The Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy (official German name: ) is a German research institution for sustainability research, focusing on impacts and practical application. It explores and develops models, strategies, and instruments to support sustainable development at local, national, and international levels. Research at the Wuppertal Institute focuses on ecology and its relation to economy and society. Special emphasis is put on analyzing and supporting technological and social innovations that decouple the prosperity of economic growth from the use of natural resources. The organization's activities focus on developing transformation processes aimed at shaping a climate-friendly and resource-efficient world.

The institute was founded by politician Johannes Rau (SPD) and scientist Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker (SPD) in 1990 and 1991 and is mainly financed by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Organization and networks

The Wuppertal Institute collaborates with universities and institutes in Germany and abroad. It has formal cooperation agreements with the Lund University, the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering of the Tsinghua University Beijing, the University of Osnabrück, the HafenCity University Hamburg, the Center for Environment and Energy Research and Studies (CEERS) in Teheran and the Bergische Universität Wuppertal. A cooperation agreement was also reached with the University of Kassel. Joint research projects with the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) in Japan and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in India are regularly conducted. The institute is also a member of the Johannes Rau Research Association and the Ecological Research Network (Ecornet).

The Wuppertal Institute describes itself as an intermediary between science, economy and politics, meaning that its sustainability research design is application-oriented. It has the legal status of a non-profit limited company (gemeinnützige Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, according to German law). It receives basic funding from the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the sole owner of the Wuppertal Institute. The major part of its funding derives from third-party research projects. The Wuppertal Institute's clients cover governmental organizations ranging from local authorities to ministries at both state and national levels, business and industry ranging from medium-sized companies to corporate groups and industrial associations, civil society ranging from environmental associations to churches, and trade unions and foundations.

The Wuppertal Institute is based in Wuppertal and employs approximately 250 workers. Two-thirds are research staff and come from a wide variety of background disciplines: natural and environmental sciences, geography, systems sciences, engineering, planning, law, economics, and political and social science. The staff consists of roughly as many men as women. The Berlin office promotes cooperation with scientific institutes and research partners in the capital.

An International Advisory Board stands for the independence and the Institute's scientific quality and provides advice concerning strategic basic research issues.

Financing of the Wuppertal Institute

The institute is financed by third-party funds (Drittmittel) and core funding from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Wuppertal Institute is a non-profit GmbH whose sole owner is the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The chairman of the supervisory board is a state secretary of the respective government.

History

The Wuppertal Institute started its research work in 1991, headed by Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker. The later Federal President Johannes Rau (SPD) gave significant support to the founding when he was still Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia. He ensured that the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy was established in his hometown.

In its scientific activities, the Institute advises ministries at the federal and state level as well as the European Union and is thus frequently in the public eye. On 2 March 2020, Svenja Schulze (German Federal Minister of the Environment) and Manfred Fischedick presented the federal government's first "Digital Policy Agenda for the Environment" at a federal press conference. It contains 70 concrete measures that combine digitalization and climate protection, such as The Federal Environment Agency, to create a registry for data centers as a data basis for future efficiency targets. Smartphones and tablets are to be given a longer life through new rules at EU level, thereby saving resources. Under the European Union's Ecodesign Directive, manufacturers will be required to make batteries and display replaceable and offer spare parts or updates for a minimum period. The Wuppertal Institute intensively accompanied the Federal Ministry of the Environment in the preparation of the environmental digital agenda and provided scientific advice.

The scientific work of the institute is mainly conducted in four divisions, which are divided into Research Units.

The Division Future Energy and Mobility Systems examines questions of technology and infrastructure, taking a systems analysis approach. In the fields of energy and mobility, it explores what technical and social innovations will facilitate the transition to sustainable structures, what implications this process has and what chances it offers. It sees key challenges in the decarbonization of energy systems, the climate-friendly restructuring of energy-intensive industries, and the sustainable modernization of our cities. The following Research Units belong to the division:

:*International Energy Transitions<br>This Research Unit develops solution paths for sustainable energy systems and industrial transformation in developing regions - especially in Southeast Asia, Latin America and the MENA region.

