How To Develop A Green Economy

Transcription

1 KAPITELTITEL 1 Green Economy Research Agenda

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3 Green Economy Research Agenda

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5 FOREWORD Foreword We associate Green Economy with the goal of establishing a sustainable economy, an economy which is environmentally and socially compatible, as well as being competitive. In 2012, the international community took further steps to realise the Green Economy at the Rio+20 Earth Summit, with the ultimate goal of meeting the global challenges posed by climate change, limited resources and environmental pollution with economically viable solutions. We are keen to address these challenges and at the same time to grasp the opportunities a Green Economy can offer Germany. It was to this end that we initiated the Green Economy agenda process in 2012, with the aim of supporting and shaping the Green Economy through technological, social and economic innovation. The tasks are wide-ranging and cover a broad spectrum of Action fields, from careful management of energy, raw materials and other resources, through issues of sustainability in the financial sector, alternative approaches to consumption, to the sustainable shaping of mobility and infrastructures in our cities and regions. We must also ask ourselves what changes the Green Economy will entail for the working environment and what new demands will arise for training and education. The present research agenda is an important milestone in the Green Economy agenda process. The special factor here is that from the very outset we have driven this as a joint process in dialogue with the major German business associations, trade unions, consumer organisations and NGOs, who are making valuable contributions and will ensure the best possible implementation of the research agenda results. These results should be directly applicable to the transformation to the Green Economy. Sustainable economic management is firmly embedded in the Federal Government s new High-Tech Strategy as a priority for the future. The Green Economy Research Agenda lays the foundations for the collaboration of the various government departments involved; we will approach this task with a seamless innovation policy. Our thanks go to all the experts and stakeholders who have actively participated in the development of the research agenda. We now need to tackle these research issues and apply ourselves to these projects alongside users and stakeholders. We intend to continue down this path in the future, so that generations to come have an intact environment and healthy economy on which to base their prosperity. Prof. Dr. Johanna Wanka Federal Minister of Education and Research

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7 CONTENT 1 Content Foreword 1 On the road to the Green Economy 3 2 Players in the Green Economy 5 3 Research for the Green Economy 8 4 Action fields for the Green Economy Production and resources: raw materials, water and land Sustainability and financial services Sustainable consumption Sustainable supply und use of energy in the economy Sustainable mobility systems Infrastructures and intelligent supply systems for the City of the Future 33 5 Work and qualification in the Green Economy 36 6 Green Economy worldwide 38 List of end notes 40

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9 ON THE ROAD TO THE GREEN ECONOMY 3 1 On the road to the Green Economy The vision of the Green Economy is an internationally competitive economy that is both environmentally and socially compatible. This concept forges a real link between ecology and economy, with the Green Economy increasing social welfare and combating poverty while striving for social justice. In light of acknowledged ecological constraints, the aim is to make environmentally acceptable, qualitative and therefore sustainable growth possible, based on a comprehensive understanding of the interrelationships between economics, finance and politics. The ultimate goal is the development of diversified and sustainable production and consumption patterns which assure prosperity and a high quality of life worldwide, and in particular for future generations. As well as the positive impact on the environment and society, this will also reinforce the competitiveness and resilience of Germany as a whole. The road to the Green Economy requires a process of change that affects all of society. It involves planning for a comprehensive ecological modernisation of the entire economy and its various sectors, in particular with regard to use of resources, emissions reduction, improved energy and raw material productivity, and the sustainable shaping of products, supply systems and infrastructures. Questions about living and working conditions, consumer behaviour, product life cycles and funding models are directly connected to these issues. The relevant value creation chains and networks must be viewed holistically, with the complex interactions and relations between the players involved being taken into consideration. Only a systematic approach allows the development of economically successful and innovative solutions to face global challenges, such as limited resources, threatened ecosystems, climate change and demographic developments. As well as technical progress, both organisational and social innovations are necessary to achieve the transformation to a Green Economy. The solutions being developed must take into account the complexity and diversity of interdependencies and connections between the different interacting systems. Interactions between technological leaps in innovation, market dynamics, consumer psychology and reacting ecosystems can lead to unforeseen changes in the framework conditions for the transformational process. It is important to shape the steps in innovation to enable changing framework conditions to be responded to flexibly, without becoming bogged down in pathway dependencies. An exclusively national vision cannot deliver such sustainable development; social sustainability, environmental compatibility and competitiveness must be analysed in global value chains. Green Economy was a core theme at the Rio+20 Earth Summit in June 2012, and according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) the transition to a social-ecological market economy can only be accomplished if 2% of global gross domestic product (GDP) currently around 1.3 trillion US dollars is invested annually until 2050 in the ecological transition of key sectors such as agriculture, construction, energy supply, industry, transport or the waste and the water sector. These investments can only be effective however if they are accompanied by systemic innovations, founded on evidence-based knowledge, along with political reforms at national and international level. To progress the discussions following Rio+20 the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), together with the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), has set up an agenda process for the Green Economy, with the aim of supporting and shaping the Green Economy transition process through application-related research involving the relevant stakeholders and players. This process encompasses aspects of the economy, science, administration and social groups. Having begun in September 2012 with the Conference Green Economy A New Economic Miracle? and set forth in a series of agenda workshops, research questions in six action fields were developed in dialogue with experts and stakeholders from research institutions, businesses, associations, trade unions, local communities and civil society groups. The current research agenda presents the results of this process. An initial pilot phase formalises and implements measures for selected issues in the action fields, the aim being also to further enhance the image of the

