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Background: The decarbonization of the mobility sector is one of the main challenges in the context of climate mitigation. In Germany, as in many other countries, policy measures aiming to make the mobility system greener frequently fail to produce substantial results, not least due to a lack of support by large sections of the general public. Policy measures directed at reducing car traffic in particular are often met with indifference and resistance. The question thus arises: what basis do citizens use to form their (often negative) opinions about sustainable mobility policies? As a conceptual starting point for our empirical analysis, we draw on the frame concept and focus on people's frames of the politics of mobility. With "politics of mobility" we refer to everything people could consider as political with regard to mobility. We understand frames as culturally mediated patterns of interpretation that ultimately motivate and guide actions. Results: Based on interviews and focus group data gathered in the region of the city of Stuttgart (Germany), we identify two dominant frames as well as combinations of these frames by which people make sense of the activities of political actors in the field of mobility. In one frame, which we labeled "politics-as-actor", mobility politics are interpreted with reference to politics as some kind of monolithic abstract actor. In the other, which we labeled as "politics-as-staged-process", mobility politics are portrayed as an interest-driven, opaque process that only purport to being democratic. Conclusions: In terms of policy recommendations, we use our findings to derive suggestions for how to increase support for green mobility policies: transparent implementation of policy measures, pragmatic policy styles and the involvement of intermediaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity loss and climate change are deeply intertwined and constitute a complex and interdependent crisis. These interlinked sustainability issues need to be addressed through an integrated approach. However, governments have been slow to integrate the need to protect both climate and biodiversity into environmental governance. NGOs, as non-profit organisations promoting public good, are seen as having the potential to recognise and advocate for this much-needed holistic protection of climate and biodiversity. But to what extent and in what ways do NGOs recognise this climate-biodiversity nexus? This article addresses these questions through an analysis of 107 German climate NGOs, examining their 190 annual reports from two time periods, 2016/2017 and 2021/2022. We found that, while German climate NGOs have made significant progress in recognising the climate-biodiversity nexus, they lack recognition of the role of biodiversity in stabilising the climate and the unintended negative consequences of climate policies and measures for biodiversity, highlighting that NGOs are still far from being holistic environmental stewards. Climate NGOs need to integrate the interplay between climate and biodiversity objectives into their organisational activities and align their mandates to promote synergies and minimise trade-offs between climate and biodiversity actions. We suggest that one way forward is to increase collaboration between NGOs. NGOs could then complement each other's expertise and be better placed to jointly contribute to finding integrated solutions for climate and biodiversity protection and mainstreaming biodiversity into climate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensification of dairy and biogas production in Northwestern Europe has led to the conversion of permanent grasslands to arable land, mainly for silage maize production, resulting in significant soil organic carbon (SOC) losses, highlighting the need for implementing alternative management practices during land use change (LUC) for effective climate change mitigation. This study evaluated the impact of incorporating annual grass-clover leys in 3-year arable rotations and slurry application to mitigate SOC losses during LUC. We compared this approach to a continuous silage maize and a permanent grassland on sandy loam soil in Northern Germany. The experiments were simultaneously established at two adjacent 17-year-old sites of permanent grassland and arable cropping, with different levels of initial SOC when the experiment was established. The SOC dynamics in the upper soil layer (0-30 cm) were evaluated by annual 12-year sampling (2011-2022). The cropping systems were unfertilized (N0) or fertilized (N1) using cattle slurry at a rate of 240 kg N ha-1 year-1. The study reveals substantial SOC losses following the conversion of the permanent grassland to grass-clover (ley) based rotation or continuous silage maize, with reductions of 22% and 31%, respectively, compared to baseline levels of the permanent grassland. However, over the 12-year period, the grass-clover ley-based crop rotation demonstrated a 30% reduction in SOC losses compared to continuous silage maize, without compromising dry matter yield. Conversely, the conversion of arable land to grasslands led to SOC increases ranging from 10% to 30%. This recovery was only half the SOC losses observed in the grassland conversion for the same period, indicating a slow-in, fast-out effect during LUC. However, the transition from ley-containing forage rotation to continuous silage maize incurred significant SOC losses of 11%. Overall, these findings underscore the imperative of integrating ley phases to mitigate SOC losses, particularly in high-biomass- yield cropping systems. As a 1-year ley phase was insufficient to sustain carbon sequestration in arable crop rotations, extended ley residence times should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Draining peatlands to create agricultural land has been the norm in Europe, but in the context of climate change and the loss of biodiversity, these rich ecosystems may reactivate their functions as greenhouse gas sinks and retreat spaces for animals and plants. Against this background, the National Moor Rewetting Strategy was put into effect in Germany in 2023, together with the Natural Climate Protection Action Plan. This article examines the methodology of peatland rewetting from scientific, administrative, social, and technical perspectives. The article focuses on an example of moor rewetting in central Germany: the Rathsbruch moor near the municipality of Zerbst, Saxony-Anhalt. To illustrate the importance of rewetting projects for degraded peatlands, five scenarios with different target soil water levels were considered, and the associated greenhouse gas emissions were calculated for a period of five years. For the planning solution, an estimate of the