extent until temperatures are at least one degree Celsius lower than pre-industrial levels. Our results show that if the Paris Agreement is not met, Antarctica’s long-term sea-level contribution will dramatically increase and exceed that of all other sources.

Description: Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) rainfall has a direct effect on the livelihoods of two billion people in the Indian-subcontinent. Yet, our understanding of the drivers of multi-decadal variability of the ISM is far from being complete. In this context, large-scale forcing of ISM rainfall variability with multi-decadal resolution over the last two millennia is investigated using new records of sea surface salinity (δ18Ow) and sea surface temperatures (SSTs) from the Bay of Bengal (BoB). Higher δ18Ow values during the Dark Age Cold Period (1550 to 1250 years BP) and the Little Ice Age (700 to 200 years BP) are suggestive of reduced ISM rainfall, whereas lower δ18Ow values during the Medieval Warm Period (1200 to 800 years BP) and the major portion of the Roman Warm Period (1950 to 1550 years BP) indicate a wetter ISM. This variability in ISM rainfall appears to be modulated by the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) via changes in large-scale thermal contrast between the Asian land mass and the Indian Ocean, a relationship that is also identifiable in the observational data of the last century. Therefore, we suggest that inter-hemispheric scale interactions between such extra tropical forcing mechanisms and global warming are likely to be influential in determining future trends in ISM rainfall.

Description: Phasing out coal requires expanding the notion of a ‘just transition’ and a roadmap that specifies the sequence of coal plant retirement, the appropriate policy instruments as well as ways to include key stakeholders in the process.

Description: The Paris Agreement calls for a cooperative response with the aim of limiting global warming to well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels while reaffirming the principles of equity and common, but differentiated responsibilities and capabilities1. Although the goal is clear, the approach required to achieve it is not. Cap-and-trade policies using uniform carbon prices could produce cost-effective reductions of global carbon emissions, but tend to impose relatively high mitigation costs on developing and emerging economies. Huge international financial transfers are required to complement cap-and-trade to achieve equal sharing of effort, defined as an equal distribution of mitigation costs as a share of income2,3, and therefore the cap-and-trade policy is often perceived as infringing on national sovereignty2–7. Here we show that a strategy of international financial transfers guided by moderate deviations from uniform carbon pricing could achieve the goal without straining either the economies or sovereignty of nations. We use the integrated assessment model REMIND–MAgPIE to analyse alternative policies: financial transfers in uniform carbon pricing systems, differentiated carbon pricing in the absence of financial transfers, or a hybrid combining financial transfers and differentiated carbon prices. Under uniform carbon prices, a present value of international financial transfers of 4.4 trillion US dollars over the next 80 years to 2100 would be required to equalize effort. By contrast, achieving equal effort without financial transfers requires carbon prices in advanced countries to exceed those in developing countries by a factor of more than 100, leading to efficiency losses of 2.6 trillion US dollars. Hybrid solutions reveal a strongly nonlinear trade-off between cost efficiency and sovereignty: moderate deviations from uniform carbon prices strongly reduce financial transfers at relatively small efficiency losses and moderate financial transfers substantially reduce inefficiencies by narrowing the carbon price spread. We also identify risks and adverse consequences of carbon price differentiation due to market distortions that can undermine environmental sustainability targets8,9. Quantifying the advantages and risks of carbon price differentiation provides insight into climate and sector-specific policy mixes.

Description: To halt climate change this century, we must reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from human activities to net zero. Any emission sources, such as in the energy or land-use sectors, must be balanced by natural or technological carbon sinks that facilitate CO2 removal (CDR) from the atmosphere. Projections of demand for large-scale CDR are based on an integrated scenario framework for emission scenarios composed of emission profiles as well as alternative socio-economic development trends and social values consistent with them. The framework, however, was developed years before systematic reviews of CDR entered the literature. This primer provides an overview of the purposes of scenarios in climate-change research and how they are used. It also introduces the integrated scenario framework and why it came about. CDR studies using the scenario framework, as well as its limitations, are discussed. Possible future developments for the scenario framework are highlighted, especially in relation to CDR.

Description: This spatio-temporal dataset contains capacity factors timeseries for locations on a grid with 50km edge length in Europe. The data is resolved in one hour timesteps and comprises the years 2000--2016. It has been generated using Renewables.ninja and is based on MERRA-2 reanalysis data. For each of the ~2700 onshore location, it contains one time series for onshore wind turbines and five time series for PV installations with different orientations and tilts. PV time series exist for (1) installations on open fields, (2) installations on all possible rooftops, (3) south-facing and flat rooftops, (4) east- and west-facing rooftops, (5) north-facing rooftops. For each of the ~2800 offshore location there is one timeseries for offshore wind turbines. Two GeoTIFF files contain spatial information of onshore and offshore locations. For each of the three technologies -- onshore wind, offshore wind, and PV -- there is one NetCDF file determining the temporal dimension and containing the data. The GeoTIFF and NetCDF files are linked through unique IDs for all locations. This data serves as input data to euro-calliope, a model of the European electricity system.

Description: Aerosol radiative properties using recently available high-quality columnar aerosol data collected at several AERONET sites in South Asia, with a focus on pollution outflow from continental South Asia observed over Hanimaadhoo in Maldives, a small island in northern Indian Ocean are quantified. The seasonal mean aerosol optical depth (AOD) over Hanimaadhoo is ≥ 0.3 (except ca. 0.2 during monsoon season), and single scattering albedo (SSA) is 〉 0.90 in all seasons. Fine mode aerosols contribute dominantly to AOD. SSA decreases as a function of wavelength due to influence of continental aerosols, except during the monsoon season when its spectral trend reverses due to increase in dust. Carbonaceous aerosols dominate (〉90%) contribution to absorption AOD (AAOD). Black carbon (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) contribute 〉75% and 〈25%, respectively, to AAOD due to carbonaceous aerosols. The observed seasonal mean aerosol radiative forcing at the surface (ARFSFC), at the top of the atmosphere (ARFTOP) and in the atmosphere (ARFATM) is 〉 −25 Wm-2, 〉−20 Wm-2 and ~+20 Wm-2, respectively. Aerosol loading and atmospheric heating have increased over this background site over the last decade. A regional-scale analysis of aerosol properties and radiative effects across and surrounding the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) shows that AOD is ≥ 0.3 over entire region, and aerosols reduce seasonally 30–50 Wm-2 of solar radiation reaching the surface, contributing significantly to solar dimming effect. The atmospheric solar heating rate due to aerosols (HR) is ≥ 1 K day−1 across IGP. These high ARFs, ARFESFC and HR, and increasing trends have significant implications to climate and hydrological cycle over South Asia and beyond.

Description: You may have heard about minerals on the bottom of the ocean. The UK Government sponsors several exploration contracts for UK Seabed Resources (a subsidiary of the American aerospace and security company Lockheed-Martin) in the Pacific Ocean to look for them. These minerals come from the so-called ‘Area’, the deep seafloor beyond the limits of national jurisdiction and far out in the global ocean. This ‘Area’ and its mineral resources represent the ‘common heritage of mankind’. The Law of the Sea Convention, UNCLOS (1982) determines that rather than a free-for-all, this last piece of ocean floor outside the jurisdiction of any coastal state belongs to mankind as a whole and shall be administered in such a way that benefits all, considering in particular the needs of developing countries.

Description: The international health crisis has exposed a serious problem for energy systems – we’re not taking renewable energy technology seriously as a critical asset. Most solar panels today are made in China, and a shortage of key components means that Europe is now facing major delays in new installations. Wind power faces a double whammy – manufacturing is down, and countries may not have the personnel and parts locally to keep systems running. Countries should aim to build up national clean tech infrastructure in the same way that they ensure strategic reserves of fossil fuels.

Description: Transport is the problem child of climate policy (see Haas & Richter 2020, Der Verkehr. Das Sorgenkind der Klimapolitik, in: POLITIKUM 2, 46-53). While emissions reductions have been achieved across every other sector since 1990, transport-related emissions have climbed by 3.7 percent between 1990 and 2018.

Description: This study assesses the impacts of fossil-fuel power plants in Turkey on people’s health. It quantifies the cobenefits of decarbonising Turkey’s power sector with renewable energy for unburdening Turkey’s health system, in terms of health cost savings and reduction in premature deaths. This research study has been carried out in the context of the COBENEFITS project, which assesses a range of socio-economic co-benefits of renewable energy, in addition to the benefits of reducing energy sector greenhouse gas emissions, when compared to conventional energy systems.

