Soziale & ökonomische Transformation
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At the beginning of the year 2020, the pandemic caused by COVID-19 reached Europe. European countries implemented restrictions on movement and public life in order to contain its spread. The pandemic, as well as these policy responses, altered everyday lives for people all over Europe. This research explores effects of the pandemic on the everyday lives and lived realities of homeless young people in three cities in different countries: Nuremberg (Germany), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Manchester (United Kingdom). We focus on young people between the ages of 18 and 29 who have experienced homelessness. In addition, we explore how three different social welfare organisations worked to provide practical and emotional support to homeless young people during the pandemic.
Current crises (i.e., climate crisis, COVID-19 pandemic, Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the resulting energy and food shortages) indicate the need for robust, and sustainable supply chains with regional food production and farmland to secure food supply in the European Union (EU). Recent research shows that organic food is more resilient to supply chain disruptions and price fluctuations. In this context, we examine an approach for the sustainable and resilient transformation of agri-food networks: can an adaptation of value added tax (VAT) levels work as a financial incentive to amplify resilient agricultural practices and sustainable dietary patterns? Within the setting of the amendment of the European framework directive on the use of VAT in 2022, we model the effects of adapting the current German VAT system by (1) reducing VAT on organic vegetarian food to 0% and (2) raising VAT on conventional meat and fish to 19%. Based on historical data on organic sales shares and price elasticities, we project sales shares differentiated by product group for each scenario. Then, we calculate expected tax revenues, changes in consumption patterns, and arising total external climate costs in Germany for both scenarios. Our results show that the overall consumption share of organic food would increase by 21.83% due to the modeled VAT reform compared to the status quo. Despite the VAT reduction to 0% on organic vegetarian products, the measure would yield €2.04 billion in extra tax revenues in Germany per year due to the increased taxation on conventional meat products. We find that annual environmental costs of €5.31 billion can be avoided as a result of lower external climate costs of organic and vegetarian food. Therefore, adjusting VAT rates in the food market can be a political instrument to drive organic food consumption and reduce animal livestock. This supports re-territorialization of agriculture and a more sustainable and resilient European food supply.
Climate change and its damaging consequences for ecology and humanity is advancing. Industry and its metals sector are responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions. Current costs of industrial goods do not reflect the true costs caused by the externalized climate damages of its production and thus offer no competitive incentive to decarbonize. Additionally, regional climate regulation can lead to competitive distortion. We therefore aim to investigate the impact of climate cost internalization on the metals industry. Using true-cost analysis for an exemplary and widely used metal product, the effects of climate true costs depending on production region, technology, and energy mix, CO2e taxation and value chain are examined. Based hereon, the impact of internalizing climate true costs together with the introduction of a carbon-border tax on the carbon leakage problem, climate protection, and the cost situation for companies in global competition are investigated. The results of the study show that steel and wire production is responsible for most CO2e emissions showing significant decarbonization effects by steel recycling whereas production location and logistics play a minor role. On a competitive level, cost internalization has hardly any effect on the product costs because of the currently low CO2e-taxation rates. Thus, almost no incentive to produce or consume in a climate-protective way is generated, incentivizing production in pollution havens versus highly climate regulated regions. Instead, to realize emission efficiency gains and innovations leading to a competitive advantage of decarbonized products and value chains, a significant increase of CO2e-taxation rates together with a carbon-border tax is necessary.