:*Sectors and Technologies<br>This research team develops strategies for the climate neutrality of the energy, transport and industrial sectors, taking into account their energy and resource impacts.

:*Structural Change and Innovation<br>This Research Unit shapes sustainable structural change, contributes to increasing the innovative capacity of industrial regions and evaluates opportunities from climate change and resource conservation.

:*Systems and Infrastructures<br>This Research Unit analyses the interaction of technologies, infrastructures and energy sources for the transformation to a sustainable energy system.

The Division Energy-, Transport- and Climate-Policy focuses on strategies and instruments for effective and integrated energy, transport and climate policies at the local, regional, national and international level. Central themes are the synergy effects of policy strategies that support the sustainable development of energy and transport systems as well as climate protection generally as well as policy instruments in the field of energy end-use efficiency. The following Research Units belong to the division:

:*Global Climate Governance<br>The unit sees itself as a navigator of international governance processes and, as an architect of transformative solutions on a global level, develops integrated strategies and instruments for the transformation to sustainability.

:*Energy Policy<br>This Research Unit analyses policy packages and instruments for the transition to a sustainable, largely carbon-free, energy-efficient and renewable energy system.

:*Mobility and International Cooperation<br>The research team develops implementation-oriented global concepts that combine local demand, expertise and policy advice with financing institutions.

:*Mobility and Transport Policy<br>The researchers investigate which policies and actors can shape the transformation of the transport system towards sustainable mobility in Germany.

:*Urban Transitions<br>The Research Unit develops innovative concepts and instruments that enable sustainable transformations in cities and regions.

The Division Sustainable Production and Consumption develops instruments, concepts and strategies to promote the transition to more sustainable patterns of production and consumption. The division explores opportunities for creating a sustainable, resource-light society, and a socio-ecological market economy in which products and services offer a high quality of life and are produced sustainably, globally and locally. One of the main elements is the development and market launch of products considered sustainable in terms of their entire life cycle as well as production processes optimized right the way along the added value chain. The research focuses on the social-ecological balance of entrepreneurial, social, and technological changes and innovations in line with the implementation of the United Nations' international Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The following Research Units belong to the division:

:*Innovation Labs<br>This Research Unit develops open innovation processes for sustainable production and consumption patterns in companies and municipalities, politics and society.

:*Production and Consumption Systems. The research team analyses and evaluates production and consumption structures from the perspective of resource efficiency and sustainability.

The Division Circular Economy focuses its research on how to succeed in transforming the resource-intensive, linear economy into a circular economy in which the value and the raw materials contained in products are preserved in the best way possible after their usage phase. The division develops targets and instruments for environmental services and digitalization, which enables closed material cycles and creates the conditions for sustainable digitalization. Germany and the European Union target a comprehensive transition towards a circular economy, in which waste should be avoided, products and their components should be used as long as possible, and waste is regarded as a potential resource. Related challenges and questions focuses on the design of infrastructures, policy mixes and governance structures. Necessary innovation processes are the starting point for the institute's research. The following Research Units belong to the division:

:*Digital Transformation<br>The Research Unit examines the perspectives of digitalization and how it can be used for sustainability transformation and to achieve a sustainable digital transformation.

:*Material Loops<br>The focus of this Research Unit is the closing of material cycles as a central prerequisite for a sustainable, globally viable level of resource consumption.

Berlin Office<br>As a branch of the Wuppertal Institute, the Berlin office promotes cooperation between the Wuppertal Institute and other academic and research institutions in Berlin.

Financing

See also

  • Factor 10
  • Material input per service unit
  • Wuppertal Institute
  • Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production
  • Ecornet
  • WBGU, World in Transition - A Social Contract for Sustainability
  • Digital Policy Agenda for the Environment

References