Focus

Governance

© plainpicture/Robert Pola

Government, regulation, management, coordination – the term “governance” encompasses many different aspects of political activity. Transformative environmental policy seeks to initiate transitions or to ensure that ongoing processes of change are sustainable. An integrated approach which addresses the social and technological dimensions as well as diverse sustainability and policy goals has a key role to play in this context. As transition processes rely on a wide range of skills and capacities from multiple sources and often involve some degree of conflict, it is essential to bring stakeholders together to explore the potential for shared and equitable solutions.

The Oeko-Institut’s researchers investigate success factors and obstacles in transition processes and identify broad-based opportunities and strategies for action on this basis. This includes analysing social resistance and acceptance factors. They also look at possible conflicts and synergies between environmental policy goals and interventions and investigate how they interact with other policy fields. Social objectives and indicators and justice aspects must also be analysed and integrated more effectively into ecological transformations in the interests of a just transition.

News

Infographics

  • Infographic from Öko-Institut e.V. titled "What does socially just climate protection mean?" showing strategies for sustainable, socially acceptable climate protection. Central box labeled "Socially Just Climate Protection" connects to three approaches:  Income support (short-term):  Includes transfer payments, climate dividends, and energy payments.  Price adjustments (short-term):  Includes CO₂ levy, reduction of renewable energy levy, and modernization levy.  Reduction in energy consumption and emissions (long-term and lasting):  Split into two areas:  Energy efficiency / renewable energies: building renovation, heating system replacement, climate-friendly mobility.  Behaviour / use: energy-saving advice and sufficiency.  Silhouettes of diverse people are shown at the bottom, representing the inclusive impact of these measures.

    What does socially just climate protection mean?

    Image10/21/2025
    What does socially just climate protection mean? Support for the transition to climate-friendly alternatives is the most important lever for shaping sustainable, socially acceptable climate protection.
  • The twelve largest chemical parks in German industry

    Image07/08/2024
    The twelve largest German chemical parks generated 23 million tonnes of CO2 (mt CO2) in 2022, which corresponds to three percent of German greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Coastal Ecosystems: Blue Carbon Storage

    Image05/29/2024
    Seagrass meadows, mangrove forests and salt marshes can absorb and store up to 216 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere worldwide every year. Over centuries to millennia, they form an enormous carbon store of up to 22,000 million tons of carbon in marine sediment. At the same time, they make an important contribution to the preservation of biodiversity in the oceans and on the coasts, help to protect against storm surges and coastal protection and thus contribute to the nutrition and safety of millions of people. This is shown in a research report by the Öko-Institut and the Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Research commissioned by the German Environment Agency, which examines the importance of coastal ecosystems for global climate protection.