The Anthropocene, marked by human-induced climate change, necessitates urgent action to address climate goals and respect planetary boundaries. While sustainability research provides knowledge, the first challenge lies in communicating the findings in an adequate manner to the public and several stakeholders, such as economic and political actors. Therefore, this study explores the significance of science communication in sustainability science, focusing on a case study—the True Cost Accounting (TCA) campaign by the University of Greifswald, Technical Institute of Nuremberg, and German retailer PENNY. TCA herein serves as a transparency tool, economic incentive, and discussion basis for sustainable consumption. This study investigates consumer perceptions of ecological prices of foods through a face-to-face survey during the 2023 PENNY campaign, comparing results to an informational campaign carried out in 2021. Findings indicate a high awareness of the true cost campaign in 2023, with 50.8% of participants hearing about it. Consumers’ willingness to pay true costs and potential behavior changes were explored. In comparison to results from the informational campaign of 2021, customers showed a decrease in this WTP when the true prices would actually impact their spending, indicating an attitude–behavior gap. In addition, a willingness to reduce the consumption of animal foods—if TCA was implemented—of 60.5% was determined, suggests that TCA has the potential for sustainable behavior change. This study highlights factors that influence consumer attitudes and preferences regarding the inclusion of TCAs, such as environmental, social, and animal welfare costs. Customers’ understanding of increased prices like,
in this case, the compensation for environmental and social costs—is an argument in favor of true prices. The results emphasize the need for differentiated scientific communication strategies to bridge knowledge and action gaps in sustainability science.
Entwicklung eines Frameworks zur Monetarisierung externer Gesundheitskosten von Lebensmitteln
(2023)
Quantification and subsequent monetization of dietary externalities is essential to incentivise healthier and more sustainable diets. In this way, positive monetary incentives can be set for under-consumed foods such as fruits or whole grain products and negative monetary incentives for overconsumed foods such as red or processed meat. This not only promotes a shift to healthier diets, but also motivates a move towards a more ecological agricultural economy.
Agriculture is one of the world's biggest polluters. Consumers are misled towards demand of unsustainable and inadequately priced food products by an insufficient internalization of externalities. Shifting demand towards more sustainable dietary choices can lead to a sustainable transition of agri-food networks. In this study, we evaluate environmental damage economically: we combine environmental assessment of different food products with the internalization of their monetary impacts. Life Cycle Assessments are modeled for conventional and organic foods and different production scenarios. The quantified environmental impacts are combined with True Cost Accounting to adjust food prices according to their environmental impacts. Using this framework for 22 German agricultural products, we find that on average, crop production generates externalities of about €0.79 per kg for conventional and about €0.42 for organic products. Conventional milk and eggs cause additional costs of about €1.29 per kg on average in organic systems and about €1.10 in organic ones. Conventional and organic meat generate externalities of €4.42 and €4.22 per kg, respectively, with beef generating the highest costs of all. The environmental favorability of organic products is confirmed, but the resulting organic market prices after internalization still exceed conventional prices. Externalities represent a negative impact on societal welfare, which should be addressed by policies supporting transparent pricing approaches.
This contribution sheds light on how people experiencing homelessness in Germany make sense of an app designed with them in mind and whether using it would be of benefit to them. However, it must be acknowledged that the app has yet to be developed. “Urban figurations of social control,” a term we use to refer to the social conditions of homelessness in Germany, give rise to a significant loss of trust as well as a state of vulnerability, feelings of loneliness, and limited agency for people experiencing homelessness. Drawing on a group discussion with 12 people experiencing homelessness that took place in Germany in 2019, our findings demonstrate that the respondents project particular fears and desires onto the use of the potential app. Whenever they fear surveillance and institutional control, they wish to be invisible to the app. On the other hand, their desire to access resources and information (food, places to sleep, housing) and to meet with peers in order to create meaningful social relationships requires their visibility. Thus, navigating between visibility and invisibility by way of a smartphone involves situationally and strategically constructing a safe environment for their digital participation, helping them to reduce their vulnerability and loneliness and restore their agency. Moreover, in that the app is used as a means of rendering assistance to homeless people (and highlighting the grievances associated with this) that is visible to others, the respondents challenge the current framing of homelessness. The supposed system of help is revealed to be the social problem itself.
With the growing global interdependence of companies, their scope of responsibility for the environmental, social, and human rights impacts associated with their activities is also growing. In this context, companies are increasingly held accountable for social and ecological issues that lie within the sphere of action of their suppliers and sub-suppliers. They are thus faced with the challenge of meeting these demands for transparency, traceability, and compliance with standards in their Supply Chains (SCs). Based on the theoretical framework of Sustainable Supply Chain Transparency (SSCT) in Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM), this conceptual article aims at initiating the discussion on digitalization in SSCM. Therefore, a heuristical research framework, based on relevant fields in the management of sustainability oriented transparency (governance, cooperation and partner selection, traceability/tracking, and strategic and operational risk assessment) is developed. In relation to these fields, consequently, data-driven digital approaches are identified to which potentials for SSCT and control can be attributed. This initial analysis of existing digital approaches already shows that the market is developing dynamically, but is driven more by individual initiatives. In many cases, the approaches used so far are still in the trial phase or offer only limited solutions. Therefore, this paper contributes by giving an overview of the current application of the digitalization approaches in SSCM pinning our discussion on SSCT dimensions.
