ALBERT

Description: Effective policies to mitigate climate change need to be accompanied by a socially just transition. Based on experiences of past and ongoing transition policies in coal regions in Europe and with indications to the specificity of framework conditions and challenges and to the potential effectiveness and transferability of approaches, this paper presents lessons learnt which can be inspirational for similar transitions in other coal regions and for transitions in other sectors.

Description: Diese Fallstudie untersuchte den durch die geringe Wettbewerbsfähigkeit des Steinkohlebergbaus ausgelösten Strukturwandel im Ruhrgebiet vom Ende der 1950er Jahre bis 2015. Mit Hilfe verschiedener qualitativer und quantitativer Methoden der empirischen Sozial- und Wirtschaftsforschung analysierte sie den Strukturwandelprozess und die in Reaktion auf diesen Prozess umgesetzte Strukturpolitik mit dem Ziel, dieses Wissen für zukünftige Strukturwandelprozesse in anderen (Kohle-)Regionen zur Verfügung zu stellen. Eine Diskursanalyse half zu erkennen, wer warum welche strukturpolitischen Ansätze unterstützte - und gibt damit Hinweise auf die mögliche Relevanz von Erfahrungen für andere Regionen.

Description: This case study examined the structural change in the Ruhr area caused by the low international competitiveness of German hard coal mining over the period from the late 1950s to 2015. It analysed the structural change process and the structural policies implemented as a reaction to this process with the objective to make this knowledge available for future structural change processes in other (coal) regions by deploying various qualitative and quantitative methods of empirical social and economic research. A discourse analysis helped to recognise who supported which structural policy approaches and why - and thus gives indications of the possible relevance of experiences for other regions.

Description: This case study examined the structural change in Lusatia caused by the system change from a centrally planned economy to a market economy in the period 1990-2015. It analysed the structural change process and the structural policies implemented as a reaction to this process with the objective to make this knowledge available for future structural change processes in other (coal) regions by deploying various qualitative and quantitative methods of empirical social and economic research. A discourse analysis helped to recognise who supported which structural policy approaches and why - and thus gives indications of the possible relevance of experiences for other regions.

Description: Diese Fallstudie untersuchte den durch den Systemwechsel von der Plan- zur Marktwirtschaft ausgelösten Strukturwandel in der Lausitz im Zeitraum 1990-2015. Mit Hilfe verschiedener qualitativer und quantitativer Methoden der empirischen Sozial- und Wirtschaftsforschung analysierte sie den Strukturwandelprozess und die in Reaktion auf diesen Prozess umgesetzte Strukturpolitik mit dem Ziel, dieses Wissen für zukünftige Strukturwandelprozesse in anderen (Kohle-)Regionen zur Verfügung zu stellen. Eine Diskursanalyse half zu erkennen, wer warum welche strukturpolitischen Ansätze unterstützte - und gibt damit Hinweise auf die mögliche Relevanz von Erfahrungen für andere Regionen.

Description: This study presents in detail: the use of plastic products and the opportunities for recyclate use in the construction sector, quantities of plastic used, take-back systems, recycling techniques, current recyclate use and plastic construction product packaging.Potentials for increasing high-quality recyclate use were identified. Existing hurdles and options for action for industry and politics are presented. Current recyclate use as well as its potential use are strongly dependent on the application area of plastics. The biggest hurdles for the use of recycled materials are product life time, dismantling and technical requirements.

Description: This report develops an evaluation framework that policymakers can use to identify whether offsets can add value and uphold environmental integrity of a compliance scheme. It uses a scoring framework on factors to: (1) identify which sectors have hard-to-abate emissions that can justify demanding offsets as cost-containment measures for ambitious climate policies; and (2) identify mitigation activities that are otherwise inaccessible, fosters sustainable development, and the extent to which it enables transformative sectoral action to be eligible to supply offsets. This evaluation framework identifies the optimal conditions that make factors successful in either having sectors demand offsets, or specific mitigation activities supply offsets. Sectoral emissions that are hard-to-abate are those that are technically unavoidable due to a lack and maturity of technologies, and therefore should be allowed to have cost-containment measures - such as offsets - to avoid adverse economic ramifications such as carbon leakage. Mitigation activities that can supply offsets are those that are currently inaccessible to local actor’s due to lack of access to technology, finance or capabilities. Allowing these mitigation activities to be eligible to supply offsets allows to pilot such activities and realize mitigation outcomes outside the original scope of the compliance scheme. This report has chosen selected sectors and mitigation activities to illustrate how this framework can be applied at the global level. It recognizes that country-specific factors can change the assessment of whether the offset approach will add value and uphold environmental integrity to proposed compliance schemes of a country. The report further proposes practical steps policymakers can do to undertake an evaluation at the national level.

