Wuppertal Institute Research Articles

Making the sustainability hotspot analysis more participatory—experiences from field research in Zambia

Food value chains constitute a core element of food systems. Along any value chain, several bottlenecks, and obstacles negatively affect the sustainability of the entire chain. Therefore, the identification and assessment of such sustainability hotspots is a vital step in the process towards higher levels of sustainability. Over the past few decades food value chains have been supported as part of development cooperation to help alleviate poverty and ensure food and nutrition security. However, so far, a suitable methodology to assess aspects of sustainability along such food value chains was not available. Therefore, we have adapted the sustainability hotspot analysis, originally developed by the Wuppertal Institute, and enhanced it with a participatory approach, thereby making it suitable for application in the context of development cooperation. In this paper, we present a step-by-step overview of the entire assessment process by using examples from its application in Zambia’s dairy and groundnut value chains. The developed methodology allows, through participatory means, the identification and assessment of sustainability aspects by stakeholders themselves, with the validation and amplification of assessment results by locally-based value chain experts. We demonstrate that results from this participatory hotspot analysis are aligned with the principles of agroecology promoted by the FAO, and are geared towards supporting transformative food system change processes. Our key findings from the application of the participatory hotspot analysis showed that sustainability hotspots occur in the social, economic, and ecological dimensions of sustainability along both value chains. It also became clear that hotspots are frequently interconnected, requiring a holistic approach based on a solid understanding of strong sustainability when designing solutions. We conclude that our participatory hotspot analysis provides a user-friendly methodology that generates action-oriented recommendations, and provides an ideal starting point in the development process for co-learning and co-creation of knowledge aimed at generating sustainability-enhancing innovations. The application of the participatory hotspot analysis reveals information on aspects that threaten the sustainability of value chains from a stakeholder perspective. Knowledge of these perspectives is essential, especially for development practitioners tasked with designing implementation strategies to improve the sustainability of value chains.

'Nutritional Footprint' in the Food, Meals and HoReCa Sectors: A Review.

Nowadays, the food industry is integrating environmental, social, and health parameters to increase its sustainable impact. To do this, they are using new tools to calculate the potential efficiency of nutritional products with lower levels of environmental impact. One of these tools is called the 'nutritional footprint', created by Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy GmbH. This study aims to review this concept and clarify its historical development, its use in several sectors of the food industry, and its transformation from a manual to an online tool. Results reflected that it is a suitable indicator that integrates nutritional, environmental, and social-economic dimensions to help the decision-making process in the procurement of more sustainable products and, although it is limited to Germany due to the use of the national standard nutritional intakes of Germany, its importance lies in the fact that is a promising instrument to promote environmental sustainability in the context of food, meals, and the hotel, restaurant and catering (HoReCa) sectors.

Highly Efficient SOFC System with Mk35x-Stack Module Operated with Gasified Biomass - HieffBioPower -

A stationary SOFC system utilizing gas from a biomass updraft gasifier is under development within the project “HiEffBioPower” by MAWERA, BIOS, Bosal, AVL, Calida Cleantech, Fraunhofer IKTS, Wuppertal Institute and University Utrecht (European Union Horizon2020 No. 727330). The system is based on Mk352-CFY-stack with Chromium based (CFY) interconnects and electrolyte supported cells. These stacks are robust, redox stable and demonstrated low degradation rates. The stacks are arranged to modules of eight 30-cell stacks and are electrically connected in series. The stack module was pre-tested at the test rig at IKTS and showed performance in accordance with system requirements. Stationary power points were measured to compare the behaviour of the stack module with the system tests at MAWERA. AVL designed and installed the overall SOFC system (heat exchangers, stack, catalytic afterburner, process control and visualisation) with a nominal capacity of 6 kWel. After shipping all parts of the SOFC system to MAWERA in Hard (AT), the coupling of the biomass gasifier, the gas cleaning unit and the SOFC system was conducted. The system is operated by an automated process control. The highest efforts needed the novel gas cleaning unit, consisting of a high temperature filter, a desulphurisation unit as well as a novel catalytic gas reforming stage developed by BIOS.The biomass gasifier has been operated with wood chips of different quality. The high tar contents of the product gas make a tar cracking essential to reach a high calorific value of the gas for the SOFC system. The novel gas cleaning system shows good performance and reaches the defined SOFC requirements. The SOFC system developed and operated by AVL reached stable conditions for several days. The operating results of the stack module at lab conditions and at the real system are in a good agreement. The SOFC stack module performance in terms of cell voltages, stack temperature distribution and fuel utilization under biomass reformate fuel will be shown and supported by several simulation to get an overall energy balance. Examples of optimization for several components by CFD simulation and component tests will be given.

