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Danny Otto

Bio: Danny Otto is an academic researcher from Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ. The author has contributed to research in topics: Sustainability & Global warming. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 6 publications receiving 7 citations.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the social science basis of selected popular hypotheses regarding the nexus between the COVID-19 pandemic and the societal transitions towards environmental sustainability was scrutinized, and it was revealed that there are important structural differences between the crisis and environmental crises, like time scales.
Abstract: There is an increasingly vocal debate on potential long-term changes in environmental sustainability spurred by the global COVID-19 pandemic. This article scrutinizes the social science basis of selected popular hypotheses regarding the nexus between the COVID-19 pandemic and the societal transitions towards environmental sustainability. It presents results that were derived through an interdisciplinary dialogue among social scientists. First, it is confirmed that the COVID-19 crisis has likely created a potential window of opportunity for societal change. Yet, to ensure that societal change is enduring and actually supporting the transition towards environmental sustainability, a clear and well-targeted political framework guiding private investments and behavior is required. Second, it is emphasized that there are important structural differences between the COVID-19 crisis and environmental crises, like time scales. Consequently, many strategies used to address the COVID-19 crisis are hardly suitable for long-term transitions towards environmental sustainability. Third, it is argued that transitions towards environmental sustainability—building both on reducing environmental degradation and building socio-techno-ecological resilience—may create co-benefits in terms of preventing and coping with potential future pandemics. However, research still needs to explore how big these synergies are (and whether trade-offs are also possible), and what type of governance framework they require to materialize.

12 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that a naive opportunity narrative may even impair the progress of transitions towards environmental sustainability because it may render green recovery measures ineffective, costly, or infeasible.
Abstract: An optimistic narrative has gained momentum during the first year of the pandemic: the COVID-19 crisis may have opened a window of opportunity to "rebuild better", to spur societal transitions towards environmental sustainability. In this comment, we review first evidence of individual and political changes made so far. Findings suggest that economies worldwide are not yet building back better. Against this background, we argue that a naive opportunity narrative may even impair the progress of transitions towards environmental sustainability because it may render green recovery measures ineffective, costly, or infeasible. Based on these observations, we derive conditions for green recovery policies to succeed. They should consist of a policy mix combining well-targeted green subsidies with initiatives to price emissions and scrap environmentally harmful subsidies. Moreover, green recovery policies must be embedded into a narrative that avoids trading off environmental sustainability with other domains of sustainability-and rather highlights respective synergies that can be realized when recovering from the COVID-19 crisis.

12 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
09 Sep 2021
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the emergence of narratives about negative emissions technologies and reconstructs how the treatment of NETs within IPCC assessments became politicized terrain of configuration for essentially conflicting interests concerning long-term developments in the post-Paris regime.
Abstract: The 2015 Paris Agreement specified that the goal of international climate policy is to strengthen the global response to climate change by restricting the average global warming this century to ‘well below’ 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. In this context, ‘Negative Emissions Technologies’ (NETs) – technologies that remove additional greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the atmosphere – are receiving greater political attention. They are introduced as a backstop method for achieving temperature targets. A focal point in the discussions on NETs are the emission and mitigation pathways assessed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Drawing on perspectives from Science & Technology Studies (STS) and discourse analysis, the paper explores the emergence of narratives about NETs and reconstructs how the treatment of NETs within IPCC assessments became politicized terrain of configuration for essentially conflicting interests concerning long-term developments in the post-Paris regime. NETs are – critics claim – not the silver bullet solution to finally fix the climate, they are a Trojan horse; serving to delay decarbonization efforts by offering apparent climate solutions that allow GHGs emissions to continue and foster misplaced hope in future GHG removal technologies. In order to explore the emerging controversies, we conduct a literature review to identify NETs narratives in the scientific literature. Based on this, we reevaluate expert interviews to reconstruct narratives emerging from German environmental non-governmental organizations (eNGOs). We find a spectrum of narratives on NETs in the literature review and the eNGO interviews. The most prominent stories within this spectrum frame NETs either as a moral hazard or as a matter of necessity to achieve temperature targets.

