GERMANY’S SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE UN GREEN ECONOMY APPROACH

The United Nations declared at the Rio+20 Conference in 2012 that a “green economy in the context of sustainable development” is a chance for poverty eradication and economic development in the institutional framework of sustainable development (United Nations, 2012). The German Government supports the UN approach for a green economy (BMBF and BMU, 2012) and declared that on the basis of a comprehensive understanding of the connection between the economy, finance and politics, and recognizing ecological boundaries and limits, environment-friendly qualitative and therefore sustainable growth should be achieved (BMBF and BMU, 2012). A green economy is now regarded as a solution for present and future social problems, and alluding to Dennis Meadows (Meadows, 2008), we can define it accordingly: A green economy is not the place you are going to. It is how you make the journey to sustainable development. We are now looking for a measuring framework for this journey. The question of the measurability of sustainability is the key to the implementation of sustainable development because as Hamilton and Atkinson clearly put it: “If current systems of economic indicators do not clearly signal that the economy is on an unsustainable path, the policy errors will be made and perpetuated (Hamilton and Atkinson, 2006).” The Sustainability Gap Index (SGI), developed by the authors, calculates the degree to which sustainability is achieved in Germany. The index shows whether Germany is on a sustainable path according to the goals set by the German Government in its sustainability strategy (German Federal Government, 2012a, German Federal Government, 2012b). The index enables us to compare the normatively (politically) defined sustainability order of the German Government (goals) with the actual “behaviour” of German society and with the interpretation of science and policy. The index enables us to answer the question of whether Germany is “better off” in sustainable categories of the green economy. The calculations of the sustainable indicators help us to understand where political action is needed in the transition process of the green economy towards sustainable development of German societ

Aufwands- und ergebnisrelevante Probleme der Sachbilanzierung

Der Wunsch nach einer Gestaltung von zukünftiger gesellschaftlicher Entwicklung hat mit dem in den vergangenen Jahren entwickelten Leitbild Sustainable Development" eine starke Konkretisierung erfahren. Zwar ist die Vorstellung von dem, was unter Nachhaltiger Entwicklung heute verstanden wird, immer noch wage und an vielen Punkten verbesserungsfähig, dennoch sind ausgehend von den im Bericht der Brundlandt-Kommission 1988 formulierten Gedanken über die Ergebnisse der Konferenz der Vereinten Nationen über Umwelt und Entwicklung in Rio de Janeiro (1992) bis hin zur Konferenz über Nachhaltige Entwicklung in Johannesburg (2002) viele Fortschritte zu erkennen. An diesem Rio-Prozess sind zahlreiche Institutionen beteiligt, die aufganz unterschiedlichen Ebenen ihren Beitrag dazu leisten. Im Zusammenhang mit Nachhaltiger Entwicklung spielt die Bewertung von einzelnen Techniken und Produkten eine große Rolle. Immer wieder wird die Frage aufgeworfen, ob ein Produkt oder ein Konsummuster im Einklang mit nachhaltiger Entwicklung steht. Schnelle Antworten hierauf berühren meistens nur die Oberfläche und sind sehr oft falsch. Bei genauerer Prüfung stellt sich schnell heraus, dass für eine fundierte Antwort bereits die methodischen Grundlagen unvollständig sind, dass Daten nicht nach einheitlichen Vorschriften erhoben wurden oder dass Systemgrenzen nicht präzise genug formuliert wurden. Die Normenreihe DIN EN ISO 14040 ff. hat zwar einen ersten Rahmen für die Methode gesetzt, jedoch auf eine von vielen Aspekten abhängige Vorgehensweise verzichtet. Mit dem vorliegenden Bericht greifen die Autoren einen Teilaspekt dieses umfangreichen Themas auf, indem sie aufwands- und ergebnisrelevante Probleme der Sachbilanzierung genauer betrachten. Die Arbeiten präzisieren damit das methodische Fundament für die Ökobilanz (Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)). Der vorliegende Bericht ist das Ergebnis einer langjährigen Zusammenarbeit zwischen dem Institut für technischen Umweltschutz, Fachgebiet Abfallvermeidung und Sekundänohstoffwirtschaft (ASR), an der TU Berlin und der Programmgruppe Systemforschung und Technologische Entwicklung (STE) im Forschungszentrum Jülich . Die Autoren bedanken sich bei Dr. Petra Zapp, Dr. Robert Ackermann und Dr. Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs für die intensiven Sachdiskussionen und die kritischen Anregungen zum Manuskript