Innovations for sustainable lifestyles: an agent-based model approach

An important aspect of any scientific approach to sustainability must be methods by which the impacts of possible innovations can be assessed. Clearly, we need to make massive changes in our lifestyles if we are to get anywhere near ‘sustainability’. In this paper, an ‘agent-based model’ is developed which for this initial presentation explores probable impacts on household consumption and emissions of possible innovations. The model randomly picks a large number (here 10,000, but it can be much larger) of households from four different countries and calculates the effects resulting from the adoption of specific innovations. The ‘lifestyle’ of the households within the area studied is divided into four different ‘domains’. These are living, food, mobility and energy. Innovations are launched in the four different domains and the model shows the overall effects on the total input requirements (materials, energy, etc.), the household and food wastes and the CO2 emissions, showing how far the system moves towards sustainability. By using the sustainability criteria of 8000 kg ‘input material’ per year per individual developed by the Wuppertal Institute (Lettenmeier et al. in Resources 3:488–515, 2014, https://doi.org/10.3390/resources3030488, http://www.mdpi.com/journal/resources, ISSN 2079-9276), we can calculate how far the nation or region is from sustainability after adopting possible innovations. This is a measure of the total inputs required per individual per year. It allows us to show that for different countries, with widely different climates (e.g. Finland and Spain), different household innovations would have a greater or lesser impact on attaining ‘sustainable lifestyles’. The model does not pretend to develop a full simulation of each system, including the ecosystem, type of economy, etc., but does look at the effect an innovation in one household domain will have on all four domains, thereby providing information that can improve current decisions. It also demonstrates that, although ‘households’ can do much to improve the situation by reducing their demand for energy and materials, some actions at a national/regional level will be required to achieve sustainability. For example, sustainability will require an end to the use of fossil fuels for transportation and a switch to ‘clean’ electrical power generation from renewables and nuclear sources. Without this change, these countries will find it impossible to reach a sustainable lifestyle.

WEEE collection and CRM recovery trials: piloting a holistic approach for Scotland

<p>Re-Tek UK and its partners, Enscape Consulting and the University of West of Scotland commenced trials for the collection and recovery of critical raw materials from waste electrical and electronic (WEEE) products in July 2016. Sponsored by the EU LIFE funded project ‘Critical Raw Material Closed Loop Recovery’ coordinated by WRAP with EARN, ERP UK Ltd, KTN Ltd and Wuppertal Institute as beneficiaries. The trials are aimed at boosting the recovery of critical raw materials (CRMs) from household waste electrical and electronic products (WEEE) and Information Communications Technology (ICT) in particular, after functioning equipment is separated out for re-use. The new collection models provided residents with the opportunity to drop-off unwanted electrical and electronic appliances at a time and place that suits them, through a collaborative approach which encourages local authorities, educational establishments, businesses, and Social Enterprises, etc to act as hub sites. Hubs were designed to minimize product damage and encourage drop-off, rather than hoarding. Extraction methods developed after the collection phase of the trial looked at the opportunity to recover cobalt, gold and silver from ICT products, with the potential to inform how a more sustainable supply chain could be developed in Scotland. The elements studied were selected to demonstrate financial opportunity (gold/silver) and a strategic priority material (cobalt) for long term supply. These are based on bioleaching and electrochemical recovery using novel carbon based electrode systems, and chemical processing methods using extraction techniques with an assessment of pilot performance and scale up challenges. Our report is on the state of progress towards practical solutions to WEEE and CRM recovery.</p>

User-integrated Innovations in Urban Areas for a Transition towards Sustainability

A continuing trend of global urbanization leads to a geographical concentration of population and social activities that causes a regional compression of concomitant resource and energy consumption. This paper argues that a Sustainable Living Lab infrastructure (SusLab) in urban areas facilitates a systematic integration of user’s consideration in the design and development of Product-Service Systems (PSS) that enables changes of daily routines in favor of urban wealth development and conservation of ecosystem services. The authors build on the Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Model of the Wuppertal Institute that provides a theoretical framework of sociotechnical rearrangements towards urban sustainability transition. Therefore, a reconfiguration of social practices and PSS in a desired direction according to social, ecological and economic concerns is reconsidered on the micro level in line with efficiency, consistency, and sufficiency strategies. The authors introduce an assessment framework for urban sustainable development and illustrate multifarious concepts of PSS that are aiming to decouple wealth development from resource and energy consumption in urban areas.