10 4 ON THE ROAD TO THE GREEN ECONOMY Green Economy and continuously extend the context for action. The Green Economy Research Agenda is embedded as a flagship initiative in the third Framework Programme Research for Sustainable Development FONA³. Simultaneously, measures from other BMBF funding fields such as the bio-based economy, research for production, new materials or electronic systems are also being applied. embeds sustainable economic management as one of six priority future challenges for a seamless innovation policy [2]. This means that operationalising the research agenda also factors into the feasibility of the Federal Government s environmental and economic policy. Not only was the Green Economy agenda process developed through crossdepartmental collaboration within the BMBF but it is an interministerial initiative on th Federal level. The research topics in the agenda address core targets in the Federal Government s sustainability strategy, which describes sustainability as a governing principle [1] of policy. In addition, the Green Economy Research Agenda is part of the Federal Government s new High-Tech Strategy which firmly Live link to Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) during the Green Economy Conference in 2012

11 PLAYERS IN THE GREEN ECONOMY 5 2 Players in the Green Economy The Green Economy Research Agenda involves aspects from economy, science and civil society, encompassing every field of economic activity both in Germany and in an international context finance, labour, production and consumption. Through collaboration between the players and stakeholders involved in the respective action fields, various aspects and interests are included in the transformation process towards a Green Economy, which enables the joint development of solution strategies. Business The transition to the Green Economy affects every industrial sector, from the raw materials industry through construction and the manufacturing sector to the trade und services sectors. In addition to a range of incremental developments, such as increased efficiency, this is primarily about developing new or refined business models and implementing innovations commercially. This often requires longer-term thinking and the development of long-term strategies in business, as the targets related to transforming to the Green Economy generally span periods of several decades. Businesses should be supported in the research and development work this requires. As key users and effectors of innovations for sustainable economy, businesses are involved in the development and application of research projects from the outset. The focus here is on the promotion of promising innovations that have to some extent already matured and are close to potential economic implementation. This often means taking results from research and development that have been successfully developed on a laboratory scale through the valley of death into industrial application, making that crucial last step in the innovation process possible. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular, which play a major role in driving forward the development of sustainable products and processes in many areas, often face major challenges in terms of the costs and risks associated with this step and it is therefore important to provide SMEs with appropriate and practicable funding instruments. Particular attention should also be paid to entrepreneurs and start-ups with innovative business models, models that can play an important role in shaping the Green Economy through their particular dynamics, flexibility and capacity for innovation. An interesting question is: with what pre-conditions and groupings of players are such start-ups particularly successful and relevant for the Green Economy? For example, more than half the start-ups of co-operatives in recent years have been in the energy, environmental and water sectors. This increasingly-popular organisational structure makes it possible for various players to act together locally, bringing together ecological, social and economic interests. Science Research for the development of the Green Economy should be application-oriented and need-driven, meaning that science develops the solutions to those research questions arising from the specific needs of users and stakeholders, identified and formulated through participatory processes. Building upon this, the research should develop the highest possible relevance for the transformation to the Green Economy. The road to the Green Economy must go via technological and social innovation because only those innovations that are socially accepted and broadly adopted can be significant to a sustainable way of life and economic management. This means there is just as strong a call upon the social sciences as there is upon the natural and technical sciences when it comes to supporting users in the development and implementation of sustainable innovations. Promising new approaches are often found at the interfaces between individual technical disciplines and fields of technology. It is important to develop solution concepts resulting from interdisciplinary collaboration and holistic approaches to research that make system innovation possible and so contribute significantly to the Green Economy. This requires the definition of the context to be considered, and the question of how system boundaries are to be set meaningfully to be asked. Incremental innovations, such as in increased efficiency, are a key element for the development towards the Green Economy provided that they can be readily transferred and find broad application in order to sig-

