Institut für Umweltkommunikation (INFU)
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Human activities have become a major driver of global change, so that global society and economy are facing consequences such as climate change, increasing scarcity of resources, environmental pollution and degradation as well as disturbances of ecosystem functioning and services.In order to meet these main challenges in an appropriate way, adequate starting points and solutions must be pursued at all levels to shift the current socio-economic pathway from an unsustainable to a safe operating and thus sustainable development within the planetary boundaries. One of the application concepts in industrial contexts is Industrial Symbiosis (IS), which deals with the set-up of advanced circular/cascading systems, in which the energy and material flows are prolonged for multiple material and energetic (re-)utilization within industrial systems in order to increase resource productivity and efficiency, while reducing environmental impacts. The overarching goal of the research project was to identify and develop approaches to enable the evolution of Industrial Symbiosis (IS) in Industrial Parks (IPs). Industrial Symbiosis (IS) is a collaborative cross-sectoral approach to connect the resource supply and demand of various industries in order to optimize the resource use through exchange of materials, energy, water and human resources across different companies, while generating ecological, technical, social and economic benefits. Many Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools have been developed to facilitate IS, but they predominantly focus on the as-is analysis of the IS system, and do not consider the development of a common desired target vision or corresponding possible future scenarios as well as conceivable transformation paths from the actual to the defined (sustainability) target state. This gap shall be addressed in this work, presenting the software requirements engineering results for a holistic IT-supported IS tool covering system analysis, transformation simulation and goal-setting. This study also aims to present the conceptual IT-supported IS tool and its corresponding prototype, developed for the identification of IS opportunities in IPs. This IS tool serves as an IS facilitating platform, providing transparency among market players and proposing potential cooperation partners according to selectable criteria (e.g. geographical radius, material properties, material quality, purchase quantity, delivery period). Therefore a quantitative indicator system was compiled and recurring patterns were identified to utilize this knowledge in the comprehensive IT-supported IS tool. So this IS tool builds the technology-enabled environment for the processes of first screening of IS possibilities and initiation for further complex business-driven negotiations and agreements for long-term IS business relationships.
Eine der kolumbianischen Strategien zur Diversifizierung und Dekarbonisierung des Energiesektors ist die Förderung der Nutzung unkonventioneller erneuerbarer Ressourcen (NCRR). Zu diesem Zweck erließ die Regierung am 2014 das Gesetz 1715 zur Förderung von NCRR und Verbesserungen der Energieeffizienz in diesem Sektor. Obwohl dies vermutlich dazu beitragen wird, die internationale und nationale Verpflichtung zur Reduzierung der CO2-Emissionen um 20 % im Jahr 2030 zu erreichen, kann diese Annahme nicht auf breiterer Basis getestet werden, ohne die Umweltauswirkungen zu berücksichtigen, die solche Initiativen im Haushaltssektor, dem größten Stromverbrauchssektor in Kolumbien, haben können.
In dieser Arbeit wird der Umwelt Rebound-Effekt (ERE) gemessen, wenn der Anteil der Windenergie im kolumbianischen Stromnetz im Haushaltssektor erhöht wird. Zu diesem Zweck wurden eine prozessbasierte Ökobilanz (P-LCA), ein erweitertes Umwelt-Input-Output-Modell (EEIO) und Re-spending-Modelle (nahezu ideales Nachfragesystem AIDS) verwendet.
Der direkte Rebound-Effekt wurde anhand der Preiselastizität der Stromnachfrage gemessen; außerdem wurden die Umwelteinsparungen bei einer Erhöhung des Anteils der Windenergie im Netz mittels P-LCA berechnet. Zu diesem Zweck wurde eine P-LCA für einen Windpark in Kolumbien durchgeführt, während die Informationen für andere Energieressourcen (Wasser, Kohle, Gas, Solar und Wärme) aus der Ecoinvent 3.4 Datenbank entnommen wurden.
Zur Berechnung des indirekten Umwelt Rebound-Effekts wurden die für die Umwelteffizienz erzielten monetären Einsparungen berechnet. Zu diesem Zweck wurde eine AIDS-Methode angewandt, um die marginalen Budgetanteile (MBS) zu erhalten. Durch Kombination der ermittelten MBS mit dem EEIO-Modell wurden die monetären Einsparungen in Umweltindikatoren umgerechnet.
