Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Faculty of Life Sciences - Resource Economics

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• Angelika Vogt at FSR Climate Annual Conference 2019: Angelika Vogt participated in the Annual Conference 2019 of „Florence School of Regulation“ (FSR) teilgenommen. Further Information: FSR Climate Annual Conference, 2019 - 28 November. 05/12/2019
• Archetype analysis in sustainability research ... Article in Ecology and Society: The paper provides an overview of the methodological portfolio available for archetype analysis. It proposes a classification of analytical methods based on causality, normativity, spatial considerations and time. Sietz, Diana, Frey, Ulrich, Roggero, Matteo, Gong, Yanqing, Magliocca, Nicholas, Tan, Rong, Janssen, Peter, and Václavík, Tomáš. 2019. “Archetype analysis in sustainability research: methodological portfolio and analytical frontiers.” In Ecology and Society 24(3):34. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11103-240334. 27/11/2019
• Paul Neetzow - Promotion abgeschlossen: Paul Neetzow hat am 21.11.2019 seine Doktorarbeit erfolgreich verteidigt. Das Thema der Dissertation lautet: „The economics of power system transitions: Modeling pathways and policies for storage, grids and renewables”. 21/11/2019
• Peak-load pricing ... Article in Journal of Regulatory Economics: What happens with a large share of renewables in the electricity system, if remaining conventional power plants are not sufficiently felxible? The theoretical paper studies far-reaching implications for the design of future electricity markets. Eisenack, K. and M. Mier (2019) Peak-load pricing with different types of dispatchability. Journal of Regulatory Economics, DOI: 10.1007/s11149-019-09394-9. 21/11/2019
• REG @ S4F: Today, members of the Resource Economics Group joined the climate strike organized by Scientists for Future with the slogan "EVERYTHING HAS BEEN SAID. ACT!"

  in front of the Office of the Chancellor. As REG, we endorse the demands of the Scientists for Future. 15/11/2019

• David Landholm at CoRE Seminar: David Landholm from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) gave a talk on his current research on "Tropical deforestation and its relation to internationally-traded commodities" in our CoRE Seminar (Colloquium in Resource Economics) at the 5th of November. David's doctoral thesis is co-supervised by Klaus Eisenack. 12/11/2019

• Third Workshop on Archetype Analysis: The 3rd Workshop of Archetype Analysis in Sustainability Research, Co-chaired by Tomas Vaclavic, Diana Sietz, Christoph Oberlack and Klaus Eisenack, was successfully held in Olomouc, Czech Republic. 03/11/2019

• Ressourcenökonomik in zwei Projekten beteiligt an erster „Grand Challenge Initiative” der BERLIN UNIVERSITY ALLIANCE: Zur Vorbereitung und Themenentwicklung zu „Exploration Projects“ und „Research Units“ im Themenfeld Social Cohesion wurden am 1. November 2019 zwei Projekte bewilligt, an denen aus unserer Gruppe Achim Hagen und Klaus Eisenack beteiligt sind: "PostFossil-A just transition to a post fossil society" und "Social Cohesion in times of changing Climates". 01/11/2019

• Call for Papers – Special Issue on “Natural Resources Management and Conflicts in the Context of Sustainability Transformation”. Dr. Matteo Roggero is among the guest-editors of the special issue, together with Prof. Dimitrios Zikos and Dr. Ourania Papasozomenou. 25/10/2019
• Our new logo! since October 2019. 23/10/2019
• New paper on the impact of power plant flexibility on the efficient transition to renewable generation: Neetzow, Paul. 2019. “How to Go Green? The Effects of Power System Flexibility on the Efficient Transition to Renewable Generation.” Working Paper des Departments für Agrarökonomie No. 96/2019. Berlin. 26/09/2019
• Neue Publikation: Rethinking Resilience ...: Hamborg, Steffen, Jasper N. Meya, Klaus Eisenack, and Thorsten Raabe. 2020. “Rethinking Resilience: A Cross-Epistemic Resilience Framework for Interdisciplinary Energy Research.” Energy Research & Social Science 59 (January): 101285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2019.101285. 25/09/2019
• Dawud Ansari - Promotion abgeschlossen: Herr Dawud Ansari hat am 23.10.2019 seine Doktorarbeit erfolgreich verteidigt. Das Thema der Dissertation lautet: „Numerical models for emerging energy and resource issues: Examples from tight oil, global energy, and rural electrification”. 24/10/2019
• Thaer-Förderpreise für Jasper Meya und Antonia Schuster: Den Albrecht-Daniel-Thaer-Förderpreis des Kalenderjahres 2018 für die herausragendste Promotionsleistung erhält Dr. Jasper Meya. Frau Antonia Schuster wird für ihre Masterarbeit prämiert. Die Preise werden am 11. Oktober 2019 anlässlich des Erntefestes in Dahlem vergeben. 16/09/2019
• Teenagers discuss! With Klaus Eisenack: On September 12, 2019, Klaus Eisenack was guest at the “Stiftung Jugend und Bildung“ / Eduversum Verlag. Keep Cool Climate Game with Klaus Eisenack on Salonfestival - Learning by Gaming. 12/09/2019

