Headline: News 2020

The implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is indispensable for building a sustainable and just future. For that reason, technological innovations need to be assessed in terms of their compatibility with these goals. A new study shows that technologies for carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) can make a positive contribution to the energy transition.

In 2019, the new Packaging Act entered into force in Germany, tightening regulations governing packaging and resulting waste. However, improvements to this legislation are needed in order to further reduce the ecological impact of packaging waste. A new IASS Policy Brief offers three recommendations.

Faced with the challenges of digitalization and the climate crisis, many companies are keen to improve their sustainability. In a new study, researchers examine the potential uses of data analysis to strengthen corporate environmental management in the automotive industry. The study reveals that Big Data could enhance corporate environmental management in a variety of ways and that many of these opportunities are going untapped.

The economic recession induced by Covid-19 is threatening the global supply chains on which low-carbon technologies depend. Prof. Andreas Goldthau talks about the resulting risk to the climate and appropriate policy responses.

Climate change is gaining prominence as a political and public priority. But many ambitious climate action plans foresee the use of climate engineering technologies whose risks are insufficiently understood. In a new publication, IASS researchers describe how evolving modelling practices are trending towards “best-case” projections.

The precise form a climate-neutral society should take and the pathways that will lead us to that goal are questions not just for scientists and politicians, but for the whole of society. Citizens must be involved in the transition to climate neutrality. A new handbook on climate protection (Handbuch Klimaschutz) condenses the findings of around 300 scientific studies and provides a sound basis for a future citizens' assembly for climate protection.

For customers, investors and consumers alike, it can make a difference whether a company operates sustainably and adheres to ethical and ecological standards. Standardized and verifiable reports are needed so that companies can provide credible and verifiable evidence of their ability to walk the talk of sustainability. Reporting standards should present corporate contributions to sustainable development in manner that facilitates comparison and be universally applicable to companies of all sizes and types.

The threat posed by ozone to human health and vegetation continues to be a matter of concern for German politicians, scientists, and the general public. Participants in a workshop organised by the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) and the German Environment Agency (UBA) analysed the current state of knowledge on ozone and identified areas where more action is required. The resulting publication contains a catalogue of recommendations for tackling the ozone problem.