Der ERE wird für zehn Wirkungskategorien dargestellt (Klimawandel (CC), Versauerung (A), Ökotoxizität (E), marine Eutrophierung (MEUT), terrestrische Eutrophierung (TEUT), karzinogene Wirkungen (CE), nicht karzinogene Wirkungen (NCE), Abbau der Ozonschicht (OD), photochemische Ozonbildung (POC) und anorganische Wirkungen auf die Atemwege (RES)). Darüber hinaus wurde eine empfindliche Analyse durchgeführt, um die Variabilität der ERE bei verschiedenen Werten des direkten Rebound-Effekts und verschiedenen Prozentsätzen der Preiseffizienz zu messen.
Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Einbeziehung des Umwelt Rebound-Effekts im Allgemeinen eine nicht vernachlässigbare Auswirkung auf die gesamten Umweltindikatoren in allen untersuchten Jahren hat. Diese Auswirkungen reichen von 5 % (Eutrophierung) bis 6,109 % (Bildung photochemischer Oxidantien) für das kombinierte Modell, während die Werte für das Einzelmodell zwischen 1 % (Eutrophierung) und 9,277 % (Bildung photochemischer Oxidantien) liegen. Eine Sensitivitätsanalyse der Preiselastizität des Stroms und des Strompreises zeigt außerdem, dass die ERE auf unterschiedliche Weise variiert, d.h. Änderungen dieser Parameter könnten die Auswirkungen um bis zu <1% bzw. 38% verändern. Backfire-Effekte sind für 8 der 10 untersuchten Umweltauswirkungen in unterschiedlicher Größenordnung über die Jahre hinweg vorhanden, was im Wesentlichen von den für Re-Investitionen verfügbaren Einsparungen abhängt.
Schlüsselwörter. Umwelt-Rebound-Effekt, Verbesserung der Umwelteffizienz, nicht-konventionelle erneuerbare Ressourcen, LCA, STIRPAT.
The aim of this paper is to determine how a carbon footprint label for grocery products can be designed to facilitate a sustainable consumption behaviour. Therefore, a mixed-method approach was used consisting out of a review of relevant literature and an explorative quantitative survey with n = 158 participants. It was found that consumers generally have a positive attitude towards carbon labelling, but they lack understanding of the term, its underlying concepts and the emissions caused by grocery products. In regard to the design criteria of a carbon label, labels with a coloured scale are preferred most by consumers. Also, the mechanisms of consumer behaviour imply that not all parts of the behaviour are visible and controllable for individuals themselves. The concluding concept proposal summarises important criteria of a carbon labelling system that has the goal to educate consumers and facilitate a lower carbon consumption behaviour, such as a simple visual design, the use of a colour scale, a design enabling a comparison, the provision of a link to further information, the public enforcement of the system and overall uniformity.
It is understood among research and policy makers that addressing unsustainable individual consumption patterns is key for the vision of sustainable development. Education for Sustainable Consumption (ESC) is attributed a pivotal role for this purpose, aiming to improve the capacity of individuals to connect to and act upon knowledge, values and skills in order to respond successfully and purposefully to the demands of sustainable consumption. Yet despite growing political, scientific, and educational efforts to foster more sustainable consumption practices through ESC, and increasing awareness about the negative ecological and socio-economic impacts of individual consumer behavior in the general population, little has been achieved to substantially change behavioral patterns so far. As part of the explanation for this shortcoming, it has been argued that current ESC practices have neglected the personal dimension of sustainable consumption, especially the affective-motivational processes underlying unsustainable consumption patterns. Against this background, this cumulative thesis is guided by the question how personal competencies for sustainable consumption can be defined, observed, and developed within educational settings. Special attention is given to mindfulness practices, describing the practice of cultivating a deliberate, unbiased and openhearted awareness of perceptible experience in the present moment. These practices have received growing attention within ESC as a means to stimulate competencies for sustainable consumption. Drawing upon an explorative, qualitative research methodology, the thesis looks at three different mindfulness-based interventions aiming to stimulate competencies for sustainable consumption, reaching out to a total number of 321 participants (employees and university students).