• Constantin Seidl at CoRE seminar: Constantin Seidl from the University of Adelaide presented his current research on September 10, 2019 "Traditional, corporate or environmental: the influence of attitudes on Murray-Darling Basin farmers’ future adaptation strategies" in the CoRE seminar (Colloquium in Resource Economics). He is an alumnus of M.Sc. Agricultural Economics at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. 10/09/2019

• Paul Neetzow at the scholarship days of the Reiner Lemoine-Stiftung: Paul Neetzow participated in the scholarship days of the Reiner Lemoine-Stiftung (6.9. and 7.9.2019) and presented his recent research on renewable energy policies in federal government systems (Paper on renewable energy policies in federal government system). His PhD project "The economics of power system transitions" was funded by the Reiner Lemoine-Stiftung from January 2018 to June 2019. 07/09/2019
• Deutsche Welle "Keep Cool - a game to battle climate change?": https://www.dw.com/en/keep-cool-a-game-to-battle-climate-change/av-50011204. 21/08/2019
• No. 28 in international ranking: Master program Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM): Among 200 European programs in "Energy and Natural Resources", M.Sc.INRM made it to 28th position. The ranking has been published by Eduniversal, who inform students from all over the world about the best Master and MBA programs since 1994. The ranking is based on the assessment by recent graduates, recruiters, and an expert panel. 29/07/2019
• New paper on renewable energy policies in federal government systems: Meya, J.N., and Neetzow, P. (2019). Renewable energy policies in federal government systems, Oldenburg Discussion Papers in Economics, V-423-19. 22/07/2019
• Green roofs are not all equal. Soon more in: Roggero, Matteo. 2019. “Social Dilemmas, Policy Instruments, and Climate Adaptation Measures: The Case of Green Roofs.” Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-019-09883-4. 19/07/2019

• Climate clubs ... / Strategic cooperation ... Publicationes online now: Published online: July 03, 2019: Hagen, A. and K. Eisenack (2019) Climate clubs vs. single coalitions: the ambition of international environmental agreements, Climate Change Economics, https://doi.org/10.1142/S2010007819500118; Published online: Mai 31, 2019: Roggero, M., L. Kähler and A. Hagen (2019) Strategic cooperation for transnational adaptation: lessons from the economics of climate change mitigation. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-019-09442-x. 03/07/2019

• European Association for Environmental & Resource Economists: Paul Neetzow, Achim Hagen and Klaus Eisenack visited the EAERE 2019 conference in Manchester. Preparations for EAERE 2020 in Berlin scale up. 26/06/2019

• Workshop on the Ostrom Workshop: Anastasiia Gotgelf, Matteo Roggero and Klaus Eisenack  held an Archetypes Session at the Ostrom Workshop, and a panel on teaching the IAD. 19/06/2019

• Finals of Keep Cool World Championship: The finals with the climate change game took place at the Long Science Night in Berlin. In parallel, players participated from Moldavia. Winner is Alina MD, Anastasiia DE made the second place. Congratulations! 15/06/2019

• Economics of Climate Change:The FoReSee Project has been presented at the Dialogue on the Economics of Climate Change. 13/06/2019

• Neues Format für akademische Feier am Thaer-Insitut: Mitteilung des Institutsdirektors Professor Schmidt zur Neuorganisation der akademischen Feier.Der Institutsrat hat am 13.3.2019 beschlossen, bezüglich der am Thaer-Institut bestehenden Traditionen der akademischen Feiern und Sommerfeste ein neues Format einzuführen.Lesen Lesen Sie hierzu das Schreiben von Herrn Professor Schmidt vom 15. Mai 2019. 15/05/2019

• Neuerscheinung: Eisenack, Klaus, and Anja Wirsing. 2019. “Spielend in die Utopie.” In Möglichkeitswissenschaften. Ökonomie mit Möglichkeitssinn, edited by Lars Hochmann, Silja Graupe, Thomas Korbun, Stephan Panther, and Uwe Schneidewind, 617–37. Marburg: Metropolis Verlag. 08/05/2019

• Achim Hagen am ZEW und der Universität Mannheim: Achim Hagen hält als einer von sechs geladenen Referentinnen und Referenten im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung der Abteilung Volkswirtschaftslehre an der Universität Mannheim am 8. Mai 2019 den Vortrag "International Environmental Agreements: Climate Coalitions and the Effect of Trade Sanctions". Außerdem präsentiert er am selben Tag aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse zu "Self-Enforcing Environmental Federations" im Rahmen der Lunchseminarreihe am ZEW – Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung. 03/05/2019

