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Hoping to support sustainability, countries have established policies to foster the bioeconomy (BE), based on the use of biomass and knowledge on biological principles. However, appropriate monitoring is still lacking. We estimate global key environmental footprints (FPs) of the German BE in a historic analysis from 2000–2015 and in projection until 2030. Overall, the agricultural biomass FP is dominated by animal-based food consumption, which is slightly decreasing. The forestry biomass FP of consumption could potentially shift from net import to total supply from domestic territory. Agricultural land use for consumption is triple that of domestic agricultural land (which covers half of Germany) and induced substantial land use change in other regions from 2000–2015. The FP of irrigation water withdrawals has decreased over 2000–2015 and might continue to decline in absolute terms by 2030, but the share of supply regions with water stress might increase. The climate FP of BE contributes 18–20% to the total climate FP of domestic consumption, while employment makes up 10% and value added only 8% of the total German economy. These findings imply that sufficient monitoring of the BE needs to consider both production and consumption perspectives, as well as global FPs of national economies.
German bioeconomy 01.06.2021 Publikationen Energie & Klimaschutz Bücher

The EU’s regulatory framework for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) was developed for “classical” transgenic GMOs, yet advancements in so-called “new genomic techniques (NGTs)” have led to implementation challenges regarding detection and identification. As traceability can complement detection and identification strategies, improvements to the existing traceability strategy for GMOs are investigated in this study. Our results are based on a comprehensive analysis of existing traceability systems for globally traded agricultural products, with a focus on soy. Alternative traceability strategies in other sectors were also analysed. One focus was on traceability strategies for products with characteristics for which there are no analytical verification methods. Examples include imports of “conflict minerals” into the EU. The so-called EU Conflict Minerals Regulation requires importers of certain raw materials to carry out due diligence in the supply chain. Due diligence regulations, such as the EU’s Conflic
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Meeting energy and climate targets requires phasing out the use of fossil fuels in the heating sector, demanding an extensive overhaul of infrastructure. The expansion of district heating and electricity distribution grids will be essential for this transition, while parts of the gas distribution network will become redundant. Regional and municipal heating plans, mandated by the EED and the decarbonised gas and hydrogen market package, require planning that should involve identifying areas where gas distribution networks will be decommissioned or dismantled in the future. The process will be accelerated by phasing out or introducing efficiency regulations for heating installations. How should the efficient and orderly transformation of the gas network be accomplished? To this end, we compare the status-quo as well as recent the developments of gas grid infrastructures across four European countries, namely Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. Additionally, we analyse the current regulations for ga
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Hoping to support sustainability, countries have established policies to foster the bioeconomy (BE), based on the use of biomass and knowledge on biological principles. However, appropriate monitoring is still lacking. We estimate global key environmental footprints (FPs) of the German BE in a historic analysis from 2000–2015 and in projection until 2030. Overall, the agricultural biomass FP is dominated by animal-based food consumption, which is slightly decreasing. The forestry biomass FP of consumption could potentially shift from net import to total supply from domestic territory. Agricultural land use for consumption is triple that of domestic agricultural land (which covers half of Germany) and induced substantial land use change in other regions from 2000–2015. The FP of irrigation water withdrawals has decreased over 2000–2015 and might continue to decline in absolute terms by 2030, but the share of supply regions with water stress might increase. The climate FP of BE contributes 18–20% to the total climate FP of domestic consumption, while employment makes up 10% and value added only 8% of the total German economy. These findings imply that sufficient monitoring of the BE needs to consider both production and consumption perspectives, as well as global FPs of national economies.
German bioeconomy 01.06.2021 Publikationen Energie & Klimaschutz Bücher

The global loss of fertile soils is widely recognized as one of the most pressing environmental and social problems of the next decades. Against this backdrop, political action is urgently needed to promote the sustainable use and management of soil, both domestically and at the international level. While particularly international soil policy has been neglected for decades, land and soil degradation have started to gain some international political momentum in recent years. This paper analyses how the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as a key multilateral environmental agreement (MEA) within international environmental law contributes to the international governance of sustainable soil use. Firstly, we give a brief overview of the international governance of soil sustainability to date, locating the role of the CBD in this context. Secondly, we elaborate on how the CBD deals with soil (biodiversity) issues—e.g., in its Strategic Plan and Aichi Targets, through principles for the sustainable use of biodiversity, the CBD’s Ecosystem Approach as well as the International Soil Biodiversity Initiative. In the discussion, we highlight the value and shortcomings of the soil topic under the CBD. We also develop options on how sustainable soil management could be strengthened within the CBD and through the CBD. We conclude that the CBD can indeed contribute to the political promotion of sustainable soil use but that presently there are few incentives for CBD parties to push the process forward. Also, to be effective, the CBD is dependent on meaningful progress in international politics on the broader topic of sustainable land use.
Soils: Status and Future Options 15.02.2017 Umweltrecht & Governance Bücher

