• Energy Research
• 1. No poverty close
• 16. Peace & justice close
• DE close
• DepositOnce close

Electric mobility is beginning to enter East African cities. This paper aims to investigate what policy-level solutions and stakeholder constellations are established in the context of electric mobility (e-mobility) in Dar es Salaam, Kigali, Kisumu and Nairobi and in which ways they attempt to tackle the implementation of electric mobility solutions. The study employs two key methods including content analysis of policy and programmatic documents and interviews based on a purposive sampling approach with stakeholders involved in mobility transitions. The study findings point out that in spite of the growing number of policies (specifically in Rwanda and Kenya) and on-the-ground developments, a set of financial and technical barriers persists. These include high upfront investment costs in vehicles and infrastructure, as well as perceived lack of competitiveness with fossil fuel vehicles that constrain the uptake of e-mobility initiatives. The study further indicates that transport operators and their representative associations are less recognized as major players in the transition, far behind new e-mobility players (start-ups) and public authorities. This study concludes by identifying current gaps that need to be tackled by policymakers and stakeholders in order to implement inclusive electric mobility in East African cities, considering modalities that include transport providers and address their financial constraints.

The 2008���2010 food crisis might have been a harbinger of fundamental climate-induced food crises with geopolitical implications. Heat-wave-induced yield losses in Russia and resulting export restrictions led to increases in market prices for wheat across the Middle East, likely contributing to the Arab Spring. With ongoing climate change, temperatures and temperature variability will rise, leading to higher uncertainty in yields for major nutritional crops. Here we investigate which countries are most vulnerable to teleconnected supply-shocks, i.e. where diets strongly rely on the import of wheat, maize, or rice, and where a large share of the population is living in poverty. We find that the Middle East is most sensitive to teleconnected supply shocks in wheat, Central America to supply shocks in maize, and Western Africa to supply shocks in rice. Weighing with poverty levels, Sub-Saharan Africa is most affected. Altogether, a simultaneous 10% reduction in exports of wheat, rice, and maize would reduce caloric intake of 55 million people living in poverty by about 5%. Export bans in major producing regions would put up to 200 million people below the poverty line at risk, 90% of which live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our results suggest that a region-specific combination of national increases in agricultural productivity and diversification of trade partners and diets can effectively decrease future food security risks.

The economic integration of migrants has become increasingly prioritised by European governments. However, Europe’s colonial past and orientalist narratives have contributed to the inevitable othering of migrants, even in the minds of those with the best of intentions. Guided by the self-categorisation theory, we postulate that those involved in supporting migrants to integrate in European societies implicitly categorise them as an out-group, potentially leading to suboptimal integration outcomes and the (inadvertent) exclusion of the very migrants they attempt to integrate. A case study of migrant entrepreneurship support initiatives in Berlin is illustrated as a qualitative, empirical example, providing some evidence for those arguments. The paper concludes with recommendations for practitioners and suggestions for further research.