Ziel des Projektes ist es, die tatsächliche Wohnsituation von einkommensschwachen Haushalten in der Stadt Nürnberg empirisch zu erfassen. Als einkommensschwache Haushalte werden Haushalte in die Untersuchung aufgenommen, die Mindestsicherungsleistungen (MSL) beziehen sowie sogenannte Grenzhaushalte mit geringen Einkommen. Diese Haushalte werden im Rahmen der Studie hinsichtlich der aktuellen Wohnsituation untersucht, insbesondere in Hinblick auf den baulich-energetischen Sanierungszustand der Wohnung. Ferner sollte untersucht werden, ob hier mögliche Unterschiede zwischen MSL-Haushalten und „Grenzhaushalten“ existieren, um mögliche sozialpolitische Erkenntnisse ableiten zu können. Schließlich untersucht die Studie auch, inwieweit sich mögliche Sanierungsmaßnahmen auf die Wohnkosten und damit die finanzielle Gesamtbelastung der Haushalte auswirken. Methodisch wird ein Mixed-Methods-Ansatz gewählt, der drei unterschiedliche Forschungsansätze kombiniert:
(1) die Durchführung von Fokusgruppen mit relevanten Akteuren aus Sozialverwaltung, Wohlfahrtspflege, Wohnungs- und Energiewirtschaft, (2) eine standardisierte Befragung von Haushalten mit Bezug von Mindestsicherungsleistungen bzw. Wohngeld und (3) eine Analyse von Erhebungsdaten aus dem kommunalen Projekt „EnergieSparProjekt (ESP)“.
Die Ergebnisse der Studie liefern eine wichtige und differenzierte empirisch basierte Übersicht zu den Wohnverhältnissen einkommensschwacher Haushalte in Nürnberg, die bisher in dieser Form noch nicht vorlag.
The objective of this study was to investigate the current research practices and existing progress research published on supply chain management and supply chain integration in an attempt to provide a research agenda for future investigations. Mainly the secondary data analysis and methods employed for the investigations. Particularly a systematic literature review analysis from 115 papers published from 16 important journals in the supply chain, logistics, Industrial management & data systems, supply chain management: an international journal and operations management during the period 1997 to 2018 was employed. This paper has identified relevant supply chain integration research studies that have contributed to the development and growth of manufacturing industries performance and competitiveness to the SCI and SCM fields. The analysis of the relevant articles gaps and miss-concepts in the previous literature provides to reduce universality and insufficient ordinary view, confusion of supply chain integrations were investigated. The gaps and investigations were done based on their methodological porches, objectives, analysis and research finding. Mainly the gaps, miss concepts and challenges concepts in the previous literature were identified and grouped in five issues. Moreover, the gaps and recommendations for future research are consolidated into a research agenda that provides practitioners to evaluate existing SCI & SCM issues and seek ways to develop a conceptual farm work on SCI of manufacturing industries to global supply chains.
In a case study of Germany, we examine current food consumption along the three pillars of sustainability to evaluate external factors that influence consumers’ dietary decisions. We investigate to what extent diets meet nutritional requirements (social factor), the diets’ environmental impact (ecological factor), and the food prices’ influence on purchasing behavior (economic factor). For this, we compare two dietary recommendations (plant-based, omnivorous) with the status quo, and we examine different consumption styles (conventional, organic produce). Additionally, we evaluate 1446 prices of food items from three store types (organic store, supermarket, and discounter). With this, we are able to evaluate and compare 30 different food baskets along their health, environmental, and economic impact. Results show that purchasing decisions are only slightly influenced by health-related factors. Furthermore, few consumers align their diet with low environmental impact. In contrast, a large share of consumers opt for cheap foods, regardless of health and environmental consequences. We find that price is, arguably, the main factor in food choices from a sustainability standpoint. Action should be taken by policy makers to financially incentivize consumers in favor of healthy and environmentally friendly diets. Otherwise, the status quo further drives especially underprivileged consumers towards unhealthy and environmentally damaging consumption.