12 6 PLAYERS IN THE GREEN ECONOMY nificantly affect the transformation process. Potentially disruptive innovations should also attract particular scientific attention, as quantum leap innovations, which massively change an existing market or industry can be critical steps on the road to the Green Economy, bringing in new players to the game, enabling new business models to be established, stimulating different behaviours or fundamentally changing framework conditions. The Green Economy Research Agenda aims for both types of innovation in the various action fields. Policy Research alone is not enough to develop the Green Economy. The change process for society as a whole needs governance that sets appropriate framework conditions both nationally and internationally, at federal state and local authority level, and that involves the stakeholders. The State must stimulate and support these concepts of responsibility and action at every level through corresponding measures of legal, organisational, advisory and funding tools. By doing so, the State allows as much scope as possible for market forces, competition and individual creativity, with the result that the opportunities and potential of the Green Economy can, through the creativity of the market, be more fully and more quickly exploited. Progressing the transformation to a Green Economy that has in some respects already begun, requires further definition of the regulatory framework. It must be developed further so that damage to the environment is avoided, primarily by increasingly pricing-in the external costs of environmental pollution, resource usage and damage to natural capital on a user pays basis, and continuously cutting back environmentally harmful subsidies. Measures for increasing resource efficiency have to date often failed to pay-off economically or to do so only after much time has passed for example when investment in appropriate production plants is recouped by reduced resource consumption only after several years. Policy here must shape the framework conditions for investment so that positive effects for society as a whole are also reflected in the short- and medium-term economic viability of the measures. An effective and efficient political shaping of the transformation towards a Green Economy can only be achieved by coherent collaboration at all political levels and a seamless innovation policy. This is the aim of the Federal Government s new High-Tech Strategy. At federal level this calls for close interdepartmental coordination at an early stage in order to make the conversion of research results into sustainable innovations possible. Tools for promoting and shaping the framework that fall under the various fields of responsibility should be coordinated so that they complement each other and mesh together. This also relates to involvement in international programmes and initiatives both at European level and globally. Another important aspect is the speed with which innovation strategies can be implemented; it is important to note, within the governance framework of the transformation process, whether a tracked innovation strategy is able to achieve the goals that have been set, for example on the basis of international agreements, within a stipulated period. Civil society The transformation to the Green Economy affects the whole of society. It is not just a question of explaining the research results and innovation processes and the changes needed to, for example, raise acceptance of particular projects or technologies to the public. It is increasingly a question of the public becoming part of the innovation process since it is actively involved at every stage. The views of individual members of the public are being sought along with those of associations and other social organisations. This involvement begins with formulating the need for research and ranges from participation in research projects through to the active implementation of research results into innovations. Put another way, members of the public are putting their interests and needs into agenda processes and public dialogue. They even contribute to obtaining research data and results, for example through new types of public research ( Citizen Science ), and take on new roles in the Green Economy, such as financing in crowd funding projects, participating in co-operatives, or as providers and users of products and services as part of alternative forms of ownership and consumption based on a culture of exchanging and sharing.

13 PLAYERS IN THE GREEN ECONOMY 7 In addition to this, the participation of employees in businesses is a key performance indicator for a successful transformation to the Green Economy. Fair and well-paid work ensures social harmony, and in private consumption sets the material pre-conditions for taking sustainability aspects into account. Together with suitable qualification, this is an important element for the competitiveness of an economy that moves at a high technological level and demands permanent innovative capability. The Made in Germany concept helps to harmonise economic growth and environmental protection globally. Such a Green Economy succeeds with strongly innovative enterprise. It is furthermore based, on the one hand, on good basic research and, on the other, on sufficient freedom for the private economic sector in implementation. Clever research ideas can then produce successful products for a Green Economy. The German Chamber of Commerce and Industry supports businesses in the Green Economy. In Germany for example, as part of the Partnership for Climate Protection and Energy Efficiency, over 5,600 enterprises act as advisers on how energy consumption can be improved. Dr. Achim Dercks, Deputy Chief Executive of DIHK (German Chamber of Commerce and Industry)

