Suchergebnisse

ABSTRACTSince May 2019, several German cities and municipalities have declared a 'climate emergency', an action which makes climate impact assessments mandatory for all projects or policy proposals. How have the processes in the local governments changed in response to the emergency status? How have the processes in the city and municipal councils changed? And how, if at all, has the relationship between elected politicians (who make up the city and municipal councils) and bureaucrats (who make up the local government) changed? Based on 13 interviews carried out with representatives of city and municipal councils and local governments, we show, first, that local governments expect a higher workload and to spend more time on cross-sectoral coordination and cooperation. Second, the issue of climate change is now part of the political agenda in the local councils. Third, the administrative actors are now in a stronger position vis-à-vis the political ones as they can de facto veto projects or policies. Overall, we conclude that local-level climate politics has changed following the declaration of the emergency status; however, the design of the corresponding policies has not changed to reflect the cross-sectoral character of responses to climate change.

What determines the willingness of renewable energy cooperatives (RECs) to strengthen their involvement in politics at the different levels of governments (local/regional, national, transnational)? We address this research question by using data from an original survey distributed to RECs in Germany. The descriptive analysis shows that the RECs are less willing to participate in energy governance at the EU/transnational level than at the national and especially the subnational level. Our analytical findings, first, show that the odds of RECs to participate in governance processes in the future are greater for those RECs that are already involved in such processes. Put differently, we find that engagement in energy governance is affected by path-dependence. Second, participation in subnational governance processes is determined by dissatisfaction with policy decisions taken at that level: the more dissatisfied the respondents, the more likely they are to exert influence in the future. For the Energy Union to realise its aim of incorporating a broader range of stakeholders, the European Commission must highlight the opportunity structure it provides for participating in governance processes.

What determines the willingness of renewable energy cooperatives (RECs) to strengthen their involvement in politics at the different levels of governments (local/regional, national, transnational)? We address this research question by using data from an original survey distributed to RECs in Germany. The descriptive analysis shows that the RECs are less willing to participate in energy governance at the EU/transnational level than at the national and especially the subnational level. Our analytical findings, first, show that the odds of RECs to participate in governance processes in the future are greater for those RECs that are already involved in such processes. Put differently, we find that engagement in energy governance is affected by path-dependence. Second, participation in subnational governance processes is determined by dissatisfaction with policy decisions taken at that level: the more dissatisfied the respondents, the more likely they are to exert influence in the future. For the Energy Union to realise its aim of incorporating a broader range of stakeholders, the European Commission must highlight the opportunity structure it provides for participating in governance processes.

Purpose
This study aims to investigate the role of professors as gatekeepers for sustainable development competencies (SDC) in disciplinary study programs. It aims to understand which factors are crucial for professors to integrate SDC into their teaching, their basic understanding of SDC, the actual degree of SDC integration and how suitable they perceive student-centered teaching strategies for teaching SDC.


Design/methodology/approach
The results are based on the qualitative content analysis of interviews with 16 professors after they participated in a didactic training program focused on combining student-centered teaching strategies with SDC.


Findings
Psychological factors, like the attribution of responsibility, value orientations and cost-benefit considerations, are not the only reasons for integrating SDC into a course, as disciplinary requirements play their role. When teaching SDC, professors focus on systems-thinking, strategic and normative competencies. They consider student-centered teaching strategies especially suitable to teach systems-thinking and interpersonal competencies.


Social implications
Promoting changes toward teaching SDC may best be done by supporting professors' intrinsic motivations: by fulfilling the need for growth in teaching skills, activating values and creating an environment in which everybody feels responsible for teaching SDC.


Originality/value
Teaching SDC with student-centered teaching strategies is relevant even in study programs that show little relation to sustainability issues. professors are experts in their field, but not necessarily in the field of sustainability. Understanding how such professors might include sustainable development competency development in their syllabi can widen the influence of SDC on higher education.