Climate-Policy Induced Migration

This working paper was based on research conducted in the context of the project ‘ClimAccount – Human Rights Accountability of the EU and Austria for Climate Policies in Third Countries and their possible Effects on Migration (KR13AC6K11043)’ funded by the Austrian Climate and Research Fund, ACRP 6th Call, that was implemented by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights (Vienna/Austria), the University of Bielefeld (Germany) and the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy (Germany). It constituted the basis for field research conducted in Panama, Kenya and Uganda in 2015.The focus of the paper was to clarify terminology and identify applicable instruments in connection with the category of climate-policy induced migration. In the process, common characteristics of the phenomenon with climate-induced migration and development-based displacement were highlighted. Moreover, obligations of states and institutions were elaborated.

Exploring Transition Research as Transformative Science: International Sustainability Transitions Conference 2016

The International Sustainability Transitions Conference (IST) will discuss advances in the field of sustainability transformations. The conference will be organized by the Sustainability Transitions Research Network, in which both the Wuppertal Institute and Leuphana University of Lüneburg participate.

“The Woodstock of Sustainability Science”: Impulses from the Wuppertal Making Utopia Possible Conference Week

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, several events took place in Wuppertal under the motto of Making Utopia Possible.

Drivers and barriers to return and recycling of mobile phones. Case studies of communication and collection campaigns

This article analyses drivers and barriers to returning and recycling mobile phones and their consideration in existing communication and collection campaigns.This is an important issue based on the fact that the mobile phone market is growing rapidly. In 2015 there are nearly 7 billion global mobile cellular subscriptions. This means that, at least theoretically, everyone in the world has access to mobile communication services (ITU, 2015). However, the production of mobile phones is linked to an increasing use of natural resources: the “ecological rucksack” of a mobile phone is equal to about 75 kg of resources (Nordmann et al. 2015); while the global recycling rate of mobile phones is under 10 per cent (Nokia, 2008; Tanskanen, 2012).In order to address this issue, the main factors that influence return and recycling behaviour (focussing on mobile phones) will be discussed in chapter 2 of this article. The theoretical analysis is based on the norm activation model by Ellen Matthies (2005). This analysis will be complemented by empirical data and findings generated in the research project “Return and use of old mobile phones”, funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy/Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, 2012–2014). To conclude, we will identify and operationalise essential components of mobile phone communication and collection campaigns, based on the theoretical approach of Matthies, literature and empirical studies, in order to develop a set of criteria for analysing and rating such communication and collection campaigns.The results show that economic incentives as well as education and communication play a very important role in initiating more sustainable behavioural patterns in the ICT sector. The role of emotional factors is often underestimated in the development of communication activities. In summary, successful mobile phone communication and collection campaigns require a combination of several institutional, economic, social and emotional factors.

Overcoming the Mikado Situation

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How effective are small-scale energy interventions in developing countries? Results from a post-evaluation on project-level

In many developing countries large parts of the population are negatively affected by the lack of access to clean and affordable energy. Providing sustainable energy services to these people has been acknowledged as a key component to reduce poverty. One form of development assistance to address the needs of the energy-poor at the local level are small-scale renewable energy projects. Like all development interventions, these energy projects are not intended to produce short-term outputs, but to create long-term impacts. Thus, it has become increasingly important to evaluate and accurately assess their sustainability. But despite the widely recognized need to identify successes factors and explain failure only few studies exist that address the sustainability of small-scale of energy development efforts post implementation. Against this background the paper presents the results of a post-evaluation of 23 projects supported via the Sustainable Energy Project Support (SEPS) scheme of the WISIONS initiative run by the Wuppertal Institute. The analysis provides insights on the influence that socio-economic, environmental, geographic and gender factors can have on the sustainability of small-scale renewable energy projects in developing countries.