14 8 RESEARCH FOR THE GREEN ECONOMY 3 Research for the Green Economy In addition to particular goals in terms of content, funding activities for the Green Economy should feature specific approaches for the funding instruments and meet certain criteria. For this reason, funding measures can be implemented as part of the research agenda that: relate closely to the application and make users/ stakeholders integral to the development; systematically consider their contribution to sustainable development; and anticipate a discernible leverage effect on the economic development of the Green Economy. Implementation of the Green Economy agenda is to proceed in phases. 1. First there will be a pilot phase in which selected topics will be addressed and processed through funding projects or studies. The goal is also to develop a clearer picture of the Green Economy. A period of two years is scheduled for the pilot phase. 2. The further development of Green Economy funding and the arrangement of the subsequent phases form part of the pilot phase, taking the initial results and experiences into consideration through an ongoing participatory process. New topics can also be added to the agenda on an ongoing basis as part of a learning programme. Results from the projects are presented at a Green Economy conference held every two years which also provide an opportunity to discuss new research issues and approaches. Funding instruments: A raft of funding instruments is available, addressing the various aims of the agenda directly and tackling the research tasks set out below. These components broadly anchor Green Economy as a cross-cutting issue in funding and provide the gateway to policy areas beyond research and development. The fundamental principle here is always: research to support transformation to the Green Economy with real-world application and the involvement of stakeholders/users. Research tasks and structural characteristics 1. Systemic analyses for the Green Economy (Research gives stakeholders the knowledge to make decisions, particularly in terms of policy) Studies and research projects on systemic questions and achieving goals on the road to the Green Economy Formulation of questions, jointly with stakeholders Examination of conditions for success and governance of the transformation process 2. Research for green innovations, technological and social (Research develops green innovations jointly with users) Transdisciplinary projects with the involvement of stakeholders; joint funding System examination along the relevant value chains with regard to the aims of a Green Economy 3. Stakeholder dialogues for practical implementation of the Green Economy (Research supports stakeholders implementation processes) Examination of core or exemplary projects for the implementation of the Green Economy, which fail to progress because stakeholders are mutually blocking Advice on the implementation process, preparation of question formulations in conjunction with the stakeholders and provision of objective knowledge for decision taking

15 ACTION FIELDS FOR THE GREEN ECONOMY 9 4 Action fields for the Green Economy Realisation of the Green Economy requires changes to production and consumption habits to become sustainable, factoring in megatrends in order to ensure prosperity and high quality of life both globally and also for future generations. The interactions between the various groups of players, for instance between producers and consumers or between the financial sector and the real economy, play a major role. This demands interdisciplinary research approaches and in many cases means looking beyond individual industrial sectors and state borders. Within the research agenda, development for the Green Economy should be supported in the following six Action fields by application related research: Production and resources: raw materials, water and land Sustainability and financial services Sustainable consumption Sustainable energy supply and use in the economy Sustainable mobility systems Infrastructures and intelligent supply systems for the City of the Future Transforming the entire national economy to a Green Economy is a long process affecting the whole of society, consisting of a large number of individual developments. To improve control, it is important to record the extent to which the ultimate aims are actually being achieved. The overall economic success of a national economy is conventionally reflected through growth in gross domestic product (GDP). It is however self-evident that this value alone is insufficient to measure the success of a Green Economy, an economy focussed on sustainability. In the context of discussion on sustainable development, prosperity and quality of life, various bodies at national and international level are discussing what indicators over and above GDP are suitable to track the process of change toward the Green Economy. A set of indicators is needed in which the economic, ecological and social aims of the Green Economy are included equally. The consequences for future generations must also be incorporated into current decision making processes. Various commissions have, with scientific support, been working on the development of such a set of indicators. For example, the Study Commission on Growth, prosperity and quality of life roads to sustainable economies and social progress in the social market economy has drafted a proposal for a holistic set of prosperity and progress indicators. The National Strategy for Sustainable Development is based on a set of 21 indicators measuring the progress in innovation on the road to a sustainable society. The following graph showing the Action fields clearly illustrates the progress of the transformation to the Green Economy through a selection of these 21 indicators Indicator of the Sustainability Strategy GDP per inhabitant adjusted for price changes, in prices for 2005 in thousand euros Status: The gross domestic product (GDP) represents the total value of the domestic economic performance and is the key indicator for economic growth and business. The decoupling of economic growth and pollution is an essential basis for sustainable economic management. Source: Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Bureau of Statistics), Nachhaltige Entwicklung in Deutschland (Sustainable Development in Germany), Indicator Report 2014