The FEW-Nexus city index – Measuring urban resilience

Current global developments put increasing ecological, economic and social pressures on urban systems. The density of urban areas concentrates these pressures especially on food, energy and water (i.e., the FEW nexus) resources as if in a ‘burning glass’. The ability to confront these challenges significantly depends on the resilience of an urban area, which is to a large degree managed by institutions with the objective of protecting social cohesion and minimizing ecological pressure. Urbanization and climate change, however, strain social cohesion by exacerbating social vulnerabilities and disproportionately affecting those already marginalized. Justice and equity are thus essential preconditions for the development of resilient urban concepts and must be considered in a comprehensive nexus management approach. For this purpose, two indices are developed based on the UN-Habitat City Prosperity Index, with a specific focus on integrating the nexus-relevant indices (i.e., the infrastructure development index and the environmental sustainability index) with a weighted equity index. The World and Region Prosperity City Index (WCPI, RCPI5) and the Nexus City Index (NXI) enable decision makers to more readily compare global and local city resiliences without reducing the underlying complexity of the analyzed FEW system

ISD: A New Methodological Approach for Measuring the Sustainability of the German Energy System

The research community has developed three main concepts and indicator systems to measure sustainability: the capital concept, the ecological concept and the multidimensional concept. Whereas a lot of research has been dedicated to the pros and cons of the three/four-pillar sustainability concept, to the shaping of the pillars and their indicators, research on standardized methods to aggregate the indicators to one index is lacking. However, a useful model exists—the GDP—which summarizes the different economic activities of various social actors in one index. An overall sustainability index has the advantage that the sustainability of a system can be expressed in one index. This allows the sustainability status of a system to be better communicated both to the public and to politicians. Against this background, we developed the Index of Sustainable Development (ISD) to measure the sustainability of systems described by multidimensional sustainability concepts. We demonstrate that it is possible to aggregate sustainability indicators of the multidimensional sustainability concepts to one index. We have chosen exemplarily the German sustainability strategy and selected the energy indicators within it because of the importance of the energy sector and due to the good statistical database in this sector

Klimaschutz durch energetische Sanierung von Gebäuden Band 1: Zu Ehren von Herrn Professor Klaus Schultze

Zu Ehren von Herrn Professor Klaus Schultze ; Seminarreihe, durchgeführt in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Arbeitskreis Energie (AKE) der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft (DPG

The influence of continued reductions in renewable energy cost on the European electricity system

In the recent years, variable renewable energy (VRE) technologies – most importantly solar photovoltaics and wind power – have undergone a remarkable transformation from niche technologies to increasingly competitive energy suppliers. As the potential for VRE is distributed unevenly across Europe, a Europe-wide cost optimal expansion of VRE will lead to different national and regional expansion rates of VRE. To facilitate such a Europe-wide cost optimal expansion of VRE a fair cost distribution among all European countries is needed. Therefore, we analyse and discuss how expected future decreases in investment costs for selected VRE (photovoltaics, concentrated solar power, wind onshore, and wind offshore) will affect the pan-European and national electricity systems. This is done by comparing three cost scenarios with a reference case, calculated using a European electricity system model. Our results show that the assumed cost reductions lead to an especially pronounced increase of PV distributed unevenly across Europe. In addition, higher shares of VRE show the effect of shifting electricity exchange patterns throughout Europe which also reduce cost benefits for economies of electricity exporting countries. Hence, there might be a lack of agreement in Europe about where and how to expand and integrate VRE if costs of expanding and integrating VRE are not distributed in a fair way between the European countries. In addition, these possible barriers of expanding VRE Europe-wide in a cost-optimal way might hinder the exploitation of cost synergies or even slow down VRE expansion on a European scale

The role of values in analyzing energy systems: Insights from moral philosophy, institutional economics, and sociology

In efforts to mitigate climate change, energy systems are undergoing a profound transition towards low-carbon systems. This transition does not only involve changes in energy technologies but importantly it is shaped and incentivized by changes in the rules and regulations that govern energy markets. It is a normative transition, focused at achieving secure, affordable, and sustainable energy provision. In a multidisciplinary approach, this paper proposes a framework that highlights the role of normative principles - i.e. values - in socio-technical systems. Building on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, the analysis explicates how values relate to institutional change in the case of the energy transition.Economics of Technology and Innovatio