Description: Many teams have developed a wide range of numerical or categorical indicators of progress in the implementation of the SDG targets. But these indicators cannot identify why target goals have not been accomplished, whether or how they do or do not do justice to the social and cultural context in which they are applied, and how newly emerging social dynamics affect indicators. Nor do they provide means for resolving conflicting values and making balanced trade-offs. Our starting point in examining why we have not been successful in progressing towards sustainability is that the sustainability conundrum is primarily a societal, rather than an environmental problem. Our present emphasis is to maintain our way of life while minimizing its impact, hoping that such a minimization strategy would make the world more sustainable. Reducing for example the extent of pollution but keeping the same industries alive would not be sufficient for a transformation towards sustainability. Instead we should ask “How did we come to this point and what practices, in our societies and in our science, need to change to make progress towards sustainability?” To answer these questions, one needs to go much further back than usual in the history of western societies to identify the societal, scientific, technological and environmental co-evolutionary dynamics that have brought us to the current conundrum. And the fact that most societal challenges are of the “wicked” kind, as well as the need to decide among many societal options and many future pathways that may lead to positive results require that we seriously engage in using “Complex Systems” approaches. It is up to our scientific community to identify these pathways, and we need to move fast!

Description: Die Bundesregierung hat den Kohleausstieg bis zum Jahr 2038 beschlossen und beschleunigt so die Transformation in den Kohleregionen. Die Ausgangslagen für den Wandel in den Revieren und umliegende Gemeinden der Lausitz und des Rheinlands sind dabei sehr unterschiedlich. In beiden Regionen stehen Politik, Zivilgesellschaft, Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft vor der Aufgabe, Lösungspfade und Transformationskorridore zu finden, die ökologisch verantwortlich, sozial gerecht, wirtschaftlich vielversprechend und demokratisch getragen sind. Das IASS Potsdam veranstaltete im Frühjahr 2020 gemeinsam mit dem Kulturwissenschaftlichen Institut Essen einen Workshop, um demokratiepolitische Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede im Strukturwandel der Braunkohleregionen herauszuarbeiten. Die Zwischenergebnisse werden in dieser Studie dargestellt.

Description: This IASS study takes an in-depth look at Covid-19's impacts on the global energy sector, and then zooms in to the country level to see individual country effects and responses. The case studies are compiled by energy researchers in Argentina, China, Germany, India, Israel, and the United States.

Description: Aerosol emissions from human activities are extensive and changing rapidly over Asia. Model simulations and satellite observations indicate a dipole pattern in aerosol emissions and loading between South Asia and East Asia, two of the most heavily polluted regions of the world. We examine the previously unexplored diverging trends in the existing dipole pattern of aerosols between East and South Asia using the high quality, two-decade long ground-based time series of observations of aerosol properties from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET), from satellites (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI)), and from model simulations (Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2). The data cover the period since 2001 for Kanpur (South Asia) and Beijing (East Asia), two locations taken as being broadly representative of the respective regions. Since 2010 a dipole in aerosol optical depth (AOD) is maintained, but the trend is reversed—the decrease in AOD over Beijing (East Asia) is rapid since 2010, being 17% less in current decade compared to first decade of twenty-first century, while the AOD over South Asia increased by 12% during the same period. Furthermore, we find that the aerosol composition is also changing over time. The single scattering albedo (SSA), a measure of aerosol’s absorption capacity and related to aerosol composition, is slightly higher over Beijing than Kanpur, and has increased from 0.91 in 2002 to 0.93 in 2017 over Beijing and from 0.89 to 0.92 during the same period over Kanpur, confirming that aerosols in this region have on an average become more scattering in nature. These changes have led to a notable decrease in aerosol-induced atmospheric heating rate (HR) over both regions between the two decades, decreasing considerably more over East Asia (− 31%) than over South Asia (− 9%). The annual mean HR is lower now, it is still large (≥ 0.6 K per day), which has significant climate implications. The seasonal trends in AOD, SSA and HR are more pronounced than their respective annual trends over both regions. The seasonal trends are caused mainly by the increase/decrease in anthropogenic aerosol emissions (sulfate, black carbon and organic carbon) while the natural aerosols (dust and sea salt) did not change significantly over South and East Asia during the last two decades. The MERRA-2 model is able to simulate the observed trends in AODs well but not the magnitude, while it also did not simulate the SSA values or trends well. These robust findings based on observations of key aerosol parameters and previously unrecognized diverging trends over South and East Asia need to be accounted for in current state-of-the-art climate models to ensure accurate quantification of the complex and evolving impact of aerosols on the regional climate over Asia.

Description: Some scholars have labeled the financial structures that faced a run during the 2007-9 Financial Crisis as ‘shadow banking system’ and have connected it to the emergence of new monetary instruments. This was the starting point for thinking about various forms of private debt as ‘shadow money’. Since then several shadow money theories have emerged, with seemingly different conceptualizations of shadow money. We argue that, despite different terminology and intellectual ancestry, these theories generally agree on three key criteria that define shadow money. A financial instrument must be met by a demand that considers it an alternative to established forms of money, has to trade at par to higher-ranking forms of money and must be created through a swap of private debt certificates (IOUs). Based on these criteria, we look at four instruments to discuss how and under what conditions they correspond, or have corresponded, to those criteria. These are money market fund shares, overnight repurchase agreements, assetbacked commercial papers and foreign exchange swaps. We show that the disagreement over what instruments to count as shadow money lies in the level of strictness in applying those criteria on real-world financial instruments. If we are mathematically strict, none of the instruments can be categorized as shadow money. If we allow for more empirical variation, then all of the instruments correspond to the definition.

Description: International authorities are increasingly recognizing that utilizing the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from various industries can assist strategies for mitigating climate change. In developing novel carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies they aspire to contribute to circular economy targets and reduce consumption of fossil‐based raw materials. However, the potential economic effects of CCU on industrial value chains remain unclear. Hence, this study investigates the economic expectations placed on those actors currently conducting research and development (R&D) in CCU. The aspired levels of economic performance are identified through a systematic literature review of 19 policy advice reports and 15 scientific papers. Qualitative directed content analysis is conducted, based on an R&D input–output–outcome system. First, we identify three relevant groups of value chain actors by clustering industrial sectors: (a) equipment manufacturers, (b) high‐emitting producers, and (c) producers of materials and fuels. Then, we derive a criteria list from the review. Finally, the analysis reveals how CCU innovations are anticipated to impact different industries: Equipment manufacturers could contribute to economic growth. For high‐emitting producers, CCU provides one option for “surviving” sustainability transitions. Meanwhile, material and fuel producers need to act as “problem solvers” by offering competitive ways of utilizing CO2. We conclude by identifying research gaps that should be addressed to better understand the economic and social dimensions of CCU and to increase the chances of such innovations contributing to broader sustainability transformations of industrial and energy systems.

Description: In order to advance ongoing efforts in the (still emerging) field of marine restoration, different forms of knowledge must be combined: not only the biological and technical aspects, but also the social and cultural dimensions of marine restoration efforts. This calls for a newly combined array of methods that allows for a bridging of these different knowledge dimensions. Drawing on our experiences from the ongoing knowledge transfer processes of the INTERNAS project (Scientific Transfer of the results of INTERNational Assessments in the field of Earth and Environmental Research into the German policy context), we provide an overview of methods that were used to link global recommendations with localized marine restoration schemes and policy options. Using a mixed methods approach, we were able to capture and understand the pathways of knowledge transfer from globally synthesized scientific knowledge to local realities related to protecting and enhancing marine biodiversity in Germany. With this structured knowledge transfer approach, actionable solutions for marine conservation and restoration activities could be tailored to the specific national and regional circumstances. Using participatory methods, framework conditions like ecological, social, legal, and sectoral value judgment dimensions can be identified. This allows for the development of concerted solutions and creates a common ground for good governance towards marine restoration. When scientists engage not only as experts but also as reflexive facilitators in such participatory processes, it is ensured that more inclusive forms of knowledge are fostered that are necessary to better anticipate the potentials and likely pitfalls that marine restoration efforts may encounter. We conclude that existing knowledge on ecosystems, their goods and services as well as societal expectations need to be understood from the onset in any kind of marine restoration effort.

Description: The involvement of early career researchers (ECRs) has been limited during the past Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment cycles. We conducted a global survey among ECRs and interviewed key experts of the IPCC process. Our results show that ECRs are highly motivated to become actively involved in the IPCC process but face a number of barriers to contribute. Mutually beneficial ways forward on how ECRs could contribute are outlined here, and recommendations to implement these paths are suggested to IPCC as well as to ECRs. Concluding, we show that ECRs have great potential to actively contribute to the IPCC process for the continuity of the IPCC as well as to climate science in general.

