Headline: News 2013

<p>Manuals offering advice on how to lead a "happier" or a “better life” seem to be in great demand. We live in times of a financial crisis, climate catastrophes, and increased consumption in some parts of the world accompanied by rising poverty in others. In this context, our need to search for alternative lifestyles beyond “faster, higher and bigger” is becoming ever more urgent.</p>

<p>For the past two weeks, 40 young professionals and academics from 26 different countries have been deliberating about urban sustainability at the Global Sustainability Summer School (GSSS) 2013 in Potsdam. The GSSS was hosted by the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Participants have attended lectures, workshops, and discussions; met world renown experts; visited start-ups; and enjoyed many excursions.</p>

<p>As the window for ambitious climate action until “the 2015 moment” is narrowing, the UK Think Tank E3G, short for Third Generation Environmentalism, considered it timely to reengage and reignite the debate with the panel discussion <a href="http://www.e3g.org/news/events-and-speaking/the-2-degrees-target-revisited.-why-there-is-no-case-for-an-alternative" target="_blank">“The 2 Degrees Target Revisited:  Why There Is No Case for an Alternative”</a> on July 8, 2013, at the Stiftung Mercator.</p>

<p>More than seven billion people live on our planet and they are increasingly attracted by living in cities. Especially in developing and emerging countries, the number of those who live in cities is increasing rapidly. In addition to more jobs and better health care, the move into the city often leads to an improvement in personal living conditions. In order to ensure this, a far-sighted urban planning is necessary: This applies especially for energy and power supply, infrastructure, communication and housing.</p>

<p>What could be the long-distance electricity transmission technology of the 21^st century?</p>

<p>What are the urbanization trends of the future? Which role do cities play in the global climate change? How big is the worldwide impact of the energy transformation? These and further questions are at the centre of the <strong>Global Sustainability Summer School 2013</strong> themed “<strong>COMPLEX(C)ITY – Urbanization and energy transition in a changing climate“</strong>.</p><p>[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1665","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]</p>

<p>The complex challenges of a sustainable energy supply in the context of the increasing global energy consumption were at the center of a lecture series that Klaus Töpfer gave on the 25^th and 26^th of June at the UNEP – Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development at the Tongji University in Shanghai. The IASS Executive Director holds a visiting professorship at the same institution since 2007.</p>

<p>On Sunday, June 16, 2013, electricity was traded virtually for free at the German power exchange. It was sold for about -3.33 Euros per Megawatt hour (MWh). What do negative prices actually mean? They mean that electricity generators have to pay a certain amount of money if they sell their electricity while consumers get extra money for their purchased electricity. The reason is an oversupply of electrical energy occurring during times of low demand. It is important to know that electricity in Germany is traded in products per hour.</p>

<p>The emission of the greenhouse gas CO₂into the atmosphere by traffic contributes significantly to global warming. The project group “Mobility and climate protection” of the state capital of Potsdam investigated the impact of mobility on climate, noise and air quality on June 12, 2013 in a one-day workshop at the IASS Potsdam.</p>