Integrated Multidimensional Sustainability Assessment of Energy System Transformation Pathways

Tobias Naegler, Lisa Becker, Jens Buchgeister, Wolfgang Hauser, Heidi Hottenroth, Tobias Junne, Ulrike Lehr, Oliver Scheel, Ricarda Schmidt-Scheele, Sonja Simon, Claudia Sutardhio, Ingela Tietze, Philip Ulrich, Tobias Viere and Anke Weidlich
Additional contact information
Tobias Naegler: Institute of Networked Energy Systems, German Aerospace Centre (DLR), 70563 Stuttgart, Germany
Lisa Becker: Institute of Economic Structures Research (GWS), 49080 Osnabrück, Germany
Jens Buchgeister: Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany
Wolfgang Hauser: Center for Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies (ZIRIUS), University of Stuttgart, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany
Heidi Hottenroth: Institute for Industrial Ecology (INEC), Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences, 75175 Pforzheim, Germany
Tobias Junne: Institute of Networked Energy Systems, German Aerospace Centre (DLR), 70563 Stuttgart, Germany
Oliver Scheel: Center for Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies (ZIRIUS), University of Stuttgart, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany
Ricarda Schmidt-Scheele: Center for Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies (ZIRIUS), University of Stuttgart, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany
Sonja Simon: Institute of Networked Energy Systems, German Aerospace Centre (DLR), 70563 Stuttgart, Germany
Claudia Sutardhio: Department of Sustainable Systems Engineering (INATECH), University of Freiburg, 70910 Freiburg, Germany
Ingela Tietze: Institute for Industrial Ecology (INEC), Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences, 75175 Pforzheim, Germany
Philip Ulrich: Institute of Economic Structures Research (GWS), 49080 Osnabrück, Germany
Tobias Viere: Institute for Industrial Ecology (INEC), Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences, 75175 Pforzheim, Germany
Anke Weidlich: Department of Sustainable Systems Engineering (INATECH), University of Freiburg, 70910 Freiburg, Germany

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-28

Abstract: Sustainable development embraces a broad spectrum of social, economic and ecological aspects. Thus, a sustainable transformation process of energy systems is inevitably multidimensional and needs to go beyond climate impact and cost considerations. An approach for an integrated and interdisciplinary sustainability assessment of energy system transformation pathways is presented here. It first integrates energy system modeling with a multidimensional impact assessment that focuses on life cycle-based environmental and macroeconomic impacts. Then, stakeholders’ preferences with respect to defined sustainability indicators are inquired, which are finally integrated into a comparative scenario evaluation through a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), all in one consistent assessment framework. As an illustrative example, this holistic approach is applied to the sustainability assessment of ten different transformation strategies for Germany. Applying multi-criteria decision analysis reveals that both ambitious (80%) and highly ambitious (95%) carbon reduction scenarios can achieve top sustainability ranks, depending on the underlying energy transformation pathways and respective scores in other sustainability dimensions. Furthermore, this research highlights an increasingly dominant contribution of energy systems’ upstream chains on total environmental impacts, reveals rather small differences in macroeconomic effects between different scenarios and identifies the transition among societal segments and climate impact minimization as the most important stakeholder preferences.

Keywords: energy scenario; energy system modeling; sustainability; impact assessment; life cycle assessment (LCA); macroeconomic modeling; focus group; conjoint analysis; discrete choice experiment; multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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