Description: This opinion article offers insights into the geopolitics of the ongoing global energy transition. In doing so, it draws heavily on a workshop in Berlin in late 2018, and a subsequent paper in the journal Nature. Four scenarios are presented. First, the “Big Green Deal” offers a positive story of the future, under the assumption that there will be a multilateral approach to tackling climate change. Second, “Dirty Nationalism” explores the fallout of nations choosing to turn inward and pursue a short‐term, protectionist, and self‐interested agenda. Third, “Technology Breakthrough” illustrates how a technological leap forward could lead to a great power rivalry and distinct regional energy blocs. Finally, “Muddling On” investigates the outcome of an energy transition that reflect business as usual. By comparing and contrasting the different scenarios, the article highlights the potential winners and losers of the different scenarios, and the geopolitical consequences. It also sketches the implications for policy, theory, and scenario thinking more broadly.

Description: This study reports comprehensive analysis of seasonal and inter-annual variations of aerosol properties (optical, physical and chemical) and radiative effects over Pokhara Valley in the foothills of central Himalayas in Nepal utilizing the high-quality multi-year columnar aerosol data observed recently from January 2010 to December 2017. This paper focusses on the seasonal and inter-annual variations of chemical (composition), and absorption properties of aerosols and their radiative effects. The single scattering albedo (SSA) either decreases as a function of wavelength or remains independent of wavelength. The seasonal mean aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD) exhibits a behavior opposite to that of SSA. Carbonaceous aerosols (CA) dominate (≥60%) aerosol absorption during the whole year. Black carbon (BC) alone contributes 〉60% to AAODCA while brown carbon (BrC) shares the rest. The absorbing aerosol types are determined to be BC, and mixed (BC and dust) only. Dust as absorbing aerosol type is absent over the Himalayan foothills. The ARFSFC is ≥ -50 Wm-2 except in monsoon almost every year. The ARFATM is ≥ 50 Wm-2 during winter and pre-monsoon in all the years. ARFESFC, ARFETOA and ARFEATM follow a similar pattern as that of ARF. High values of ARFE at SFC, TOA and ATM (except during monsoon when values are slightly lower) suggest that aerosols are efficient in significantly modulating the incoming solar flux throughout the year. The annual average aerosol-induced atmospheric heating rate (HR) over Pokhara is nearly 1 K day−1 every year during 8-year observation, and is highest in 2015 (∼2.5 K day−1). The HR is about 1 K day−1 or more over all the locations in IGP during the year. These quantitative results can be used as inputs in global/regional climate models to assess the climate impact of aerosols, including on regional temperature, hydrological cycle and melting of glaciers and snowfields in the region.

Description: A sustainability transition in line with achieving global climate goals requires the implementation of win-win strategies (WWS), i.e. socioeconomic activities that enable economic gains while simultaneously contributing to climate change mitigation or adaptation measures. Such strategies are discussed in a variety of scientific communities, such as sustainability science, industrial ecology and symbiosis and circular economy. However, existing analyses of win-win strategies tend to take a systems perspective, while paying less attention to the specific actors and activities, or their interconnections, which are implicated in win-win strategies. Moreover, they hardly address adaptation WWS. To address these gaps and support the identification and enhancement of WWS for entrepreneurs and policy-makers, we propose a typology of WWS based on the concept of a value-consumption chain, which typically connects several producers with at least one consumer of a good or service. A consideration of these connections allows an evaluation of economic effects in a meso-economic perspective. We distinguish 34 different types of WWS of companies, households and the state, for which 23 real-world examples are identified. Further, contrary to prevailing views on the lack of a business case for adaptation, we do identify real-world adaptation WWS, though they remain underrepresented compared with mitigation WWS. Our typology can be used as an entry point for transdisciplinary research integrating assessment of individual transformative socioeconomic activities and highly aggregated approaches assessing, e.g. the macro-economic effects of WWS.

Description: Eco-efficiency enhancement is an inherent requirement of green development and an important indicator of high-quality development in general. It aims to achieve the coordinated development of nature, the economy, and society. Therefore, eco-efficiency measurements should focus on not only total factor input, but also process analysis. Based on the “full world” model in ecological economic theory, this study constructed a theoretical framework for a composite economic-environmental-social system that reflects human welfare and sustainability. To this end, using network data envelopment analysis (DEA), this study established a staged eco-efficiency evaluation model that uses economic, environmental, and social factors to measure the overall and staged eco-efficiency of China’s provinces from 2003 to 2016 and analyze its spatiotemporal characteristics. A geographically weighted regression (GWR) model was also used to analyze the influencing factors of eco-efficiency changes and the spatial differentiation in their effect intensity. The findings were as follows: (1) China’s overall eco-efficiency is still at a low level. It varies significantly from region to region, and only three regions are at the frontier of production. The eastern region has the highest eco-efficiency, followed by the central region, and the gap between the central and western regions has gradually narrowed. In terms of staged efficiency, the level of eco-efficiency in the production stage is less than in the environmental governance stage, which is less than that in the social input stage. (2) In terms of the efficiency of each stage, the efficiency level of the production stage showed a downward trend throughout the entire process, and the decline in the central and western regions was more obvious. The social input stage and the environmental governance stage both showed upward trends. The social input stage showed a higher level, and the increase was relatively flat during the period of study. Efficiency continued to rise during the environmental governance stage from 2003 to 2010 and rose overall, but with some fluctuations from 2011 to 2016. (3) Geographically weighted regression showed that the effects of the influencing factors on eco-efficiency had obvious spatial heterogeneity. The factors affecting overall, production stage, and social input eco-efficiency were, in order of effect intensity from high to low, economic growth level, marketization level, and social input level. In terms of environmental governance, social input level had the greatest impact, followed by economic growth; marketization level did not show a significant impact.

Description: A recent article in this journal claimed to assess the socio-technical potential for onshore wind energy in Europe. We find the article to be severely flawed and raise concerns in five general areas. Firstly, the term socio-technical is not precisely defined, and is used by the authors to refer to a potential that others term as merely technical. Secondly, the study fails to account for over a decade of research in wind energy resource assessments. Thirdly, there are multiple issues with the use of input data and, because the study is opaque about many details, the effect of these errors cannot be reproduced. Fourthly, the method assumes a very high wind turbine capacity density of 10.73 MW/km2 across 40% of the land area in Europe with a generic 30% capacity factor. Fifthly, the authors find an implausibly high onshore wind potential, with 120% more capacity and 70% more generation than the highest results given elsewhere in the literature. Overall, we conclude that new research at higher spatial resolutions can make a valuable contribution to wind resource potential assessments. However, due to the missing literature review, the lack of transparency and the overly simplistic methodology, Enevoldsen et al. (2019) potentially mislead fellow scientists, policy makers and the general public.

Description: In May 2020 I was a guest on an episode of the TV show "Planet Wissen" dedicated to "Pathways out of the Plastic Flood". It was an opportunity for me to talk about the preliminary results of our work in the ENSURE project on "Plastic: Social Perception and Behaviour Patterns". The journalist Andrea Wojtkowiak had sent me a few questions in advance, but - as is so often the case - there wasn't enough time to discuss everything in detail during the programme itself. So for all those interested in the issue of plastic, here are the more in-depth answers.

Description: Monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) is critical for the success of marine conservation and management, but effective MCS remains challenging. This is especially true for the deep and distant waters of marine areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ), which are characterised by a fragmented governance framework and reliance on flag States to ensure control over vessels. A range of existing international instruments, institutions and guidelines are relevant to MCS in ABNJ, while traditional approaches to MCS – on board observers, logbooks and surveillance planes – are increasingly being supplemented by a range of innovative new technological tools. States at the United Nations (UN) are currently negotiating an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) for the conservation and sustainable use of the biological diversity of marine areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) and there is a growing interest in how MCS tools and policies can contribute to the management of this vast global commons. The negotiations therefore provide an important opportunity to learn from the wealth of experience gained to date and strengthen existing provisions, thereby facilitating harmonised and efficient MCS that can ultimately ensure effective implementation of rules on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity. Against this background, this report explores how the BBNJ negotiations can strengthen MCS in ABNJ and highlights how MCS can contribute to the implementation of the new instrument. The report provides an overview of existing legal frameworks, technological tools and MCS initiatives, and highlights some of the challenges to effective MCS. The report provides some suggested pathways for strengthening MCS in ABNJ, as well as three concrete proposals for provisions that could be included in the future international instrument: 1) Reinforcing MCS flag State obligations in the text and ensuring the principles and related obligations of cooperation and coordination, transparency and reporting are applied throughout the agreement; 2) Specifying that a clearing-house mechanism will serve as a platform to share good MCS practices, exchange data on MCS activities and match capacity-building needs in relation to MCS tools and methods for assessment; and 3) Requiring States parties to submit a MCS strategy together with proposals for area based management tools (ABMTs) and marine protected areas (MPAs) that considers the possible technological tools and institutional arrangements available to ensure compliance.

