Why Trump's pull-out of the Paris Agreement may open the door for state Governors to push their own climate action.

In June, President Trump announced that the US would be withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change, prompting some US cities and states to reaffirm their own commitments to the agreement. In new research, Katja Biedenkopf looks at how federal inaction can spur state Governors to push for ambitious policies to mitigate climate change. She cautions that such actions ..

Polish Climate Policy Narratives: Uniqueness, Alternative Pathways, and Nascent Polarisation

European Union (EU) climate politics have polarised over the past decade. Poland especially stands out as the EU member state that has most vehemently opposed numerous decisions to increase the EU’s level of ambition, stirring some turbulence in EU climate politics. Yet, with the publication of the European Green Deal (EGD) in 2019, the European Commission has likewise created turbulence in the Polish parliament’s climate debate. This article analyses those debates and identifies three distinct policy narratives: Poland is in a unique situation, Poland pursues an alternative pathway, and climate policy endangers competitiveness. The alternative pathway narrative, which advocates for the continued use of coal while capturing emissions, faded at roughly the same time when the EGD was proposed at the EU level. Simultaneously, the unique situation narrative, which calls for recognition of Poland’s uniqueness in combination with increased (financial) support, became stronger. The analysis confirms the dominance of the governing party’s narratives, but contrary to previous studies, detects nascent polarisation on climate policy between the right-wing political parties, on the one hand, and the centre-right and centre-left parties, on the other

Notes on the conception and academic mission of the Hertie School of Governance

The Hertie School of Governance is an initiative of the Hertie Foundation, one of the largest private foundations in Germany. According to its charter, the School’s principal task is to inquire into the role of the state in Europe in the 21st century and to prepare present and future administrative elites for their responsibilities in modern systems of governance. According to preliminary discussions held in the course of 2002 and 2003, the School’s focus will be on the reform of political and administrative institutions, with special reference to the emergence of multi-level administrative structures at the European level and to the special governance challenges faced by the countries in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe that will soon join the European Union. Initially, the courses at the School will be taught in German and English, and work in other languages may be included in due course. A network of cooperation is being developed not only with the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT), but also with private as well as public academic institutions both in Germany and abroad. 1. English version: Hans N. Weile

La economía social de mercado: capacidad de adaptación a lo largo del tiempo

Esta Conferencia la pronunció el Profesor Kurt Biedenkopf en el Homenaje ofrecido al empresario Sr. Deichmann con motivo de la concesión del Premio anual "Economía Social de Mercado 2014" que concede la Fundación Konrad Adenauer. Como indicó en la presentación del Acto el Presidente de la KAS, Sr. Pöttering, esta distinción se concede a "aquellos empresarios que con su actuación, su ánimo y su compromiso por la Economía Social de Mercado (ESM) dan ejemplo y son su modelo". Y en la laudatio, el Presidente Regional de la CDU en Nordrhein Wesfalen, el Sr. Laschet afirma que "el éxito de la empresa de Deichmann está estrechamente unido con el éxito también de la Economía Social de Mercado" "y, por el contrario, el éxito de la Economía Social de Mercado se puede ilustrar con ejemplos como los de la familia Deichmann". En el marco de este reconocimiento al empresario Sr. Deichmann se sitúa, por tanto, este discurso del Prof. Kurt Biedenkopf recordándonos las claves para lograr una Sociedad estable que contribuya al desarrollo de las personas. Su larga trayectoria Política desde los comienzos de la Economía Social de Mercado constituye la base para una magnífica reflexión sobre las claves del funcionamiento de una Economía Social de Mercado y de su contribución al Ordenamiento democrático de una Sociedad

From hybridomas to a robust microalgal-based production platform: molecular design of a diatom secreting monoclonal antibodies directed against the Marburg virus nucleoprotein

Background: The ideal protein expression system should provide recombinant proteins in high quality and quantity involving low production costs only. However, especially for complex therapeutic proteins like monoclonal antibodies many challenges remain to meet this goal and up to now production of monoclonal antibodies is very costly and delicate. Particularly, emerging disease outbreaks like Ebola virus in Western Africa in 2014–2016 make it necessary to reevaluate existing production platforms and develop robust and cheap alternatives that are easy to handle. Results: In this study, we engineered the microalga Phaeodactylum tricornutum to produce monoclonal IgG antibodies against the nucleoprotein of Marburg virus, a close relative of Ebola virus causing severe hemorrhagic fever with high fatality rates in humans. Sequences for both chains of a mouse IgG antibody were retrieved from a murine hybridoma cell line and implemented in the microalgal system. Fully assembled antibodies were shown to be secreted by the alga and antibodies were proven to be functional in western blot, ELISA as well as IFA studies just like the original hybridoma produced IgG. Furthermore, synthetic variants with constant regions of a rabbit IgG and human IgG with optimized codon usage were produced and characterized. Conclusions: This study highlights the potential of microalgae as robust and low cost expression platform for monoclonal antibodies secreting IgG antibodies directly into the culture medium. Microalgae possess rapid growth rates, need basically only water, air and sunlight for cultivation and are very easy to handle