Projects of Richard Harnisch

• Environmental sustainability in the neighbourhood Technical foundations for a municipal sustainability strategy and development of a communication concept

  Cities are a central starting point for solving environmental challenges, particularly with regard to the climate mitigation goals of the Paris Agreement. The mission of a socio-ecological transformation of urban spaces [...] More

• GartenLeistungen II Urban Gardens and Parcs: Implementation, stabilization and transfer of approaches for socially, ecologically and economically sustainable management of urban areas and flows of materials

  

  Urban gardens and public parks constantly compete with other uses for space. However, they play a central role in sustainable urban development: They increase the resource efficiency of urban neighborhoods and provide a wide [...] More

• Costs of Climate Change Impacts in Germany

  Climate change has arrived in Germany – noticeably and evidently. The blooming period occurs two weeks earlier than several years ago, exceptional heat and drought events are becoming increasingly less exceptional. This [...] More

• DiTex – Digital Technologies as Enabler of a Resource-efficient Circular Economy: Pilot Test in the B2B Textile Industry

  

  Whether in health care, gastronomy or police: Workwear leads to enormous quantities of identical textiles – with serious consequences for the environment. One possible solution is a closed-loop textile industry with [...] More

• New societal alliances for just transition pathways in Germany

  The climate and biodiversity crises continue to come to a dramatic head, while the political responses to these challenges remain inadequate, even after the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court. Climate targets have [...] More

• Bits & Bäume – Conference 2022 The conference for digitalisation and sustainability

  

  Bits & Bäume is the largest German civil society alliance at the nexus of sustainability and digitalisation. It tackles issues such as the raw material and electricity needs of digital devices, data sufficiency, cooperative [...] More

• Ranking of sustainability reports 2021 with a conceptual study on corporate digital responsibility

  

  The ranking of sustainability reports has been carried out jointly by the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) and the business initiative future e. V. - verantwortung unternehmen since 1994. Based on a [...] More

• Development of a service to support the adaptation to climate change (KlimAdapt) by extending the knowledge base, specification and implementation support

  

  The German Federal Government declared in its progress report on the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change to establish an overall offer for the provision of climate and climate adaptation services. This initiative [...] More

• Environmental Awareness in Germany 2018 Representative Survey on Environmental Awareness and Environmental Behaviour in 2018, including Socio-scientific Analyses and Development of a Youth Policy Agenda

  The environmental awareness study has been gathering information on environmental awareness of the population in Germany in a representative poll every two years since 1996. Citizens are asked about their assessment of the [...] More

• Detailed Economic Analysis of Individual Policy Instruments and Measures for Climate Change Adaptation

  Climate change affects Germany in various ways, for example by increased storms, heat waves and extreme rainfall. The research project analyses to what degree adaption measures and instruments can reduce the expected damage [...] More

• Value of Green Urban Spaces Evaluation, Management and Communication as a key for climate resilient and near-natural green spaces

  

  The research project aims at supporting communal activities for identifying, selecting and realising measures for greening public spaces that at the same time enhance climate resilience of cities and contribute to the [...] More

• Approaches to Resource Conservation in the Context of Post-Growth Concepts

  

  The recent institutions of society and economy are mainly focused on economic growth, measured in Gross National Product (GDP). This enhances a consumption of resources that is incompatible with planetary boundaries. Current [...] More

• Cooperation and participation process for the further development of the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change (participation process DAS)

  In consideration of the ongoing climate change, adaptation to its inevitable consequences has gained relevance in recent years both in research and in politics. In Germany, the Federal Government resolved the German Strategy [...] More

• IÖW/future-Ranking of Sustainability Reports 2015

  Since 1994 the IÖW/future Ranking of Sustainability Reports regularly assesses the extra-financial reports of the largest German companies on the one hand and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the other. The basis [...] More

• Participatory Design of consumer-oriented Innovations for Smart Grids (InnoSmart)

  Due to the energy transition, all stakeholders in the energy industry are facing fundamental challenges. They have to realign and coordinate their positions, strategies, decisions and actions. This also applies to private [...] More

• Waterflows in Germany II Education for Sustainability, Information Transfer to Experts in Water Management and International Networking

  The project "Water flows in Germany" starts into a second phase in which it will create an educational package for schools. Since 2011 the project has collected information about water and its use in Germany and presented it [...] More

• Economics of climate change adaptation - Integrated economic modeling and institutional analysis at different scale levels (econCCadapt)

  The project brings together different economic disciplines and scale levels: Institutional economics, economic modeling at different scale levels using complementary methods of macroeconomic modeling and regionalized [...] More

• Postwachstumspioniere – Kommunikationsprojekt zur Erweiterung des Postwachstumsdiskurses um die Rolle mittelständischer Unternehmen

  Wirtschaft ohne Wachstum – ist das überhaupt möglich? Wie kann eine Postwachstumsgesellschaft aussehen und wie kommen wir da hin? Diese Fragen werden derzeit in der deutschen Politik, Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft verstärkt [...] More

• Stakeholder Dialogues: Adaptation to Climate Change

  The adaptation of society, the economy and the environment to the inevitable consequences of climate change gets increasingly important. For this process key stakeholders in economy and society need to be sensitised for the [...] More

• Climate change in Germany: Adaptive capacity and tranformation paths towards a resilient society

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• Water Flows in Germany

  

  The website www.bmbf.wasserfluesse.de presents interactive graphics and films on Water Flows in Germany. The aim of the research project is to capture the water flows in Germany in an integrative analysis and in innovative [...] More

• Linking adaptation knowledge and stakeholders, policy-relevant synthesis and target-oriented communication

  The German Adaptation Strategy includes dialogue processes with relevant stakeholders. Moreover, it aims at informing different target groups about climate impacts and possible adaptation measures. In this project the IÖW and [...] More

• FAIR FUELS? A socio-ecological multi-level Analysis of the Possibilities of and Limits to the international Use of Biofuels Thematic Research Group

  The project “FAIR FUELS?” addresses the question of the extent to which biofuels can be produced and used in a socio-ecologically compatible manner. Since biofuels are produced regionally but the products and raw materials [...] More

• Sustainable Publishing - New environmental standards for the publishing industry

  About 950 million books are produced each year in Germany. Books, magazines and newspapers today are manufactured in industrial processes causing large quantities of emissions, effluents and waste. At the same time the [...] More

• IÖW/future-Ranking of Sustainability Reports 2011

  The IÖW/future Ranking of Sustainability Reports regularly assesses the extra-financial reports of the 150 largest German companies on the one hand and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the other. The basis of the [...] More

• Stakeholder Dialogues: Adaptation to Climate Change

  Six stakeholder dialogues are conducted that aim at discussing challenges resulting from climate change and possible adaptation strategies. The dialogues are organised on different topics such as coastal areas (May 2009), [...] More

• Energy-efficient modernisation of the housing stock of detached and semi-detached houses (Enef house)

  Domestic space heating and hot water account for over a quarter of final energy requirements in Germany. An energy-efficiency refurbishment of buildings could reduce this energy consumption and the related CO2 emissions by up [...] More

• Futures and Visions: Forest 2100

  Systematic preparation for the world of tomorrow would appear the most logical course of action. Consequently, the project “Forest Futures 2100” wants to illuminate the horizon of expectable, possible and desirable future [...] More