16 10 PRODUCTION AND RESOURCES: RAW MATERIALS, WATER AND LAND 4.1 Production and resources: raw materials, water and land Current situation One of the core issues of a Green Economy is the careful management of finite resources in the production of consumer and investment goods. The aim of the Federal Government is to double raw material productivity by 2020 as against 1994, and to decouple resource use from economic growth and environmental impact (National Sustainability Strategy 2002). The German economy processes around 1.25 billion tonnes of mineral raw materials annually, i.e. minerals, (fossil) energy-producing raw materials and metals. While the domestic and foreign extraction of raw materials incurs increasing costs and sometimes severe pollution during extraction and processing, secure supply of raw materials is nevertheless the basis of our manufacturing industry in Germany and ultimately of our future prosperity. In addition, future sustainable economic management must be based less on fossil raw materials and more on sustainably produced renewable resources and products as well as natural material cycles. This raises questions of sustainable production and procurement of raw materials, transparency and compliance with social standards in the extraction of raw materials, land consumption, product design and re-use and recycling. Additionally, when looking at the entire cycle, different user phases and consumer habits must be taken into consideration. For a number of earth system processes impacted by mankind, the limiting factors are not the availability of raw material deposits, but are primarily the impact on the environment during refining as well as the capacity of sinks, for example of CO 2 in the atmosphere or the discharge of phosphorus and nitrogen from the soil into bodies of water. In the context of a Green Economy, an environmentally compatible raw material economy must set its sights on both relative and absolute decoupling. On the one hand, higher efficiency and technical innovation should achieve decoupling of prosperity and economic growth from raw material consumption (decoupling in the narrower sense), and on the other prosperity should be decoupled from pollution (decoupling in the wider sense). Specifics for decoupling measures such as this lie, for example, in increasing raw material and energy productivity, increased re-use of raw materials, substitution by renewable raw materials or adaptation of consumer habits and systemic innovations. Demand for economically strategic raw materials, for example, rare earths, will rise in the future as they will be needed for the implementation of energy system transformation, sustainable environmental technologies and many high-tech applications. Secondary raw material sources will be unable to meet this demand in the foreseeable future. Innovative raw material technologies are needed that have low environmental impact in the extraction and processing of primary raw materials, and scientists and users are asked to develop joint solutions. In particular, the implementation of promising research and development results through to initial industrial implementation with accompanying indus- National Research Strategy BioEconomy 2030 and Policy Strategy Bioeconomy The development of an internationally competitive bio-based economic management or even biobased economy is an important pillar of the Green Economy. The Federal Government created a research policy basis back in 2010 in the National Research Strategy BioEconomy 2030 [3] and set the initial course for a process of change towards a bio-based economy. In terms of coherent policy-making, these decisions were supplemented by the National Policy Strategy on Bioeconomy [4] with further policy framework conditions and Action fields (industrial and energy policy, agricultural, forestry and fisheries policy, climate and environmental policy, and research and development policy). Whilst the bioeconomy uses and further develops biological processes and resources and in doing so makes them more efficient, technology, economy and ecology are systemically and sustainably linked in line with the aims and guidelines of a Green Economy.

17 PRODUCTION AND RESOURCES: RAW MATERIALS, WATER AND LAND 11 trial research should be promoted, to help innovations for greater sustainability negotiate the so called valley of death. While businesses are undoubtedly active in a number of ways with respect to resource efficiency, this is for very different reasons mainly because of the associated cost savings, but also because this is demanded by customers, from a recruitment perspective or, for example, as a result of the interest and commitment of the owner. To achieve any significant reduction in non-renewable resources usage businesses have to consider entire value chains and networks. It must be remembered that many of the value chains relevant to Germany are based outside the country, meaning that new approaches need to be developed for collaborative implementation between German businesses and foreign suppliers in order to improve demand for or consumption of resources, to reduce emissions and environmental impact throughout the value chain, and also to improve working conditions. It is also important to the development of the Green Economy to clarify how biodiversity and ecosystem services can be appropriately (economically) evaluated and better factored into business and national economic processes. This entails the development of corresponding concepts, models and management tools. Further, appropriate attention has not been accorded in national economic analyses to underground facilities that are of major importance as groundwater reservoirs, storage facilities for energy resources and mineral raw materials, and energy reservoirs. Examples of funding areas Research on the non-energy use of biomass The substitution of mineral and fossil raw materials by sustainably produced biomass can contribute significantly to the careful management of finite resources in the bioeconomy and in the Green Economy, but it is also important to ensure that production along the length of the value chain (soil, plants, conversion process and products) is sustainable. This has a bearing not only on technical innovations such as the avoidance of harvest losses and residues or the integrated production of various products through the total processing of various types of biomass, including food waste. The value chains of bioeconomic products, for example, are increasingly interlinked or interlinkable with each other in the various industries, so that the re-use of by-products and residues can be maximised in biorefineries or in the use of by-products and biocascading concepts. Material use may for example be subordinate to energy use in the re-use of agricultural residues in biorefineries. Equally important are systemic considerations such as the avoidance of competition for the use of agricultural areas. The brochure Destination Bioeconomy Research for a Biobased and Sustainable Economic Growth [5] sets out the BMBF s research agenda for the bio-based economy in coming years. Under the umbrella of the National Research Strategy BioEconomy 2030 wide-ranging funding priorities are created which provide incentives for holistic research approaches, drive forward the transformation process through to bio-based economic management and develop new free space for innovations. Careful management of global resources is a key challenge for the economy, politics, society and science. It is crucial to achieve a balance between the use of dwindling resources and the need to expand economic growth to emerging and developing countries. A research agenda in this area must support the raising of the great innovation potential for a Green Economy that exists within the economy. Multinational enterprises in turn ensure that resource-conserving innovations can find global application. Dr. Wolfgang Große Entrup, Chairman of the Board of econsense Forum Nachhaltige Entwicklung der Deutschen Wirtschaft e. V. (Forum for the Sustainable Development of German Business)

