
About the 2013 Dahrendorf Symposium
The Dahrendorf Symposium 2013 ‘Changing the European debate: Focus on Climate Change´ brought into focus various European perspectives on the leading question ‘How to prevent dangerous climate change?’ from a multidimensional lens – economic, politic, legal and social. The symposium took place at the Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz in Berlin, on 14 and 15 November 2013.
Read more about
Working Groups
Dahrendorf Fellows
Publications
Please download the Conference Brochure here.

Watch all recorded keynote speeches and panel discussions
Working Groups
Under the joint direction of Helmut K. Anheier, Presiden of the Hertie School of Governance, and Arne Westad, Director of LSE Ideas, five international and interdisciplinary working groups, whose chairs were located at the academic partner institutions, worked over two years on the topics of the next Dahrendorf Symposium.
Working Group 1: Infrastructure and Climate Change
Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) in Berlin
Climate economists understand that carbon pricing of flows of GHG emissions is not necessarily sufficient to successfully and optimally mitigate climate change. Instead it becomes clear that hysteresis and path dependence in infrastructures but also in institutions require an explicit treatment of stocks, not only flows. This working group wants to focus on options for climate change mitigation in transport, electricity and/or urban infrastructures, and aims to understand how investments policies, regulation and procurement can be supportive elements in a transition to a low-carbon economy in Europe.
These infrastructure policies are necessarily embedded in a broader notion of well-being, quality of life, and co-benefits. Connecting to Dahrendorf groups 2 and 3, the group may explore the opportunity of framing common European infrastructure investments as a positive momentum for a joint European project.
Chair: Felix Creutzig
Members
- Blanca Fernandez
- Stéphane Hallegatte
- Michael Jakob
- Brigitte Knopf
- Steffen Lohrey
- Tiziana Susca
- Andy Wightman
Dahrendorf Visiting Fellows
- Frank Goetzke
- Jan Christoph Goldschmidt
- James Woodcock
Working Group 2: Governance and Policy Aspects of Climate Change
Hertie School of Governance in Berlin
In the uncertain post-Kyoto climate policy arrangement, the role of the EU as a driving force of climate change mitigation efforts seems to be gaining importance. But the common EU climate and energy policy, even though defined on a European level, is driven and to a large extent executed nationally. This raises the questions of scales in multi-level governance systems, as well as the conditions for effective implementation of regional agreements and domestic compliance. Hence the national circumstances are a key factor to agree for a unified EU approach. The researcher in this project shall concentrate specifically on the German-Polish context.
Chairs: Claudia Kemfert and Karten Neuhoff
Members
- Andrzej Blachowicz
- Kai-Olaf Lang
- Zbigniew M. Karaczun
- Andrzej Kassenberg
- Kacper Szulecki
- Kirsten Westphal
Dahrendorf Visiting Fellows
- Andrzej Ancygier
- Lidia Puka
- Anna Serzysko
Working Group 3: Social and Legal Aspects of Climate Change
LSE in London
Climate change raises complex issues of justice and of human rights. Climate change policies have important distributive and social implications not only between countries and regions, but also between generations. What would appropriately designed climate change agreements look like? How valuable is the language of rights in framing such agreements? Prof Conor Gearty will lead this working group and address this and other questions related to the disciplines of environmental law Public Administration and Public Policy.
Chair: Conor Gearty
Members
- Marcus Hedahl
- Stephen Humphreys
Dahrendorf Visiting Fellow: Anna Grear
Working Group 4: Economics and Climate Change
LSE Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment in London
The Dahrendorf Economic Working Group aims at identifying a feasible climate policy mix to achieve long-term greenhouse gas reduction targets in Europe. The project will focus on price-based (carbon taxes, subsidies, feed-in-tariffs) and quantity-based (renewable standards, emission permits) instruments and their interaction with additional policy instruments.