Achieving absolute reductions in material throughput and energy use in society

Climate change, environmental pollution, exhaustion of raw materials, and ecosystem deterioration are some of the ecological challenges facing humanity. In addition, poverty and inequity are persisting problems, enhanced by population growth; challenging sustainable development. A deep change in the way we produce and consume is necessary; which would include changes in the economic system and in culture and lifestyles. A critical challenge for humanity is thus to bring society’s consumption of materials and energy, and its generation of wastes, to within ecological limits and to do this quickly enough to avoid serious irreversible damage to the planet’s life-supporting systems. For most of the natural resources used in modern society this means that the current level of global consumption needs to be reduced, for some resources quite drastically. This special volume asks a deceivingly simple question: How can a significant reduction in material throughput be achieved e to a ‘one-planet’ level and within a timeframe that avoids serious harm? Mainstream discussions among experts and policy makers on how to address humanity’s overconsumption of the Earth’s resources tend to focus on technical solutions and enhanced efficiency. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that technological advances and efficiency improvements are insufficient for dealing with the challenges we are currently facing. There is growing understanding that overreliance on technological progress and efficiency can further deepen our ecological predicament by postponing more fundamental systemic changes and perpetuating a social and economic order that is fundamentally flawed. The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, the Global Research Forum for Sustainable Production and Consumption, the World Resources Forum, and the Wuppertal Institute are running an exploratory project on REDUCTIONSe “Reducing Environmental Degradation & Unsustainable Consumption Trends & Impacts On Nature & Society: Research, Policy and Practice”. The project aims to identify, describe and analyze approaches to reduction in material

“Norm-Oriented Interpretation Learning” and Resource Use: The Concept of “Open-Didactic Exploration” as a Contribution to Raising Awareness of a Responsible Resource Use

It is widely accepted that environmental awareness is essential, yet does not inevitably lead to responsible use of resources. Additional factors on the individual level include the meaning constructed by the term “resources” and the individual and social norms that influence the relevant behavior. Current didactic concepts do not take into account such aspects. Therefore, this article uses a didactic-psychological approach for designing an educational concept for raising awareness for a responsible use of natural resources. Combining insights of environmental psychology and of constructivist didactics, a general principal of “norm-oriented interpretation learning” is outlined to enrich the didactic debate on responsible and efficient resource use. Based on the presentation of a qualifying module for resource efficiency consultants as a practical example of resource education, a new didactical approach, namely “open-didactic exploration” (short form: ODE) is introduced. The article discusses the theory-based elements of ODE and illustrates a step by step process for designing educational materials. This adds to the theoretical debate about a didactic design for resource oriented education. Furthermore, this method can be directly used by practitioners developing education and training material (e.g., teachers, trainers in vocational education). The Wuppertal Institute developed and applied this method in numerous projects. The conclusion and outlook discusses future expectations and scope of the introduced ODE method as a contribution to foster “norm-oriented interpretation learning”, suggesting perspectives for further development.

Calculating MIPS 2.0

The Wuppertal Institute developed, in the early 1990s, an input-oriented lifecycle-wide resource accounting method, the “Material Input per Service-Unit” concept (MIPS), today also referred to as “Material Footprint”. The official handbook applicable to products, services, and processes describes a MS Excel-based sequential approach for calculating MIPS. Today’s computing power, available to every researcher, and access to software and databases dedicated to lifecycle analysis make calculating MIPS using matrix inversion possible. This also opens up possibilities for enhancing MIPS-models programmatically: parameterizing the foreground and background systems, batch modeling for producing time series, and computational algorithms enhancing interpretation. The article provides (1) an overview of the methods and tools used for calculating MIPS from its origins to today, and (2) demonstrates some of the programmatically enhanced capabilities offered to MIPS-practitioners.

Total Material Requirement of Growing China: 1995–2008

This article presents the accounts of China’s Total Material Requirement (TMR) during 1995–2008, which were compiled under the guidelines of Eurostat (2009) and with the Hidden Flow (HF) coefficients developed by the Wuppertal Institute. Subsequently, comparisons with previous studies are conducted. Using decomposition, we finally examine the influential factors that have changed the TMR of China. The main findings are the following: (1) During 1995–2008 China’s TMR increased from 32.7 Gt to 57.0 Gt. Domestic extraction dominated China’s TMR, but a continuous decrease of its shares can be observed. In terms of material types, excavation constituted the biggest component of China’s TMR, and a shift from biomass to metallic minerals is apparent; (2) Compared with two previous studies on China’s TMR, the amounts of TMR in this study are similar to the others, whereas the amounts of the used part of TMR (Direct Material Input, DMI) are quite different as a result of following different guidelines; (3) Compared with developed countries, China’s TMR per capita was much lower, but a continuous increase of this indicator can be observed; (4) Factors of Affluence (A) and Material Intensity (T), respectively, contributed the most to the increase and decrease of TMR, but the overall decrease effect is limited.

