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Grant-making foundations commonly use financial returns on investment in support of a public purpose. Recently, more attention has been given in academic research to the role of foundations as sustainable investors. According to the concept of socially responsible investing (SRI), foundations should integrate their social purposes into their investment strategies. However, foundations are also required to comply with national legal frameworks. Our research interest lies in those investment funds that are specifically developed for foundations in Germany. In this study, we answer two research questions: First, what are the characteristics of the market for foundation investment funds in Germany? Second, to what extent are foundation investment funds useful for foundations pursuing an SRI strategy? We build on a full sample comprising all 52 German foundation investment funds that are currently available and then use data from MSCI to apply a sustainability rating for these funds. With these data, we evaluate the financial performance of foundation investment funds in relation to their sustainability ratings. Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) was used to reduce complexity in the dataset and detect similarities among a set of objects. Our findings differentiate between two distinct clusters of foundation investment funds. The first "discrete" cluster represents the majority of funds, and these funds are generally smaller with lower performance and lower levels of SRI conformity. The funds in the second "attached" cluster are generally larger, more diversified, and have higher performance. Finally, we call for further research offer implications for both fund managers and foundation asset managers. Plain Language Summary: Shortcommings in sustainable investing through foundation investment funds Grant-making foundations commonly use financial returns on investment in support of a public purpose. Recently, more attention has been given in academic research to the role of foundations as sustainable investors. According to the concept of socially responsible investing (SRI), foundations should integrate their social purposes into their investment strategies. However, foundations are also required to comply with national legal frameworks. Analyzing the performance of specific foundation investment funds in Germany we find two distinct clusters. The first "discrete" cluster represents the majority of funds, and these funds are generally smaller with lower performance and lower levels of SRI conformity. The funds in the second "attached" cluster are generally larger, more diversified, and have higher performance. This study highlights the need for foundations to develop their own SRI investment policies and thoroughly check the investment vehicles they use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows how long-term value added driven competitiveness is widely adopted by German DAX 30 corporations and how it can be measured. It explains and shows how different measures such as shareholder value, economic value added (EVA), return on capital employed (ROCE), return on equity (ROE) and others are calculated and how they correlate to show longterm value added and, therefore, competitive differentiation. As part of the highly professionalized corporate governance approach, the German Corporate Governance Codex (Regierungskommision Deutscher Corporate Governance Kodex, 2015) asks for "sustainable creation of value". The analyses of 2015 and 2016 annual reports of all 30 corporations state that 80% of the firms show financially relevant value added data and as such measurable competitive advantage on the long run. The paper focuses on which measures are used to quantify the competitive value addition and then shows how EVA or company specific EVA-like measures in addition to ROCE are the most used ones. Furthermore, the paper shows that ROCE with a factor of 0.97 in 2015 and 0.74 in 2016 correlates best with EVA and, in absence of an EVA calculation, is the best measure to represent value creation as a competitive differentiator. The results can be useful to strengthen competitiveness for policymakers both in non-profit and for-profit social economy entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The European-study on Quantifying Utility of Investment in Protection from Tobacco (EQUIPT) project aimed to study transferability of economic evidence by co-creating the Tobacco Return On Investment (ROI) tool, previously developed in the United Kingdom, for four sample countries (Germany, Hungary, Spain and the Netherlands). The EQUIPT tool provides policymakers and stakeholders with customized information about the economic and wider returns on the investment in evidence-based tobacco control, including smoking cessation interventions. A Stakeholder Interview Survey was developed to engage with the stakeholders in early phases of the development and country adaptation of the ROI tool. The survey assessed stakeholders' information needs, awareness about underlying principles used in economic analyses, opinion about the importance, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of tobacco control interventions, and willingness to use a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) tool such as the ROI tool.Methods: A cross sectional study using a mixed method approach was conducted among participating stakeholders in the sample countries and the United Kingdom. The individual questionnaire contained open-ended questions as well as single choice and 7- or 3-point Likert-scale questions. The results corresponding to the priority and needs assessment and to the awareness of stakeholders about underlying principles used in economic analysis are analysed by country and stakeholder categories.Results: Stakeholders considered it important that the decisions on the investments in tobacco control interventions should be supported by scientific evidence, including prevalence of smoking, cost of smoking, quality of life, mortality due to smoking, and effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and budget impact of smoking cessation interventions. The proposed ROI tool was required to provide this granularity of information. The majority of the stakeholders were aware of the general