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Chair of Sustainability Transition Policy
At the Chair of Sustainability Transition Policy, we explore the policies needed for a transition to a climate-neutral future. Our work is rooted in transition studies, but is strongly interdisciplinary, building on theories and methods from different disciplines, including political science, economics and other social sciences.
Our focus lies on climate and energy policies, often with an empirical focus, both in research and teaching.
In the Summer Semester 2025, we are offering six courses. All are relevant to “Sustainability Transitions” which is our core interest. Master & Bachelor course
• Thesis Seminar Sustainable Transition Policy, to be announced, Zoom
Bachelor courses
• International Politics: Global Sustainability, Mondays 15-1630; exercises Tuesdays in the afternoon) in FG 0.015 (exercises in LG and FG)
• International Politics II, Wednesdays 8-9.30; exercises Wednesdays in the afternoon) in LG H6 (exercises in LG and FG)
• Technology assessment, Tuesdays 15:00-18:15 in LG 5.152 (except Jun 24 is at FG 2.024)
• Global Energy Politics, Thursdays, 13:15-14:45 in KH 0.024 (in Erlangen!)
• Trade and Sustainability, Mondays 13:30-17:00 in LG 5.152 (except from July in FG 0.016)
For the full details and link to the StudOn pages: https://www.transitionpolicy.rw.fau.de/teaching/courses/
Moniek de Jong answered questions from Belgian Knack.be about the drivers behind the current high European gas prices, what they mean for consumers, and what we can do to minimize our dependency on foreign gas supplies. You can find the interview here (in Dutch): https://www.knack.be/nieuws/belgie/europese-gasprijs-piekt-consumenten-met-een-vast-energiecontract-hoeven-zich-niet-al-te-veel-zorgen-te-maken/.
In the RadioEins science programme "Die Profis", Johan Lilliestam was interviewed about myths and realities around challenges in the ongoing expansion of wind power. You can listen to the interview here (in German, until January 2026): https://shorturl.at/tlkpd.
The main task of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is to provide comprehensive assessments of climate science, including climate policy options, holistically and objectively. We analyse the sources of all climate policy-related statements in the IPCC reports and Summaries for Policymakers since 1990 to investigate the influence of Integrated Assessment Models, a particular type of climate-economic model. We show that although both reports and SPM are broad and diverse, IAMs are strongly overrepresented in the evidence presented: IAMs are cited at least 10 times more often in the reports than their share of the scientific climate policy literature, and 20 times for often in the politically influential Summaries for Policymakers.
Wind power is an essential pillar of the current and future electricity system, but resistance is growing – and much of it based on false claims, such as wind power driving the whales crazy (Trump) or the Alternative für Deutschland wanting to tear down “wind mills of shame”.
We took stock of the current state of the art of wind power, assessing current challenges and the knowledge and experience about solutions. We show that many claims are false, such as infrasound generation, others are true but have effective and often tested solutions, such as bird and bat protection measures. The present main challenges include too low electricity prices caused by abundant productions, and excessively long permission processes for new wind farms. The article can be read for free here, and is summarised as a research highlight here.
