SCC supports 10 new climate projects

By Birgitte Svennevig, birs@sdu.dk, 1/30/2023

SDU Climate Cluster (SCC) has announced the first 10 projects to receive up to DKK 100,000 in support. The support is given to free research ideas and hypotheses within climate research as well as to establish pilot projects, which can later form the basis for larger external research applications.

- I am happy that we at SCC are now in the process of supporting our SDU researchers with funding of exciting climate projects. The projects reflect the scope of excellent and interdisciplinary research at SDU. With these projects, we help create an increased understanding of the challenges we face, and we are working to ensure that knowledge is brought into play towards climate neutrality, said Sebastian Mernild, head of SCC and professor in climate change and glaciology.

The support is a fast track tool, and the plan is to distribute 90 portions of up to DKK 100,000 before 2026. 

To be considered, the projects must be interdisciplinary, and they must support SCC's mission to contribute to climate neutrality by 2050.

Read more about the fast track instrument. 

The 10 new projects are:

Achieving a Truly Border-Crossing Green Transition

Through three collaborative workshops in the beginning of 2023, supplemented with a set of stakeholder interviews, the project will identify where the potential for cross-border cooperation in the Danish-German border region around the green transition is the highest, would be most likely to happen and be sustainable.

The fast track will contribute to the foundation for a long-term cross-border cooperation in the Danish-German border region around the green transition. 

SDU researchers: Dorte Jagetic Andersen, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Public Management, Centre for Border Region Studies. Klarissa Lueg, Associate Professor, Department of Design and Communication, Head of the research program Organizing Social Sustainability. 

Climate Cubes - CubeSats with Artificial intelligence enabled visual and hyperspectral imaging for arctic climate research

Observations made possible by Climate Cubes will advance our knowledge of the dynamics and feedback with which climate changes affect the melting of glaciers in the arctic. They can also provide many other measurements, e.g. of the optical depth and methane content of the atmosphere and oil spill detection.

SDU researchers: René L. Eriksen, Assoc. Professor, Mads Clausen Institute. Nicolai Iversen, TEK Innovation, Faculty of Engineering. Mads Toudal Frandsen, Assoc. Professor, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy. Mads Juul Ahlebæk, Scientific Assistant, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy. 

Deciphering uncertainties on the balance between blue carbon sequestration and emissions of greenhouse gases in Danish seagrass meadows 

There is a growing focus on inclusion of seagrasses as a climate mitigation action in Denmark. However, recent research claims that uncertainties on microbial decomposition of belowground storage of CO2 in seagrasses may lead to over-crediting of their climate mitigation potential. This project will investigate carbon cycling and carbon sequestration in seagrass meadows to verify on whether these ecosystems are net carbon sinks, net carbon sources, or overall carbon neutral.

SDU researchers: Cintia O. Quintana, Assoc. Professor, Department of Biology. Marianna Lanari, postdoc, Department of Biology. Elzbieta Pastucha, ass. Professor, The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute. Henrik Skov Midtiby, Assoc. Professor, The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute. Ulrik Pagh Schutz Lundquist, professor and Head of SDU UAS Centre, The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute. 

Developing optimum responses to the aquatic invasive alien species in a changing climate 

Biological invasions and ongoing climate change are accelerating ecosystem degradation, with enormous impacts on human well-being. Invasive alien species (IAS) have a detrimental impact on health, the economy, and safety and a profound negative effect on the functioning of ecosystems

Through a three-day workshop in June 2023 the project will:

• Establish a baseline knowledge summary of aquatic IAS
• Discuss how projected climate change will influence the IAS landscape and the potential for trait-based modeling
• Evaluate management actions to minimize IAS introduction and potential methods for elimination/mitigation of established aquatic IAS.
• Assess existing early warning systems and the transferability of terrestrial approaches to aquatic systems.
• Assess and summarize the implementation challenges for decision-makers, EPAs, municipalities, and regional networks.

SDU researchers: Associate Prof. Jamileh Javidpour, Department of Biology. Associate Prof. Owen Jones, Department of Biology. Prof. Brooks Alexandra Kaiser, Department of Sociology, Environmental and Business Economics. 

LEARNING - Land-sEA inteRactions aNd clImate change 

Coastal areas are the world’s most populated zones and are changing and growing fast. Anthropic activities and extreme climate events threaten natural areas, communities and settlements. Understanding the environmental status of our coastal and marine environments will support the identification of priority areas in which restoration of natural elements (e.g., algae, wetlands) will further enhance the capacity to counteract both short and long-term climate impacts and carbon sequestration.

