Green financing, interrupted. Potential directions for sustainable finance in Luxembourg

in Local Environment (2018), 23(7), 717-733

This paper has a quintessentially explorative character. It aims at identifying existing as well as potential (yet missing) links between the finance industry and local businesses that aspire to more ... [more ▼]

This paper has a quintessentially explorative character. It aims at identifying existing as well as potential (yet missing) links between the finance industry and local businesses that aspire to more sustainable economic practices. Building on the observation that green investments have been gaining weight in global investors’ strategies, we analyse how sustainable – in the most comprehensive sense of the word – green investments could ultimately be(come), when green assets are still managed according to the logic of “financialised finance”. This latter’s technologies of commodification, securitisation and derivatives-trading allegedly oppose alternative economic practices that pursue economic sustainability through social and environmental gains. In contrast, we investigate how the finance industry relates to alternative financial practices, products and organisations that offer sustainability-oriented financing services, – for example, regional banks, cooperatives and the like, – with a specific focus on green, social and solidarity businesses. Both approaches subscribe to apparently contradictory ideologies. We establish a beneficial dialogue between the opposing models of “green capitalism” and “alternative economies” so as to identify potential points of intersection. The context of Luxembourg’s local/regional economies provides a great opportunity to empirically access three levels of investigation: the private sector, the public sector and an international financial centre, a key facilitator for green finance, thus utilising insights from the concept of bricolage. Whilst supporters of Luxembourg’s emerging green finance profile recognise its positive impact on the small country’s national branding, in combination with economic stimuli, more critical commentators point to pure “green washing” effects. [less ▲]

Rezension »Alles Frankreich oder was?« – Die saarländische Frankreichstrategie im europäischen Kontext/»La France à toutes les sauces?« – La ›Stratégie France‹ de la Sarre dans le contexte européen. Interdisziplinäre Zugänge und kritische Perspektiven/Approches interdisciplinaires et perspectives critiques

in Francia-Recensio (2018), 2018(3), 1-3

Institutionalizing alternative economic spaces? An interpretivist perspective on diverse economies

in Progress in Human Geography (2018), 42(4), 569-589

This article offers an approach that helps geographers and others to carefully and critically reexamine prospects for diverse economies. We propose an interpretative institutionalist perspective is useful ... [more ▼]

This article offers an approach that helps geographers and others to carefully and critically reexamine prospects for diverse economies. We propose an interpretative institutionalist perspective is useful for elucidating overlooked opportunities for creating alternative economic visions and practices by revealing the process of ‘meaning making’ undertaken by actors in the process of developing policy responses to various dilemmas. We explore this notion in the context of de-growth or post-growth. De-growth is a way of thinking about the economy in ways that are not growth oriented, or fixated on GDP, but on the redistribution of wealth and living within the Earth’s ecosystems. [less ▲]

Green Building Transitions - Regional Trajectories of Innovation in Europe, Canada and Australia

Book published by Springer (2018)

This volume analyzes sustainability-related innovations in the building sector and discusses how regional contexts articulate transition trajectories toward green building. It presents ‘biographies’ of ... [more ▼]

This volume analyzes sustainability-related innovations in the building sector and discusses how regional contexts articulate transition trajectories toward green building. It presents ‘biographies’ of drivers and processes of green building innovation in four case studies: Brisbane (AUS), Freiburg (GER), Luxembourg (LU), and Vancouver (CA). Two of them are relatively well known for their initiatives to mitigate climate change – particularly in the building sector, whereas the other two have only recently become more active in promoting green building. The volume places emphasis on development paths, learning processes, and innovations. The focus of the case studies is not restricted to purely technological aspects but also integrates regulatory, procedural, institutional, and other processes and routines and their influence on the variations of the building sector. The diversity of the selected case studies offer the reader the opportunity to gain a thorough understanding of how sustainability developments have unfolded in different city regions. Case study-specific catalogues of transition paths provide insights to inform policy debates and planning processes. The catalogues identify crucial innovations (technological, regulatory, etc.) and explain the factors and circumstances that have led to their success and broader acceptance in Freiburg, Vancouver, Luxembourg, and Brisbane. With the help of a number of micro case studies within each of the four city regions, the case studies also offer ground for comparison and identification of differences. The book represents the outcome of the GreenRegio project, which stands for ‘Green building in regional strategies for sustainability: multi-actor governance and innovative building technologies in Europe, Australia, and Canada.’ GreenRegio was a 3-year CORE-INTER research project funded by the National Research Fund Luxembourg (FNR) and the German Research Foundation (DFG). [less ▲]