Diese Dissertationsschrift untersucht verschiedene betriebswirtschaftliche sowie umwelt- und wirtschaftspolitische Fragestellungen im Kontext der Energiewende. Des Weiteren werden Themen wie Transdisziplinarität und die Gestaltung transdisziplinärer Forschungsansätze im Kontext der nachhaltigen Transformation des Energiesektors in Deutschland im Verlauf dieser Arbeit ergründet. Die Dissertationsschrift umfasst sechs verschiedene Aufsätze, deren Forschungsansätze sich jeweils in ihrer Methodik unterscheiden. Demnach beinhaltet diese Arbeit - literaturbasierte Meta-Analysen, - theoretische Untersuchungen mittels mikroökonomischer Modelle, - theoretische Auseinandersetzungen unter Rückgriff auf das Argumentationsgerüst der Neuen Institutionenökonomik sowie - die Anwendung von Monte Carlo-Simulationstechniken zur Entwicklung eines Instruments zur Risikoanalyse. Zudem setzen zwei Aufsätze den Gedanken der Transdisziplinarität um, indem Akteure aus der Praxis sowohl im Zuge der Entwicklung der Fragestellung als auch während der Problemlösung einbezogen werden. Im Detail vermittelt der erste Aufsatz einen Überblick über die zentralen Akteure bei der Finanzierung von erneuerbaren Energien in Deutschland und zeigt im Zuge der Analyse Zusammenhänge zwischen Akteursgruppen, zugrunde liegender Technologie und dem betrieblichen Organisationsmodell. Der zweite Aufsatz ergänzt den ersten Beitrag durch eine theoretische, institutionenökonomische Analyse zur Untersuchung von Energiegenossenschaften. Der dritte und vierte Aufsatz stellen entwickelte Instrumente zur Wirtschaftlichkeits- und Risikoanalyse von nachhaltigen Infrastrukturen zur Nutzung erneuerbarer Energiequellen. Hierbei beinhaltet der dritte Aufsatz ein Verfahren zur (Kosten-) Optimierung des Substrateinsatzes von Biogasanlagen mittels verschachtelter Produktions-funktionen. Im Rahmen des vierten Aufsatzes wird ein Instrument zur Risikoanalyse vorgestellt, das durch die Anwendung von Monte Carlo-Simulationstechniken die parallele Variation mehrerer Eingangsparameter ermöglicht. Neben den erläuterten methodischen und inhaltlichen Merkmalen wird im Rahmen der beiden soeben beschriebenen Aufsätze der Aspekt der Transdisziplinarität besonders hervorgehoben, indem Akteure aus der Praxis aktiv in den Forschungsprozess involviert wurden. Das besondere Charakteristikum des fünften und sechsten Aufsatzes ist der Bezug zur Verhaltensökonomik. Während der fünfte Beitrag einen Ansatz zur Erweiterung des etablierten umweltpolitischen Instrumentariums unter Verwendung von Erkenntnissen aus dem Bereich der Kognitionsforschung entwickelt, greift der sechste Essay auf Forschungsergebnisse zu sogenannten sozialen Präferenzen zurück und wendet diese auf die theoretische Auseinandersetzung zur Verteilung von Eigentumsrechten im Rahmen von öffentlich-privaten Partnerschaften an. Die Dissertationsschrift endet mit einer Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse und stellt nochmals heraus, das für die komplexen Problemstellungen im Rahmen der Ener-giewende ein holistischer Analyseansatz notwendig ist, um die verschiedenen Di-mensionen der relevanten Fragen zu adressieren. This thesis addresses through six essays questions from a managerial and policy perspective in the context of the transition of the German energy sector toward a broader use of renewable energy technologies (“Energiewende”). In addition, this thesis will also deal implicitly with questions of transdisciplinary research in the context of the “Energiewende”. The different essays include a variety of methods, i.e., - literature-based meta-analysis, - theoretical analysis through microeconomic modeling, - the rationale of new institutional economics, and - the use of Monte Carlo simulation techniques to address the specific managerial question of risk management. Furthermore, two essays also include an additional feature by integrating insights from behavioral economics into the analytical framework of the respective essays. In detail, the first essay provides an overview on relevant actors in the German renewable energy sector and derives insights on the connection between actors, technology, and the organizational framework of business models through meta-analysis. The second essay complements this overview by conducting a theoretical analysis of renewable energy cooperatives with the help of the new institutional economics rationale. The third and fourth essays focus on tools for project assessment. Here, the third essay offers an approach for the optimization of the input of biogas plants by applying a nested constant elasticity of substitution production function approach. The fourth essay presents a developed tool for the risk analysis of renewable energy projects using Monte Carlo simulation. Here, the transdisciplinary aspect will be tackled because actors from nonacademia were involved in developing the tool. The particular characteristic of the fifth and sixth essays is that both focus particularly on insights from behavioral economics. While the fifth essay develops a toolset for energy and environmental policy through a meta-analysis of insights from cognitive sciences that goes beyond conventional policy instruments (e.g., monetary incentives and mandates), the sixth essay uses findings from behavioral sciences on so-called social preferences to conduct a theoretical, microeconomic analysis of the effects of different ownership options in the context of public private partnerships. In the end, this thesis reviews the findings and comes to the conclusion that a holistic analysis approach, as presented here, is of particular importance for the analysis and governance of the “Energiewende” as central aspects such as the involved actors, their determinants for decision-making, technical characteristics, frame-setting institutions, and the wider social context are in a vital interaction.

BMBF, 01LN1704A, Nachwuchsgruppe Globaler Wandel: CoalExit - Die Okonomie des Kohleausstiegs - Identifikation von Bausteinen fur Rahmenplane zukunftiger regionaler Strukturwandel

AbstractThe possibility of using bioenergy as a climate change mitigation measure has sparked a discussion of whether and how bioenergy production contributes to sustainable development. We undertook a systematic review of the scientific literature to illuminate this relationship and found a limited scientific basis for policymaking. Our results indicate that knowledge on the sustainable development impacts of bioenergy production is concentrated in a few well‐studied countries, focuses on environmental and economic impacts, and mostly relates to dedicated agricultural biomass plantations. The scope and methodological approaches in studies differ widely and only a small share of the studies sufficiently reports on context and/or baseline conditions, which makes it difficult to get a general understanding of the attribution of impacts. Nevertheless, we identified regional patterns of positive or negative impacts for all categories – environmental, economic, institutional, social and technological. In general, economic and technological impacts were more frequently reported as positive, while social and environmental impacts were more frequently reported as negative (with the exception of impacts on direct substitution of GHG emission from fossil fuel). More focused and transparent research is needed to validate these patterns and develop a strong science underpinning for establishing policies and governance agreements that prevent/mitigate negative and promote positive impacts from bioenergy production.

Faced with an ever-increasing demand for land in Metro Manila, as well as with the domination of standardised low-income housing models, the local civil society and the urban-poor sector embarked on the development of an alternative shelter approach in-city multistorey housing delivered through the People’s Plan. The article documents the emergence of the approach, interrogates its main assumptions and takes a closer look at the implementation process through two case studies, in Pasig and San Jose Del Monte. The article analyses the modality as an attempt to create a hybrid approach between formal and informal delivery systems within the built form conventionally associated with the imaginaries of the ‘formal’ city. The findings underscore the role of co-production in enabling the urban-poor sector to leverage their approach, while documenting the need to move beyond a formal–informal dichotomy in both theory and urban development practice.