8 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors conduct a systematic review of 115 papers for a state-of-the-art assessment of research on communication practices in CCS projects, and compile an extensive list of the recommendations provided for CCS outreach activities and scrutinize it for limitations.
Abstract: Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is discussed as a technology for mitigating climate change. With social scientific research on CCS having increased considerably over the last decade, this paper offers a first comprehensive review and evaluation of studies that investigate the way CCS projects are communicated to (local) stakeholders and the general public. We conduct a systematic review of 115 papers for a state-of-the-art assessment of research on communication practices in CCS projects. Based on this review we compile an extensive list of the recommendations provided for CCS outreach activities and scrutinize it for limitations. This enables us to show that “best practices” in communication need to be applied in context sensitive approaches and to highlight factors in communication (such as social media) which have been underutilized up to now. Furthermore, we identify two conceptual shortcomings that limit the scope of CCS communication research: first, the majority of the literature refers to CCS as applied to the fossil fuel-based energy sector and thereby narrows the debate. Second, while the social scientific debate has moved on from the mere study of acceptance of CCS to practices of communication, we find that the theoretical lens applied to communication is still largely focused on convincing people to accept CCS. We argue that future research should tackle these shortcomings by paying more attention to CCS projects that go beyond coal or natural gas power plants. Additionally, it is advised to theoretically reframe communication efforts by emphasizing long-term alliance building through participation and joint goals instead of focussing on short-term persuasion and simple strategies of raising acceptance.

7 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that a more fundamental approach is needed to address problems within scientific organisations, thinking and practices that directly affect qualitative research capabilities, and focus on justice, research organisation, the ways social scientists position themselves and changed understandings of social worlds.
Abstract: In a highly relevant contribution, Santana et al. (2021) outlined the challenges for qualitative enquiries during the pandemic. We agree that overcoming these challenges is very important since qualitative research is vital for understanding both the impacts of COVID-19 on human communities around the globe and its significance for sustainable futures. However, we argue that a more fundamental approach is needed to address problems within scientific organisations, thinking and practices that directly affect qualitative research capabilities. In this comment, we focus on justice, research organisation, the ways social scientists position themselves and changed understandings of social worlds.

3 citations


Cited by
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01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: The European project NearCO2 as discussed by the authors investigates European public perceptions of carbon capture and storage (CCS) via case studies (both CCS and analogous energy infrastructure), surveys, and focus groups.
Abstract: The European project NearCO2 is investigating European public perceptions of carbon capture and storage (CCS) via case studies (both CCS and analogous energy infrastructure), surveys, and focus groups. The overall aim of the project is to investigate and develop communication strategies that are designed to convey the advantages and risks of CCS to stakeholders and to the public, which strategies may also be used to involve these parties in local decision-making on CCS projects. This report describes the results of the first phase of investigation, which focuses on lessons learned from CCS and analogous developments in recent years. Eight case studies are reviewed to help determine the nature of the communications and consultation strategies used by project developers as part of the energy project approval processes. The chosen range of case studies represents a number of different regulatory environments throughout the European Union and a number of different technologies. The consideration of a number of different contextual factors as part of a multi-case study approach has helped to identify factors involved in the relationship between communications and project outcomes, as a means of informing consultation exercises for future CCS projects.

39 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors make two contributions to the COVID-related green recovery literature, which is dominated by optimistic and speculative opportunity narratives, and suggest that green recovery analyses should focus not only on the opportunities (permissive conditions) created by the crisis, but also on the actions and strategic considerations (productive conditions) and pre-existing contexts (critical antecedents) that shape the exploitation of these opportunities.
Abstract: This article makes two contributions to the COVID-related green recovery literature, which is dominated by optimistic and speculative opportunity narratives. Mobilising insights from political science theories, our conceptual contribution is to suggest that green recovery analyses should focus not only on the opportunities (‘permissive conditions’) created by the COVID-crisis, but also on the actions and strategic considerations (‘productive conditions’) and pre-existing contexts (‘critical antecedents’) that shape the exploitation of these opportunities. Our empirical contribution is to analyse actual green recovery spending plans of three leading countries (France, Germany, and the UK), focusing on the size, sectoral allocation, and implementation choices, which differ markedly. France spends the most, both in absolute and GDP-relative terms, followed by Germany. UK spending is 43% less than France. The UK and France mostly support existing sectors (buildings, railways), while Germany focuses 57.8% of its funding on new technologies (electric vehicles, hydrogen). We explain country differences by analysing different mixes of strategic considerations, including climate mitigation, jobs, GDP growth, productivity, exports, global competitiveness, regional support, social fairness, party politics, and electoral ambitions. We relate these different motivations to pre-existing context conditions such as varying socio-economic effects of the COVID-crisis, pre-existing concerns (e.g., high unemployment, social and regional inequalities), the economic importance of particular sectors, and pre-existing climate policy plans. We conclude that the green recovery plans are powerfully shaped by pre-existing contexts, plans and developments, which constrain the use of the crisis-induced opportunities.