• „Keep Cool“ in PNAS: KEEP COOL and KEEP COOL studie in Roberta Kwok: „Can climate change games boost public understanding?“ 7602–7604 | PNAS | April 16, 2019 | vol. 116 | no. 16. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1903508116. 23/04/2019
• CARB-ASIA Project Kick-off Meeting, Bishkek, 29 March 2019:"Development of methods for organic carbon stock assessment and improvement of climate change reporting on agricultural ecosystems in Kyrgyzstan". CARB-ASIA project team in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Industry and Melioration of the Kyrgyz Republic has successfully organised and conducted the Kick-off Meeting on 29 March 2019 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. More than 25 representatives of the Kyrgyz national authorities, GIZ Bishkek, FAO, as well as NGOs and universities took part at the meeting and discussed the project objectives and planned activities. The participants also exchanged ideas and experiences regarding the potential directions in which the method can be developed and the institutional framework adapted. 03/04/2019

• Stranded assets – what, where, who? - FoReSee-Workshop, March 26-27, 2019 in Berlin: On March 26-27 the workshop "Stranded assets – what, where, who?" of the FoReSee-project was organized by the Resource Economics Group. 27/03/2019

• Prof. Dr. Barbara Praetorius at CoRe: On March 19th, 2019 Prof. Dr. Barbara Praetorius (HTW Berlin), co-Chair of the Commission for Growth, Structural Change and Employment, presented and discussed the findings and recommendations of the commission regarding energy transition, at the Colloquium of the Resource Economics Group (CoRE). Title of the presentation “Phasing out coal in German power generation:

  State of the art, challenges and perspectives of energy transition.” 20/03/2019

• Prof. Dr. Insa Theesfeld ist neue Präsidentin der IASC: Prof. Dr. Insa Theesfeld ist die neue Präsidentin der "International Association for the Study of the Commons" (IASC). Dieses 6-jährige Amt trat sie am 15. Januar 2019 zunächst als President-Elect an. Siehe auch: https://www.iasc-commons.org/new-iasc-council-starts-office-today/

  Die IASC ist eine internationale Vereinigung mit über 1.000 Mitgliedern, in der sich Experten aus Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Politik mit der Nutzung und dem Management von Gemeingütern beschäftigen. Prof. Dr. Insa Theesfeld, Ökonomin an der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), habilitierte an der Landwirtschaftlich-Gärtnerischen Fakultät der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin zum Thema: “Power and Leadership in Natural Resource Management – Institutional Analysis of Water Governance” und erhielt ihre Lehrbefugnis am 18. Dezember 2013. Ihre Dissertation zum Thema: "A Common-Pool Resource in Transition: Determinants of Bulgaria's Postsocialist Irrigation Sector" schrieb sie von 2000 bis 2004 am Fachgebiet Ressourcenökonomie der Landwirtschaftlich-Gärtnerischen Fakultät. 05/03/2019

• New discussion paper on the death spiral for the coal industry in the U.S.: The paper examines the causes of the decline of the US coal industry over the last decade and analyzes whether the current policy shift could reverse the trend. The main drivers for the decline are the competitive situation with cheap gas-fired generation and renewables. Climate policy interventions have so far played a minor role. Thus, the old and inefficient U.S. coal-fired power plant fleet will shrink further, despite the reorientation of U.S. energy and climate policy. Only with the massive interventions, which were assumed in the examined scenarios - - contrary to the current trends- , the decline can be halted. Especially for investments in production facilities, however, the risk of becoming stranded assets by national or international climate policy is very high. Mendelevitch, Roman, Christian Hauenstein, and Franziska Holz. 2019. “The Death Spiral of Coal in the USA: Will New U.S. Energy Policy Change the Tide?” 1790. DIW Berlin Discussion Paper. Berlin, Germany: German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin). 22/02/2019

• THESys Award 2018 for Lea Fink: On January 31, 2019, Ms. Fink was awarded the THESys Award for best Master Thesis 2018.  The topic of the final thesis in the M.Sc. Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) read: "What drives firms to successfully cooperate on climate change? - an institutional analysis of the Science Based Targets initiative ". 20/02/2019

• KEEP COOL mobile seeks World Champion!: The KEEP COOL mobile Climate Game is the first multi-player game on international climate policy. It can be played on smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers, even simultaneously in different places of the world.Each player acts as mayor of a metropolis and, in order to win the game, has to strike a balance between economic success and C02 reduction.This year KEEP COOL mobile goes for an international competition organising the Keep Cool World Cup 2019!Join the World Cup contest via www.climate-worldcup.net/. 15/02/2019