Recent years have seen the development of numerous innovations in social, constructional, and transportation planning for different forms of communal housing. They illustrate how more sustainable practices in transport and land use can be achieved through the collective provision and use of space and mobility services. The question remains, however, of who needs to be involved in such bottom-up approaches and when in order to ensure their success. What changes are necessary to anchor these approaches in the wider context of urban and transport planning? This paper presents three examples of neighbourhood mobility concepts and the collaborative use of space and land. A research project accompanied the development of these concepts in a real-world laboratory design. The scientists used social-empirical methods and secondary analyses to evaluate social and ecological effects, economic viability and the process of joint development. The results show the high sustainability potential of such neighbourhood concepts: they enable residents to meet their mobility needs, while using fewer vehicles through shared use, reducing the number of journeys and changing their choice of transport. At the same time, promoting and developing community services has been shown to be inhibited by preconditions such as existing planning law. Opportunities and obstacles have been identified and translated into recommendations for action, focusing on municipal urban planning, transport planning, and the housing industry.
08.03.2021 Publikationen Mobilitätswende Ressourcen & Mobilität Bücher

The energy crisis following the Russian invasion of Ukraine has prompted an acceleration of policy efforts to encourage energy savings. Numerous policy interventions were proposed and implemented as a reaction to the energy crisis in the countries affected by the interrupted supply of Russian gas. With public acceptance being a key success factor for the implementation of policies addressing energy savings, our paper analyses the discourse on energy conservation policies during the crisis in Germany, using X data (formerly Twitter). The analysis aims to quantify whether the energy crisis has polarized the discourse on energy efficiency policy. The results of the quantitative analysis are to be backed up by a qualitative manual analysis of a sample of tweets, which could also provide insights into the users‘ argumentation. By analysing a set of 136,837 Tweets related to energy and gas saving posted between January 2022 and May 2023, we show a heightened public focus on energy efficiency policy during the cris
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The energy crisis following the Russian invasion of Ukraine has prompted an acceleration of policy efforts to encourage energy savings. Numerous policy interventions were proposed and implemented as a reaction to the energy crisis in the countries affected by the interrupted supply of Russian gas. With public acceptance being a key success factor for the implementation of policies addressing energy savings, our paper analyses the discourse on energy conservation policies during the crisis in Germany, using X data (formerly Twitter). The analysis aims to quantify whether the energy crisis has polarized the discourse on energy efficiency policy. The results of the quantitative analysis are to be backed up by a qualitative manual analysis of a sample of tweets, which could also provide insights into the users‘ argumentation. By analysing a set of 136,837 Tweets related to energy and gas saving posted between January 2022 and May 2023, we show a heightened public focus on energy efficiency policy during the cris
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The EU ETS is one of the first emissions trading schemes in the world and has contributed to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the sectors covered by the scheme in recent years. The EU has adopted the introduction of a new, separate emissions trading scheme (ETS 2) for the buildings and transport sectors as well additional sectors. In our paper we estimate the impact of the new ETS 2 on the buildings sector. We calculate the greenhouse gas emission reduction in the year 2030 using an approach based on price elasticities. We further discuss the impact of the ETS 2 on cost-effectiveness of heat pump deployment in the EU Member States to outline an example of longer-term effects on investments. The results show that with a carbon price of 45 Euro per ton the impact ranges between three and seven Million tons of greenhouse gas emission reductions. Even with optimistic assumptions on the reaction of building owners, the overall contribution of the ETS 2 to meeting the EU target for reducing greenhouse
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This article compares the drivers and barriers of two sustainability transformations in Germany: the energy transformation (“Energiewende”) andt he attempted transformation towards organic agriculture which has, so far, been less successful. It is based on two case studies rooted in transformation research. While there is rapidly growing literature on energy, there are far fewer analyses of agricultural transformations. Moreover, single case studies dominate. The cross-case comparison presented in this article is a step towards filling this gap. Particularly in their initial stages, the two transformation processes shared similarities: both systems had been coming under pressure due to environmental crises, grassroots movements and niche developments of sustainable alternatives. However, changes to the regulatory system framework made investments in renewable energy more attractive than in organic agriculture, where the profitability of the transformation is still reduced by significant subsidies for conventional agriculture. Moreover, the energy transformation has benefitted from technological improvements and falling costs, an early coalition of supporters, including business actors, and more recently from abroader societal and political consensus. ©2019 D. A. Heyen, F.Wolff; licensee oekom verlag. This Open Access article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CCBY4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). https://doi.org/10.14512/gaia.28.S1.9 Submitted December 19, 2018; revised version accepted July 12, 2019.
of sustainability transformations 22.08.2019 Umweltrecht & Governance Bücher