AbstractThere is broad scientific consensus that current food systems are neither sustainable nor resilient: many agricultural practices are very resource-intensive and responsible for a large share of global emissions and loss of biodiversity. Consequently, current systems put large pressure on planetary boundaries. According to economic theory, food prices form when there is a balance between supply and demand. Yet, due to the neglect of negative external effects, effective prices are often far from representing the ‘true costs’. Current studies show that especially animal-based foodstuff entails vast external costs that currently stay unaccounted for in market prices. Against this background, we explore how informational campaigning on agricultural externalities can contribute to consumer awareness and tolerance of this matter. Further, we investigate the socially just design of monetary incentives and their implementation potentials and challenges. This study builds on the informational campaign of a German supermarket displaying products with two price tags: one of the current market price and the other displaying the ‘true’ price, which includes several environmental externalities calculated with True Cost Accounting (TCA). Based on interpretations of a consumer survey and a number of expert interviews, in this article we approach the potentials and obstacles of TCA as a communication tool and the challenges of its factual implementation in agri-food networks. Our results show that consumers are generally interested in the topic of true food pricing and would to a certain extent be willing to pay ‘true prices’ of the inquired foods. However, insufficient transparency and unjust distribution of wealth are feared to bring about communication and social justice concerns in the implementation of TCA. When introducing TCA into current discourse, it is therefore important to develop measures that are socially cautious and backed by relevant legal framework conditions. This poses the chance to create a fair playing (‘polluter pays’) with a clear assignment of responsibilities to policy makers, and practitioners in addition to customers.
Ziel dieser Studie ist es, die externen Umweltfolgekosten von Lebensmitteln in Deutschland zu quantifizieren, die während des Produktionsprozess sowie der vorgelagerten Lieferkette entstehen. Um die Auswirkungen auf die Umwelt zu kompensieren, sollten externe Effekte nach dem Verursacherprinzip der UN in allen Lebensmittelpreisen berücksichtigt werden. Auf Basis einer umfassenden Literaturrecherche und in Anlehnung an die Methode von Fitzpatrick und Young (2017) werden die externen Kosten der deutschen Agrarproduktion im Jahr 2016 berechnet. Würden Umweltfolgen der deutschen Lebensmittelproduktion und des Konsums wie Treibhausgase, vermeidbare Lebensmittelabfälle und Biodiversitätsverluste in die Preise einfließen, wäre nach unseren Berechnungen eine durchschnittliche Preiserhöhung von 43 % auf der Einzelhandelsebene notwendig. Unsere Ergebnisse verdeutlichen das Ausmaß der aktuellen Fehlbepreisung und die damit verbundenen, dringenden Veränderungsbedarfe im Lebensmittelsektor.
Agriculture is one of the world's biggest polluters. Consumers are misled towards demand of unsustainable and inadequately priced food products by an insufficient internalization of externalities. Shifting demand towards more sustainable dietary choices can lead to a sustainable transition of agri-food networks. In this study, we evaluate environmental damage economically: we combine environmental assessment of different food products with the internalization of their monetary impacts. Life Cycle Assessments are modeled for conventional and organic foods and different production scenarios. The quantified environmental impacts are combined with True Cost Accounting to adjust food prices according to their environmental impacts. Using this framework for 22 German agricultural products, we find that on average, crop production generates externalities of about €0.79 per kg for conventional and about €0.42 for organic products. Conventional milk and eggs cause additional costs of about €1.29 per kg on average in organic systems and about €1.10 in organic ones. Conventional and organic meat generate externalities of €4.42 and €4.22 per kg, respectively, with beef generating the highest costs of all. The environmental favorability of organic products is confirmed, but the resulting organic market prices after internalization still exceed conventional prices. Externalities represent a negative impact on societal welfare, which should be addressed by policies supporting transparent pricing approaches.
