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The Hot Spot Analysis developed by the Wuppertal Institute is a screening tool focussing on the demand of reliable sustainability‐oriented decision‐making processes in complex value chains identifying high priority areas (“hot spots”) for effective measures in companies. This paper aims to focus on this tool.

The Hot Spot Analysis is a qualitative method following a cradle‐to‐cradle approach. With the examples of coffee and cream cheese hot spots of sustainability indicators throughout the entire life cycle are identified and evaluated with data from literature reviews and expert consultations or stakeholder statements. This paper focuses on the indicator resource efficiency as an example of how the methodology works.

The identified hot spots for coffee are the raw material procurement phase in terms of abiotic material, water and energy consumption, the production phase concerning biotic material and the energy consumption in the use phase. For cream cheese relevant hot spots appear in the raw material procurement phase in terms of biotic materials and water as well as biotic materials and energy consumption during the production phase.

Life cycle analyses connected to indicators like resource efficiency need to be applied as consequent steps of a Hot Spot Analysis if a deeper level of analysis is eventually aimed at which is more cost and time intensive in the short term. The Hot Spot Analysis can be combined with other sustainability management instruments.

Research and management can be directed to hot spots of sustainability potential quickly which pays off in the long term.

The paper shows that companies can address sustainability potentials relatively cost moderately.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize and discuss the results from the LIVING LAB design study, a project within the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union. The aim of this project was to develop the conceptual design of the LIVING LAB Research Infrastructure that will be used to research human interaction with, and stimulate the adoption of, sustainable, smart and healthy innovations around the home.

A LIVING LAB is a combined lab‐/household system, analysing existing product‐service‐systems as well as technical and socioeconomic influences focused on the social needs of people, aiming at the development of integrated technical and social innovations and simultaneously promoting the conditions of sustainable development (highest resource efficiency, highest user orientation, etc.). This approach allows the development and testing of sustainable domestic technologies, while putting the user on centre stage.

As this paper discusses the design study, no actual findings can be presented here but the focus is on presenting the research approach.

The two elements (real homes and living laboratories) of this approach are what make the LIVING LAB research infrastructure unique. The research conducted in LIVING LAB will be innovative in several respects. First, it will contribute to market innovation by producing breakthroughs in sustainable domestic technologies that will be easy to install, user friendly and that meet environmental performance standards in real life. Second, research from LIVING LAB will contribute to innovation in practice by pioneering new forms of in‐context, user‐centred research, including long‐term and cross‐cultural research.

The discussion of sustainable development focused attention on new environmental goals and raised the issue of improving resource productivity. A first step towards sustainability would be to slow‐down and reduce the man‐induced movements of materials: this is the focus of dematerialization approach which emphasizes what socialist countries used to neglect most – minimizing the use of scarce input factors. This paper applies the dematerialization approach to the discussion on sustainable development in central and eastern Europe. In the early 1990s all countries in eastern Europe have developed new environmental programs which mainly focus on reducing pollution. Environmental strategies focusing on reducing emissions are important but not sufficient for reaching sustainability. A new orientation in the environmental policy in the young market economies is required. Dematerialization approach can be a new option for environmental policy in central and eastern Europe. Dematerialization requires a mix of instruments. Important role can be played by an ecological fiscal reform which covers ecological tax reform and the restructuring of subsidies.

Since the registration of the first clean development mechanism (CDM) project in 2004, the CDM has seen a dynamic expansion: the CDM pipeline currently comprises 6,725 projects generating 2.73 billion certified emission reductions (CERs) up to 2012. These CERs result in a substantial financial flow from Annex I to Non-Annex I countries. But CDM projects also result in investments in low carbon technologies, a substantial share of which is focused on the energy sector. The total installed capacity of all CDM projects amounts to 288,944 MW. However, the CDM is not widely taken up in Africa. This holds true for Africa's share in the CDM project pipeline (2.62 per cent), for Africa's share in CERs generated up to 2012 (3.58 per cent) and for the normalized CERs per capita, per country. Two hypothesizes are commonly discussed: first, the continent features low per capita emissions and low abatement potentials. Second, African countries may be hampered by weak institutional frameworks. This article reviews both hypotheses and presents new empirical data. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Investigating the greenhouse gas (GHS) abatement potential of 16 energy-related sectors for 11 selected least developed countries in sub-Saharan Africa shows a total theoretical CDM potential of 128.6 million CERs per year. Analyzing investment indicators confirms that most countries are impeded by below average investment conditions.

It is concluded that Africa offers a considerable range of substantial abatement potentials. However, the weak institutional framework is limiting the uptake of the CDM in Africa. This is underpinned by an analysis which shows if a CDM sector has high investment cost, Africa will have a low share in the sector. If the sector has low investment needs per CER, Africa's share in the CDM sector will be bigger. Investment needs and Africa's share in the pipeline feature a negative correlation.

Supporting CDM development in Africa should not be constraint to technical assistance. It will be crucial to develop an integrated financing approach, comprising the CDM as a co-financing mechanism, to overcome the institutional challenges.

Until today, there are few empirical studies that use concrete criteria and indicators to show why the CDM is underrepresented in Africa. The work presented here contributes to filling this gap.

This paper sets out to tackle the issue of climate change from a business perspective. It seeks to discuss why it is important to take climate change considerations into account in business decisions, how this can be done and what further action is required from managers and business scholars.

The paper describes ways of reducing emissions and adapting to climate change that can be implemented by any business. As an illustration, the proposed climate strategy of a large European utility company, RWE, is provided.

There are numerous ways to reduce emissions within business operations, along the supply chain and surrounding product usage and disposal. Climate‐proofing operations is also becoming increasingly pertinent to businesses.

New ways have to be found yet in order to take emission reductions to a more ambitious level by altering patterns of production and consumption.

The paper discusses how businesses can reduce their carbon footprint and anticipate changes in the physical and political environment related to climate change.

The paper is of value to managers who, today, are expected not only to reduce emissions from operations, but also to gain an awareness of the physical, political and social risks stemming from the impacts of climate change.

The Integrated Supply Chain at Xerox Ltd is a large complex organisation which has many potential impacts on the environment. In order to better understand and reduce those impacts, an environmental bias has been introduced into the decision making process which allows more environmentally conscious decisions to be made. This paper details how the environmental bias was developed and how it can be used to provide both a measure of environmental performance for the whole supply chain, each functional element within the chain and for different product delivery scenarios. The environmental decision making tool construction is discussed and preliminary results show that it is the working life of a typical product which causes the biggest environmental impact.

This paper seeks to present the key actors in Germany in the field of public forecasting and futures studies.

Taking into account the highly decentralized nature of German institutions, and the reforms carried out since the reunification, it analyses the contributions of the main economic institutes and foundations of the country. It gives a detailed account of their methods, means, topics of research, and impact on public debate, together with up‐to‐date links to the main web sites.

The dominant approach tends to be economic forecasting, carried out by major institutes that rely on academic logic. Societal futures studies are not so well served and are less recognized.

Provides an insight into the state of futures research in Germany and its characteristics.

Outlines and analyses critically the changing nature of the administration and management of universities, particularly in Australia. Special attention is given to the emerging corporate and commercial character of universities, taking into account principles of economic management. Changes in economics as taught at university‐level are discussed along with the declining status of many economics departments. Strategies which I have used to counteract threats to university economics are outlined. Just as globalisation has been increasingly stressed in recent years as an imperative for business, it has become a dominant theme of Australian universities, partly for commercial reasons. This “new” emphasis is, however, ironic, as explained. Following some critical comments on the approaches of Australian universities to internationalization, the essay outlines some of my substantial international activities in the last two years.