Ecological Economics Matters

03.07.2019

WIFO lectures by Claudia Kettner-Marx and Ina Meyer at International Conference

From 18 to 21 June 2019, the 13th International Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE) was held at the University of Turku, Finland, with an emphasis on "Co-Creation – Making Ecological Economics Matter". WIFO environmental economists Claudia Kettner-Marx and Ina Meyer contributed two presentations.

Claudia Kettner-Marx presented an analysis of climate policy integration in EU energy policy. Her presentation focused on climate policy integration in strategic energy policy documents on the one hand and on a comparison of the Renewable Energy Directive and the Energy Efficiency Directive for the period 2020-2030 with existing legislation on the other hand. The results show that climate change mitigation is a key objective in all energy policy documents examined. In addition, EU legislative procedures ensure the full involvement of all stakeholders.

The targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency are synergetic with climate policy. Other issues such as energy security, however, sometimes conflict with climate policy objectives (e.g. as the development of fossil energy sources is called for to ensure security of supply). The proposed revisions of the Renewable Energy Directive and the Energy Efficiency Directive include a moderate increase in target values. However, priority grid access for renewable energies has been abolished and concrete national targets have been replaced by an EU-wide target.

Ina Meyer presented results on the co-creation of long-term local socio-economic scenarios. These were developed in a research project on climate sensitive risk management (ARISE) in an explorative case study in the City of Lienz (East Tyrol) with stakeholders from administration, business and civil society.

Socio-economic scenarios show different pathways and identify key dimensions and drivers along which societies and economies may evolve. They are used to deal with uncertainties. Large uncertainties over future developments and structures of societies and economies make the assessment of climate change impacts, vulnerabilities and adaptation options a challenging and complex task for decision-makers. The co-creation of local scenarios enables idiosyncratic conditions to be identified and local and expert knowledge to be integrated and used for future decisions for a climate resilient risk management system.

Further informationen: https://esee2019turku.fi/
 

Publications

Ina Meyer, Michiko Hama, Robert Jandl, Markus Leitner, Markus Keuschnig, Ivonne Anders, Oliver Fritz, Helene Berthold, Brigitte Eder
Regional Environmental Change, 2019, 19, (4), pp.1059-1971, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10113-018-1439-y
The aim of this case study was to conduct a participatory approach to socioeconomic scenario development in the city of Lienz (East Tyrol) and to suggest this process-oriented approach as an element of an integrated guiding and decision support tool for local resilience and risk management to policy makers, business leaders, and civil society. The paper takes a socio-economic perspective and describes the settings of the case study, the process, and approach taken for co-creating two distinct normative socio-economic scenario narratives for the city of Lienz: a desirable or resilient future and an undesirable or stagnant future. Results are presented as sector-specific scenario narratives. Matching the local scenario narratives with the global shared socioeconomic pathways, it derives that local peculiarities such as population decline due to outmigration trends or decentralised manufacturing industry and educational institutions were judged to be critical factors in securing local resilience for a prospering future.
WIFO Working Papers, 2018, (551), 30 pages
Online since: 01.02.2018 0:00
The integration of climate policy concerns in other policy areas, where decisions are taken that determine greenhouse gas emissions, is a prerequisite for effectively mitigating climate change. There are particularly strong interlinkages between energy policy and climate policy as the major part of greenhouse gas emissions is related to energy supply and use. In this paper we initially compile a set of seven indicators for assessing climate policy integration (political commitment, actors, functional overlap, time perspective, weighting and resources, policy instruments, and emission impact). We then apply the criteria for an appraisal of climate policy integration in EU energy policy during the last decade, i.e., we focus on CPI from a horizontal perspective. The focus of our research lies on strategic energy policy documents, on the one hand, and on the comparison of four key energy policy documents in the context of the 2016 Winter Package to existing legislation, on the other. Our results show that mitigation of climate change is a key objective in all energy policy documents analysed. Furthermore, EU legislative processes ensure a comprehensive involvement of all stakeholders. The energy policy objectives regarding renewable energy and energy efficiency are synergetic and reinforcing with climate policy. It has to be noted, however, that other energy policy documents, like the Energy Security Strategy, contain conflicting issues and the proposed recasts of existing legislation reduce preferential treatment for renewables.
Michiko Hama, Brigitte Eder, Paul Dobesberger, Markus Keuschnig (alpS), Andreas Baumgarten, Helene Berthold (AGES), Robert Jandl, Johanna Kohl, Christian Lackner (BFW), Reinhard Mechler, Ziga Malek, Keith Williges (IIASA), Markus Leitner, Ivo Offenthaler, Astrid Felderer, Natalie Glas (Federal Environment Agency), Stefan Kienberger, Raphael Spiekermann, Peter Zeil (University of Salzburg), Ina Meyer, Oliver Fritz (WIFO), Ivonne Anders, Andreas Schaffhauser (ZAMG)
Globale Probleme – lokale Risiken. Vom künftigen Leben mit dem Klimawandel – Eine Entscheidungshilfe für Gemeinden (Global Challenges – Local Risks. Of Future Lives with Climate Change – A Decision-making Tool for Municipalities)
Studies, August 2016, 24 pages
Commissioned by: Klima- und Energiefonds
Study by: alpS – Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety – Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape – International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis – Environment Agency Austria – University of Salzburg – Austrian Institute of Economic Research – Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik – Geoconsult
Online since: 06.10.2016 0:00
 
Die Identifikation und insbesondere Visualisierung der Schlüsselrisiken des Klimawandels auf Gemeindeebene anhand des Konzeptes der "lokalen Gründe zur Besorgnis" dient als Kommunikations- und Entscheidungshilfe für (lokale) Akteurinnen und Akteure im ganzheitlichen klimasensitiven Risikomanagement. Dieses Konzept füllt eine wichtige Lücke in der Entscheidungsfindung und ermöglicht eine gezielte Auswahl aus der Fülle von möglichen Anpassungsmaßnahmen und –strategien. Es schafft und stärkt Bewusstsein und Handlungsverantwortung für bestehende, entstehende und künftige Risiken. Durch das Verfahren können gängige Praktiken im Umgang mit Risiken überarbeitet und mögliche künftige (klimatische sowie sozioökonomische) Entwicklungen in die Beurteilung der Risiken sowie in Entwicklungskonzepte der Gemeinden mit einbezogen werden. Die Entscheidungsverantwortlichen werden dadurch unterstützt, präventiv zu handeln und die für ihre Gemeinde notwendigen Maßnahmen rechtzeitig zu treffen.
Please contact

Mag. Dr. Claudia Kettner-Marx, MSc

Research groups: Climate, Environmental and Resource Economics

Dipl.-Vw. Dr. Ina Meyer

Research groups: Climate, Environmental and Resource Economics
© Dan Gold/Unsplash
© Dan Gold/Unsplash