Volume 2: Innovative Solutions for Energy Transitions: Part I

Transition towards a Low-Carbon Economy through Gas Infrastructure Modification – Economic and Sociological Interdisciplinary Insights Franziska M. Hoffart, Sabrina Glanz, Anna-Lena Schönauer, Roland Span

Abstract

To evaluate potential infrastructure modifications in the energy sector that are required to mitigate climate change, interdisciplinary approaches are essential. Since the discussion is largely shaped by technical aspects, our objective is to combine a macroeconomic and sociological approach to exceed this perspective. As a result, we generated new insights by using the example of gas infrastructure modifications in Germany. These results would not have been possible with a single discipline’s analysis. Focusing on relevant stakeholders, we examined five aspects that we regard as crucial determinants of future developments. By doing so, we discussed the value of interdisciplinary analysis in the context of assessing the transformation towards a low carbon economy. In conclusion, combining different disciplines’ approaches revealed to be promising in at least two ways: first, to generate new insights and second, to provide feasible policy recommendation. To sum up, our paper exposes that interdisciplinary synergies have a large potential to strengthen research on factors that foster or hinder the transformation towards a low-carbon economy but also to foster social science in energy research.

Keywords interdisciplinary energy research, macroeconomic scenario analysis, social acceptance analysis, stakeholder perspective, H2/CCS chains, challenges energy transition