Climate change mitigation concerns everyone – IKEM newsletter March 2024

IKEM | March 2024

Climate change mitigation concerns everyone

Hi ,

We are all aware that climate change is an enormous challenge that humanity can only overcome through international cooperation and solidarity. Supporting and accompanying this process through research is and remains IKEM's mission. However, our work also generates greenhouse gas emissions - we have calculated a footprint of 46.13 tonnes of CO2 equivalent for the year 2023.

Even if this is a comparatively low figure, the realisation remains that climate protection affects us all and is a challenge on both a large and small scale. Among other things, we are tackling this challenge with a four-week climate campaign, which we report on in this issue of the newsletter.

As always, you can also find out more about the results of our research: IKEM recently contributed to a publication on the energy transition in urban districts and we have been involved in events on the interplay between mobility and retail and the role of public transport in the energy transition. A whole series of events are also planned for the coming weeks - from workshops on citizen participation to the next edition of the Forum Wärmewende and the Climate Democracy Day.

Until next time,

The IKEM Communications Team

Earth Weeks 2024

„During the Earth Weeks, companies can work together with their employees to create a tangible impact for sustainability.“

— Julius Gronau, 2zero

On the occasion of this year's Earth Day, IKEM and numerous other companies are joining forces with their employees in a four-week climate challenge to promote tangible climate action and sustainability in the workplace. The Earth Weeks are an initiative of the Berlin start-up 2zero, which aims to encourage people to make a commitment to sustainability using digital applications.

We spoke to Julius Gronau about the motivation behind the Earth Weeks, the content of the challenge and why it's worth taking part.

To the interview

Publications

Energy transition in the building sector - book contribution by IKEM's Managing Director

The anthology "Innovations and challenges of the energy transition in smart city districts" has now been published (open access) by De Gruyter and deals with various aspects of the energy transition in the building sector.

An article written by our colleague Judith Schäfer-Gendrisch as part of the QUARREE100 project sheds light on the instruments and legal framework for the development of heating networks and the implementation of a municipal heating transition.

More information

Upcoming events

Gender equality and social justice in citizen participation

The transformation towards a renewable energy supply does not automatically mean that the system itself will become fairer. This ENGAGE webinar on 8 April 2024 (starting at 13:00) will illustrate which strategies can be used to make the energy transition more inclusive and how energy communities can contribute to achieving this.

More information and registration

Second ENGAGE innovation workshop

The second ENGAGE innovation workshop will take place on 12 April 2024. The aim of the event is to develop ideas for more citizen participation in the energy transition. As part of the workshop, interdisciplinary teams will develop, test and discuss new products and services.

More information and registration

Facing transformation: status quo and outlook for the heating sector

The next edition of Forum Wärmewende, held on 22 April 2024, examines the current state of the heating sector in Germany and discusses what further steps are needed for a successful transformation of our heating supply.

More information and registration

Tag der Klimademokratie

The slogan for this year's Climate Democracy Day is, ‘Hello, Bundestag, we need to talk!’ The event encourages citizens, associations and organisations across the country to speak with members of the German Bundestag. To join in, submit a question via the event's website!

More information

Past events

A visit from the US

As in previous years, students from Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia, paid a visit to IKEM during their field trip to Europe. In a joint workshop, we discussed current challenges and opportunities in the area of climate mitigation and the energy transition as well as the role of social innovation and gender equality.

Agnes Scott College website

DVAG-Handelssymposium mit Dr. Alexandra Appelt (Bildquelle: Deutscher Verband für Angewandte Geographie e.V)

„Retailers can be important influencers for sustainable mobility.“

At the symposium of the German Association for Applied Geography (DVAG), our colleague Dr Alexandra Appel spoke about the interactions between retail and mobility. She argued that retailers hold an influential position with regard to transport choices. When offering the delivery of goods, they can choose between different options, including bicycle courier services. They could also positively influence discussions about more sustainable forms of mobility and restrictions on motorised private transport.

More information (German)

EUniS project meeting

The ability to charge bidirectionally holds great potential for electromobility – vehicle batteries, such as those of electric buses, can stabilise the electricity grids as mobile storage units. However, bidirectional charging still lacks a coherent legal framework to make it economically attractive. At the EUniS project workshop, we discussed with practitioners how the legal obstacles can be addressed and how public transport can provide flexibility for the electricity system in the future.