In this thesis, I suggests to define personal competencies for sustainable consumption as abilities, proficiencies, or skills related to inner states and processes that can be considered necessary or sufficient to engage with sustainable consumption (SC). These include ethics, self-awareness, emotional resilience, selfcare, access to and cultivation of personal resources, access to and cultivation of ethical qualities, and mindsets for sustainability. It is argued that these competencies directly relate to those challenges individuals face when attempting to consume in a way that corresponds to their sustainability-related intentions or engage in SC-related learning activities. It provides evidence that the cultivation of (some of) these competencies allows individuals to overcome (some of) these challenges. The thesis holds that the observation of personal competencies benefits from a combination of different methodological and methodical angles. When working with self-reports as empirical data, a pluralistic qualitative methods approach can help overcoming shortcomings that are specifically related to individual methods while increasing the self-reflexivity of the research. This is especially important in order to reduce the risk of looking for desired outcomes and misinterpreting statements of the inquired population. This risk can also be diminished by discussing and adjusting interim findings with this population. Moreover, it is suggested to let learners analyze their own personal statements in groups, applying scientific methods. The products of the group analyses represent data based on an inter-subjectively shared perspective of learners that goes beyond self-estimation of personal competencies. In terms of developing personal competencies for SC, it can be concluded that mindfulness practice alone is not sufficient to build personal competencies for SC. While it can stimulate generic personal competencies, individuals do not necessarily apply these competencies within the domain of their consumption. Furthermore, even though the practice increases individuals’ self-awareness for current inner states and processes, practitioners do not seem to become aware of and reflect upon the more latent, personal predispositions out of which the current sensations occur.
Nevertheless, mindfulness practice can play an important role in ESC, insofar as it lays the inner foundation to engage with sustainability-related issues. More precisely, it allows learners to experience the relevance of their inner states and processes and the influence they have on actual behaviors, leading to a level of selfawareness that would not be accessible solely through discursive-intellectual means. Furthermore, participants experience mindfulness practice as a way to develop ethical qualities and access psychological resources, entailing stronger emotional resilience and improved well-being. In order to unleash its full potential for stimulating personal competencies for SC, however, the findings of the thesis suggest that mindfulness practice should be (a) complemented with methodically controlled self-inquiry and (b) related to a specific behavioral change. In this vein, self-inquiry-based and self-experience-based learning – two pedagogical approaches developed during the period of research for this thesis – turned out to be promising pedagogies for educational settings striving to stimulate the development of personal competencies for SC. Overall, the thesis makes a novel contribution to the field of competency-based ESC by suggesting personal competencies for sustainable consumption as important and desirable learning outcomes of ESC practices Furthermore, it provides specific pedagogies and learning activities in order to achieve these learning outcomes. As such, the thesis answers to general calls from education for sustainable development scholars to take the inner, affective-motivational dimension of individuals into consideration and makes a first suggestion as to how this can be systematically achieved.
Die Bedeutung einer ausgewogenen Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation wächst in der Unternehmenswelt sowohl auf nationaler als auch auf globaler Ebene kontinuierlich. Das Ziel dieser Dissertation ist es, die unterschiedlichen Arten der Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation multinationaler Unternehmen (MNE) zu analysieren und den Stellenwert des Herkunftslandes innerhalb der Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation von MNE zu ermitteln. Die Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation von MNE wird im Rahmen dieser Dissertation als integrierte oder nicht integrierte
Die kumulative Dissertation ´CSR-Berichterstattung als Teil unternehmerischen Kommunikationsmanagements und als Beitrag zur Unternehmensreputation´ stellt dar, wie CSR-Berichterstattung als Kommunikationsinstrument einen Beitrag zur Unternehmensreputation leisten kann. Zwei Artikel befassen sich mit CSR-Berichterstattung im deutschen bzw. im weltweiten Bankensektor. Die Ergebnisse des ersten Artikels zeigen, dass die zehn größten deutschen Banken in vier verschiedene Kategorien von Berichterstattern eingeteilt werden können. Der zweite Artikel zeigt, wie die 106 weltweit größten Banken ihre Corporate Websites für CSR-Kommunikation und -Berichterstattung nutzen und welche Kommunikationsmuster es gibt. Der dritte Artikel diskutiert CSR-Berichterstattung anhand von Theorien zum Signalling und zur Wahrnehmung durch Stakeholder. Sein wichtigster Beitrag ist ein konzeptionelles Framework für CSR-Berichterstattung, das zeigt wie ein CSR-Bericht als Kommunikationssignal zwei Filter passieren muss, sodass sich hierdurch die CSR-Reputation vorteilhaft oder unvorteilhaft verändern kann.