Description: Offsetting enables countries and companies to meet part of their climate change mitigation obligations by using mitigation outcomes generated elsewhere - in lieu of own emission reductions. This report explores the future role of offset approaches and how they could be successfully integrated into a post-2020 climate regime by focusing both the supply and demand side. For this purpose, the report develops a conceptual approach that derives a normative vision of what should be considered a successful offset use in a top-down manner to then link this vision to specific factors on the ground in sectors and jurisdictions where offsets will be generated and used. It explores how these factors influence the successful operationalisation of the offset approach and how they can inform its design. In addition, the report also explores six conceptual design aspects to providing recommendations on how to take these factors into account during the design of the offset approach. Based on these findings, the authors derive overarching policy recommendations on the integration of offsets into carbon pricing schemes.

Description: The objective of this report is to use historical analysis to identify conditions that determine when offsets add value to compliance schemes while upholding environmental integrity. The indicators of success include: increased acceptance of introducing compliance schemes; raising ambition in subsequent compliance periods; the possibility to drive emission reductions outside the compliance sectors; promoting investments in sustainable development; and avoiding perverse incentives that undermine the stringency of the compliance scheme or compliance actors’ efforts in reducing their own emissions. Through undertaking in-depth case study analyzes on the effects of offsets in the European Union, Alberta, Australia, Colombia and Japan, the report identifies common conditions that explain why offsets were successful (or not) in achieving individual indicators. The report further identifies two common conditions that can help explain when offsets achieve all five indicators of success. The first is that policymakers need to be willing to design the compliance scheme to set and maintain a strong compliance price signal that justifies the need for incorporating cost containment measures, such as offsets, to avert negative political and economic ramifications. Relatedly, the second condition requires institutions, processes and infrastructure that govern both the compliance scheme and offsets to be well developed so that they can ensure offsets uphold the principles of environmental integrity, achieve sustainable development benefits, and act as a reliable cost containment measure to high compliance prices. The findings also highlight how difficult it is to achieve both conditions, as both domestic and international political economy factors determine whether policymakers and voters are willing to introduce and maintain compliance schemes that deliver effective action on climate.

Description: The EU aims to become the first climate neutral continent. To achieve this goal, the industry sector needs to reduce its GHG emissions to net zero or at least close to net zero. This is a particularly challenging task due to the high energy demand especially of primary materials production and the little potential to reduce this energy intensity when switching to other production processes based on electricity or hydrogen. In order to identify robust strategies for achieving a net-zero-compatible industry sector, the paper at hand analyses the transformation of the industry sector as described by a number of recent climate neutrality scenarios for Germany. Apart from overall industry, a focus is set on the sectors of steel, chemicals and cement. The analysed scenarios show very deep GHG emission reductions in industry and they appear to be techno-economically feasible by the mid of the century, without relying on offsets or on shifts from domestic production to imports. The scenarios agree on a suite of core strategies to achieve this, such as direct and indirect electrification, energy efficiency and recycling as well as new technological routes in steel making and cement. The scenarios differ, however, regarding the future mix of electricity, hydrogen and biomass and regarding the future relevance of domestic production of basic chemicals.

Description: More and more cities are setting themselves ambitious climate protection targets, including CO2 neutrality. Schools are important institutions of cities and therefore they have to play a central role in achieving this goal. With the investment backlog building up and pressure from the Friday for Future movement increasing, the Wuppertal Institute and Büro Ö-quadrat have initiated the project Schools4Future, aiming to support secondary schools to become climate-neutral. In cooperation with secondary school students and teachers, the project team evaluated the existing situation of the participating schools and developed GHG-balances and feasible climate protection concepts. For this purpose, an Excel-based carbon footprint (CF) assessment tool for schools has been developed which is freely available. The tool covers all important emission areas, including heating energy, electricity use, travel to and from schools, school trips, the school canteen and paper consumption. The students were found capable to conduct the CF assessment with the guidance of the teacher, information materials and support of the researchers. So far, six pilot schools have completed their CF assessment with emissions ranging between 335 and 944 kg CO2 per person. In this paper we present the tool and compare the CF assessment of some schools. We further elaborate on how the tool and project has increased the climate awareness and self-efficacy of students and even stimulated measures by the school board.

