Sustainable energy landscapes – Modelling regional strategies for the expansion of renewable energies with special consideration of national and international climate policy

Project start: 01.11.2023

Duration: 3 years

Funding: DFG

Project Lead: Prof. Dr. Harald Kunstmann, PD Dr. Stephan Bosch

Involved scientists: Dragan Petrovic, Dr. Friederike Schrade

Summary

Achieving the central goal of the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, namely limiting global warming to below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels, will require a massive expansion of renewable energies. However, it is unclear how this expansion can be implemented in concrete terms in view of diverse land use demands and limited land resources. It is also unclear what social consequences the spatial effects of a climate-neutral energy landscape will have. As part of the DFG project, which is being carried out by an interdisciplinary team from physical and human geography, not only are the spatial dimensions of energy landscapes that can limit global warming to below two degrees being explored, but their socio-technical implications are also being investigated. Based on a Germany-wide ensemble of energy-related climate scenarios that captures the key energy meteorological and regional climate parameters in their current spatial distribution and long-term variability, various potential climate-neutral energy landscapes are to be modeled and visualized cartographically. On this basis, an analysis will be conducted to determine which spatial options arise when the restrictions on renewable energies are kept variable in the spatial analyses. In addition, social and ecological conflicts will be identified and adaptation strategies will be considered, with various regional stakeholders able to contribute their own ideas about the future energy landscape through participatory mapping.