The project will elaborate a “high-definition” analysis of the coastal continuum through the employment of UAV technology (drones) to detect environmental issues and map them to enable administration and policymakers to defend our coastal and marine environment. 

SDU researchers: Alberto Innocenti, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Technology and Innovation. Cintia O. Quintana, Assoc. Professor, Department of Biology. Henrik Skov Midtiby, Assoc. Professor, The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute.

New marine top predators in Denmark – indicators of climate change? 

Climate change can affect whale species in different ways depending on their ecology. In recent years, several species of toothed whales colonized Danish waters. The reason of their increased presence in Danish waters is unknown, and the possible consequences of further colonization by these and other top marine predators are unstudied. 

In this project, using cutting-edge, multidisciplinary methods of research, we plan to investigate the ecology and behavior of top marine predators that have recently colonized Danish waters in order to identify whether their increased presence is caused by climate change, and how can they affect local ecosystems. 

SDU researchers: Olga Filatova, postdoc, Department of Biology. Magnus Wahlberg, assoc. professor, Department of Biology. Ulrik Pagh Schutz Lundquist, professor and Head of SDU UAS Centre, The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute. Henrik Skov Midtiby, Assoc. Professor, The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute. 

Positive Reframing to Speed up Green Technology Adoption

Many novel green technologies are not adopted at the necessary speed to achieve climate neutrality as fast as possible. 

The research idea pursued here is to create positive reframing of green technologies and to rigorously test the effects on people’s readiness to adopt these technologies and to invest into technical innovation around them. Specifically, for 3 concrete examples, positive reframings will be developed and empirically examined for their potential impact on a) adoption rates, b) creativity potential, and c) intention to innovate. We will therefore prototype general strategies by means of which the adoption of green technologies can be facilitated, which in turn can contribute to achieving climate neutrality earlier. 

SDU researchers: Kerstin Fischer, professor, Department of Design and Communication. Silke Tegtmeier, Assoc. Professor, Department of Technology and Innovation. 

Sustainable sGreenplay 

Our main contributions with the project are to develop knowledge of green film/tv-productions preprocesses and to design and test a “sGreenplay software application” during three sGreenplay workshops. 

Our app will be set to calculate and illustrate the CO2 impact of traditional production standards and show the potential CO2 savings from choosing alternative options and locations. Development of a computational model for optimizing the climate footprint in the Danish film/tv industry, is thus our goal. 

SDU researchers: Marco Chiarandini, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. Luís Cruz-Filipe, Associate Professor at Department of Mathematics and Computer Science (IMADA, NAT Faculty). Nathali Pilegaard, Ph.D. Student, Department for the Study of Culture. Sara Mosberg Iversen, Associate Professor, Department for the Study of Culture. Susana Tosca, Professor, Department for the Study of Culture. Heidi Philipsen, Associate Professor, Department for the Study of Culture. 

The impact of media habits on the environment and the dissemination thereof

Recent studies have shown how much energy and electricity have been consumed by different digital technologies, but less attention has been given to how these online habits impact the environment and how this knowledge is passed on to citizens. 

In this explorative collaborative project, we will look at existing knowledge about the impact of media practices and habits on the environment with the aim of developing new ways of explaining the impact of media habits on the environment and new ways of communicating these challenges. We plan to hold two seminars and develop an educational book together. 

SDU researchers: Anette Grønning, Associate Professor, Department for the Study of Culture. Morten Birkved, Professor and Head of SDU Life Cycle Engineering. Thomas Kaarsted, Director of SDU Citizen Science Knowledge Center. 

Urban Climate Finance empowering low-carbon and resilient transition of cities 

Despite the key role that cities play in global pollution and green-house gasses (GHG) emissions, measures aimed at engaging effectively local governments in the global efforts to tackle climate change, are still limited. 

This project will address the research question: Which are the key factors that can enable cities and local authorities to use the opportunities offered by the Paris Agreement Article 6 (6.2.-6.4), to raise the ambition and to operationalize local climate mitigation, at the same time attracting financial resources for local climate adaptation? 

SDU researchers: Nicola Tollin, Professor, Department of Innovation and Technology. Lone Grønbæk Jørgensen, Associate Professor and Head of Department, Department of Economics, Faculty of Business and Social Sciences.