Volume 24: Sustainable Energy Solutions for a Post-COVID Recovery towards a Better Future: Part VII

The Doctoral School Closed Carbon Cycle Economy: An interdisciplinary concept to promote the necessary understanding for a sustainable energy and structural transformation Nico Schneider*, Roland Span

Abstract

In order to meet global climate goals and to reduce CO2 emissions, Germany is gradually decarbonizing not only the energy industry but also other sectors such as the chemical and steel industries. To this end, Germany will, e.g., completely phase out coal-fired power generation by 2038. This will inevitably lead to an energy and structural transformation that must be ecologically and economically sustainable. Making this change sustainable necessitates an interdisciplinary approach and understanding for the problems and issues to be solved. Against the background of the coal phase-out in the lignite mining region of the Rhenish region, the Doctoral School Closed Carbon Cycle Economy (DS CCCE) of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum focuses on research on topics related to the necessary energy and structural change and thus trains experts at graduate level. The involved disciplines are Applied Energy, Humanities, Natural Science and Social Science. The PhD projects are largely disciplinary in order to train specialists in the respective fields. At the same time, the DS CCCE offers interdisciplinary networking formats, in order to promote the necessary interdisciplinary understanding and to develop a common language in between disciplines. The DS CCCE is presented in this paper and the PhD projects funded by the DS CCCE are briefly outlined.

Keywords Interdisciplinary qualification, sustainable energy and structural transformation, decarbonization, coal phase-out, closed carbon cycle