Description: To achieve the EU's energy efficiency targets, both the rate of building energy renovation and its depth, i.e., the amount of energy savings post renovation need to be improved. Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are key to make energy efficiency measures transparent for the building market and to promote the energy efficiency of buildings through renovation. The revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) is seen as a pre-condition to meet the Renovation Wave objectives and to reach a highly energy efficient and decarbonized building stock by 2050. One focus of the current revision of the EPBD is therefore the improvement of EPCs. QualDeEPC - High-quality Energy Performance Assessment and Certification in Europe Accelerating Deep Energy Renovation, funded under the EU's Horizon 2020 programme, is a project that aims to improve EPCs. Following an EU-wide review of existing EPC schemes, and extensive stakeholder discussions in the seven partner countries, QualDeEPC found that EPCs and EPC schemes need to enhance particularly in the following three ways: 1. Establish a close link between EPCs and deep energy renovation 2. Improve the quality of EPC schemes, i.e., both the EPCs and their data, and the processes of assessment, certification, verification 3. Improve cross-EU convergence of EPC schemes.

Description: The Fit for 55 package stipulates a fair, competitive and green transition by 2030 and beyond. As part of this, increasing attention is given to the decarbonisation of the building stock: only 1 % of buildings in Europe are retrofitted each year, a number which must double if the EU is to meet its 2050 targets. Significant energy efficiency investments are needed, whilst the planned expansion of the EU-ETS to the building sector in 2026 will likely pass the carbon cost onto the consumer. This will increase the cost burden placed on low-income households, exacerbating energy poverty, if these two strategies are not counterbalanced by adequate policies and support mechanisms. The European Private Rented Sector (PRS) is often side-lined by policymakers when implementing energy efficiency policies to tackle energy poverty. As many as 1 in 10 Europeans spend 40 % or more of their income on housing costs, with those in the PRS struggling with energy-related problems, such as poor energy efficiency and maintenance, to a much greater degree than the general population. Understanding these challenges and creating targeted policies is of critical scientific and policy importance. To date, a pan-European policy on how to address energy poverty and energy efficiency improvements in the PRS is lacking; current European Union instruments to address such issues (including the Fit for 55, and the Clean Energy Package that preceded it) lack a dedicated approach towards the complex structural issues embedded in the European PRS. What is more, there is a limited understanding of the character of energy poverty in such residential dwellings, as well as policies to address energy injustices. We therefore examine current and historical disparities in energy poverty between the EU's PRS tenants and the general population by analysing a variety of quantitative indicators which reflect different dimensions of energy poverty. We then take stock of the policy landscape, identifying energy efficiency policies tailored to alleviate energy poverty in the PRS and common challenges. We subsequently interrogate possible solutions, drawing on existing good practice policies. In so doing, we aim to reduce the sector's political invisibility by addressing the lack of disaggregated, targeted data and dismantling barriers that currently lead to the PRS being disproportionately affected by energy poverty.

Description: Zentraler Ausgangspunkt des Vorhabens war die Frage nach der Rolle und Bedeutung von transformativem Lernen im Kontext sozial-ökologischer Transformationen und wie dieses im Rahmen schulischer und außerschulischer Umweltbildung und BNE ermöglicht und von der Umweltpolitik gestärkt und adressiert werden kann. Dazu entwickelte das Projekt in Kooperation zwischen Schulen und zivilgesellschaftlichen Nachhaltigkeitsinitiativen Lernwerkstätten im Modus des Service Learning und erprobte mittels Reallaborforschung, wie gesellschaftliches Engagement von Jugendlichen an Orten sozialer Innovationen mit fachlichem Lernen im Unterricht verknüpft werden kann. Der Schlussbericht präsentiert die zentralen theoretischen und empirischen Erkenntnisse des Projekts und liefert zudem eine umfassende Literaturanalyse zu bestehenden konzeptionellen Lerntheorien und Ansätzen um transformatives Lernen, BNE und Service Learning. Die Empfehlungen zur Förderung von Lernen im Kontext sozial-ökologischer Transformationsprozesse richten sich an Entscheidungsträger*innen in Umwelt- und Bildungspolitik und zeigen, dass hierfür das Lernen durch Engagement an Orten sozialer Innovationen als auch das Lernen in Kooperationen besonderes Potential haben.

Description: In dieser Studie werden detailliert dargestellt: die Verwendung von Kunststoffprodukten und Möglichkeiten des Rezyklateinsatzes im Baubereich, verwendete Kunststoffmengen, Rücknahmesysteme, Verwertungstechniken, aktueller Rezyklateneinsatz und Bauproduktverpackungen aus Kunststoff. Potentiale zur Steigerung des hochwertigen Rezyklateinsatzes wurden identifiziert und bestehende Hürden und Handlungsoptionen für Politik und Wirtschaft dargestellt. Aktueller Rezyklateinsatz sowie technische und mengenmäßige Potentiale sind stark abhängig vom Einsatzbereich der Kunststoffe. Die größten Hürden für einen Rezyklateinsatz sind dabei Produktlebensdauer, Rückbaufähigkeit und technische Anforderungen.

