Seal element of the university of freiburg in the shape of a clover
  • Strommasten und im Hintergrund Industrieanlagen und -schornsteine im Sonnenuntergang

Chair of Environmental Governance

Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources

Chair of Environmental Governance

Abkürzung der Fakultät für Umwelt und Natürliche Ressourcen "unr" in der Farbe sand auf grünem, kreisförmigen Hintergrund

The Chair of Environmental Governance is focused on the achievement and safeguarding of ecological sustainability goals within spatially, politically, or functionally demarcated social subsystems, including cities and regions, economic sectors and industries, as well as companies and organizations.The focal point of the research interest is the intricate interplay between the economy, state, and civil society (= governance).The objective is to explore the conditions and strategies that facilitate the long-term economically and ecologically sustainable and socially acceptable utilization of natural resources.

News

PhD thesis successfully defended

Agricultural policy and the destabilization of socio-technical regimes

Studies on the governance of sustainability transformations often focus on innovation, in line with the general orientation of transformation research. However, the possible consequences of the persistence of existing socio-technical regimes for sustainable change in various sectors, as well as possible measures to destabilize them (e.g., through exnovation or phase-out measures), have received significantly less scientific and political attention to date. However, these factors can sometimes be just as important for the success of the politically desired change as innovations, as demonstrated by the example of the nuclear phase-out in Germany. In his dissertation project, Dr. Leonard Frank examined the extent to which concepts and approaches for destabilizing existing socio-technical regimes in agriculture are taken into account in the reformulation of European agricultural policy and what this says about the chances of realizing the promised agricultural transition.

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PhD thesis successfully defended

Fishing for Litter – Circular Sourcing Strategies in Networks of Markets

The transition from a linear economy to a circular economy requires the management of complex, interconnected resource flows. From a systemic perspective, value chains that were previously considered in isolation form a complex network of communicating markets. This complexity makes it difficult to effectively use a mix of instruments to manage material flows, such as political persuasion and information strategies, state funding in the form of subsidies and tax incentives and, above all, state regulation in the form of laws, ordinances, bans and prohibitions. Using illustrative case studies from the plastics and wood sectors, Dr. Emma Gothár‘s dissertation project examined analytical approaches for identifying leverage points for the efficient implementation of a circular economy at the micro level of companies, the meso level of markets and the macro level of market design.

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PhD thesis successfully defended

Industry associations as the key to cascading utilization as part of circular economy

The German bioeconomy strategy aims to establish closed material cycles and to use existing natural resources as efficiently as possible. A particular obstacle to the formation of biomass cascades is the lack of cooperation within the value chains. In her dissertation, Dr. Chiara Iurato used the timber industry as an example to highlight the crucial role played by industry associations in implementing cascading use.

Research

Our research focus and current projects

Teaching

Our courses and information about theses

Publications

Overview of our publications and media contributions

Our Team

Introduction of our team members with short bios

The local food system as a lever for sustainability management in municipalities

Within the framework of the transdisciplinary research and development projects “KERNiG” and “Wissens.KERNiG”, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the question of how local authorities can set and achieve sustainability goals in the field of nutrition was investigated in cooperation with cities and municipalities over a period of six years. The key findings for municipal policy and administration have now been published as an open access book.

Buchdeckel Nachhaltige Gestaltung von lokalen Ernaehrungssystemen durch Kommunalpolitik und -verwaltung