Description: Ein wesentliches Merkmal unserer Zeit ist die Tatsache, dass wir die Lebensbedingungen zukünftiger Generationen grundlegend beeinflussen. Aus gesellschaftlicher und wissenschaftlicher Perspektive gewinnt daher die Forderung nach einer politischen und institutionellen Einbindung der Zukunft zunehmend an Bedeutung. Vor dem Hintergrund demokratietheoretischer und sozialkritischer Analysen erarbeiten die Beiträger*innen des Bandes eine Neubesetzung der politischen Leerstelle zukünftiger Generationen. Der Gegenstand wird aus der Perspektive philosophischer Strömungen beleuchtet, die in der Debatte bislang kaum Beachtung fanden – darunter radikale Demokratietheorien, Theorien des Utopismus, Zeitlichkeitsanalysen und kritische Bildungstheorie.

Description: This report presents 100 research questions that have been identified by scientific experts as key priorities for Social Science and Humanities (SSH) research on renewables, in order to inform and support EU-funded research and innovation leading to achieve climate-neutrality by 2050. The questions together aim: To promote SSH research that contributes to better understanding the meaning and conditions of just transitions to renewables-based energy systems, by recognising the social conditions and consequences of using and further implementing renewable energy technologies.

Description: This is the second version of CSP.guru produced during the openCSP project. The Noor Energy 1 project and Dubai and Cerro Dominador in Chile were updated to reflect recent developments. Both projects were checked for the role of colocated PV on their economics, and expected generation was deleted to reflect the fact that CSP-only generation is unknown. The GPS locations were converted to decimal for better handling. Additional data on the Chinese CSP stations was included based on information from Chuncheng Zang and Alina Gilmanova.

Description: Decarbonising heating supply is an important part of the global energy transition, and a vital step towards mitigating climate change. We analyse the transformative potential of German and UK heating sector decarbonisation policies. We deploy Transformative Environmental Policy [TEP], originally developed to guide policy development, as an analytical framework to discuss how and to what extent both countries’ heating sector policy strategies promote the necessary radical reconfiguration of the socio-technical system of heating supply. TEP suggests a systemic approach for such reconfigurations, addressing technologies, social practices, institutions and infrastructures as well as combining experimental support of innovation with governance approaches for the phase-out of unsustainable technologies and practices. Our comparative analysis of German and UK decarbonisation strategies concludes that such elements can be identified in both strategies, although to different degrees. The analysis points to considerable deficiencies, such as a lack of phase-out policies, insufficient low-carbon building standards and a neglect of non-technical system elements.

Description: This Discussion Paper discusses the implications of the European Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan for plastic and packaging waste. According to a recent report, each European Union (EU) inhabitant generated 172.6 kg of packaging waste in the year 2017, 19% of which was made of plastic. Amid growing concerns about the environmental effects of such consumption habits, the regulation of packaging waste and plastic has moved to higher up the legislative agenda of the EU in recent years.

Description: This summary for decision makers is based on the report ‘Ecological Baselines of the Southeast Atlantic and Southeast Pacific – Status of Marine Biodiversity and Anthropogenic Pressures in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction’ and provides consolidated information on key biological and ecological features of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) in the Southeast Atlantic as well as highlights key pressures placed upon it by human activities. ABNJ include the water column (the high seas) and the seabed (the Area) outside of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of coastal States and cover about half of the Earth’s surface. This summary is intended to inform relevant actors and stakeholders to support their understanding of the function and importance of marine biological diversity in ABNJ and the need to for appropriate conservation and management measures. The report was prepared as part of the Strengthening Regional Ocean Governance for the High Seas (‘STRONG High Seas’) project – funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) through the International Climate Initiative (IKI).

Description: This report explores how the co-benefits of renewable energy and energy efficiency saving measures can play an active role in connecting the Mexican energy transition with key processes and commitments for development that have been determined by the country itself. These include the National Development Plan (NDP) for 2019-2024 as well as climate goals or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), to which Mexico is committed under the Paris Agreement. This study, published in conjunction with the project Enhancing the Coherence of Climate and Energy Policies in Mexico (CONECC), offers quantitative evidence of the co-benefits of two routes (scenarios) for energy transition as related to the Energy Transition Law (LTE). These vary in scope however, revealing how the co-benefits of renewable energy and energy efficiency can help to play an active role in achieving national development goals.

Description: How can science and business help build sustainable societies? This question took centre-stage at the second Global Sustainability Strategy Forum (GSSF), held on 22 - 24 March 2020. The event did not take place in Bangkok as previously planned due to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, 25 leading experts from business and sustainability science came together online to discuss how the two sectors could work together more effectively.

Description: Der Bericht stellt die Resultate einer multikriteriellen Bewertung verschiedener Szenarien eines Kohleausstiegs in Deutschland vor. Die exemplarischen Politikszenarien basieren auf unterschiedlich umfassenden politischen Maßnahmenbündeln und bewegen sich im Spannungsfeld zwischen Ordnungsrecht und Markt. Der transdisziplinäre Bewertungsprozess wurde parallel zur Kohlekommission im Rahmen des Kopernikus-Projektes „Energiewende-Navigationssystem“ (ENavi) erprobt. Hierbei schätzten die Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler des Konsortiums die Folgen der Maßnahmenbündel ab und bewerteten diese anhand von zehn Nachhaltigkeitskriterien. Die so entstandenen Bewertungsvorschläge wurden mit Stakeholdern aus Zivilgesellschaft, Industrie, Wirtschaft und Politik geprüft, diskutiert und verfeinert. Der Bericht gibt einen Überblick zu Prozess, Methodik sowie Ergebnissen der Bewertung. Zudem zeigt er, unter anderem anhand eines Vergleichs mit der Kohlekommission, Verbesserungspotentiale des realisierten Bewertungsverfahrens auf. Die Erfahrungen, Empfehlungen und identifizierten Forschungsbedarfe bieten wertvolle Gestaltungshinweise für zukünftige Projekte mit einer ähnlichen inter- und transdisziplinären Herangehensweise.

Description: The implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is indispensable for building a sustainable and just future for all humans and our planet. The SDGs are global goals. However, their implementation equally calls for action by a variety of actors in government, business, and civil society. Thus, policy making as well as industrial innovation efforts need to be designed to facilitate rather than hinder the implementation of the SDGs. Consequently, it is necessary to ensure that the possible environmental, economic, and societal impacts of technological innovations aiming for public support and funding in research, development, and market implementation are aligned with the respective objectives of the SDGs. Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) applications are an example of such innovations. By capturing and utilizing CO2, they are intended to have positive impacts on economy, society, and environment. Next to industries’ own efforts to advance such technologies, CCU is currently funded by governments in several countries, and such funding is likely to increase. Therefore, an assessment of the compatibility of CCU technologies with the SDGs is as much necessary as it is overdue. Hence, this paper elucidates on how CCU might contribute to or hinder the delivery of the SDGs. By comparing CCUs against the SDGs, it can be concluded that, under certain conditions, they might deliver contributions to several SDGs. The main contributions are expected within the context of energy transition processes, and in societal advancements that are linked to technological progress. For eight out of the seventeen SDGs, positive and indirect negative effects can be predicted. Therefore, the development and implementation of CCU aligned with the SDGs poses a challenge for policy makers when designing frameworks and funding schemes. Specific risks need to be monitored and considered in policy making. This paper therefore argues that the SDGs should be used as a framework for assessing potential societal effects of CCU technologies. The findings demonstrate that such an approach is necessary in order to identify and enhance the positive (and avoid indirect negative) effects that CCU technologies might have on people, prosperity and planet.

Description: The use of carbon dioxide as a feedstock for a broad range of products can help mitigate the effects of climate change through long‐term removal of carbon or as part of a circular carbon economy. Research on capture and conversion technologies has intensified in recent years, and the interest in deploying these technologies is growing fast. However, sound understanding of the environmental and economic impacts of these technologies is required to drive fast deployment and avoid unintended consequences. Life cycle assessments (LCAs) and techno‐economic assessments (TEAs) are useful tools to quantify environmental and economic metrics; however, these tools can be very flexible in how they are applied, with the potential to produce significantly different results depending on how the boundaries and assumptions are defined. Built on ISO standards for generic LCAs, several guidance documents have emerged recently from the Global CO2 Initiative, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory that further define assessment specifications for carbon capture and utilization. Overall agreement in the approaches is noted with differences largely based on the intended use cases. However, further guidance is needed for assessments of early‐stage technologies, reporting details, and reporting for policymakers and nontechnical decision‐makers.

