Introduction

Abstract

More than a quarter century ago, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) coined the concept of sustainable development with their report “Our common future” World Commission on Environment and Development, Our common future, Technical report 1987 (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987). At least since then, sustainable development has been of increasing interest within research, politics, industry, and society in general. A central goal stated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for achieving sustainable development is the mitigation of climate change and thus the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, mainly carbon dioxide Climate change 2014: Mitigation of climate change. Working group III contribution to the IPCC 5th assessment report: Introductory chapter. In Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change Working Group III Contribution to the IPCC 5th Assessment Report (IPCC 2014c). Although various national and international policies and goals have been defined to limit and/or reduce greenhouse gases (e.g., the Kyoto Protocol), emissions increased twice as fast between 2000 and 2010 compared to any other 10-year period since the last 45 years. In 2010, global GHG emissions were estimated to be 49.5 billion tons carbon dioxide equivalent (Gt CO$_2$eq), higher than ever before. From these 49.5 Gt CO$_2$eq, the single largest contributing sector as defined by the IPCC was Electricity and Heat Production with 25 %, followed by Agriculture and Forestry and Other Land Use (23 %) and Industry with 18 %. As electricity and heat production are not independent from their respective end use, allocating these emissions to causing sectors pushes industry to the top with 28.6 % of global emissions.