IN4climate.NRW in the Rhenish Mining Area – abbreviated as IN4climate.RR – is a joint project by NRW.Energy4Climate and the Wuppertal Institute. Its objective is to strategically flank and support the transformation of the industry in the Rhenish Mining Area toward climate neutrality. To achieve this, numerous industry-oriented projects and research topics within the region are embedded, strategically networked, and accompanied within the broader context of North Rhine-Westphalia's overall industrial transformation.
In the first project phase (2021–2025), IN4climate.RR focused on building networks and exploratory "Future Labs" centered on the sustainable carbon economy, the industrial hydrogen economy, and circular value creation. In the second project phase (2025–2029), the focus shifts toward enabling investment projects and increasing industrial resilience. Together, the partners address four central technology fields to secure the region's competitiveness: Establishing a hydrogen economy, including connection to the core network; Introducing a sustainable carbon economy; Establishing a circular economy; Implementing climate-neutral industrial process heat.
In this context, the project serves as a "hinge" or bridge between scientific transformation pathways and local operational practice. A fundamental pillar of IN4climate.RR is applied transformation research, which is significantly developed and contributed by the Wuppertal Institute. The Institute provides the scientific foundation to translate technical innovations into economically and socially viable strategies. The research focus lies on the following aspects:
- Resilience of Industrial Value Chains: The Wuppertal Institute analyses the regional industry's dependencies on global supply chains and critical raw materials such as copper or lithium. The goal is to develop strategies that safeguard regional value creation through improved recycling and circular systems.
- Innovative Governance and Cooperation: The Wuppertal Institute examines current challenges and starting points for the sustainable transformation of companies undergoing structural change. This includes cross-sectoral industrial cooperation in the field of the circular economy, the analysis of sector-specific labor market dynamics and qualification needs, and the development of management strategies for small and medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to increase resilience to crises.
Through this integrative research approach, the Wuppertal Institute makes a significant contribution to actively shaping structural change. It ensures that the industrial transformation pursues ecological and social objectives alongside technical implementation.
