Completed research projects

The project aims to identify key areas of action and aspects of the energy transition and to present a corresponding overview of the research landscape in Schleswig-Holstein. In doing so, the themes of the energy transition and the land use transition are linked to the sustainability strategies of efficiency, consistency and, above all, sufficiency.

How should an urban neighbourhood be designed so that people can live there comfortably whilst using as few resources as possible? The City of Flensburg and the Norbert Elias Centre at the Europa-Universität Flensburg aim to find answers to this question in a further joint research project. The project builds directly on the findings of research into the opportunities and obstacles for sufficiency-oriented urban development (EHSS).

In terms of social and environmental challenges, there are calls across much of the public discourse for the implementation of sustainable policies. At the same time, however, we are also seeing a rise in nationalist, authoritarian and populist movements and parties, as well as the emergence of new social disparities. The PONN research project therefore investigates the impact these factors have on the implementation of a politically desired transformation of society towards sustainability.

Die Nachwuchsforschungsgruppe "Die Rolle von Energiesuffizienz in Energiewende und Gesellschaft (EnSu)" wird die Suffizienzstrategien der Nachhaltigkeitsforschung systematisch in die Energiesystemmodellierung einbeziehen sowie die gegenwärtigen und notwendigen gesellschaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen für die Etablierung von Energiesuffizienzstrategien erörtern.

How can energy consumption be reduced in absolute terms? How can social change flow into energy modeling? The junior research group "EnSu - The role of energy sufficiency in energy transition and society" has been dealing with these questions since May 2020. It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the Research for Sustainable Development (Forschung für Nachhaltige Entwicklung - FONA). Six young scientists from the Freiburg Eco-Institute, the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy and the European University of Flensburg (EUF) have given themselves the goal of researching social transformation processes in the context of the energy transition and making them representable for energy system modeling by April 2025.

The aim of the GIVUN research project, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), is to contextualise economic activity oriented towards the common good within a historical and business-ethics framework, and to conduct empirical research into it. To this end, the project evaluates the concept of the Economy for the Common Good (GWÖ) and widely used CSR instruments in terms of their transformative potential for aligning business practice with sustainability goals. The research project focuses on investigating the effects of a corporate orientation towards the common good on specific working and production conditions (particularly with regard to environmental impacts), as well as exploring the conditions for scaling up and disseminating the GWÖ within large enterprises.

Good examples of sustainable action play a key role in the transition towards a sustainable society. Sustainable practices have already developed in various social niches, but there is still little understanding of what characterises these examples of sustainable action and how they can be scaled up across society. This research therefore aims to develop indicators of sustainable action and criteria for their successful dissemination.

What impact is climate change having in Germany? Climate researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), in collaboration with social scientists from the University of Flensburg, have developed a detailed scenario of the effects of global warming on Germany around 2040. It illustrates what the situation will be like then for agriculture, forests, water bodies and life in cities. This knowledge is essential for realistically assessing what we need to prepare for today, which fears are unfounded and which policy missteps can be avoided.

The “SPREAD” research project examines the conditions and dynamics of social transformation processes against the backdrop of climate change. Using a broad methodological approach (including qualitative interviews, representative questionnaire surveys, agent-based modelling and scenario simulation), the project investigates how and why initiatives in the field of alternative energy technologies, which were originally confined to local areas, have successfully spread. The aim is to develop a model of cultural change potential that provides insight into where socio-technological innovations will gain a foothold in the Federal Republic of Germany in the future.