Description: Consumption by private households in various areas of demand - housing, mobility, nutrition, services and products - contributes to around 10 % of total emissions in Germany. Of this, higher-income households are responsible for a disproportionate share. At the same time, many households often lack the knowledge, time, or motivation to deal with their own energy-relevant and climate-impacting behaviours. In this context, energy advice services play an important role for raising awareness, activating consumers and imparting knowledge about available options for action. However, conventional energy advice services are mostly limited to the topics of building and appliance energy efficiency - especially for middle- and high-income households - without considering private consumption behaviour and the related social practices as a whole. In practice, there has been little differentiation to date in addressing target groups in a way that takes into account different lifestyles and realities and the underlying values and motivations in a pluralistic society. The present paper presents a methodological approach to develop targeted energy advice approaches in urban environments that are oriented towards the motivations of different types of households with medium and high incomes. It proposes a three-step approach consisting of 1) a microdata-based population analysis to identify and categorize target subgroups, 2) an inventory of existing advice offers with regard to their coverage and approach and 3) a gap analysis based on the results of the preceding steps. Applied to a large city in Germany, the analysis finds that gaps are rarely found with regard to communicated facts but rather the way in which information is conveyed. Accordingly, recommendations relate to more effectively use windows of opportunity and framing of measures to match target group motivations.

Description: The Paris Agreement combines collective goals with individual countries' contributions. This hybrid approach does not guarantee that the individual contributions add up to what is required to meet the collective goals. The Paris Agreement therefore established the Global Stocktake. Its task is to "assess collective progress" towards achieving the long-term goals of the agreement as of 2023 and every five years thereafter. Corresponding to this role, this report addresses three questions: What should an effective Global Stocktake look like? What information and data are needed? Is it possible to execute an effective Global Stocktake within the mandate of the Paris Agreement?

Description: On the pathway to climate neutrality, EU member states are obliged to submit national energy and climate plans (NECPs) with planned policies and measures for decarbonization until 2030 and long-term strategies (LTSs) for further decarbonization until 2050. We analysed the 27 NECPs and 15 LTSs submitted by October 2020 using an interrater method. This paper focuses on energy sufficiency policies and measures in the transport sector. We found a total of 236 sufficiency policy measures with more than half of them (53 %) in the transport/mobility sector. Additionally, we found 41 measures that address two or more sectors (cross-sectoral measures). From the explicit sufficiency measures within the transport sector, 82 % aim at modal shift. A reduction of transport volumes is much less addressed. Countries plan to use mainly fiscal and economic instruments. Those are in many cases investments in infrastructure of low-carbon transport modes and taxation instruments. Plans on decarbonisation measures are also frequently mentioned. The majority of cross-sectoral measures are carbon taxes or tax reforms, also economic instruments. On the one hand it is encouraging that Member States strongly emphasize the transport sector in their NECPs and LTSs - at least quantitatively and concerning sufficiency measures - because this sector has been the worst-performing in climate mitigation so far. On the other hand, the measures described seem not sufficient to reach ambitious climate targets, and we doubt that the presented set of policy instruments will get the transport sector on track to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in the necessary extent.

Description: The unprecedented challenge of reaching carbon neutrality before mid-century and a large share of it within 2030 in order to keep under the 1.5 or 2 °C carbon budgets, requires broad and deep changes in production and consumption patterns which, together with a shift to renewables and reinforced efficiency, need to be addressed through energy sufficiency. However, inadequate representations and obstacles to characterising and identifying sufficiency potentials often lead to an underrepresentation of sufficiency in models, scenarios and policies. One way to tackle this issue is to work on the development of sufficiency assumptions at a concrete level where various implications such as social consequences, environmental co-benefits, conditions for implementation can be discussed. This approach has been developed as the backbone of a collaborative project, gathering partners in 20 European countries at present, aiming for the integration of harmonised national scenarios into an ambitious net-zero European vision. The approach combines a qualitative discussion on the role of energy sufficiency in a "systemic" merit order for global sustainability, and a quantitative discussion of the level of sufficiency to be set to contribute to meeting 100 % renewables supply and net-zero emissions goals by 2050 at the latest. The latter is based on the use of a dashboard, which serves as a common descriptive framework for all national scenario trajectories and their comparison, with a view to harmonising and strengthening them through an iterative process. A set of key sufficiency-related indicators have been selected to be included in the dashboard, while various interrelated infrastructural, economic, environmental, social or legal factors or drivers have been identified and mapped. This paves the way for strengthening assumptions through the elaboration of "sufficiency corridors" defining a convergent, acceptable and sustainable level of energy services in Europe. The process will eventually inform the potential for sufficiency policies through a better identification of leverages, impacts and co-benefits.