Positioning Vancouver through urban sustainability strategies? The Greenest City 2020 Action Plan

in Journal of Cleaner Production (2017), 164

Cities around the world have launched greening initiatives to reduce their carbon footprint and to become more sustainable. At the same time, they have also sought to use these initiatives to position ... [more ▼]

Cities around the world have launched greening initiatives to reduce their carbon footprint and to become more sustainable. At the same time, they have also sought to use these initiatives to position themselves as climate change leaders and green champions. This paper focuses on the City of Vancouver's Greenest City 2020 Action Plan as urban policy strategy to reduce carbon emissions. Based on interviews with actors and experts involved in the development and implementation of the plan, the paper evaluates the role green leadership aspirations play in shaping urban climate change policy and how policy makers and stakeholders use policy to position the city and its greening initiatives locally and globally. In particular, it analyzes the role of competitive positioning and green leadership in sustainability initiatives and change within and beyond urban boundaries. While leadership suggests increased buy-in of residents and those involved in the implementation of the strategy and multiplication effects through learning within the region and between (peer) cities, it can also pose challenges as the interest in meeting leadership claims can impede more radical change through specific targets and implementation strategies and challenge other sustainability objectives. [less ▲]

Tracing the place of home. The specificities, policies and dilemmas of Luxembourg’s housing sector

in Ballini, Claude; Ecker, Serge; Grünkranz, Daniel (Eds.) et al Tracing Transitions (2017)

Mobile transitions: Exploring synergies for urban sustainability research

in Urban Studies (2016), 53(9), 1942-1957

Urban sustainability approaches focusing on a wide range of topics such as infrastructure and mobility, green construction and neighbourhood planning, or urban nature and green amenities have attracted ... [more ▼]

Urban sustainability approaches focusing on a wide range of topics such as infrastructure and mobility, green construction and neighbourhood planning, or urban nature and green amenities have attracted scholarly interest for over three decades. Recent debates on the role of cities in climate change mitigation have triggered new attempts to conceptually and methodologically grasp the cross-sectorial and cross-level interplay of enrolled actors. Within these debates, urban and economic geographers have increasingly adopted co-evolutionary approaches such as the social studies of technology (SST or ‘transition studies’). Their plea for more spatial sensitivity of the transition approach has led to promising proposals to adapt geographic perspectives to case studies on urban sustainability. This paper advocates engagement with recent work in urban studies, specifically policy mobility, to explore conceptual and methodological synergies. It emphasises four strengths of an integrated approach: (1) a broadened understanding of innovations that emphasises not only processes of knowledge generation but also of knowledge transfer through (2) processes of learning, adaptation and mutation, (3) a relational understanding of the origin and dissemination of innovations focused on the complex nature of cities and (4) the importance of individual actors as agents of change and analytical scale that highlights social processes of innovation. The notion of urban assemblages further allows the operationalisation of both the relational embeddedness of local policies as well as their cross-sectoral actor constellations. [less ▲]

„Grüne" Dienstleistungen im Bausektor: Akteure und Innovationen in der Nachhaltigkeitstransition

Scientific Conference (2015, October 02)

L'ambition métropolitaine: clé vers un aménagement du territoire transfrontalier en Grande Région SaarLorLux?

in L'information géographique (2015), 79

Vers une nouvelle géographie économique

in Cahiers de Géographie du Quebec (2015), 58(165), 521-522