This research aims to develop an improved model that promotes reverse engineering /RE/ practice in metal engineering industries (MEIs). RE is one cost-effective technology transfer /TT/ and innovation method that improves organizational performance. However, only a few scholars have written on the adoption of RE models, and no one has contextualized TT and innovation models as a means to adopt RE practice. Methodology: Primarily, the study conducted a systematic literature review based on previous works to develop a conceptual model for RE adoption. To do this, the researchers conducted an intensive literature review and identified factors contributing to the model. Contextualizing TT and innovation factors and models within the new RE adoption model is also a significant part of the work. After a comparative analysis, the researchers developed the improved RE adoption model that enhances the performance of MEIs. Finding: The majority of previous related literature focuses on RE hardware, with only a few authors acknowledging the soft aspects, i.e., managerial and legal issues of RE practice. Besides, no authors contextualized factors of TT and innovation within the RE adoption. In this study, the researchers identified and clustered RE adoption factors as organizational, technological, managerial, and resource-based from previous RE adoption models and contextualization of TT and innovation adoption factors. Originality: To the best of the writers’ knowledge, no previous authors have contextualized TT and innovation models within the adoption of RE. However, such models have a substantial impact on adopting the practice. Hence, the researchers developed an improved model by examining and contextualizing the existing models that can impact MEI performance through improving product, process, and technological capabilities.
This research deals with the role of reverse engineering (RE) in enhancing productivity (product quality and processing time improvements) and technological capability (TC). Using a systematic reviewing approach, the authors investigated and raised novel debating concepts, i.e., the controversy between advocates and opponents concerning the role of RE and the legality issues. The review process revealed the absence of a holistic definition that can address the state-of-the-art, and the impact of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) to adopt RE practice. The researchers believe that the new definition of RE is helpful to understand the comprehensive role of the practice and to fill the knowledge gap by convincing opponents about RE not as theft but as a driver to transfer knowledge and technology. The research also recommends how the bottlenecks on the legality issues can be resolved through the revision of IPRs from the context of developing countries (DCs).
This paper aims to review the existing national quality infrastructure (NQI) capability assessment approaches and ultimately develop a more inclusive framework that addresses all components of NQI. Therefore, the study reviewed previous efforts and noticed that most of them lack comprehensiveness or focus on a few NQI elements and use few indicators readily available online. Therefore, this study addresses these issues and allows future researchers to consider this conceptual model for NQI capability assessment. Accordingly, the study review documents focused on NQI capability collected from different sources. Backward and forward literature searches were conducted to identify additional and up-to-date documents. Finally, content analysis was performed on selected literature to identify the possible NQI capability indicators. The identified indicators were further simplified and segregated into five NQI categories: standardisation, metrology, accreditation, conformity assessment, and the regulatory system. And three NQI capability alternatives: resources, services, and collaboration. Figure 1 shows the framework. Table 1, Figures 3, 4 and 5 summarise and depict each capability assessment indicator under the five capability categories and three alternatives. Therefore, this framework is used as an index to assess the capability of the NQI system.
Sustainable performance demands to show a sustained competitive advantage that lasts a long period. “Industrial Parks” is now the gateway to sustainable development, especially in the least developing countries like Ethiopia, for example. The industrial parks are highly attracting foreign direct investment and working for the inclusive development of the country. Though this is a good start, the capability is at an initial stage and needs support in terms of their performance towards creating a sustainable operation. Based on the evidence of both theoretical and empirical literature findings, this study paper conducted a review and identified the sustainability measures and practices from which it tries to filter the key capability measures and practices for the Ethiopian industrial parks. For integrating the identified practices and measures, as a methodological approach, the theory of dynamic capability process is considered, encompassing sensing, learning, and transforming the cyclic loop. Practices and measures are incorporated in each process of dynamic capability pillars. A conceptual model was developed as the final output showing the holistic map of the integrated sustainability measures and practices. The measures and practices identified will fully support the sustainable growth and decision process of the industrial park operation. It also adds value to the body of knowledge in industrial sustainability in special economic zones.