Description: Es wurde ein systematisches Aktivitäten-⁠Monitoring⁠ zur nationalen und internationalen Umsetzung von SDG 12 "Nachhaltige Konsum- und Produktionsmuster sicherstellen" durch Deutschland aufgebaut. Damit soll der Umsetzungsstand zum SDG 12 erfasst und Handlungsoptionen abgeleitet werden. Der Umsetzungsstand ist in einer nutzerfreundlichen Datenbank aufbereitet. Die Inhalte der Datenbank fließen in internationale Reporting-Prozesse ein. Darüber hinaus wurden vom Projektteam Indikatoren zum nachhaltigen Konsum und zu nachhaltiger Produktion auf ihre Eignung als Indikatoren für die Unterziele von SDG 12 geprüft und auf dieser Basis Impulse zur Weiterentwicklung des bestehenden nationalen Indikatoren-Systems generiert.

Description: The aim of this study is to contribute to a learning process about innovative and successful approaches to overcoming problems and challenges of urban environmental protection. To this end, a detailed overview of the importance of environmental challenges, political priorities and successful solutions in selected countries and cities is given. Based on this, the study analyzes specific success factors and discusses the extent to which these can be transferred and replicated to other cities. Finally, recommendations are made for cities, countries and the international community on how environmental protection at the urban level can be further strengthened. The role of German cities and institutions will also be discussed. The case studies analyzed include Belo Horizonte in Brazil, Moscow in Russia, Kochi in India, Beijing in China, Cape Town in South Africa and Jakarta in Indonesia. These cities were selected because they have already implemented successful policies, measures and other initiatives in the past. For each city, the study analyzes relevant policy documents in order to present the respective challenges and political priorities. The analysis aims to understand the effectiveness of the plans and instruments taking into account the national political environment. Despite the cross-sectoral approach, the analysis of each case study focuses on specific sectors in order to produce well-founded results. The success factors that are worked out based on this sectoral analysis are placed in a holistic context in order to be able to make generalizable statements about success factors.

Description: An important instrument to enhance the market uptake of energy-efficient new buildings and the energy-efficient renovation of existing buildings in the European Union (EU) are the Energy Performance Certificates (EPC). However, their implementation and use has varied between EU Member States. The European Commission has therefore provided funding to a number of Horizon2020 projects to develop next-generation EPC schemes. One of these is the QualDeEPC project, aiming to both improve quality and cross-EU convergence of EPC schemes, and particularly the link between EPCs and deep renovation. The objective of the project is to improve the practical implementation of the assessment, issuance, design, and use of EPCs as well as their renovation recommendations, in the participating countries and beyond. This paper presents the policy proposals and concepts for tools that the QualDeEPC project has developed as priorities for enhanced EPC schemes: - Improving the recommendations for renovation, which are provided on the EPCs, towards deep energy renovation - An online tool for comparing EPC recommendations to deep energy renovation recommendations - Creating Deep Renovation Network Platforms (One-stop Shops plus networking and joint communication of supply-side actors) - Regular mandatory EPC assessor training (on assessment and renovation recommendations) required for certification/accreditation and registry - Achieving a high user-friendliness of the EPC - Voluntary/mandatory advertising guidelines for EPCs - Improving compliance with the mandatory use of EPCs in real estate advertisements The paper will focus on the aspects related to improving the impact of EPCs for stimulating deep renovation. It will also present lessons learnt from the discussion with stakeholders at national and European workshops and from the testing of the proposals and tools in around 100 buildings, as well as from the first steps of their country-specific adaptation.

Description: Mit dem Ziel, das Kunststoffrecycling weiter zu steigern, wurden in diesem Vorhaben die Verfahren und Prozesse der werkstofflichen Verwertung von Kunststoffabfällen in den Blick genommen - von der Sortierung über die Aufbereitung bis hin zu einem erneuten Einsatz in der Produktion. Ausgehend von der Beschreibung des Standes der Technik wurden mögliche, innovative technische Optimierungspotenziale identifiziert und dargestellt, die zur Verbesserung der Rezyklatqualitäten und ihren Einsatzmöglichkeiten in Neuprodukten beitragen können. Für eine Bewertung der Umweltwirkungen der technischen Innovationen im Vergleich zum Stand wurden ökobilanzielle Berechnungen vorgenommen.

