Tilman Santarius » Wirtschaft & Nachhaltigkeit

The induction effect. Why the rebound effect is only half the story of technology’s failure to achieve sustainability.

Tilman Santarius — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 17:37:14 +0000

The concept of the rebound effect is important in understanding the limits to how much technological efficiency improvements can reduce energy and resource consumption. However, the rebound effect is only half of the story. This article by Steffen Lange, Tilman Santarius and his research team, published in the Journal Frontiers in Sustainability, presents the term ‘induction effect’ to grasp additional important mechanisms stemming from new technologies. The article defines the induction effect empirically grounds it by way of three case studies in the fields of online consumption, smart homes, and pace of life. The article shows that including both rebound and induction effects helps better understand the relationship between technological change and the environment.

Rebound Effect and Sustainability Science: A Review.

Tilman Santarius — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 17:10:14 +0000

Rebound effects have been historically studied through narrow framings which may overlook the complexity of sustainability challenges. This article by David Font Vivanco, Tilman Santarius and five other international co-authors in the Journal of Industrial Ecology presents a critical literature review of rebound effects in the context of sustainability science in order to (1) map existing rebound research which goes beyond mainstream approaches, (2) unveil and classify current knowledge gaps in relation to sustainability science, (3) outline a research agenda, and (4) provide a knowledge base to support the design of effective policies toward sustainable development. We suggest that this knowledge is crucial for promoting a prioritization of actions and a concrete transition toward sustainability.

Nudging Sustainable Consumption: A Large-Scale Data Analysis of Sustainability Labels for Fashion in German Online Retail.

Tilman Santarius — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 16:15:41 +0000

A transition toward a sustainable way of living is more pressing than ever. How do online retailers provide information on the sustainability of products to consumers? This article by Maike Gossen, Tilman Santarius and further team members in the journal Frontiers in Sustainability is based on a large-scale dataset we built by using AI methods, and which contains sustainability information of nearly 17,000 fashion products of leading online retailers in Germany. We find that only 14% of the tagged products present credible third-party verified sustainability labels. Hence, we strongly recommend political initiatives that tackle the risk of greenwashing resulting from uncertified and weak sustainability information in e-commerce.

The Jevons Paradox Unravelled: A Multi-Level Typology of Rebound Effects and Mechanisms.

Tilman Santarius — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 12:05:19 +0000

This article, written by Steffen Lange, Tilman Santarius and further colleagues in the Journal of Energy Research & Social Science, develops a novel typology for the analyses of the rebound effect. It presents a typology that introduces an important differentiation between the rebound mechanisms which generate changes in energy consumption, and the size of such changes, called rebound effects. The typology is populated with eighteen rebound mechanisms from the literature. This innovative and robust rebound typology aims to establish common conceptual ground for future research on the rebound phenomenon and for developing rebound mitigation policies.

Digital Sufficiency: Conceptual Considerations for ICTs on a Finite Planet.

Tilman Santarius — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 15:50:46 +0000

Information and Communication Technologies hold significant potential to increase resource and energy efficiencies and contribute to a circular economy. This article by Tilman Santarius and 9 others international authors in the Annals of Telecommunications for the first time develops the concept of Digital Sufficiency, which constitutes a basis to understand how ICT can become part of a deep sustainability transformation. The conceptual work builds on five years of multidisciplinary empirical and theoretical work on digitalization and sustainability. The article manifests four dimensions of Digital sufficiency – hardware sufficiency, software sufficiency, user sufficiency, and economic sufficiency – and presents a set of strategies and policy proposals for each.

Corporate Strategy and the Theory of the Firm in the Digital Age: Reintroducing a Normative Perspective.

Tilman Santarius — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 11:42:55 +0000

The theory of the firm, as we know it from the literature, focuses on the boundary question. Recently, the question how firms can adequately response to the ongoing trend of digitalization hast been discussed. What is missing in the extant literature, however, is a reflection on the normative question of what role business firms should or could play in tackling major (“grand”) challenges such as climate change, poverty, migration, and rising inequality. This article by Dodo zu Knyphausen-Aufseß and Tilman Santarius in the Journal of Corporate & Business Strategy Review provides guideline for future theorizing about business firms along the three cornerstones (de-) growth, sustainability, and digitalization.

Digitalization and the Decoupling Debate. Can ICT help to reduce environmental impacts while the economy keeps growing?

Tilman Santarius — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 21:21:35 +0000

Digitalization can increase resource and energy productivities. However, the production and usage of ICT require materials and energy, and the application of ICT fosters economic growth. This article by Tilman Santarius, Johanna Pohl and Steffen Lange in the Journal Sustainability examines whether digitalization helps or hinders an absolute decoupling of environmental throughput from economic growth. The paper combines the literature on “green IT” and “ICT for green” with studies on the relationship between economic growth, technological change, and environmental throughput. Comparing the mitigating and the aggravating impacts of digitalization, we conclude that a more active political and societal shaping of the process of digitalization is needed to make ICT work for a sufficient absolute decoupling.

From Unidisciplinary to Multidisciplinary Rebound Research: Lessons Learned for Comprehensive Climate and Energy Policies

Tilman Santarius — Wed, 14 Nov 2018 12:33:23 +0000

This article presents how the rebound phenomenon has evolved from only being considered from a neoclassical economic perspective to include several other disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and industrial ecology. It discusses lessons learned from multidisciplinary rebound research for policies and measures that aim to mitigate rebound effects. The main finding of this article by Tilman Santarius, Hans Jakob Walnum and Carlo Aall in the Journal Frontiers in Energy Research is: If policymakers aim to make climate and energy policies as “rebound-proof” as possible, findings from both energy economics and multidisciplinary rebound research have to be taken into account.

Rethinking Climate and Energy Policies.

Tilman Santarius — Mon, 17 Oct 2016 10:32:21 +0000

This volume, edited by Tilman Santarius, Hans Jakob Walnum and Carlo Aall, suggests rethinking current climate, energy and sustainability policy-making by presenting new insights into the rebound phenomenon. It offers new aspects in rebound economics, but then explores multidisciplinary perspectives on the phenomenon. The volume puts rebounds into praxis and presents several policy cases and sector-specific approaches, including labour markets, urban planning, tourism, information and communication technologies, and transport. It finally embeds the issue into the larger debate on decoupling, green growth and degrowth, and sketches out lessons learned for sustainable development strategies and policies at large.

See here the link to Rethinking Climate and Energy Policy to view the table of content and download the book or singular chapters of the book.

Energy efficiency, human behavior, and economic growth

Tilman Santarius — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:18:33 +0000

Increasing energy efficiency in households, transportation, industries, and services is an important strategy to reduce energy service demand to levels that allow the steep reduction of greenhouse gases, and a full fledged switch of energy systems to a renewable basis. Yet, technological efficiency improvements may generate so-called rebound effects, which may ‘eat up’ parts of the technical savings potential. This chapter in the “Physics for Sustainable Energy II conference proceedings” provides a comprehensive review of existing research on these effects, raises critiques, and points out open questions. As a rough “rule of thumb”, about half the savings potential of energy efficiency improvements may be ‚eaten up’ by rebound effects.