COVID-19-Pandemic, Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss - System Crisis Events and Their Impact on Energy Economics and Policy in Central Europe

Dear Colleagues,

The pandemic may be a so-called “trigger event,” supporting the increase in importance of sustainable energy supply, and requiring an increased awareness of the importance of dealing with so-called “exogeneous factors.” X-events occur when surprising (unforseen, unforeseeable) initial events cascade through socio-technical and economical systems.  The Covid-19 pandemic affects ecomies and individual lives of millions of people. For instance, the pandemic and lock-downs change behavioral patterns and reduce industrial activities, support digitalization, and so on. While lockdowns and reduced economic activity may lead to a reduced energy demand, individual households and certain business sectors may become more dependent on stable energy supply. 

However, in the mid- and long-term, other issues, such as catastrophic climate change and large-scale biodiversity loss, are likely to disrupt routines and established system conditions. The unsustainable engagement with ecosystems is endangering the prosperity of current and future generations. 

To this end, we are seeking for contributions of scholars in order to better understand X-events. This includes two dimensions, i.e., the probability of suprising initial events and the resilience of (nested) systems.  In complexity research, three factors play the main role: feedback, variability, and robustness, but we welcome also contributions from other perspectives and theoretical frameworks.  We invite research papers, theoretical papers, reviews, and case studies, also from a multidisciplinary perspective, on the following general topics of interest: 

• Stability/sustainability of energy supply
• Incentives for development of independent energy production
• Photovoltaics: development of the market
• Energy policy: transnational co-operation
• Lessons from Covid-19 for energy supply: are we able to deal with unexpected, extreme events?
• Impact of Covid-19 on investments and energy market
• Impact of Covid-19 on energy use
• Impact of Covid-19 on energy poverty
• Changes in the economic structure and impact on energy markets
• Sustainable provision of energy for transport in the context of stability of energy grids as electro-mobility is expected to increase, as well as the environmental impacts.
• Social and economic paradigms, technological development, and solutions for energy provisions from the point of view of sustainable energy supply
• Large-scale infrastructural, technological, and economic transformations required to achieve the goal of climate neutrality by 2050

Prof. Johannes Casparus (Joost) Platje
Mr. Markus Will
Guest Editors

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