Coordination:
Niklas Bode M.Sc. (ETA)
Contact persons in the research group ETA:
Jonathan Magin M.Sc.
Jan Hohlbein M.A.
Duration: 01.04.2024 – 31.03.2029
Funded by: Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Arts and Culture
Initial situation
To increase society's focus on sustainability, alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is essential. These 17 SDGs encompass social, economic, and environmental objectives, such as climate protection, biodiversity conservation, clean energy, and social justice. Achieving these goals requires collective action across society, with industry playing a crucial role due to its significant contribution to global environmental impacts, particularly greenhouse gas emissions.
In Germany, approximately 22% of nationwide greenhouse gas emissions emerge from the industrial sector, making it the second-largest emitter after the energy sector. Germany aims to become climate-neutral by 2045, a goal that requires not only a drastic reduction in emissions but also a profound transformation of the industrial sector. Companies, therefore, face the challenge of making their production processes more sustainable while adapting to changing regulatory and economic conditions. This is where the LOEWE Transfer Professorship “Climate-Neutral Production” comes into play.
Objective
The central aim of the LOEWE Transfer Professorship is to effectively disseminate knowledge, research findings, and innovations to industry, academia, students, policymakers, and civil society. The long-term goal is to establish a competence centre that provides independent and expert support to companies in Germany on their path to climate-neutral production. Alongside engineering expertise, legal and economic competencies will be incorporated to meet the growing demands of ESG (environmental, social, governance) reporting. For 68% of companies, the implementation of new laws and standards poses a challenge, even though solutions already exist in research for many aspects of climate-neutral production. Weak points in the transfer process must be identified and eliminated. Additionally, the professorship will educate and train students in these areas and engage various stakeholders through public outreach initiatives.
Approach
As a competence centre, the LOEWE Transfer Professorship offers training, tours, workshops, and consulting services to help companies transition to energy-efficient, energy-flexible, resource-conserving, and low-emission production processes, including opportunities for integrating buildings and machinery. Collaborative research projects aimed at developing low-emission technologies will be initiated through close cooperation with industry.
To foster skills in future engineers, students will be actively involved in research projects, with research findings incorporated into teaching. This adjustment is intended to prepare students for the demands of an environmentally friendly industry, equipping them to apply their knowledge and skills to shaping the world.
Extensive public outreach efforts, such as workshops, interactive spaces, and campaigns, aim to raise awareness among academia, policymakers, and the public about the importance of climate neutrality and sustainability in the industrial sector.
Acknowledgements
This project (funding code LOEWE/4TP/519/05/02.002(0002)/108) is supported by the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Arts and Culture as part of the LOEWE funding program. We are grateful for the opportunity to work on this project.
Funding source