• New discussion paper on the financing and organization of the decommissioning of the German nuclear power plants published: The discussion paper analyzes whether the legislative package on "Reassignment of Responsibility in Nuclear Waste Management" ultimately benefits the general public. To this end, it introduces a two-stage stochastic optimization system, which details the various stages of dismantling and the resulting waste flows and storage levels of low and medium waste, as well as the associated costs. Scherwath, Tim, Ben Wealer, and Roman Mendelevitch. 2019. “Nuclear Decommissioning after the German Nuclear Phase-Out: An Integrated View on New Regulations and Nuclear Logistics.” 1779. DIW Berlin Discussion Paper. Berlin, Germany: German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin).   10/01/2019
• New book chapter examines the role of network infrastructure in the transformation of the European electricity system: This chapter examines the role of electricity, gas and CO2 transport infrastructure in the transformation of the European electricity system. Although these infrastructures may play a role, they are not necessarily the deciding factors for a low-carbon transformation. Often, cost-efficient measures such as improving regulation or tightening access rules are more effective than capital-intensive infrastructure development. We conclude that contrary to the trend of announcing mega-projects, especially regional and local infrastructure cooperation will be the way forward. Holz, Franziska, Jonas Egerer, Clemens Gerbaulet, Pao-Yu Oei, Roman Mendelevitch, Anne Neumann, and Christian von Hirschhausen. 2018. “Energy Infrastructures for the Low-Carbon Transformation in Europe.” In Energiewende “Made in Germany,” edited by Christian von Hirschhausen, Clemens Gerbaulet, Claudia Kemfert, Casimir Lorenz, and Pao-Yu Oei, 283–317. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95126-3_11.   10/01/2019
• New book chapter on the role of coal-fired power generation with Carbon Capture and Storage, nuclear power and renewable energies in the transformation of the European electricity system: Based on a historical review, the chapter describes the development of European power generation. After a summary of the emergence of the European electricity market and the evolution of European climate policy, the chapter critically examines the three pillars of the transformation of the European electricity system: Carbon Capture, Transport and Storage (CCTS), Nuclear Power, and Renewable Energy. Coal and nuclear power, the two energy sources that Germany has banished from its energy mix, are still high on the European agenda. The chapter therefore offers economic and technical arguments that could explain this choice. Results show that CCTS has so far made no progress and that all European CCTS pilot projects have failed. Likewise, because of its high costs and inherent risks, nuclear power is not an economic option for a low-carbon energy transition. At the same time, the potential of renewable energies in European transformation scenarios was systematically underestimated, mainly due to an overestimation of costs and an underestimation of the technical potential. We identify key factors that have shaped a European energy mix that appears to contradict the likely unavailability of CCTS technologies in the foreseeable future and the high cost of nuclear energy. Here we note that many of the differences in the assessments of individual Member States are due to different interpretations of the costs and benefits of these technologies as well as to specific national factors. Mendelevitch, Roman, Claudia Kemfert, Pao-Yu Oei, and Christian von Hirschhausen. 2018. “The Electricity Mix in the European Low-Carbon Transformation: Coal, Nuclear, and Renewables.” In Energiewende “Made in Germany,” edited by Christian von Hirschhausen, Clemens Gerbaulet, Claudia Kemfert, Casimir Lorenz, and Pao-Yu Oei, 241–282. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95126-3_10.  10/01/2019
• Kohleausstieg ohne unsichtbare Hand. Artikel von Klaus Eisenack und Roman Mendelevitch für Tagesspiegel Background: Beim Kohleausstieg sollten wir uns nicht auf die unsichtbare Hand des marktbasierten Emissionshandels verlassen: Nach einem ambitionierten Zeitplan sollten zuerst Braunkohletagebaue stillgelegt werden. Ein solcher Ausstiegsfahrplan kann entgegen der landläufigen Meinung in Kombination mit dem reformierten Emissionshandel effektiv Emissionen senken, schreiben Klaus Eisenack und Roman Mendelevitch in ihrem jetzt bei Tagesspiegel Background erschienenen Artikel. Weitere Informationen Artikel bei Tagesspiegel Background: https://background.tagesspiegel.de/kohleausstieg-ohne-unsichtbare-hand 08/01/2019

• Don’t base the coal exit on an invisible hand. A position paper of the Resource Economics Group calls for an ambitious coal exit based on a closure schedule: Without a closure schedule for shutting down and decommissioning lignite-fired power plants and open-pit mines, it will not be possible to achieve climate goals reliably and cost-efficiently, to overcome resistance and to prevent social upheaval. The now published position paper of the Resource Economics Group at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin explains why the phase out of lignite mining in Germany should take place before the end of steam coal-fired power generation. The remaining winners on the electricity market should contribute to financing structural change. Further information about the position paper: www.resource-economics.hu-berlin.de/forneu/topicnnew/kohleausstieg. 07/01/2019