principles of economic analyses used in decision making contexts but they did not appear to have in-depth knowledge about specific technical details. Generally, stakeholders' answers showed larger variability by country than by stakeholder category.Conclusions: Stakeholders across different European countries viewed the use of HTA evidence to be an important factor in their decision-making process. Further, they considered themselves to be capable of interpreting the results from a ROI tool and were highly motivated to use it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of incentives for investments in sustainable residential energy technologies depends on individual households actively participating in the energy transition by investing in electrification and by becoming prosumers. This willingness is influenced by the return on investments in electrification and preferences towards environmental sustainability. Returns on investment can be supported by a preferential regulation of Citizen Energy Communities, i.e. a special form of a microgrid regulation. However, the exact effect of such regulation is debated and therefore analyzed in this study. We propose a multi-periodic community development model that determines household investment decisions over a long time horizon, with heterogeneous individual preferences in regards to sustainability and heterogeneous energy consumption profiles. We consider that investment decisions which increase individual utility might be delayed due to inertia in the decision process. Decisions are determined in our model based on individual preferences using a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm embedded in an energy system simulation. In a case study, we investigate the development of a neighborhood in Germany consisting of 30 households in regards to community costs and community emissions with and without Citizen Energy Community regulation as proposed by the European Union. We find that Citizen Energy Community regulation always reduces community costs and emissions, while heterogeneous distributions of economic and ecologic preferences within the community lead to higher gains. Furthermore, we find that decision inertia considerably slows down the transformation process. This shows that policymakers should carefully consider who to target with Citizen Energy Community regulation and that subsidies should be designed such that they counterbalance delayed private investment decisions. • We simulate private investment in Citizen Energy Communities (CECs) over time. • We differentiate between ecological and economical preferences of participants. • The impact of CEC regulation is largest for heterogeneous preferences. • CECs have a socially desirable influence on cost and emission in all analyzed cases. • Decision inertia slows down investment and should be considered by policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The German energy industries will be subjected to regulation of network access enforced by a sector-specific regulator. Whereas the gas industry broke the regime of negotiated third party access, in electricity nTPA 'worked', although it clearly resulted in a margin squeeze. The government currently discusses whether to use rate-of-return or incentive regulation, to allow ex ante approval of charges, and the length of the regulatory lag. Close examination suggests that generation capacity still is adequate, but in the longer term there is reason to be alert. The regulatory changes and emission trading system can both contribute to supply security by increasing investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Storm induced water level elevations (i.e. surge) superimposing on high tides are among themost severe natural hazards along the German North Sea coast. Extreme water levels ofseveral meters have been observed over the last centuries but different researchstudies already suggest that these events have not yet been the worst physicallypossible combinations of tide and surge in this region. In the ongoing research projectEXTREMENESS*, we investigate the effect of different meteorological and astronomicalconditions and how they could amplify water levels under predictable but yet unobservedcombinations. As a case study, we focus on the Ems estuary and the region around the city ofEmden, Germany with a resulting water level amplification of 140 cm under present-day sealevel conditions. This scenario can be roughly rated as a 1,400-year return period event forthe harbor of Emden. In order to estimate potential consequences, we use the extreme storm surgescenario as well as an observed reference storm surge of 2006 (i.e. the event with thelargest water levels on record in our study region) as inputs of a two-dimensionalhydrodynamic-numerical model. We assume a failure of coastal protection structures atdifferent locations and simulate the resulting flooding for both the scenario and the reference.An assessment of flood consequences is then conducted at each assumed failurelocation. We finally compare these flood consequences to evaluate the increase indamage potential associated with the extreme but physically possible water levelamplification. The comparison with our reference event yields a simple but comprehensibledescription of the extreme scenario in addition to the rather theoretical, statistically basedestimate as a "1,400-year event". The results also highlight most vulnerable sections ofcoastal protection in case of a failure during a storm surge. In a next step we aim atintegrating critical infrastructures in our flood assessment to also include potentiallyaffected regions outside of the flood prone areas. This will allow an estimation oftotally affected people and assist local authorities by providing an overview ofrelevant infrastructure linkages. Furthermore our results are intended to increasedisaster awareness and preparedness in regions which are not directly vulnerable toflooding but to consequences of critical infrastructure failures including cascadingeffects. _______________________* EXTREMENESS is a German Coastal Engineering Research Council (KFKI) project,funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through theproject management of Projektträger Jülich PTJ under the grant number 03F0758B. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]