Description: As the Italian case suggests, addressing the democratic deficit of European institutions is critical if we are to prevent this crisis from forging the end of the European Union.

Description: Prototype implementation for authoring a reference database of the indicator catalog. Utilizes the DMX Application Framework as web-based collaboration environment. The binary release attached is the dmx-plugin promut-indicator-sets-0.3.0.jar OSGI-bundle which can be installed through dropping it into the bundle-deploy folder of your DMX installation.

Description: Die Regierung hat sich eine Demokratiekommission in den Koalitionsvertrag geschrieben. Doch obwohl es dringend nötig wäre, die Bürger stärker zu beteiligen und anders über politische Ziele nachzudenken, passiert – nichts.

Description: This worked example is part of a series of examples that are designed to provide practical guidance to the application of the Techno-Economic Assessment and Life Cycle Assessment Guidelines for CO2 Utilization. This worked example provides guidance on best practices and potential pitfalls in the production of a LCA inventory utilizing one or more sources of primary/secondary data. The worked example highlights the dangers of “picking and mixing” data by showing how derived results can vary significantly resulting in inconsistencies and uncertainty when considering direct comparisons for products/services and functions. The worked example considers a CO2 to nitrogen rich fertilizer pathway, with 18 inventories produced for assessment.

Description: The COBENEFITS Policy Report for Vietnam compiles key findings from the COBENEFITS Vietnam Assessment series, quantifying the co-benefi ts of decarbonising Vietnam’s power sector in view of future-oriented employment and skills development and energy access, unlocking development in rural areas related to a less carbon-intensive power sector. The COBENEFITS Vietnam Assessment series can be accessed through www.cobenefi ts.info. Building on the opportunities presented, the report formulates a set of policy actions to allow government institutions to create an enabling political environment to unlock the social and economic co-benefi ts of the new energy world of renewables for the people of Vietnam. The policy options were generated through a series of roundtable dialogues and government consultations with government institutions, industry associations, and expert and civil society organisations during 2019 and 2020.

Description: The outbreak of COVID-19 has completely changed the European Union’s internal geopolitical landscape, including in the energy domain. The political and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic has made internal geopolitical and geo-economic drivers even more relevant than before. Countries like Italy and Spain are expected to be among the most affected, having the higher death tolls and the biggest economic and social costs, which risks exacerbating populist and nationalist movements and political parties. Anti-EU feelings and a North-South political divide risk to re-emerge and intensify, re-opening the wounds of the financial crisis. Because the COVID-19 crisis implies a significant shift in the EU’s geopolitical and energy geopolitics’ landscape, the scope of this deliverable has been expanded to reflect the new context. Sufficiently high climate ambitions are another enabler of CSP development, because they hinder the use of fossil power plants as a backup of fluctuating renewables and supply of electricity demand exceeding the realizable potential of other renewables. Hence, CSP with its additional advantage of dispatchability becomes more important under such conditions.

Description: Wird Deutschland bis zum Jahr 2050 klimaneutral oder nicht doch eher treibhausgasneutral beziehungsweise CO2-neutral sein? Eines ist klar: Wir wollen den Klimawandel stoppen, haben uns dafür ein Ziel gesetzt und wollen es bis 2050 erreicht haben. Aber was genau eigentlich: Was hat sich Deutschland, was die Europäische Union und viele andere Länder zum Ziel gesetzt? Oder kurz gesagt: Was verbirgt sich eigentlich hinter dem Ziel Klimaneutralität? Diesen Fragen geht die von Perspectives Climate Research im Auftrag der dena erstellte Analyse „Klimaneutralität – ein Konzept mit weitreichenden Implikationen“ nach. Denn der genauere Blick zeigt: Auf die Details kommt es an.

Description: This paper makes the case for integrated ecosystem-based management, which combines value creation and the safeguarding of ecosystem health. Drawing lessons from previous successes and failures, the paper identifies existing impediments in policy and practice and lays out a set of steps and guiding principles towards successfully integrated ocean management. It assesses current opportunities to accelerate progress and the impact of these opportunities on jobs and equity. It assesses current opportunities to accelerate progress and the impact of these opportunities on jobs and equity.

Description: While calls for cross-sectoral collaboration have become a recurrent motif in sustainability-oriented policymaking and research, the practical realization of such processes presents significant challenges. The hope for “collaborative advantage” often gets traded for the experience of “collaborative impasse”, namely those moments in which collaboration gets stuck. To better understand the reasons underlying such impasses, the study focuses on the impact of facilitation artefacts—objects designed and used in collaborative practices. The study proposes an analytical heuristic of collaborative practices to investigate the data collected in an explorative study, tracing artefacts across three different communicative modes of deliberation. Detailed analysis of the case, grounded in audio–visual material, semi-structured interviews, photo documentation, and participatory observation, shows that such artefacts substantially influence the structure of the emerging interaction order in a given setting, and that unscripted and unsituated artefacts might contribute to reinforcing those communicative patterns that collaboration aims to contrast. The study identifies three relevant practices in facilitation work, in order to steer emerging interaction orders away from exclusionary dynamics: scripting, situating, and supervising. Although emerging from the micro-analysis of artefacts, these practices might apply to other spheres of collaboration and serve as orientation for successful collaborative processes.

Description: Wir leben noch immer in einer Autogesellschaft. Das macht eine nachhaltige Verkehrswende schwierig. Aber es gibt auch Optionen, die über den Status quo hinausweisen.

Description: Climate change has been labelled the human rights challenge of the twenty-first century. Loss and damage resulting from climate change, in particular, poses a severe threat to the human rights of affected communities. However, the international response to climate change under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has thus far insufficiently taken human rights into account, contributing to policy outcomes inadequate to protecting communities affected by loss and damage. This article proposes the adoption of a human rights-based approach as a strategic tool for policymakers to strengthen the international response to loss and damage. The approach builds on the existing obligations of Parties under international and regional human rights treaties and provides a method for systematically integrating human rights that goes beyond mere mainstreaming of human rights. Specifically, the article identifies opportunities for anchoring such an approach under the Warsaw International Mechanism and key mechanisms for the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Conversely, it considers the integration of loss and damage in the work of relevant human rights bodies, specifically the United Nations Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Description: Die arktische Umwelt ist vielen Einflüssen ausgesetzt, die ihren Fortbestand bedrohen: Der Klimawandel und seine Folgen stellen bereits jetzt viele Ökosysteme vor große Herausforderungen. Wirtschaftliche Aktivitäten in der Region, wie Fischerei, Schifffahrt, Abbau und Transport von Rohstoffen sowie Tourismus, erhöhen den Druck auf die Umwelt zusätzlich. Die Anstrengungen für einen ambitionierten Umweltschutz in der Arktis müssen weltweit – und auch von nicht-arktischen Staaten – gesteigert werden, um sie zu erhalten. Dieser Forschungsbericht führt Ergebnisse des UBA-Vorhabens zu „Umweltleitlinien deutscher Arktispolitik“ zusammen. Er zeigt mögliche Ansatzpunkte des deutschen Umweltressorts auf, den Umweltschutz in der Arktis auch aus der Position eines nicht-arktischen Staats zu fördern. Der Bericht beschreibt zudem die Aktivitäten des Vorhabens, die das Bewusstsein in der Öffentlichkeit dafür steigern sollten, dass wichtige Verbindungen zwischen Deutschland und der Arktis bestehen. Dazu zählen unter anderem ein Erklärfilm und eine öffentliche Veranstaltung.

Description: The Arctic environment faces many influences that threaten its very existence: climate change and its impacts already present challenges for many ecosystems. Economic activities within the region, as fisheries, shipping, mining and transport of resources as well as tourism, add to the pressures on the environment. All states – including non-Arctic states – need to raise their ambitions for environmental protection in the Arctic to maintain its current situation. This research report contains the results of the UBA-project “Environmental guidelines of a Geman Arctic policy”. It highlights several starting points for the German environmental department to foster environmental protection in the Arctic, even from a non-Arctic state’s point of view. The report also describes the activities undertaken within the project to raise awareness with the general public on existing links between Germany and the Arctic. Those activities include inter alia an explanatory video and a public event.