Description: Der vorliegende Bericht ist Band 4 der abschließenden Berichterstattung zum Projekt "Erfolgsbedingungen für Systemsprünge und Leitbilder einer Ressourcenleichten Gesellschaft". Es zeigt sich, dass in der Gesellschaft heute schon ein ausgeprägtes Bewusstsein für die Notwendigkeit des schonenden Umgangs mit natürlichen Ressourcen existiert. Gleichzeitig bestehen aber zahlreiche Ungewissheiten bezüglich der Möglichkeiten, dies umzusetzen. Es werden verschiedenste gesellschaftliche und wirtschaftliche Zwänge wahrgenommen, die einer entsprechenden Umsetzung derzeit entgegenstehen. Insgesamt aber wird in der Gesellschaft eine grundlegende Veränderungs-bereitschaft - oder oftmals eher noch: Veränderungssehnsucht - erkennbar. Als Motive dafür sind neben der Schonung begrenzt vorhandener natürlicher Ressourcen auch eine Entlastung bezüglich (in der Wahrnehmung der Betroffenen) oft ebenfalls bis an Belastbarkeitsgrenzen genutzter menschlicher Ressourcen relevant. Aus der Alltagsperspektive heraus sind in einer Ressourcenleichten Gesellschaft also ökologische und soziale Fragestellungen untrennbar miteinander verbunden.

Description: Thema des vorliegenden Textes sind Wandlungsprozesse, die - so die Annahme - Voraussetzung sind, um eine ressourcenleichte Gesellschaft zu realisieren. Für den Fall, dass kleine Veränderungen oder Eingriffe nicht ausreichen, sondern vielmehr radikale Veränderungen im systemischen Gefüge erforderlich sind, entwickelt dieser Band das Konzept des "Systemsprungs" und dessen Rolle bei der Realisierung einer Ressourcenleichten Gesellschaft. Als Zugang zur Konzeption des Begriffs dienen bereits existierende Ansätze aus unterschiedlichen wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen. Es erfolgt dann mit der Untersuchung der Transformationsforschung die Bezugnahme auf einen Forschungsansatz, welcher den Übergang zu einer nachhaltigeren Lebensweise bzw. Gesellschaft zu erforschen und - als transformative Forschung - zu gestalten sucht. Kapitel 3 setzt die Diskussion aus dem Blickwinkel der Zukunftsforschung fort und analysiert verschiedene Konzepte von Auslösern radikaler Prozesse des Systemwandels.

Description: This paper analyses and compares industry sector transformation strategies as envisioned in recent German, European and global deep decarbonisation scenarios. The first part of the paper identifies and categorises ten key strategies for deep emission reductions in the industry sector. These ten key strategies are energy efficiency, direct electrification, use of climateneutral hydrogen and/or synthetic fuels, use of biomass, use of CCS, use of CCU, increases in material efficiency, circular economy, material substitution and end-use demand reductions. The second part of the paper presents a meta-analysis of selected scenarios, focusing on the question of which scenario relies to what extent on the respective mitigation strategies. The key findings of the meta-analysis are discussed, with an emphasis on identifying those strategies that are commonly pursued in all or the vast majority of the scenarios and those strategies that are only pursued in a limited number of the scenarios. Possible reasons for differences in the choice of strategies are investigated. The paper concludes by deriving key insights from the analysis, including identifying the main uncertainties that are still apparent with regard to the future steps necessary to achieve deep emission reductions in the industry sector and how future research can address these uncertainties.

Description: The waste prevention program (WPP) from 2013 must be evaluated every 6 years and updated if necessary. The review and evaluation of the implementation of the WPP took place within the scope of the project. Based on the analysis results for the implementation of the WPP at federal, state and municipal level and an assessment of existing prevention potentials, concrete proposals for a possible further development and updating of the program on prioritized waste streams and corresponding priority prevention approaches were developed. In addition, structural adjustment and change needs of the WPP were worked out and further research was shown.

Description: Das Vorhaben analysiert 1.) die Argumente verschiedener Positionen im Wachstumsdiskurs und formuliert eine idealtypische "vorsorgeorientierte Postwachstumsposition". Er präsentiert zudem Ursachen von Wirtschaftswachstum und identifiziert gesellschaftliche Bereiche, deren Funktion vom Wirtschaftswachstum abhängen könnte. Darüber hinaus werden Reformvorschläge diskutiert, um diese Wachstumsabhängigkeit zu verringern. Das Vorhaben untersucht 2.) die Relevanz der Postwachstumsdebatte für Ressourcenpolitik und eine entsprechende Instrumentierung. Außerdem werden 3.) konstitutive Kernelemente einer nachhaltigen (Postwachstums-)Gesellschaft bestimmt. Das Vorhaben setzt damit Impulse zur gesellschaftlichen Debatte über die Ausgestaltung und Instrumentierung von Transformationspfaden für "gesellschaftliches Wohlergehen innerhalb planetarer Grenzen".