medium-to-long-term development of the habitat types was made based on current use and the dynamics typical of the habitat. The results for the Rathsbruch moor area showed that increasing the water level in steps of 1, 0.8, or 0.5 m has no significant influence on reducing the CO2 emissions situation, while a depth of 0.3 m has a slight influence. When the water was raised to 0.1 m below the surface (Scenario 5), a significant CO2 reduction was observed. The calculated avoided CO2 costs due to environmental damage show that the environmental benefits multiply with every decimeter of water level increase. The rising groundwater levels and extensification favor the establishment of local biotopes. This means that two of the biggest man-made problems (extinction of species and climate change) can be reduced. Therefore, this research is applicable to the development and planning of recultivation work at municipal and regional levels in Germany and beyond within the framework of EU restoration policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drained peatland currently contributes 7.5% of Germany's total national greenhouse gas emissions. The National Peatland Protection Strategy adopted by the German government in 2022 recognizes that these emissions need to be reduced significantly to meet the country's climate change mitigation commitments. The present study employs a global dynamic computable general equilibrium model to assess the economic and greenhouse gas emission impacts of alternative agriculture-focused peatland rewetting scenarios for Germany up to 2030. In contrast to partial-analytic approaches, the global general equilibrium approach allows to take consistent account of economic ripple-on effects and carbon leakage effects triggered by peatland rewetting. The results suggest that in the medium term towards 2030 a reduction in annual emissions from agricultural peatland use by up to 45% are attainable at marginal private abatement costs between 27 and 61 Euro/tCO 2 e. Carbon leakage effects due to induced indirect land use change in Germany and the rest of the European Union reduce the global net emission reduction impact by 0.7 to 1.0% of the direct emission reduction. The effects on food prices remain small in all scenarios. In conclusion, a sizable reduction of Germany's land-use-related emissions is achievable at a low macroeconomic cost by moving beyond the moderate ambitions of the National Peatland Restoration Strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Hedgerows and adjacent croplands at 23 sites across Germany were sampled. • Under hedgerows, 36 ± 49 % more soil organic carbon (SOC) was stored compared to cropland. • 41 % of absolute SOC stock increase was found in subsoil below 30 cm soil depth. • SOC stocks were also increased along the transect from the hedgerow to the cropland. • Planting hedgerows on 3 % of German cropland could increase SOC stocks by 13 Tg C. Carbon dioxide removal strategies are becoming increasingly important as a fundamental component of comprehensive climate policies. One strategy to increase carbon (C) sinks is the integration of hedgerows into agricultural landscapes. Besides additional C storage in above-ground and below-ground hedgerow biomass, the establishment of hedgerows has the potential to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. However, empirical data regarding the magnitude of SOC accrual with hedgerow establishment are still limited. We sampled 23 sites across Germany in a paired-plot approach with the aim of estimating SOC stock change with hedgerow establishment on cropland. At 21 sites, SOC stocks were higher beneath hedgerows than in the reference cropland. On average, SOC stock accrual was 29 ± 22 Mg ha−1 (36 ± 49 %) in 0–100 cm soil depth. SOC stocks were significantly different in both topsoil and subsoil. Subsoils below 30 cm depth contributed 41 % (12 ± 17 Mg C ha−1) of the total SOC stock change, stressing the importance of subsoil SOC for the total SOC stocks of hedgerow systems. The positive effect of hedgerows on SOC stocks extended laterally beyond the hedgerow area itself. SOC stock in the grassy hedgerow edge also increased significantly by 22 ± 22 Mg C ha−1 (28 ± 30 %) and SOC stock in the cropland directly adjacent to the hedgerow were 9 ± 19 Mg C ha−1 (12 ± 25 %) higher than in the reference cropland. Particularly high C stock differences between hedgerows and reference cropland soils were found in old hedgerows (>200 years) planted on hedgebanks, which are typically found in northern Germany. Our study confirmed that SOC stocks increase with hedgerow establishment on cropland throughout the whole soil profile. If hedgerows were to be established on 3 % of Germany's cropland area, SOC stocks would increase by 13 Tg C equivalent 48 Mio. t CO 2 , highlighting that hedgerows are a promising and multi-functional climate change mitigation option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying transmission sectors that may not be revealed by existing indicators, such as production-based emission (PBE) and consumption-based emission (CBE) accounting, is significant in emission reduction policies and provides insights into novel opportunities for companies and industries to reduce emissions. This study proposed an intermediate-based emission (IBE) accounting approach that considers indirect emissions from intermediate goods production and a case study was conducted using Exiobase 3.8. The highest IBE sector was 'basic iron' (1131 Mt-CO 2), and the sector's IBE was higher than its PBE (1052 Mt-CO 2). Additionally, the material sector, such as aluminum products (326 Mt-CO 2), was identified as a key transmission sector, although PBE (21 Mt-CO 2) and CBE (3 Mt-CO 2) of the sector is very low. In addition, IBEs were observed to be closely related to overall supply chain emissions in Germany, Japan, and Asia, and cooperation is required to reduce the emissions. The method enables approaching supply chains with large emissions from three perspectives (production-, consumption-, and intermediate-based accounting) and exploration of the emission reduction responsibilities of the three key sectors. The utility and discussion of the approach are consistent with Scope 3 emissions and facilitate fair allocation of emission reduction responsibilities to a larger number of countries and industries. • This study suggested intermediate-based emission (IBE) accounting. • Industries such as basic iron have high production–based emissions but higher IBE. • Intermediate industries not focused on by existing emission accounting identified. • Existing betweenness-based emission accounting much higher than actual emissions. • Germany, Japan, and Asian HEMs have strong correlation with IBE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]