ROWaCh (since 2022)

This project examines the incentives and barriers within the chemical industry to producing and utilizing hydrogen as part of the transition strategy toward climate neutrality. To ensure a rapid market ramp-up, new facilities must be built, existing ones retrofitted, and the necessary permits under industrial plant regulations obtained. The project develops and tests alternative design options for permitting processes through qualitative interviews, experiments, and simulation games. In the latter, stakeholders from industry, (ministerial) administration, technical experts, and civil society interact. Based on an empirical research design and an interdisciplinary institutional analysis, the project develops design options that accelerate the transition to climate-neutral hydrogen use without lowering environmental protection standards. The project also demonstrates how simulation games and experiments can be used in prospective regulatory impact assessment.