15 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors make two contributions to the COVID-related green recovery literature, which is dominated by optimistic and speculative opportunity narratives, and suggest that green recovery analyses should focus not only on the opportunities (permissive conditions) created by the crisis, but also on the actions and strategic considerations (productive conditions) and pre-existing contexts (critical antecedents) that shape the exploitation of these opportunities.
Abstract: This article makes two contributions to the COVID-related green recovery literature, which is dominated by optimistic and speculative opportunity narratives. Mobilising insights from political science theories, our conceptual contribution is to suggest that green recovery analyses should focus not only on the opportunities (‘permissive conditions’) created by the COVID-crisis, but also on the actions and strategic considerations (‘productive conditions’) and pre-existing contexts (‘critical antecedents’) that shape the exploitation of these opportunities. Our empirical contribution is to analyse actual green recovery spending plans of three leading countries (France, Germany, and the UK), focusing on the size, sectoral allocation, and implementation choices, which differ markedly. France spends the most, both in absolute and GDP-relative terms, followed by Germany. UK spending is 43% less than France. The UK and France mostly support existing sectors (buildings, railways), while Germany focuses 57.8% of its funding on new technologies (electric vehicles, hydrogen). We explain country differences by analysing different mixes of strategic considerations, including climate mitigation, jobs, GDP growth, productivity, exports, global competitiveness, regional support, social fairness, party politics, and electoral ambitions. We relate these different motivations to pre-existing context conditions such as varying socio-economic effects of the COVID-crisis, pre-existing concerns (e.g., high unemployment, social and regional inequalities), the economic importance of particular sectors, and pre-existing climate policy plans. We conclude that the green recovery plans are powerfully shaped by pre-existing contexts, plans and developments, which constrain the use of the crisis-induced opportunities.

15 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article , the authors argue that natural gas still has a vital role in the near to long-term future energy mix and that there remains an opportunity for NG to be a key enabler of a "just" future net-zero emission energy system by mid-century, especially with the political-economic realities of certain countries and new technological innovations around NG utilisation.
Abstract: Calls to phase out fossil fuels and shift to renewable energy-based solutions dominate the global discussion on low-carbon energy transition. However, the nature of this transition may vary across different countries on account of opportunities for innovative solutions that balance socio-economic and environmental sustainability goals. This piece argues that natural gas (NG) still has a vital role in the near to long-term future energy mix. This position implies that the objective of quickly phasing out NG needs reassessing. We further argue that there remains an opportunity for NG to be a key enabler of a “just” future net-zero emission energy system by mid-century, especially with the political-economic realities of certain countries and new technological innovations around NG utilisation. In this case, we argue that an essential element of “justice” could mean that nations at various levels of economic development adopt different approaches to the energy transition. Thus, decarbonisation efforts must consider socio-economic realities and the different contexts of technology application. The proposed uniform reduced energy demand and the blocking of public financing to NG projects lack the nuance of a sustainable solution, especially related to Sub-Saharan Africa. Accordingly, our analysis suggests that the one-size-fits-all approach to climate action in the context of natural gas commercialisation needs a rethink and countries should be allowed to define low-carbon pathways considering their local circumstances.

12 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors explore the potential role of constructed wetlands as nature-based solutions in the agri-food supply chain of the forthcoming post-COVID-19 era.
Abstract: The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the interchangeable link between human and nature. The health and socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 are directly or indirectly linked to the natural environment and to the way that agri-food systems interact with nature. Although the pandemic continues to evolve and there are still many uncertainties, important issues about the future of the agri-food sector and the need for a sustainable and environmentally friendly reformation are beginning to arise in society. Nature-based Solutions (NbSs) encompass a broad range of practices that can be introduced in the agri-food supply chain and address multiple environmental challenges of the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 era while providing economic and societal benefits. In this perspective, the design and establishment of multifunctional constructed wetlands as NbSs opens a portfolio of eco-innovative options throughout the agri-food supply chain, offering a realistic and promising way towards the green regeneration of the post-COVID-19 economy and the welfare of society. The aim of this work is to explore the potential role of constructed wetlands as Nature-based Solutions in the agri-food supply chain of the forthcoming post-COVID-19 era. More specifically, this work aims to reveal application opportunities of constructed wetlands in the different segments of the agri-food supply chain, identify linkages with societal challenges and EU policies, and discuss their potential limitations, future challenges, and perspectives.

11 citations