Resource intensity in global food chains: the Hot Spot Analysis

PurposeThe Hot Spot Analysis developed by the Wuppertal Institute is a screening tool focussing on the demand of reliable sustainability‐oriented decision‐making processes in complex value chains identifying high priority areas (“hot spots”) for effective measures in companies. This paper aims to focus on this tool.Design/methodology/approachThe Hot Spot Analysis is a qualitative method following a cradle‐to‐cradle approach. With the examples of coffee and cream cheese hot spots of sustainability indicators throughout the entire life cycle are identified and evaluated with data from literature reviews and expert consultations or stakeholder statements. This paper focuses on the indicator resource efficiency as an example of how the methodology works.FindingsThe identified hot spots for coffee are the raw material procurement phase in terms of abiotic material, water and energy consumption, the production phase concerning biotic material and the energy consumption in the use phase. For cream cheese relevant hot spots appear in the raw material procurement phase in terms of biotic materials and water as well as biotic materials and energy consumption during the production phase.Research limitations/implicationsLife cycle analyses connected to indicators like resource efficiency need to be applied as consequent steps of a Hot Spot Analysis if a deeper level of analysis is eventually aimed at which is more cost and time intensive in the short term. The Hot Spot Analysis can be combined with other sustainability management instruments.Practical implicationsResearch and management can be directed to hot spots of sustainability potential quickly which pays off in the long term.Originality/valueThe paper shows that companies can address sustainability potentials relatively cost moderately.

Ecological Efficiency Comparison of Fisheries Resources Utilization

The faster developing of fisheries activities could give some negative impacts for environment. The problems such as over-fishing, by-catch, habitat degradation, and fisheries management could be the main issues that developed with the activities of this sector. Coastal fisheries valued over-fishing, meanwhile high fisheries is not optimally utilized yet. For giving recommendation to develop fisheries need a holistic study. The beginning step is studying the comperazing of ecological efficiency between coastal – and high fisheries. The objective goal of this study is knowing the comperazing of ecological efficiency between coastal – and high fisheries in Sukabumi District. The method use MIPS (Material Input Per Service unit) that developed by Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environmental, Energy (WI). The result of MIPS calculation show the different of ecological efficiency. For having 1 kg fresh fish from high fisheries and directly saled need the abiotic input 0,19 kg, biotic 1,26 kg, water 1,49 kg and air 0,03 kg, meanwhile for having 1 kg fresh fish from coastal fisheries and directly saled need the abiotic input 0,14 kg, biotic 1,33 kg, water 1,08 kg and air 0,04 kg. Averagely for having 1 kg fish from high fisheries need the material input of abiotic 0,35 kg, biotic 1,41 kg, water 2,89 kg and air 0,12 kg, meanwhile for having 1 kg fish from coastal fisheries need the material input of abiotic 0,27 kg, biotic 1,34 kg, water 1,95 kg and air 0,10 kg.

<b>Cleaner Production: A Growing Movement in Brazilian Companies</b>

Cleaner Production (CP) is gaining emphasis in both world and Brazilian production sectors. Nature’s warnings indicating the exhaustion of any capacity to absorb and regenerate waste, stricter legislation regarding pollution emitters, market competitiveness associated with environmental and social responsibility cause concerns and lead to actions to reduce aggressions against the environment. This paper shows evidence of this concern and presents cases in which a large automotive industry, acting as a partner to suppliers, promotes changes in how it delivers its products, eliminating large cardboard, plastic and wood packaging. A small company had a similar initiative, reducing the use of cardboard and plastic packaging. More important is the revelation of a widely dispersed, yet growing and incremental movement of responsibilities among companies.The benefits of cleaner production implementation were evaluated by confronting environmental and financial assessment. For the ambient evaluation, it will be used methodology of Material Intensity (Wuppertal Institute, a).

Tapping the leakages: Methane losses, mitigation options and policy issues for Russian long distance gas transmission pipelines

The Russian natural gas industry is the world's largest producer and transporter of natural gas. This paper aims to characterize the methane emissions from Russian natural gas transmission operations, to explain projects to reduce these emissions, and to characterize the role of emissions reduction within the context of current GHG policy. It draws on the most recent independent measurements at all parts of the Russian long distance transport system made by the Wuppertal Institute in 2003 and combines these results with the findings from the US Natural Gas STAR Program on GHG mitigation options and economics. With this background the paper concludes that the methane emissions from the Russian natural gas long distance network are approximately 0.6% of the natural gas delivered. Mitigating these emissions can create new revenue streams for the operator in the form of reduced costs, increased gas throughput and sales, and earned carbon credits. Specific emissions sources that have cost-effective mitigation solutions are also opportunities for outside investment for the Joint Implementation Kyoto Protocol flexibility mechanism or other carbon markets.