The Research Institute for Sustainability conducts research with the goal of understanding, advancing, and guiding processes of societal change towards sustainable development. Our research approach is transformative, transdisciplinary, and co-creative: RIFS researchers collaborate with diverse actors from science, policymaking and public administration as well as business and civil society to develop a common understanding of sustainability challenges and generate potential solutions.
Transformative sustainability research aims to bring together all relevant forms of knowledge generated both within and outside science in order to understand the problems of sustainable development, identify appropriate solutions, and support their implementation in cooperation with relevant actors and affected communities. RIFS involves these stakeholders in its transdisciplinary and co-creative research processes from the outset and does not view them as mere addressees of its research findings. The Institute also discusses its findings with representatives from politics, industry and civil society and supports transformation processes through this kind of consultation.
Our research and consultancy activities are organized across five research areas: Democracy and Sustainability, Global Implications of Socio-Technical Change, Transformative Methods, Processes and Practices, Energy Transitions and Societal Change, and Environmental and Societal Change. Our Science-Society Platforms and other activities foster dialogue between science, policymakers and civil society. These activities are complemented by a Fellow Programme, which fosters global dialogue and connects researchers working in the field of transformative research for sustainable development.
This article reviews the physical and chemical properties of methane (CH4) relevant to impacts on climate, ecosystems, and air pollution, and examine the extent to which this is reflected in...
What drives countries to realize more integrated policymaking? The co-benefits concept highlights the win–win situations that can arise if one policy measure addresses two or more policy goals, e....
Few challenges pose a greater threat to a healthy planet and people than air pollution and climate change. Over the past three decades, research has demonstrated that integrated solutions to air...
Not only is the climate changing, but so is global climate governance. Climate policy initiatives have proliferated within and beyond the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (...
Program for an official UNFCCC COP25 side event organized by IASS, Nigeria, Environment Defense Fund and the CCAC. The event showcases activities of national and nongovernmental actors that...
This policy brief presents recommendations for action on black carbon, an air pollutant and climate forcer, in the European context. Given the current emissions profile in Europe, targeting the...
This policy brief presents recommendations for action on black carbon, an air pollutant and climate forcer, in the European context.
Given the current emissions profile in Europe,...
This document presents results from the Climate & Clean Air Coalition’s Bricks Initiative reported between July 2016 and June 2017. These results were recorded using the Demonstrating...
A global agreement regulating transboundary air pollution does not currently exist, and the recently adopted United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development lacks a stand-alone goal on air...
The universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted in September 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly, offers an important opportunity to tackle air pollution at a global scale....
Air quality and climate change are inexorably linked from their emission sources to their impacts on climate, human health, and ecosystems, including agriculture. However, in global environmental...
Because of its high energy content, natural gas (i.e methane) has been often endorses as a possible "bridging" fuel toward a low-carbon economy.However, it is a highly potent greenhouse...
A summary of the outputs and outcomes of the UNEA 2 Side event: Detoxify: Mitigating Black Carbon and other Pollutants from Brick Production. The event was organized by CCAC partner, the Institute...
