TY - CONF

T1 - Energy Transition and Renewable Energies in Waste Management and Circular Economy – Potentials and Obstacles in Reducing Energy Dependency

AU - Nigl, Thomas

AU - Scheiblauer, Justus

AU - Bouvier-Schwarz, Therese

PY - 2023/10/9

Y1 - 2023/10/9

N2 - To make a valuable and successful contribution to the energy transition and the fight against climate change, waste management, circular economy and recycling industry must also push and promote the expansion of renewable energies. The potentials, but also the obstacles for the industry and the framework conditions it is confronted with in Austria, will be explained in this article. In order to be able to answer the research questions, a quantitative questionnaire for companies from waste management, recycling industry, and circular economy was created in addition to a literature research and underlined by four qualitative expert interviews with leading Austrian energy supply companies. This empirical approach has shown that in Austria, the framework conditions need improvement, as, in principle, there is a very large potential for waste management. However, at the moment, this potential cannot yet be fully tapped. That shows that the energy transition has already arrived in the waste management sector and circular economy. It can be assumed that the use of renewable energies in this industry will continue to increase in the coming years. Nevertheless, e.g., approval procedures, grid connection problems, and widely differing funding modalities represent very significant obstacles and, thus, future challenges in the advancing energy transition. Results showed that waste management and circular economy companies are willing to invest in a renewable energy supply chain. However, policymakers must ensure that the legal framework conditions meet the industry's changing demands and help facilitate the ongoing transformation.

AB - To make a valuable and successful contribution to the energy transition and the fight against climate change, waste management, circular economy and recycling industry must also push and promote the expansion of renewable energies. The potentials, but also the obstacles for the industry and the framework conditions it is confronted with in Austria, will be explained in this article. In order to be able to answer the research questions, a quantitative questionnaire for companies from waste management, recycling industry, and circular economy was created in addition to a literature research and underlined by four qualitative expert interviews with leading Austrian energy supply companies. This empirical approach has shown that in Austria, the framework conditions need improvement, as, in principle, there is a very large potential for waste management. However, at the moment, this potential cannot yet be fully tapped. That shows that the energy transition has already arrived in the waste management sector and circular economy. It can be assumed that the use of renewable energies in this industry will continue to increase in the coming years. Nevertheless, e.g., approval procedures, grid connection problems, and widely differing funding modalities represent very significant obstacles and, thus, future challenges in the advancing energy transition. Results showed that waste management and circular economy companies are willing to invest in a renewable energy supply chain. However, policymakers must ensure that the legal framework conditions meet the industry's changing demands and help facilitate the ongoing transformation.

M3 - Paper

ER -