Description: This report provides guidance to decision makers in all types of public and private organizations involved in the planning and development of CCU. It is prepared within the scope of the CO2nsistent project funded by the Global CO2 Initiative and EIT Climate-KIC, and is based on the published TEA and LCA Guidelines v.1. This report provides user-centered guidance on how to commission and understand TEA and LCA studies for CCU, and how to determine whether existing studies are eligible to be used in a decision making process. Another primary goal of this report is to ensure that disciplinary expertise is effectively taken up by decision makers and all potential audiences. The remainder of this document is structured in two parts. Part A introduces the reader to the concept of TEA and LCA studies: What types of input can such assessments provide for decision making? What are the limitations of their explanatory power? This part focuses on the goal and scope definition for such studies, and on other aspects that are particularly relevant for decision making. The document presents how the decision maker (or commissioner) and the assessment practitioner can jointly set the various assessment phases. These terms are explained in the boxes below. The approach and main components of TEA and LCA studies are described, with the specific goal of making the most sensitive disciplinary concepts clear and comprehensible to all audiences. Part B consists of practical tools to guide actors interested in commissioning TEA and LCA studies, and to support decision makers when evaluating and assessing TEA and LCA studies submitted by third parties. A series of consecutive steps, displayed as decision trees, provide support for checking the completeness of key aspects and requirements of TEA and LCA studies.

Description: Die Covid-19 Pandemie hat das Mobilitätsverhalten eindeutig beeinflusst. Während der ÖPNV mit einem starken Rückgang der Fahrgäste zu kämpfen hat, gewinnen individuelle Mobilitätsformen – wie der Fußverkehr, Radverkehr und Autoverkehr – an Bedeutung. Gleichzeitig haben der Infektionsschutz und das Einhalten der Abstandsregeln höchste Priorität. In Berlin entsteht eine sogenannte Pop-Up-Radinfrastruktur – provisorische Radwege, die mit einfachen Mitteln sicheres Radfahren und den nötigen Abstand ermöglichen. Welche Reaktionen rufen die Pop-Up-Radwege bei den Verkehrsteilnehmer*innen hervor? Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war es, durch eine Online-Befragung explorativ die Reaktionen und Wahrnehmungen in Form von Vor- und Nachteilen zu erfassen.

Description: The Covid-19 pandemic has clearly influenced mobility behaviour. While public transport has to cope with a sharp decline in the number of passengers, individual forms of mobility - such as walking, cycling and car traffic - gain in importance. At the same time, protection against infection and adherence to the rules of distance are a priority. In Berlin, a so-called pop-up cycling infrastructure is being created - provisional cycle paths that allow safe cycling and the necessary distance to be maintained by means of simple tools. What reactions do the pop-up cycle paths provoke in transportation users? The aim of this study was to explore reactions and perceptions in terms of advantages and disadvantages, using an online questionnaire.

Description: Die Demokratie hat eine große Vergangenheit. Aber welche Zukunft?

Description: Indicators are an essential component of national strategies and policies relating to energy transition and regulation. Both China and Germany are expected to take the lead on the global effort to achieve clean energy and a reduction in GHG emissions. A better understanding of the institutional environment in both countries will guide those who follow them. By using text analysis, we have examined the main energy indicators used in official strategies and policies and divided them into ten categories. We have found that both countries value renewable energy as a solution to energy transition, although in China “non-fossil energy” appears more often in political documents, and “nuclear energy” is valued as an important source. In Germany, short-, medium- and long-term indicators are clearly stated and are consistent over time and between documents. Meanwhile, in China the indicators and targets are updated every five years, which fits with the rapid domestic development of the country but fails to provide a clear long-term vision. We argue that the roots of such differences can be found in governance systems, the global energy market, and national political and economic priorities, and that international cooperation is needed to standardize energy indicators so that the global energy transition can be navigated more effectively.

Description: Hätte man noch vor zwei Wochen Arbeitnehmer*innen gefragt, ob sie in Kürze von zu Hause aus arbeiten, hätten viele vermutlich abgewinkt. Homeoffice? Nicht bei uns! Kurze Zeit später gibt es aufgrund der Pandemie mit dem neuartigen Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) eine Ausgangssperre in einigen deutschen Bundesländern und die häusliche Arbeits-Quarantäne ist zum neuen Status quo geworden - zumindest für jene Berufe, deren Ausübung hauptsächlich eines Computers mit Internetzugang bedarf.

Description: In dieser Publikation werden die Ergebnisse einer umfassenden und themenübergreifenden Auswertung der ersten beiden Erhebungswellen des Barometers (2017 und 2018) präsentiert, die tiefergehende Einblicke in die Einstellungen und Erfahrungen der Bevölkerung zur Energiewende ermöglichen. Diese Ergebnisse werden von der dritten Erhebungswelle (2019) bestätigt, auch wenn diese Daten hier nicht explizit aufgeführt werden. Auf der Grundlage der empirischen Ergebnisse werden Handlungsbedarfe und –optionen auch im Hinblick auf aktuelle politische Entwicklungen und Entscheidungen in zentralen Handlungsfeldern wie die Einführung der CO2-Bepreisung und den Windausbau an Land identifiziert.

Description: Environmental concerns were raised from the very onset of discussions concerning the extraction of metalliferous ores from the deep sea, but most studies have targeted the expected impacts on the benthic communities only. The first section of this study compiles possible impacts of deep seabed mining activities on pelagic organisms. Several processes of mining-related activities were identified that can potentially affect the pelagic environment. Some of these processes will assumedly have only minor effects on the pelagic and benthopelagic communities, for example substrate removal and deposition of material. Most others will severely interfere with pelagic and benthopelagic fauna, at least locally. Some impacts will be directly lethal, but most will impair processes associated with feeding, growth and reproduction, which can ultimately lead to smaller standing stocks, altered communities and loss of biodiversity. The actual scale of effects remains unknown until the pelagic ecosystem is better investigated and the technology becomes specified. In the second section, the guidance provided by the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for baseline studies, environmental impact assessment (EIA) and monitoring in connection with prospecting and exploration of deep-sea mineral resources is reviewed in the light of potential threats to the pelagic ecosystem. Although the ISA recommendations request assessments not only of benthic, but also of pelagic communities, the recommendations remain unspecific in most cases; possible links between benthic and pelagic communities and their consequences for impact assessments are not considered. Some recommendations for modifications and additions to the existing guidelines are presented.

Description: Der vorliegende Text verortet Nachhaltigkeit und Klimaschutz knapp in ihrem historischen Kontext und macht ihre aufeinander bezogene Entwicklung deutlich. Das beinhaltet sowohl eine Rekonstruktion der faktischen Genese als auch eine sachliche wie normative Begründung ihrer Wechselseitigkeit, die Nachhaltigkeits- und Klimapolitik zu zwei Seiten einer Medaille macht. Mit Blick auf den Prozess des Austauschs beider Diskurse und ihrer praktischen Effekte werden einerseits beachtliche globale Kooperations- und Lerngewinne sichtbar und andererseits die Mitverantwortung der Handelnden für den Erfolg komplexer Nachhaltigkeitstransformationen unterstrichen.

Description: On October 1st, 2019, the CO2nsistent Project (co-financed by the Global CO2 Initiative and EIT Climate-KIC) and the PHOENIX Initiative jointly organized a workshop in Brussels on the topic of CO2 utilization technology and assessment methodologies such as Techno-Economic and Life Cycle assessment (TEA and LCA). The event brought together LCA and TEA practitioners, national and European policy agencies, and the corporate field. To stimulate and enhance participation, diverse session formats were offered: thematic presentations by experts, a panel discussion, as well as a break-out session modeled on the “world café” method. The foci of the day were two-fold: Learning how to support European policymakers when assessing the environmental and economic aspects of CO2 utilization, and initiating an exchange with parallel European initiatives conducting research on CCU assessment methodologies and their environmental and economic perspectives. The event shed light on some unresolved issues raised by industrial actors with regard to the upcom-ing European policy and funding mechanisms (such as ETS Phase IV and Innovation Fund), while national and European decision-makers described the difficulties they face when evaluating CO2 utilization. The current ETS rules are inadequate to properly quantify the climate benefits of indus-trial CCU application, while the Renewable Energy Directive (REDII) lacks requirements for broad-er environmental and social assessments. Workshop participants broadly agreed that the harmoniza-tion of LCA approaches could help to quantify the extent to which CCU can contribute to achieving the GHG emission targets described in the REDII, should address all environmental aspects, and can provide sound guidelines for implementing CCU in the ETS. At the same time, solution-oriented collaborations with LCA and TEA experts (e.g. the CO2nsistent group and others) were considered and examined, also with regard to new instruments and strategies to reduce complexity for policy-makers. The event also aimed at expanding the networks between the organizers and relevant actors in the field, with a particular focus on national and European policymakers. Members of CO2nsistent, LCA4CCU and the Joint Research Centre – all of whom are engaged in CCU assessment methodol-ogies – scrutinized alignments of proposed solutions and elaborated on specific divergences such as low-TRL technology. The likelihood that this effort could ultimately lead to standards for LCA and TEA for CCU was extensively debated with the direct support of the French (AFNOR) and German (DIN) associations for standardization.

