TIPPING+ final conference in Brussels

Our final conference organized in Brussels on the 15th of June 2023 has been an opportunity to share experiences and lessons learnt on regional decarbonisation process and explore factors affecting Social-Ecological Tipping Points (SETPs) towards clean energy transition. More than 30 researchers presented key results from the case studies and provided insights on how to accelerate just sustainable structural change in Coal and Carbon Intensive Regions in times of global uncertainties.

Policy dialogue at EU Sustainable Energy Week

The European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) took place in a hybrid format on 20-22 June 2023. The EUSEW is the biggest European annual conference dedicated to renewables and energy efficiency. The TIPPING⁺, Justem, ENTRANCES and CINTRAN projects hosted an online event, entitled “Accelerating just energy transition(s) in coal and carbon-intensive regions”, aiming to discuss positive social tipping points and necessary policy interventions to accelerate just transitions.

Policy Brief 1. Tipping Investments towards Clean Technologies.

This policy brief shares insights on how to accelerate systemic investments towards clean technologies in CCIRs. In order to do that, it adopts a full-systems transformations perspective, that highlights the importance for policy makers and economic entrepreneurs, to identify the key opportunity spaces, actors, needs, capacities and a portfolio of required strategic sensitive interventions, necessary to connect and synergize investments chains in both upstream (e.g., extraction) and downstream (end- products production) technological and market operations.

Policy Brief 2. Deliberate governance innovations to accelerate just decarbonisation development pathways.

This policy brief shares insights on how to accelerate systemic investments towards clean technologies in CCIRs. In order to do that, it adopts a full-systems transformations perspective, that highlights the importance for policy makers and economic entrepreneurs, to identify the key opportunity spaces, actors, needs, capacities and a portfolio of required strategic sensitive interventions, necessary to connect and synergize investments chains in both upstream (e.g., extraction) and downstream (end- products production) technological and market operations.

Policy Brief 3. Cultural, identity, behavioural and demographic issues in public engagement and energy community transformations.

This policy brief underlines the role of cultural, demographic and identity issues in policy strategies, aimed at fostering public engagement and support for sustainable transformations in CCIRs. Particular emphasis is given on the role of trust, social representations, collective meaning and identity-making processes and the role of behavioural factors affecting new forms of collective action, as well as of denial and resistance, related to decarbonisation processes.

Policy Brief 4. Tipping towards resilient regional development pathways through socio-economic diversification.

In Europe, great regional differences exist in terms of economic and decarbonisation performance that need to be taken into account in future re-regionalisation processes. Τhis policy brief summarises how to promote economic diversification in CCIRs in order to accelerate the adoption of just and resilient development pathways at regional and local level. It is aligned with the goals of EU mission on Adaptation and Climate change, supporting the transformation of at least 150 regions in becoming climate resilient by 2050.

Policy Brief 5. Justice as trigger and outcome of positive low carbon tipping points.

Justice, in its multiple dimensions, scales and understandings, is both a trigger and an outcome of any process aimed at tipping regions towards structural low-carbon systems transformations. This policy brief shares insights on how different considerations of justice influence, trigger and become a major outcome of low-carbon transformations in CCIRs.

Is the rebranding of a former coal and carbon intensive region into a green city feasible?

This 2’ video shows the value of solar energy and heating electrififcation in re-branding Megalopolis into a Green energy center, while saving over 1500€ annualy in households’ energy bills.

TIPPING⁺ researcher Cynthia Ismail from Su.Re.Co presented her work on Narrative-network dynamics in tipping processes towards low-carbon energy futures: The case of Indonesia, within the Fundamental Life Science Meets Climate, Environment and Sustainability conference, organised by the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) on 27-29th of June in Paris (France).

Frankowski, J., Mazurkiewicz, J., Sokołowski, J. Mapping the indirect employment of hard coal mining: A case study of Upper Silesia, Poland. Resourses Policy, Elsevier, Volume 83.(2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2023.103693

Bersalli, G., Tröndle, T. & Lilliestam, J. Most industrialised countries have peaked carbon dioxide emissions during economic crises through strengthened structural change. Commun Earth Environ 4, 44 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00687-8

Gupta, J., Liverman D., Prodani K., Aldunce P., Bai X., Broadgate W., Ciobanu D., Gifford L., Gordon C., Hurlbert M. , Inoue C.Y.A., Jacobson L., Kanie N., Lade S., Lenton T., Obura D., Okereke C., Otto I.M., Pereira L., Rockström J., Scholtens J., Rocha J., Stewart-Koster B., Tàbara J. D., Rammelt C., Verburg P. 2023. Earth System Justice needed to identify and live within Earth System Boundaries. Nature - Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01064-1

Gupta J., Prodani K., Bai X., Gifford L., Lenton T., Otto I., Pereira L. Rammelt C., Scholtens J., Tàbara J.D., 2023. Earth system boundaries and Earth system justice: Sharing our ecospace. Environmental Politics. In press. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2023.2234794

Cintran

CINTRAN (www.cintran.eu) studies the patterns and dynamics of structural change in 4 carbon-intensive regions across Europe: Western Macedonia (Greece), Silesia (Poland), Ida-Virumaa (Estonia) and the Rhenish mining area (Germany).

ENTRANCES

ENTRANCES (entrancesproject.eu) aims to develop an understanding of cross-cutting issues related to Social aspects of “Clean Energy Transition” in 13 European coal mining and carbon-intensive regions.

TRACER

TRACER (tracer-h2020.eu) supports nine coal-intensive regions in Europe to (re)design their R&I strategies in order to facilitate their transition towards a sustainable energy system in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine and UK.