Learn about TIPPING+ activities during its first year of work
Welcome to TIPPING+, the EU-funded research project led by 10+ Academic and Civil Society Partners from Europe and beyond that support successful clean-energy transitions in Coal and Carbon Intensive Regions (CCIRs).
TIPPING+ advances the scientific understanding of the critical concept of Social-Ecological Tipping Points (SETPs) that lead to the transformation of an energy-dependent region towards a low-carbon industry, economy and society.
This transdisciplinary analytical framework will respond to the following intertwined questions:
Why at one or several points in time CCIRs flip into fundamentally different development trajectories and embrace low carbon, clean-energy transformations?
What are the actual effects of such fundamental changes on the livelihoods and the sustainability of regional economies and social-ecological systems?
How can the knowledge from the recent past be used to identify the most effective tipping interventions that enact low-carbon, clean-energy transitions in other regions?
Case Studies & Partners
A set of 20 Case Studies from Europe and beyond is being explored by partners to identify the Social-Ecological Tipping Points in Coal and Carbon Intensive Regions.
Research Outputs
During the first year of the project, TIPPING+ researchers have produced reports and papers, which lay the groundwork that will guide the project outcomes.
Concept of Tipping Point
The term tipping point has gained popularity across multiple disciplines over the last decades. Tipping points are considered as a moment or period in time when a system rapidly shifts from state A to a qualitatively different state B. TIPPING+ researchers have conducted multidisciplinary literature reviews looking into the concept from different perspectives.
Human geography and Demography
Geographers have been among the first using tipping point for describing radical racial demographic shifts in urban areas. This review shows that focusing on specific settings (Places), spatial differentiation (Space), Scale and Time-space dynamics of Networks contribute to understanding the ongoing low-carbon energy transition.
Social Psychology and Anthropology
Cultural and social-psychological dynamics affect coping with disruptive crises, reactions to tipping events, and foster or hinder the emergence of tipping points. This report, based on a systematic review of the most recent social science literature, aims to propose an integrative framework.
Public Policy and Governance
This review develops the tipping point concept to social, socio-technical, or socio-economic systems to increase our understanding of how to manage transition processes in CCIRs. It specifically investigates how deliberate interventions affect the emergence of social tipping points in these regions.
Economics
Tipping points in Economics can be based on the climate change impacts (i.e. socioeconomic consequences) and on the transformational response to climate change (adaptation or mitigation). This review puts forward the existing theoretical and empirical contributions that can shed light on the notion of tipping points in economics.
Dissemination and Stakeholders Plans
Ensuring stakeholder engagement together with effective communication and outreach is key for the success of TIPPING+. Following this aim, two Action Plans have been developed.
This plan aims to disseminate knowledge and project results to a wide and diverse group of stakeholders to facilitate the co-development of socially acceptable regional future visions for CCIRs up to 2030.
The PLAS proposes a common framework to support stakeholder engagement activities, providing coherence and consistency as well as sharing learnings among the case studies and project partners.
Articles & Publications
Mandel, M.; Vipin, V. The Economic Cost of COVID Lockdowns: An Out-of-Equilibrium Analysis. Economics of Disasters and Climate Change 2020, 4:431–451. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41885-020-00066-z
Marinakis, V.; Flamos, A.; Stamtsis, G.; Georgizas, I.; Maniatis, Y.; Doukas, H. The Efforts towards and Challenges of Greece’s Post-Lignite Era: The Case of Megalopolis. Sustainability 2020, 12, 10575. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410575
Spotlight Case Study
Conducted by Arpad Todor, Andrei Țăranu and Robert Udrea from the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), the case study examines conditions, trends and dynamics of the Jiu Valley, a historical coal basin in Romania. The region moved from over 43.000 workers in 1990 to 4.659 today as the coal mines were closing due to loss of competitiveness, leaving workers in a vulnerable situation. Even though it’s a mountain region with great potential for tourism development, actions are still insufficient to reverse poverty and migration patterns.
The research is therefore focused on social innovation initiatives in the region. It includes an integrated socioeconomic assessment based on financial requirements and new investment opportunities of the industrial reconversion of 500 former miners into the development of renewable energies, namely wind power, with a potential positive effect on the improvement of the livelihoods of 5.000 people living in Jiu Valley.
News & Events
Kick off Ceremony (June 2020)
The kick-off Ceremony of the project took place in June 2020 on-line.
Meeting with the European Commission and Sister projects
In November 2020 the Coal regions in transition - H2020 project clustering event took place, gathering together four Horizon 2020 projects that conduct research in CCIRs in transition. A dialogue was established between researchers and EU policy makers, to enable the formulation of relevant policy recommendations.
Weekly WOCS
Weekly Open Communication Space (WOCS) is a virtual discussion for TIPPING+ researchers organized every week on different issues: case presentations, work review, key concepts (Just transition), knowledge management, stakeholders management, etc.
TIPPING+ Integration workshop
The first integration workshop was held in December 2020 to improve the existing understanding of the cross-scale, cross-system that affect low-carbon, clean transitions in CCIRs. TIPPING+ researchers engaged in a role play to review the learnings of the literature reviews and discuss four case studies (Austria, Canada, Greece and Spain).
Transformations 2021 Conference
Transformations 2021 is the fifth edition of an international conference bringing together a broad community of researchers and change-makers working on societal transformations. This year, the online conference will showcase the latest developments in research and practice of transformations towards sustainability. Live co-creative sessions and keynotes will occur at different time zones providing the opportunity to participants worldwide to join the sessions live.
Next Milestones
In the next months, TIPPING+ partners will focus on the analysis of Case Studies narratives. Also, they will strengthen their engagement with their stakeholders.
Sister Research Projects
We have partnered with 3 other EU-funded projects to share learnings and exchange experiences on the energy transition in CCIRs.
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.
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