18 12 PRODUCTION AND RESOURCES: RAW MATERIALS, WATER AND LAND Indicator of the Sustainability Strategy Raw material productivity and economic growth 1994 = Status: Target: Raw material productivity 1 Gross domestic product (after price adjustment) 149,2 127, ,6 Raw material extraction and imports Target year 1 abiotic 2020 Raw material productivity shows how much gross domestic product is generated per tonne of abiotic primary material used. The aim of the national sustainability strategy is to double raw material productivity by 2020 as against The indicator is rising, but if it continues at this rate the target clearly will not be met. Source: Federal Statistical Office, Sustainable Development in Germany, Indicator Report 2014 One priority is the development of future agricultural systems. The preservation of environmental resources and renewable raw materials, their sustainable use and the long-term safeguarding of the availability of resources are key challenges for the bio-based economy. Sustainable intensification of agricultural production requires systemic approaches using advanced technologies and incorporating specific locational requirements. New opportunities for agricultural production and application are emerging from the systemic review of agricultural production and all upstream and downstream areas. In terms of system orientation, material streams, along with environmental and location factors, are just as important as incorporating relevant The future of the bio-based economy begins in Central Germany at the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP where a pilot scale system recovers basic chemicals from timber industry residues. aspects of associated scientific and economic areas into comprehensive agricultural systems. The aim is to increase the sustainability, resilience and economic viability of innovative new agricultural systems along increasingly interlinked value chains, reinforce the innovative strength of German agricultural research and promote the development of corresponding key innovations. To achieve this, another priority lies in the creation of free spaces for innovations. Climate and resource conservation along with economic competitiveness are, to a large extent, dependent on the development and industrial application of innovative technologies. New innovative products and system solutions with a high level of value-added potential should come onto the markets as quickly and efficiently as possible. Improving the handling of this critical point in the innovation process requires the lowering of innovation hurdles and the supporting of innovation management. Free spaces should therefore be created for new forms of collaboration, networks and platforms in which innovation processes are boosted and thereby accelerated. The aim is to coordinate relevant research work with the requirements of industrial production in a timely manner and to increase private investment in bioeconomical research.