Description: In this project commissioned by the German Environment Agency, important aspects of the mechanism under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement were examined in more detail. This mechanism is to succeed the CDM under the Kyoto Protocol from 2021 onwards, but it will contain decisive improvements, especially with regard to a robust accounting of emission reductions and better integration into the national climate policy of the host country. The report is addressed to the international experts, in particular to the delegates to the climate conference and observers, and is therefore written in English. A German summary is included. The following topics are covered: How does the mechanism achieve an overall reduction of global emissions? Are there opportunities to use benchmarks to establish baselines? Can contributions to increasing ambition be made by using Art. 6.4? What contribution can the voluntary market make to increasing ambition in the future? Introduction of incentives for the participation of private companies under Art. 6.4 of the PA. The role of the Art. 6.4 mechanism on the way to a net zero emission world. The project provides a contribution to the general discussion in the EU as well as to the Article 6 - Negotiations under the UNFCCC. It is a contribution that presents backgrounds and interrelationships for individual questions concerning the design of the new market mechanisms under Article 6 and can thus contribute to a more informed decision-making process.Since there are, however, several different ways of designing a mechanism that can avoid double counting and provide incentives for increasing ambition, this project is only one of several current contributions to the international discussion.

Description: 2013 wurde das Abfallvermeidungsprogramm des Bundes verabschiedet. Mit dem Programm sollten Abfallmengen reduziert werden. Das Programm wurde einer kritischen Bewertung unterzogen und wird nun im Jahr 2020 fortgeschrieben. Dafür wurden in einer UBA-Studie prioritäre Abfallströme und Konzepte erarbeitet und Maßnahmenvorschläge entwickelt, um die Abfallvermeidung zukünftig konkreter auszugestalten.

Description: Technological innovations in energy-intensive industries (EIIs) have traditionally emerged within the boundaries of a specific sector. Now that these industries are facing the challenges of deep decarbonisation and a significant reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is expected to be achieved across sectors, cross-industry collaboration is becoming increasingly relevant for low-carbon innovation. Accessing knowledge and other resources from other industrial sectors as well as co-developing innovative concepts around industrial symbiosis can be mutually beneficial in the search for fossil-free feedstocks and emissions reductions. In order to harness the potential of this type of innovation, it is important to understand not only the technical innovations themselves, but in particular the non-technical influencing factors that can drive the successful implementation of cross-industry collaborative innovation projects. The scientific state of the art does not provide much insight into this particular area of research. Therefore, this paper builds on three separate strands of innovation theory (cross-industry innovation, low-carbon innovation and innovation in EIIs) and takes an explorative case-study approach to identify key influencing factors for cross-industry collaboration for low-carbon innovation in EIIs. For this purpose, a broad empirical database built within the European joint research project REINVENT is analysed. The results from this project provide deep insights into the dynamics of low-carbon innovation projects of selected EIIs. Furthermore, the paper draws on insights from the research project SCI4Climate.NRW. This project serves as the scientific competence centre for IN4Climate.NRW, a unique initiative formed by politicians, industry and science to promote, among other activities, cross-industry collaboration for the implementation of a climate-neutral industry in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Based on the results of the case study analysis, five key influencing factors are identified that drive the implementation of cross-industry collaboration for low-carbon innovation in EIIs: Cross-industry innovation projects benefit from institutionalised cross-industry exchange and professional project management and coordination. Identifying opportunities for regional integration as well as the mitigation of financial risk can also foster collaboration. Lastly, clear political framework conditions across industrial sectors are a key driver.

Description: The reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by energyintensive industries to a net zero level is a very ambitious and complex but still feasible challenge, as recent studies show for the EU level. "Industrial Transformation 2050" by Material Economics (2019) is of particular relevance, as it shows how GHG-neutrality can be achieved in Europe for the sectors chemicals (plastics and ammonia), steel and cement, based on three main decarbonisation strategies. The study determines the resulting total demands for renewable electricity, hydrogen and for the capture and storage of CO2 (CCS). However, it analyses neither the regional demand patterns that are essential for the required infrastructure nor the needed infrastructure itself. Against this background the present paper determines the regional distribution of the resulting additional demands for electricity, hydrogen and CCS in Europe in the case that the two most energy and CCS intensive decarbonisation strategies of the study above will be realised for the existing industry structure. It explores the future infrastructure needs and identifies and qualitatively assesses different infrastructure solutions for the largest industrial cluster in Europe, i.e. the triangle between Antwerp, Rotterdam and Rhine-Ruhr. In addition, the two industrial regions of Southern France and Poland are also roughly examined. The paper shows that the increase in demand resulting from a green transformation of industry will require substantial adaptation and expansion of existing infrastructures. These have not yet been the subject of infrastructure planning. In particular, the strong regional concentration of additional industrial demand in clusters (hot spots) must be taken into account. Due to their distance from the high-yield but remote renewable power generation potentials (sweet spots), these clusters further increase the infrastructural challenges. This is also true for the more dispersed cement production sites in relation to the remote CO2 storage facilities. The existing infrastructure plans should therefore be immediately expanded to include decarbonisation strategies of the industrial sector.

