51° 3/2010: Climate & Energy
If global warming continues at the current rate, it will have a huge impact on life on our planet. There is only one way we can stop this development: by drastically reducing emissions of the greenhouse gases that are primarily responsible for the warming process. At Stiftung Mercator, we are committed to implementing ambitious targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in Germany and Europe. This can only be achieved by means of a comparatively rapid policy shift towards a low carbon world. As this is where we can make the greatest impact, our strategy in our climate change cluster has a political focus.
The key area here is the energy sector, as the greatest quantity of greenhouse gases is generated during energy production. To change track and create a sustainable and climate-friendly energy system, we need to replace fossil energy sources with renewables. This involves fully restructuring the energy sector. In the autumn, the German government will present its energy concept, which will be accompanied by a national research strategy. Together with our partners, we will keep a critical eye on these concepts, bearing in mind the challenges that lie ahead, and draw up further-reaching proposals. This is why we have chosen to dedicate this edition of 51° to the topic of Climate & Energy.
In this edition, SEFEP Executive Director Kristina Steenbock talks about how the Smart Energy for Europe platform is supporting the political process towards a regenerative energy future. Ottmar Edenhofer from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research illustrates how different scenarios for realizing a sustainable energy system are being developed in our international research project Roadmaps towards Sustainable Energy Futures with a view to making these available to policy-makers as an aid to decision-making. We also report from the conference “The Great Transformation – Greening the Economy”, give the Climate working group of the Global Young Faculty the chance to speak, and provide you with an insight into our German-Chinese school project “Thinking ahead” (“(in) Zukunft mitdenken”) on climate change.