Viebahn, Peter; Vallentin, Daniel; Höller, Samuel
Integrated assessment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the German power sector and comparison with the deployment of renewable energies

In: Applied Energy 97 (2012), pp. 238-248

The recent years were dominated by an intense debate about the importance and the potentials of CCS at a national and international level. As part of its work on energy system analysis, the Wuppertal Institute has presented numerous papers on the significance of CCS in possible future energy systems. The paper written by Viebahn et al. provides an integrated assessment of the possible role of CCS in the German electricity sector and compares CCS with the expansion of renewable energies.

Thomas, Stefan; Boonekamp, Piet; Vreuls, Harry; Broc, Jean-Sebastian; Bosseboeuf, Didier; Lapillonne, Bruno; Labanca, Nicola
How to measure the overall energy savings linked to policies and energy services at the national level?

In: Energy Efficiency 5 (2012), pp. 19-35

Energy efficiency policies are among the most important research topics of the Wuppertal Institute in the field of research on energy, transport and climate policy. This paper presents the results of an EU-funded project on possible methods for calculation of energy savings at the national level due to energy efficiency policies. The background for this project was the EU's Energy Service Directive.

Bringezu, Stefan; O'Brien, Meghan; Schütz, Helmut
Beyond biofuels: Assessing global land use for domestic consumption of biomass. A conceptual and empirical contribution to sustainable management of global resources

In: Land Use Policy 29 (2012), pp. 224-232

Biofuels have been heavily debated. The Wuppertal Institute has contributed its research to support science based decision making. This article provides a comprehensive conceptual and empirical analysis and assessment of the global land use for the domestic consumption of agricultural goods in the EU.

Dittrich, Monika; Bringezu, Stefan; Schütz, Helmut
The physical dimension of international trade, part 2: Indirect global resource flows between 1962 and 2005

In: Ecological Economics 79 (2012), pp. 32-43

In this article, Monika Dittrich, Stefan Bringezu and Helmut Schütz deliver the second part of the comprehensive analysis of the ecologically rucksack of international trade. The authors thus frame the interlinkage of global economic activities and material resource flows, and significantly enlarge the empirical basis for the analysis of international trade.

Wilts, Henning; Bleischwitz, Raimund
Combating material leakage: a proposal for an international metal covenant

In: S.A.P.I.E.N.S. 4 (2011)

Despite increasing efforts for recycling especially on EU level there is still a relevant leakage in the circular flow of metals. Henning Wilts and Raimund Bleischwitz propose an international institutionell setting - called "metal covenant" - to improve global recovery rates, recycling infrastructures and the extended responsibility of producers.

Mancini, Lucia; Lettenmeier, Michael; Rohn, Holger; Liedtke, Christa
Application of the MIPS method for assessing the sustainability of production-consumption systems of food

In: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 81 (2012), pp.779-793

The present paper shows that the MIPS (Material Input per Service Unit) methodology developed by the Wuppertal Institute is ideally suited to evaluate the sustainability of production and consumption systems in the food sector. The figures were applied for evaluating the sustainability of selected foods and its consumption in 13 European countries. The article provides an introduction of the method and provides an overview of the successful applications of the institute over the last few years.

Sterk, Wolfgang; Arens, Christof; Eichhorst, Urda; Mersmann, Florian; Wang-Helmreich, Hanna
2010 - the year in review. II.3. Global climate

In: Yearbook of International Environmental Law 21 (2012), pp. 206-218

This article analyses the international climate negotiations that took place at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC held in Cancún in December 2010. It discusses the negotiation process on the following central "building blocks" of the negotiations: the legal form of a future agreement, mitigation, measuring, reporting and verification, adaptation, finance, technology and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD).

Liedtke, Christa; Welfens, Maria J.; Rohn, Holger; Nordmann, Julia
LIVING LAB: user-driven innovation for sustainability

In: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 13 (2012), pp. 106-118

"Living Labs" have been established as suitable areas for application and experiments (providing a setting for experimental learning) that can initiate, accompany and analyse integrated sustainability innovations for products and consumers from a scientific perspective (stakeholder- and user-integrated, socio-technical product-service-development). The article at hand introduces the Living Lab methodology and highlights its importance for user-driven sustainability innovations. It describes the development of the Living Lab research lines for a sustainable transformation process in production- and consumption systems.

Schneidewind, Uwe; Augenstein, Karoline
Analyzing a transition to a sustainability-oriented science system in Germany

In: Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 3 (2012), pp. 16-28

Sustainability transitions research, a field of research which has originally been developed in the Netherlands, serves as a central approach for the Wuppertal Institute's analyses of transformation processes towards sustainable development. In this paper, Uwe Schneidewind and Karoline Augenstein show that this approach is also suitable for assessing sustainability-oriented change in the science system as a specific field of application. Based on a comprehensive study of the German science system, the authors explore current developments and the institutional dimension of a changing science-society relation.