Shaping the Energy Transition

From the supply of power to the industry sector to the Paris climate targets, from individual sectors to the broader picture: With the Ariadne project, a network of leading research institutions is engaged in an unprecedentedly comprehensive research process to shape the energy transition. The three-year project’s objective is to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of various policy instruments in order to develop socially viable energy transition strategies. From the outset, political decision-makers, business representatives and citizens will be involved in a large-scale dialog process.

"Climate targets alone do not guarantee success, concrete measures are needed. And this is precisely where Ariadne comes in, providing an overview and pointing the way through the complex details of the energy transition," explains Ottmar Edenhofer, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Mercator Research Center on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) and head of the Kopernikus Project Ariadne: "With the distinctive collective expertise of 26 research partners, we can create an overarching perspective, assess the influence of policy instruments, and identify a multitude of potential policy options - and thus provide crucial orientation knowledge for decision-makers on the path to a climate-neutral Germany. "

Ariadne is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with a total of 30 million euros over three years and is part of the Kopernikus research initiative.

As the fourth pillar of the Kopernikus initiative, Ariadne (which focuses on shaping the energy transition, strategies for the energy transition, and its acceptance by citizens) is complementary to the ENSURE (energy networks of the future), P2X (power-to-X technologies), and SynErgie (electricity demand and supply) projects.

Collectively, the Kopernikus projects represent one of the most significant German research initiatives on the subject of the energy transition.