19 PRODUCTION AND RESOURCES: RAW MATERIALS, WATER AND LAND Indicator of the Sustainability Strategy Greenhouse gas emissions in CO 2 -equivalents* Base year = 1990 = 100 Status: Target: 60 Germany has more than fulfilled its Kyoto target, lowering its total emissions of greenhouse gases by 23.6% as against the base year of the Kyoto Protocol (1990/1995), but increased efforts are required to achieve a 40% reduction over the base year by Source: Federal Statistical Office, Sustainable Development in Germany, Indicator Report 2014 Target: Target year * six Kyoto gases Research into CO 2 as a new source of carbon The reduction of CO 2 emissions presents enormous challenges to policy, society and the economy. One particular problem aside from industrial feasibility is economic viability. CO 2 abatement (mitigation) is comparatively expensive, due primarily to the low price of emissions certificates, while the use of CO 2 as a raw material has not to date been an economic alternative; this situation may however change suddenly with application in industrial manufacturing processes. The burden of additional greenhouse gases on the atmosphere should be eased and the anthropogenic carbon cycle closed or reduced by the separation of CO 2 close to source, for example from the cement, steel and chemical industries, biogas plants, waste incineration and coal-fired power plants and subsequent non-energy use, including chemical energy storage (power to gas, power to liquids, power to products). Today it appears possible to extract large quantities of CO 2 from, for example, foundry gases, for use as a new recyclable material for the chemical industry or for generating syngas. As a result CO 2 would clearly become of greater value and would be an important element in the diversification of raw material sources for chemicals, fuels and energy. Research is required for the development of technologies for the efficient provision of CO 2, and of the hydrogen needed for the production of methane gas from CO 2 which can then in turn be fed into the existing natural gas network. The technology must be made more efficient for this to be economically usable. Equally important for implementation are solutions for the intelligent linking of the sub-processes and the building of industrial plants. The funding measure Chemical processes and non-energy use of CO 2 (running from 2009 to 2016, with approximately 100 million Euros of funding with around a further 50 million Euros from industry) will address the non-energy use of CO 2, chemical energy storage and the energy efficiency of energy-intensive processes. An initial balance of the results shows very promising potential in the field of energy efficiency, the reduction of greenhouse gases and the provision of raw materials from non-fossil sources ( away from oil ). Future priorities in research topics in the field of the non-energy use of CO 2 include increasing raw material productivity and broadening the raw material base by direct and indirect inclusion of CO 2 in the value chain and the coupling of renewable energy and the direct use of CO 2 in the production of chemical substances. The three major challenges facing society resource efficiency, climate change and energy transformation are for the first time being jointly addressed as a mutual dependency issue in the search for innovative solutions. Intelligent linking of CO 2 material flows through cross-sector collaborative projects and a life cycle approach/ecological balance are important overall topics. Especially in the field of chemical energy storage, many projects have already advanced into the demonstration phase. Research for closed-loop material management (including waste avoidance and reuse) The closing of material cycles is an important building block in the Green Economy. A number of products and raw materials are facing different challenges

20 14 PRODUCTION AND RESOURCES: RAW MATERIALS, WATER AND LAND The Green Economy process has been under way in Germany for some considerable time and encompasses the whole of the industrial supply chain. The field of production and resources must therefore be broadly set, and cannot distinguish between good and bad industrial sectors. It is primarily a matter of targeting public research to reinforce the most important source for efficient use of resources; the innovative strength of industrial enterprise in Germany. This will then benefit both German export strength and the global protection of resources. Holger Lösch, member of the Executive Board of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) which, on the one hand require technological innovations such as tracing and tracking of raw materials or pre-separation or pre-concentration of certain substances in products with a complex structure. On the other hand, the lack of a practicable collection and return system for used products is often a serious obstacle to closed-loop processes. Product design should also factor in the reparability and reusability of products to a greater extent, and better recyclability can also benefit from a modular product structure. For example, the funding measure r4 Innovative Technologies for Resource Efficiency Research into the provision of economically strategic raw materials is aimed at increasing the supply of essential raw materials for the high-tech industry, such as rare earths, metals for electronics or steel stabilisers. These are often used at low concentrations in mixtures of substances and in dissipative ways and so currently have recycling rates of normally less than 1%. Innovative approaches and technologies are being developed to address this as part of r4, for recycling end-of-life products and for mobilising treatment and production residues. Innovative recycling technologies are regularly incorporated into innovative logistics solutions and new business models in order to safeguard the economic return of recyclable materials in a closed cycle. Along with economically strategic raw materials, research on closed-loop cycles is particularly important in raw material intensive industries where huge quantities of raw materials are used, so that efficiency increases have a major leveraging effect on increases in raw material and energy productivity. The industrial implementation of this massive potential is underpinned by the BMBF s r+impuls funding measure. Research for efficient technologies and processes The product manufacturing process generates 80% of product costs. In today s manufacturing processes, energy and material losses are often accepted as a necessary evil of high-quality production. Particular attention should be paid to processes that involve heat treatment or high material losses. The production environment including the transport of goods accounts for over 40% of the total energy consumption and is one of Germany s most important energy consumers. The German economy can improve its raw material and energy productivity and ease the burden on the environment through the development and implementation of innovative efficiency technologies. The resulting cost and competitive benefits strengthen German businesses internationally and form the basis of sustainable economic growth. Potential savings in energy and raw materials can be realised by every party in the value chains and networks. Approaches range from the optimisation of industrial process control, for example the use of innovative dynamic measurement, control and regulating technology, or technologies for finely controlling material and fluid usage, through to logistics innovations such as new technologies for intelligent storage and delivery. Process simulation, which is becoming ever more representative of reality, can also contribute to increased efficiency.

