Öko-Institut e.V.: Exnovation

Editorial

Better a fresh horse ...

Introduction by Michael Sailer, CEO, Oeko-Institut

Handlooms, leaded fuel, cassette recorders, incandescent lightbulbs – a glance back at the last 100 years of industrial history shows that out-of-date technologies have been replaced by new ones time and time again. Today, we call this “exnovation”, but it is not a new phenomenon: industrial societies have always evolved in this way, constantly reinventing themselves and their technological bases. From an environmental and sustainability perspective, a key issue for us here at the Oeko-Institut is to play an active role in shaping exnovation processes, both present and future. When the time comes to change existing technologies, it is vital to choose the right – the environmental – pathway early on, to replace climate-damaging with sustainable technologies, and to develop economically viable concepts that have good prospects of becoming established. My personal view is that by…

Better a fresh horse ...

In Focus

Exnovation

A planned phase-out

We know which ones they are – the materials, products and technologies that we should really leave behind because they are harmful to our health, the environment and the climate. But for many people and organisations, breaking the habit is very difficult for a variety of reasons – so they continue to rely on harmful chemicals, the combustion engine or climate-damaging electricity production from coal. Yet as the examples of incandescent lightbulbs, nuclear power plants and fridges… more

Exnovation

For the climate – no more King Coal!

The coal phase-out: facts, figures and strategies

Germany’s goal was to be a role model: the inventor of the energy turnaround, a leader in renewables and a pioneer of ambitious climate targets. But now the Federal Republic risks falling short of its self-imposed mitigation targets for 2020 – and not by a miss but by a mile. Its target is to cut its CO2 emissions by 40 per cent to 2020 compared with the 1990 baseline – but the latest estimates from the Oeko-Institut show that it will only achieve around 30 per cent. A key factor… more

For the climate – no more King Coal!

“We need an oil and gas consensus”

Interview with Christian Hochfeld (Agora Verkehrswende)

Transport and climate protection? These are not terms that you would necessarily mention in the same breath – for even though the transport sector will have to be almost completely decarbonised by mid-century if Germany is to achieve its climate targets, transport emissions are currently still hovering around 1990 levels. What can be done to reverse this trend? We talked to Christian Hochfeld, Director of Agora Verkehrswende and a former member of the Oeko-Institut’s Executive… more

“We need an oil and gas consensus”