The Kopernikus Project ENavi: linking science, business, and civil society

Abstract This chapter is concerned with the research project Energy Transition Navigation System, which has the mandate to help mastering Germany’s Energiewende (energy transition). The project is part of the national funding program Kopernikus Projects for the Energy Transition, which is a comprehensive research and development initiative for transforming the country’s existing energy system into one based on renewable energy sources and approaching carbon neutrality. This future system shall offer an energy supply, which, in accordance with the “Energy concept 2050” of the German federal government, is reliable, economically viable, environmentally friendly, and socially acceptable. In ENavi, science, business, and civil society organizations are working together and exchanging with political actors for developing solutions for how this can be achieved. The project understands the energy transition as a process of broad societal change and links scientific analyses to political and social requirements by taking an inter- and transdisciplinary approach.