Description: Die Coronakrise entfacht zahlreiche Diskussionen neu. Dazu gehört etwa die Frage, in welchen Bereichen Deutschland oder zumindest Europa unabhängig von anderen Ländern sein sollte - Beispiel Schutzmaskenproduktion. Diese Frage sollte sich Deutschland auch bei den erneuerbaren Energien stellen, findet Silvia Weko vom IASS Potsdam.

Description: euro-calliope models the European electricity system with each location representing an administrative unit. It can be built on three spatial resolutions: on the continental level as a single location, on the national level with 34 locations, and on the regional level with 497 locations. On each node, renewable generation capacities (wind, solar, bioenergy) and balancing capacities (battery, hydrogen) can be built. In addition, hydro electricity and pumped hydro storage capacities can be built up to the extent to which they exist today. All capacities are used to satisfy electricity demand on all locations which is based on historic data. Locations are connected through transmission lines of unrestricted capacity. Using Calliope, the model is formulated as a linear optimisation problem with total monetary cost of all capacities as the minimisation objective. All elements of euro-calliope can be manipulated either by changing the configuration in config/default.yaml or by manipulating the build workflow before building the model.

Description: Best Paths, the largest research project in the field of energy financed under the European Union's 7th Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration, explored new avenues for delivering reliable power in Europe through the large-scale integration of renewable energy. The project ended in September 2018, having united 38 partners from 11 countries around five large-scale demonstrations to validate the technical feasibility, costs, impacts and benefits of various grid technologies. One of these five demonstration areas focused on validating high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) superconducting links capable of transporting large amounts of electricity — on the multi-gigawatt scale.

Description: Climate change and climate-altering technologies pose an emerging risk governance challenge involving risk-risk trade-offs both regarding potential outcomes as well as governance choices. Trade-offs characterize not only various emergent governance and policy design choices but also how research is conducted and communicated. This chapter identifies numerous risks and trade-offs and offers several steps that could be pursued in the near-to medium-term to gradually overcome trade-offs and strengthen opportunities for governance strategies that attenuate multiple risks. Many of these steps aim at strengthening capacities for anticipation, cooperation, and joint decision-making, which would appear essential qualities for addressing the risk-risk trade-offs posed by climate change and countervailing risks associated with potential CDR and SRM applications. Suggested measures in the context of governance processes include: strengthening capacities for international inter-agency collaboration, coordination, and learning; proactively exploring how specific governance challenges match particular international agencies’ mandates; conducting policy impact assessments in the context of national mitigation policy planning. Suggested measures in the realm of research, research funding, and research governance include: enabling more diverse, transdisciplinary research; supporting the international exchange of expertise; enabling continuous science-policy conversations; conducting research to generate insights on potential interlinkages in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Description: Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are increasingly employed as a tool to protect Europe’s swiftly declining marine biodiversity. However, despite increasing coverage, MPA effectiveness and equity is considered highly variable. Concurrently, Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM)—that is, management that aims to protect, restore, or enhance the resilience and sustainability of an ecosystem to ensure sustainable flows of ecosystem services and conserve its biodiversity—is growing in prominence. We applied EBM in the Faial-Pico Channel, a 240 km2 MPA in the Azores, Portugal, to assess whether EBM can protect biodiversity whilst meeting diverse stakeholder and policy goals. Collaborating with local stakeholders and policy-makers, this chapter documents the steps of EBM: identifying integrative policy and stakeholder objectives, understanding the social-ecological system, scenario development, and identification and evaluation of EBM measures and policies. We find that stakeholder co-creation and collaboration is a key strength of EBM and should be strengthened in the Faial-Pico Channel. We find that local stakeholders support effective and equitable EBM of MPAs by clearly identifying challenges and priorities, co-creating solutions, providing low-cost knowledge and expertise, and through ongoing monitoring, enforcement, and evaluation of the impact of management.

Description: The environmental crisis due to air pollution, high CO2 emissions, noise from traffic and soil ceiling requires profound changes to the car-dependent transport system. This article examines the political dynamics of German transport politics, focusing on the National Platform for Electric Mobility (NPE). It focusses on actor constellations and the conflicts that arise, as well as the temporal dynamics, within the electric mobility debate. The findings suggest that the NPE contributed to a narrow understanding of a mobility transformation based on electric cars, but is better described as ecological modernization. Within this narrow framework, a fundamental conflict unfolds between strong advocates versus those slowing down the ecological modernization of the car. A third group demands at least a partial departure from the automobile-centered model, but remains marginalized within the NPE. Aside from this core conflict, members of the NPE struggled over the location for battery cell production, the introduction of a purchase grant known as the environmental bonus, and the expansion of battery recharging infrastructure. These issues illustrate that discussions within the NPE relate to the political debates about the future of mobility, which have intensified in Germany in recent years. However, to date, such potentials have been limited to narrow auto-modernization, excluding a wider and more fundamental rethink of future mobility concepts.

Description: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an important process for evaluating the effects of development, and to assist decisions to effectively manage potential deep-sea mining (DSM). However, although EIA is a widely used and accepted approach, there has been considerable debate over its effectiveness. In this paper, we summarise some of the key problems raised by previous EIA reviews, as well as examining several EIAs carried out in recent years for DSM, and highlight issues identified by management agencies. Scientific shortcomings are discussed, and recommendations provided on ways to improve performance. These include inadequate baseline data, insufficient detail of the mining operation, insufficient synthesis of data and the ecosystem approach, poor assessment and consideration of uncertainty, inadequate assessment of indirect impacts, inadequate treatment of cumulative impacts, insufficient risk assessment, and consideration of linkages between EIA and other management plans. The focus of the paper is on scientific limitations, but we also consider some aspects of their application to elements of process and policy.

Description: We perform a source attribution for tropospheric and ground-level ozone using a novel technique that accounts separately for the contributions of the two chemically distinct emitted precursors (reactive carbon and oxides of nitrogen) to the chemical production of ozone in the troposphere. By tagging anthropogenic emissions of these precursors according to the geographical region from which they are emitted, we determine source–receptor relationships for ground-level ozone. Our methodology reproduces earlier results obtained via other techniques for ozone source attribution, and it also delivers additional information about the modelled processes responsible for the intercontinental transport of ozone, which is especially strong during the spring months. The current generation of chemical transport models used to support international negotiations aimed at reducing the intercontinental transport of ozone shows especially strong inter-model differences in simulated springtime ozone. Current models also simulate a large range of different responses of surface ozone to methane, which is one of the major precursors of ground-level ozone. Using our novel source attribution technique, we show that emissions of NOx (oxides of nitrogen) from international shipping over the high seas play a disproportionately strong role in our model system regarding the hemispheric-scale response of surface ozone to changes in methane, as well as to the springtime maximum in intercontinental transport of ozone and its precursors. We recommend a renewed focus on the improvement of the representation of the chemistry of ship NOx emissions in current-generation models. We demonstrate the utility of ozone source attribution as a powerful model diagnostic tool and recommend that similar source attribution techniques become a standard part of future model intercomparison studies.

Description: Gerade in Krisensituationen (wie etwa der gegenwärtigen COVID-19-Pandemie) und bei wichtigen Reformvorhaben wird der Rat der Wissenschaft immer stärker nachgefragt. Damit verbinden sich häufig Erwartungen, denen Forscher_innen nicht immer entsprechen können. Umgekehrt haben sich die Bedingungen von Wissenschaftskommunikation und wissenschaftlicher Politikberatung in den letzten Jahrzehnten stark verändert. So werden etwa hinsichtlich der digitalen Medien neben neuen Chancen auch deren Risiken deutlich. Der Beitrag diskutiert, wie das Verhältnis von Wissenschaft, Politik und Öffentlichkeit neu ausgelotet werden kann.