Description: The paper describes quantitative scenarios on a possible evolution of the EU petrochemical industry towards climate neutrality. This industry will be one of the remaining sectors in a climate neutral economy still handling hydrocarbon material to manufacture polymers. Concepts of a climate neutral chemical industry stress the need to consider the potential end-of-life emissions of polymers produced from fossil feedstock and draft the vision of using renewable electricity to produce hydrogen and to use renewable (hydro)carbon feedstock. The latter could be biomass, CO2 from the air or recycled feedstock from plastic waste streams. The cost-optimization model used to develop the scenarios describes at which sites investments of industry in the production stock could take place in the future. Around 50 types of products, the related production processes and the respective sites have been collected in a database. The processes included cover the production chain from platform chemicals via intermediates to polymers. Pipelines allowing for efficient exchange of feedstock and platform chemicals between sites are taken into account as well. The model draws on this data to simulate capacity change at individual plants as well as plant utilization. Thus, a future European production network for petrochemicals with flows between the different sites and steps of the value chain can be sketched. The scenarios described in this paper reveal how an electrification strategy could be implemented by European industry over time with minimized societal costs. Today's existing assets as well as geographical variance of energy supply and the development of demand for different plastic sorts are the major model drivers. Finally, implications for the chemical industry, the energy system and national or regional governments are discussed.

Description: For some time, 3D printing has been a major buzzword of innovation in industrial production. It was considered a game changer concerning the way industrial goods are produced. There were early expectations that it might reduce the material, energy and transport intensity of value chains. However for quite a while, the main real world applications of additive manufacturing (AM) have been some rapid prototyping and the home-based production of toys made from plastics. On this limited basis, any hypotheses regarding likely impacts on industrial energy efficiency appeared to be premature. Notwithstanding the stark contrast between early hype and practical use, the diffusion of AM has evolved to an extent that at least for some applications allows for a preliminary assessment of its likely implications for energy efficiency. Unlike many cross-cutting energy efficiency technologies, energy use of AM may vary substantially depending on industry considered and material used for processing. Moreover, AM may have much greater repercussions on other stages of value chains than conventional cross-cutting energy efficiency technologies. In case of AM with metals the following potential determinants of energy efficiency come to mind: - A reduction of material required per unit of product and used during processing; - Changes in the total number and spatial allocation of certain stages of the value chain; and - End-use energy efficiency of final products. At the same time, these various streams of impact on energy efficiency may be important drivers for the diffusion of AM with metals. This contribution takes stock of AM with metals concerning applications and processes used as well as early evidence on impacts on energy efficiency and combine this into a systematic overview. It builds on relevant literature and a case study on Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing performed within the REINVENT project.

Description: Die Studie zeigt interdependente Geschlechteraspekte von Klimapolitik sowie Wirkweisen und Chancen zur Verbesserung von Geschlechtergerechtigkeit auf. In ihr leitet ein interdisziplinäres Forschungsteam Grundsätze zur Einbeziehung von Geschlechtergerechtigkeit in Klimaschutz und -anpassung ab, analysiert bestehende Programme auf ihre Genderrelevanz hin und gibt konkrete Politikempfehlungen z. B. zum Klimaschutzgesetz und Gender Aktionsplänen. Wichtige Erkenntnisse ergeben sich auch für Methoden, Daten und Forschungsbedarfe. Schließlich werden Empfehlungen zu Finanzierungs- und Förderaspekten sowie Wissensverbreitung und Kompetenzstärkung gegeben und ein an den Klimabereich angepasstes Instrument zur gleichstellungsorientierten Folgenabschätzung (Gender Impact Assessment) vorgestellt.

Description: Financial institutions play a crucial role in achieving the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. They can manage capital flows for financing the required transformation towards a decarbonized industry. Currently established policy programs and regulations at European and national level increasingly address financial institutions to make their climate warming impact measurable and transparent. However, required science-based assessment methods have not been sufficiently developed so far. This paper discusses methodological opportunities and challenges for measuring carbon footprints of financial institutions. Based on a scientific case study undertaken with the German GLS Bank, the authors introduce an innovative method for quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from a bank's asset with a focus on loans. The authors apply an input/output database to calculate greenhouse gas (GHG) intensities and allocate them with bank's loans and investments. Moreover, the paper provides insights of calculating avoided GHG emissions initiated by a bank's investment and loans. In conclusion, a high degree of consistent and standardized assessment methods and guidelines need to be developed and applied to promote comparability and transparency.