21 PRODUCTION AND RESOURCES: RAW MATERIALS, WATER AND LAND 15 An interesting research question lies in understanding the effects of the Industry 4.0 innovation trend on the Green Economy. Does the intelligent networking of production units and the use of associated novel cyber-physical production systems make production more resource-efficient and environmentally safer overall? Resource-efficient production requires comprehensive recording of all sources and sinks. Many cases of resource exploitation cannot currently be addressed adequately as they cannot be pinpointed or measured. Tools and methods need to be developed to capture, as comprehensively as possible, the energy and material demands in the planning of factories and plants to enable the assessment, planning and optimisation of consumption both in the investment and operating phases. The programme Innovations for manufacturing, services and work from tomorrow funds appropriate R&D projects to develop innovative value-added systems and resource-efficient production and so sustainably ensure growth and employment. A key factor in the economic effect of new efficient technologies as a whole is their dissemination. Efficiency technologies only demonstrate a significant effect when widely used. Special attention should therefore be paid to developing practicable, needs-driven solutions and to supporting users through to the implementation phase. An environmentally-friendly cement which can increase resource efficiency in cement production is being developed as part of the Celitement collaborative project. The participation of employees is another major resource in transferring new technologies. More and more businesses are recognising that employees, as problem identifiers and idea generators on the ground together with works councils as communications management in the enterprise, are best placed to be aware of where and how energy and other resources can be used more effectively and more effi- In many sectors of German industry well over 50% of CO 2 emissions have already been produced in the upstream value chain before the actual activities such as processing or logistics take place. In fact so far only a small number of German businesses have systematically tackled the issue of climate protection in the value chain. There is clearly a great need for information and for robust methods for cooperative and comprehensive CO 2 abatement. There is accordingly a great need for research into the question of what methods and tools German businesses, in collaboration with their international partners in the supply chains, can use for this and whether feasible mechanisms exist for taking these CO 2 abatements into account in national reduction plans. Max Schön, Director 2 Foundation

22 16 PRODUCTION AND RESOURCES: RAW MATERIALS, WATER AND LAND ciently. Their involvement in companies innovation processes therefore not only reinforces acceptance but also contributes towards raising existing potential for energy and resource efficiency. Existing structures such as creativity management, group work and company suggestion systems can be usefully employed on projects for increasing energy efficiency. It becomes quite clear at this point just how closely technical and social innovations must be dovetailed into the transformation process to produce sustainable economic management. Urban production New processes that ensure production can be virtually emission-free allow production even in densely populated areas. The long routes that often existed between r+impuls pilot measure In order to raise resource efficiency potential it is vital to improve the transfer of promising R&D results into practical industrial conditions so that they can be quickly turned into innovations. It is therefore becoming increasingly important to closely integrate research and development with subsequent application and testing in prototype, pilot and demonstration plants as a precondition for introducing new technologies onto the market. Transferring results from laboratory to industrial scale is often not possible without accompanying scaling up of the research and development that goes with it and additionally while linked with environmental benefits and simultaneous expectations of profit is also linked with high financial and technical risks that the individual businesses cannot support alone. With its funding measure r+impuls Innovative technologies for resource efficiency Impetus for industrial resource efficiency as part of the Research for sustainable development (FONA) framework programme, the BMBF is pursuing the goal of overcoming existing impediments to the development and dissemination of industrial efficiency technologies through targeted R&D impetus, and in so doing helping to deliver a Green Economy. Example: Green Carbody Technologies (InnoCaT) Innovations for Green Car Production The Energy efficiency in production investigation into needs for action and research study commissioned by the BMBF found that in high-quality investment goods the energy saving potential is around 30% or approximately 210 petajoules per year, corresponding to roughly half the power consumption of private households in Germany or four 1.4 GW power plants. A systemic approach was adopted in the Green Carbody Technologies (InnoCaT) innovation alliance, funded by the BMBF, to review the entire value chain through the toolmaking, pressing plant, bodywork and paintshop technological sub-sectors as well as the upstream planning and production control sectors, where significant energy savings can be made in manufacturing bodywork. In milling for example it was possible to increase the accuracy and productivity of processes using new strategies and methods to achieve time and energy reductions of 50% The BMBF is accordingly promoting the development of intelligent process monitoring and control strategies along with energy- and raw material-efficient manufacturing technologies and production systems in order to achieve virtually self-sufficient and emission-free production, which also increases process stability and reduces rejects and rework. This improves production operating efficiency to result in green plants.