Description: A multi-scale modelling system was developed to provide hourly NOx concentration fields at a building-resolving scale in the urban area of Modena, a city in the middle of the Po Valley (Italy), one of the most polluted areas in Europe. The WRF-Chem model was applied over three nested domains and employed with the aim of reproducing local background concentrations, taking into account meteorological and chemical transformation at the regional scale with nested resolutions of 15 km, 3 km and 1 km. Conversely, the PMSS modelling system was applied to simulate 3D air pollutant dispersion, due to traffic emissions, with a very high-resolution (4 m) on a 6 km × 6 km domain covering the city of Modena. The methodology employed to account for anthropogenic emissions relies on two different strategies. Traffic emissions were based on a bottom-up approach using emission factors suggested by the European Environmental Agency with traffic fluxes estimated by the PTV VISUM model in the urban area of Modena, combined with direct traffic flow measurements performed between October 28 and November 8, 2016 which was used for the hourly vehicle modulation. Other anthropogenic emissions were taken from the TNO-MACC III inventory at the scales resolved by the WRF-Chem model. Simulations were performed for the same period whereby the traffic measurement campaign was carried out. 2 m temperature and 10 m wind speed were captured quite well by the WRF-Chem model with statistical metrics in line with similar case studies related to the Northern Italy. The NOx concentrations reproduced in the Po Valley area by WRF-Chem were on average simulated reasonably well with a general negative bias in almost all the examined rural background monitoring stations. Additionally, the deployment of an emission inventory at the original resolution (7 km) highlighted that increasing resolution from 3 km to 1 km does not generally improve the model performance. Nevertheless, simulated and observed NOx hourly concentrations in the urban area of Modena exhibit a large agreement in particular for urban traffic site where detailed traffic emission estimations proved to be very successful in reproducing the observed NOx trend. At urban background stations, despite a general underestimation of the observed concentrations, the combination of WRF-Chem with PMSS provided daily pattern in line with observations. The analysis of the modelled NOx daily cycle pointed out also that at both traffic and background urban stations the morning NOx peak concentration was on average underestimated. This could be explained with an overestimation of mixing phenomena between 07:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. by WRF-Chem which leads to a greater dispersion of NOx along the vertical and thus a morning underestimation. The statistical analysis showed finally that PMSS combined with WRF-Chem at both the resolutions (3 km and 1 km) and at both traffic and background sites fulfilled standard acceptance criteria for urban dispersion model evaluation, confirming that the proposed multi-modelling system can be employed as a tool to support environmental policies, epidemiological studies and urban mobility planning.

Description: An EU Border Carbon Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) may bring severe economic consequences to countries without the resources to adapt to a low-carbon paradigm. The EU should therefore consider possible policy risks and involve third-country stakeholders in CBAM policy design; use CBAM revenues to fund decarbonisation in at-risk countries; and build emissions reporting requirements around existing international obligations.

Description: Die Weltmeere regulieren das Klima, sie geraten aber zunehmend selbst in Not. Sie zu schützen, zahlt sich ökologisch und ökonomisch langfristig aus.

Description: A multi-scale energy systems modelling framework

Description: Eine Vielzahl an Unternehmen nutzen Rahmenwerke, um ihre Aktivitäten hinsichtlich Nachhaltigkeit zu steuern und / oder darüber zu berichten. Es existieren zahlreiche Rahmenwerke mit Vorgaben hinsichtlich der Aktivitäten bzw. der Berichterstattung. Dies führt derzeit nicht zu der gewünschten Vergleichbarkeit von Nachhaltigkeitsleistung zwischen den anwendenden Organisationen. Ziel dieser Studie ist es, die Eigenschaften bestehender Rahmenwerke anhand exemplarisch ausgewählter Rahmenwerke herauszuarbeiten und vergleichend zu analysieren, um einen Anforderungskatalog zu entwickeln, der eine standardisierte und vergleichbare Berichterstattung zulässt. Die Firma B.A.U.M. Consult wurde vom Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) beauftragt, diese explorative Studie zu erstellen. Das Ergebnis soll als Grundlage für die Entwicklung eines universellen, gesetzlich verpflichtenden Rahmenwerks zur Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung dienen. Dieser Standard soll ermöglichen, die Beiträge von Unternehmen zu einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung vergleichbar abzubilden und soll universell für Unternehmen jeder Größe und Art anwendbar sein.

Description: Many companies use corporate sustainability reporting frameworks to manage and/or report on their sustainability activities. Numerous corporate sustainability reporting frameworks are available and provide guidelines for activities and/or reporting. As a result, it is difficult to draw comparisons between organizations with respect to their sustainability performance. This study seeks to identify the key characteristics of current frameworks on the basis of a selection of reporting frameworks and to conduct a comparative analysis of these characteristics in order to develop a catalogue of requirements to facilitate standardized and comparative reporting. B.A.U.M. Consult was commissioned by the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) to prepare this exploratory study. The findings of this study are intended to serve as the basis for the development of a universal and legally binding framework for sustainability reporting. This new standard would facilitate the comparison of corporate contributions to sustainable development and should be designed for use by companies of all sizes and types.

Description: This factsheet presents key findings from the 2019/2020 COBENEFITS Assessment Series. Although the national COBENEFITS assessments vary in their applied methodologies and are based on different national scenarios, similar trends can be drawn from the results: If policymakers around the world take the necessary decisions to "build back better" with renewable energy now, they can harness significant co-benefits for their countries.

Description: Early warning systems (EWSs) have been effective in reducing loss of life and injury associated with extreme weather events, but it is less clear what influence they have on other household decisions. Some research has identified increased productivity in rainfed farming from using weather and climate information, but much less is known about fishing communities, where livelihoods also depend heavily on the weather. This paper begins to fill this gap by examining the range of socio-economic benefits associated with improvements in EWSs in coastal areas of Tanzania, including for fishing communities and the marine sector. It uses the Triple Dividend of Resilience (TDR) framework, developed by ODI, the World Bank and the London School of Economics, to capture the direct, indirect and co-benefits of investments in disaster risk reduction.

Description: Dies ist ein Bericht über eine Workshopreihe, die das Institut für transformative Nachhaltigkeitsforschung (IASS) Potsdam gemeinsam mit den Auszubildenden („Azubis“) des Braunkohleunternehmens LEAG in den Ausbildungsstätten Jänschwalde und Schwarze Pumpe durchgeführt hat. Ziel der Workshops war es, dass die Jugendlichen ihre eigene Rolle und ihre Handlungsmöglichkeiten im Lausitzer Strukturwandel besser verstehen und wiedergeben lernen, so dass sie sich selbstbewusst und sinnvoll in der betrieblichen und politischen Öffentlichkeit einbringen können.

Description: The chapter addresses the history and context of school strikes, the form of action that helped Fridays for Future gain attention for the global climate crisis.

Description: The ocean crisis is urgent and central to human wellbeing and life on Earth; past and current activities are damaging the planet's main life support system for future generations. We are witnessing an increase in ocean heat, disturbance, acidification, bio‐invasions and nutrients, and reducing oxygen levels. Several of these act like ratchets: once detrimental or negative changes have occurred, they may lock in place and may not be reversible, especially at gross ecological and ocean process scales. Each change may represent a loss to humanity of resources, ecosystem function, oxygen production and species. The longer we pursue unsuitable actions, the more we close the path to recovery and better ocean health and greater benefits for humanity in the future. We stand at a critical juncture and have identified eight priority issues that need to be addressed in unison to help avert a potential ecological disaster in the global ocean. They form a purposely ambitious agenda for global governance and are aimed at informing decision‐makers at a high level. They should also be of interest to the general public. Of all the themes, the highest priority is to rigorously address global warming and limit surface temperature rise to 1.5°C by 2100, as warming is the pre‐eminent factor driving change in the ocean. The other themes are establishing a robust and comprehensive High Seas Treaty, enforcing existing standards for Marine Protected Areas and expanding their coverage, especially in terms of high levels of protection, adopting a precautionary pause on deep‐sea mining, ending overfishing and destructive fishing practices, radically reducing marine pollution, putting in place a financing mechanism for ocean management and protection, and lastly, scaling up science/data gathering and facilitating data sharing. By implementing all eight measures in unison, as a coordinated strategy, we can build resilience to climate change, help sustain fisheries productivity, particularly for low‐income countries dependent on fisheries, protect coasts (e.g. via soft‐engineering/habitat‐based approaches), promote mitigation (e.g. carbon storage) and enable improved adaptation to rapid global change.

Description: Gene editing tools are ‘revolutionizing’ microbiological research. Much of the public debate focuses on the possibility of human germ line applications. The use of genome editing to alter non-human animals, however, will have more immediate impacts on our daily lives. Genome edited animals are used for basic biological and biomedical research and could soon play a role in the livestock industry and ecosystem management. Genome editing thus provides an occasion to rethink societal narratives about the relationships between humans and other animals. Even though the technique can be easily incorporated as an example into a conventional storyline about the development of the modern life sciences as striving for control over nature, it can also help to highlight the anthropocentric biases expressed in these narratives and demonstrate the continuities between humans and other animals.