ALBERT

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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.