14 years after a highly cited Energy Policy Special Issue, it is time to explore the research frontier and investigate why and how social acceptance of renewables changes over time. For clean technologies to fully exploit their potential, social acceptance of infrastructure projects and policies is a key prerequisite. Social acceptance is a process relying on a series of positive decisions by salient stakeholders. While there is a flourishing stream of literature on social acceptance of wind energy and other renewables, much of the extant research is cross-sectional in nature, failing to capture the important dynamic processes that make or break social acceptance when push comes to shove. The aim of this conference is to contribute to closing the current research gap and encourage more longitudinal research on social acceptance. Furthermore, it is important to take into account the intricate role of cognitive and affective factors in shaping the dynamics of acceptance among a variety of decision-makers in the process.

In order to this, the Chair for Management of Renewable Energies (IWÖ-HSG), in collaboration with the Horizon 2020 project MISTRAL invites the submission of papers from researchers to the international research conference and special issue on “Dynamics of Social Acceptance – Latest Evidence from Research and Implications for Theory and Practice”, which will take place in Switzerland June 24^th-25^th 2022. Submission deadline is: February 15^th, 2022.

Please find more detailed information on the call HERE.

We are looking forward to your submissions!

Dr. Adrian Rinscheid, who is currently an International Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of St. Gallen’s Institute for Economy and the Environment, was invited to join the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” at the University of Konstanz (Germany) for a research stay from October 2021 to March 2022. In the context of his project ‘The politics of overcoming carbon lock-in’, which focuses on decarbonization of the automotive industry, Rinscheid will conduct a study on perceptions of inequality attributed to climate policy. Part of the study’s motivation stems from a recent survey conducted at IWÖ-HSG, according to which less than a third of Swiss voters are aware that most of the revenue from the country’s CO₂ tax is redistributed to Swiss households. “Many citizens are worried about climate policy being restrictive and leading to higher socio-economic inequality, whereas these policies are in fact designed to prevent the inequalities resulting from uncontrolled climate change”, says Adrian Rinscheid, noting that this is particularly the case when factoring in the high projected cost of delayed climate action. At the University of Konstanz, he will conduct surveys with German citizens to investigate to what extent climate policies are perceived to reinforce socio-economic inequalities, and how providing objective information about the implications of climate policies may shift voter perceptions.

A team of IWÖ researchers led by Martina Rothenberger and Rolf Wüstenhagen took a closer look at the recent referendum against Switzerland’s revised CO₂ law. Their particular focus was on the influence of emotional dynamics on the perception of costs and benefits of climate policy.

Contrary to high initial approval rates, the revision of the CO₂ law was rejected by 51.6 % of voters on June 13, 2021. How did this opinion swing come about, and what can be learned for designing energy and climate policies that are contested in a referendum campaign? Based on a representative survey of Swiss voters (N=757), the researchers suggest that negative emotions currently prevail, whereas motivating voters for climate policy measures requires taking a closer look at co-benefits such as health, energy independence or the pleasure of low-carbon travel. Furthermore, a majority of voters overestimated the cost of the planned aviation tax, and were unaware of the financial benefits of redistribution of CO₂ taxes.

Read the media release (in German) and further details about the results of the study HERE.

Clémentine Robert joined the Sustainability & Responsibility team at IWÖ in August 2021. In her new position as Project Manager for Curriculum Development, she is working closely with Prof. Walls to embed sustainability into courses across institutes, programmes and education levels at the University of St.Gallen.

Clémentine will contribute to the HSG vision and Roadmap 2025 to “inspire people acting in an ethical and socially responsible manner” and “take up a leadership position in finding solutions to socially-relevant problems”. Clémentine’s aim is to ensure that HSG prepares the next generation of business leaders and citizens to solve the current and upcoming social and environmental challenges.

As former president of oikos International, Clémentine will leverage her local and international experiences as well as her network in the field of sustainability in higher education to help transform the curriculum at HSG. She will do so by collaboratively working with and supporting all its stakeholders. In parallel, she will pursue her studies as a PhD. student at the HSG in the field of sustainable leadership, under the supervision of Prof. Walls.

IWÖ team and REM-HSG faculty member Prof. Dr. Moritz Loock shows how #digital platform-based innovative #businessmodels are transforming and #disrupting our #energysystem. An interesting summary of his findings can be also found in this #energy blog post: https://lnkd.in/dDHZHXv

Link to #openaccess full article, published on #elsevier  #EnergyResearch&SocialScience: https://lnkd.in/dZ9G-Wa

Our Renewable Energy Management – Executive Education Programme offers insights in #energy  #entrepreneurship and #innovative #businessmodels for the #energytransition

#impactful #climatepositive  https://lnkd.in/dDHZHXv

Although many companies are committed to sustainability, environmental and social crises are advancing. This is partly because many companies’ strategies tend to view sustainability as a means to an end of financial success. The Truly Sustainable Strategies approach, on the other hand, places the addressing of existing sustainability challenges at the center of corporate action. Dr. Tabea Bereuther from theHSG Institute for Economy and the Environment at the HSG has taken a closer look at these strategies in her dissertation.

2014-2020:  the Chair for Management of Renewable Energies proudly contributed to the scientific results of SCCER CREST regarding the energy transition in Switzerland. We present the annual report of the Center for Energy Innovation, Governance and Investment (EGI-HSG) 2020, as well as the Summary of  SCCER CREST 2014-2020 (funded by innosuisse), remembering a constructive, fruitful, and resultful cooperation with all participants.

Congratulations to Dr. Tabea Bereuther, Dr. Beatrice Petrovich, Dr. Alexander Stauch and Dr. Pascal Vuichard from our IWÖ-HSG team for successfully graduating from the University of St. Gallen – HSG PhD programme. Thank you for all your contributions to a vibrant and impactful research community at our institute in recent years, as well as in making our insights accessible in teaching and executive education – very much appreciated!