Indicator system for the sustainability assessment of the German energy system and its transition

Abstract

In response to climate change, the limited availability of fossil fuels and the risks associated with nuclear energy, Germany's energy transition aims to achieve a sustainable, environmentally sound supply of energy services. A monitoring process was established by the Federal Government to ensure that the targets defined for the transformation will be reached. The indicator system developed for that purpose mainly focuses on "classical" environmental, economic and technological indicators for which statistical time series data and political targets are available. Important socio-technical aspects of the energy system and its transition, such as affordability, participation and acceptance, remain largely neglected. This paper aims to contribute to the discussion on indicators needed for political decision-making to appropriately address sustainability aspects of the energy system and its transition, as well as to contribute to improving existing indicator systems. Therefore, the sustainability rules of the Integrative Concept of Sustainable Development were translated into indicators based on an in-depth literature review. The resulting abundance of possible indicators was then reduced using selection criteria such as comprehensiveness, possibility to determine targets and availability of data. Finally, the indicator system was adjusted based on feedback of experts from different disciplines and stakeholder interviews in the particular investigation area of southwest Thuringia. Besides classical indicators related to techno-economic and environmental aspects, the finally developed indicator system includes new sustainability indicators related to the socio-technical interface of the energy system. Thus, it is considered suitable for assessing the sustainability of the Germany energy system and its transition in an integrative and comprehensive way. The indicator system is helpful to systematically identify strengths and weaknesses of the energy system and interdependencies and conflicts of goals between different sustainability aspects. All in all, we believe that applying the indicator system appropriately can support the development of resilient political strategies for a successful energy transition.

A new approach to semantic sustainability assessment: text mining via network analysis revealing transition patterns in German municipal climate action plans

“…In the context of municipal climate action, this study opens up the question what sustainable configurations of network patterns should look like with regard to cross-sectoral multilevel collaboration and allocation of responsibility or authority The findings of this study indicate serious local transition efforts (F: 1-3, 6, 8, 12, 21, 22), while traces of the societal "carbon lock-in" highlighted by Unruh [115] could still be identified (F: 7,17,19,25,26). Of course, such lock-ins cannot be solved solely at the municipal level.…”

“…Reviews of monitoring and assessment tools [14][15][16] or exemplary frameworks [17][18][19] show that sustainability monitoring has so far mainly been based on physical data such as mass, energy, or emission balances and socioeconomic indicators. This kind of data describes impacts of human action caused, e.g., by the implementation of policies [20].…”

Complexity is no excuse

“…For typical examples, see e.g. Rockström et al (2009), Carpenter et al (2009), Rosch et al (2017) and Genus (2014.…”

“…Specifically, frameworks and evaluation criteria for sustainability assessment derived from general definitions of SD have been developed and used successfully for aiding transdisciplinary transition processes (see e.g. Ekins et al 2003;Frame and O'Connor 2011;Grunwald and Rösch 2011;Kopfmuller et al 2009;Luederitz et al 2016;Nevens et al 2013;Rosch et al 2017). However, I have not yet found an overarching model for SD research that attempts to span the width of the SD concept and provide a generic structure for relating that explicitly and systematically to practice.…”

“…Yet examples of studies that focus on linking SD principles and SD theory to specific practices exist within fields such as adaptive management, ecological economics, integrated approaches to SD, and transition management (see e.g. Ekins et al 2003;Frame and O'Connor 2011;Grunwald and Rösch 2011;Kopfmuller et al 2009;Luederitz et al 2016;Nevens et al 2013;Rosch et al 2017). Furthermore, several well-renowned organisations are making important progress in this respect, for example, the Harvard Sustainability Science Program, the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition, the STEPS Centre, DRIFT and the Stockholm Resilience Centre.…”