Chair: Luca Taschini
Members
- Paolo Falbo
- Rüdiger Kiesel
- Sascha Kollenberg
- Robert Marschinski
- Cristian Pelizzari
- James Rydge
- Alessandro Tavoni
- Ya Wen
Dahrendorf Visitin Fellows
- Carolyn Fischer
- Frank Jotzo
Working Group 5: Europe and the World
Hertie School of Governance in Berlin and LSE Ideas in London
The Dahrendorf Symposium 2013 is focusing on the global effects of climate change as challenges to society, governance and technology. But even if it is perhaps the most pressing issue facing humanity as such, we know that climate change is intimately connected to other processes of international transformation in social and political terms. The final panel will look at some of these broader challenges and how they relate to Europe specifically. The relationship between Europe and Asia is one key factor to be looked at. The issue of governance (including trans-national governability) in Europe is another. And a third may be the significance of a European model of social and societal developments for the rest of the world. By focusing on these matters we hope to help broaden the discussion about Europe’s role in the world.
Chairs: Helmut K. Anheier and Arne Westad
Members
- David Cadier
- Marie Julie Chenard
- Martin Frick
- Stéphanie Novak
- Claus Offe
- Alexander Ruser
- Nico Stehr
Dahrendorf Visiting Fellow: Anne-Marie Le Gloannec
Dahrendorf Fellows
For the second Dahrendorf project cycle which culminated in the Dahrendorf Symposium 2013 five Dahrendorf Post-Doctoral Fellowships and a PhD-stipend were awarded for one year. The post-doctoral fellows were recruited in an international competition. They were based at the Hertie School, the LSE Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC). The Dahrendorf Post-Doctoral Fellows worked with each other and were mentored by Senior Dahrendorf Fellows at their host institutions and across the network. They also benefited from the presence of a number of Dahrendorf Visiting Fellows (academics and practitioners) who were drawn from the worlds of politics and industry in Europe and globally. The work of the Dahrendorf Fellows and research groups were presented at the Dahrendorf Symposium 2013 and in other public fora.
Publications
Working Group 1: Infrastructure and Climate Change
- Quantifying Long-Term Economic Benefits of European Electricity System Integration by Eva Schmid and Brigitte Knopf
- Social Interactions and Social Learning in Transportation Behavior by Frank Goetzke
- Catching Two European Birds With One Renewable Stone: Mitigating Climate Change, Relieving Recession by Felix Creutzig et al
- European Cities Can Contribute to Climate Change Mitigation by Changing Urban Albedo by Tiziana Susca and Felix Creutzig
- Can a mode shift to walking and cycling benefit health and the climate? by James Woodcock and Felix Creutzig
Working Group 2: Governance and Policy Aspects of Climate Change
- Beyond the “grid-lock” in German-Polish electricity interconnectors by Lidia Puka and Kacper Szulecki
- Understanding the Increase of energy efficiency in the Polish and German industry – for an effective EU ETS and a common industrial policy by Andrzej Ancygier and Anna Serzysko
- German-Polish Cooperation in Renewables: Towards Policy Convergence? by Andrzej Ancygier and Kacper Szulecki
Working Group 3: Social and Legal Aspects of Climate Change
- Human Rights and the Next Great Energy Transition by Henry Shue
- Directional Climate Justice in an Era of Adaptation: Distinguishing directed obligations from claim rights by Marcus Hedahl
- Towards ‘Climate Justice’? Critical Challenges at the Nexus Between Human Rights, Climate Injustice and Capitalism: Some Lessons from Liberal Legal Subjectivity by Anna Grear
Working Group 4: Economics and Climate Change
- Overlapping Environmental Policies by Paolo Falbo, Cristian Pelizzari and Luca Taschini
- Would delegation to an independent carbon authority fix the EU ETS? by Godefroy Grosjean (PIK), William Acworth (PIK), Christian Flachsland (MCC) and Robert Marschinski (PIK, TU)
- Modeling the Market Price of Risk for Emission Allowance Prices by Ya Wen and Rüdiger Kiesel
- System responsiveness and the EU ETS by Sascha Kollenberg and Luca Taschini
- Post-2020 EU climate change policy: power sector targets and policy. by James Rydge
- The sustainability-security trade-off in electricity markets by Katrin Rehdanz, Carsten Schröder, Christine Merk and Alessandro Tavoni
Working Group 5: Europe and the World
- Europe´s (future) role on the global stage by Helmut K. Anheier and Alexander Ruser
- A single representative of the EU on the international stage: Vertreter or Verräter? by Stéphanie Novak
- The Asia Strategy of the European Union by O. Arne Westad and Marie Julie Chenard
- ‘Eastern Partnership’ vs. ‘Eurasian Union’: towards an EU-Russia competition for the common neighbourhood? by David Cadier