Sustaina­bi­li­ty, En­er­gy and the En­vi­ron­ment (NEU)

The NEU focus of the Department 07 is linked to three focal points from the profile of the University of Kassel with varying degrees of closeness in terms of content.

• Environment, climate and nutrition: Here there is a great potential for synergy and cooperation in research collaboration within the department and the university, especially with the inclusion of the natural and technical sciences. The NEU focus thus offers the opportunity to maintain and further expand a comparative research policy advantage over other universities. This is due not only to the characteristics of problem orientation, the reference to actors and practice and the variety of methods, but also to the multitude of disciplines brought together (in the fields of economics, business administration, law and psychology).
• Energy supply systems of the future. Parallel to the development of technical solutions in the fields of renewable energies and efficient energy use, the transformation of energy systems requires extensive economic and societal changes. The NEU priority area makes an important contribution here in the analysis of economic, legal and psychological framework conditions which, in conjunction with the development of new technologies, lead to a change in existing economic and energy consumption structures.
• Social policy, development policy and decent work. The NEU focus of the Department 07 is also connectable to the shear focus of social policy, development policy and decent work at the University of Kassel. Sustainable development, especially in developing and emerging countries, is associated with raising living standards, socio-economic development and decent work. Since these social sustainability goals are closely linked to ecological goals, they are indispensable for an integrative view of sustainable transformation on a global level. In this context, social and ecological sustainability problems are mutually dependent and reinforcing.