The University of Stuttgart contributed to a four‑year research consortium that examined the resource demands of Germany’s energy transition. The project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy under grant 03ET4065C, ran from December 2018 to November 2022 and was coordinated by Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE). Other partners included Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISI), Fraunhofer Institute for Materials Research and Testing (MRM), and the InNOSys consortium, also financed by the ministry. The University of Stuttgart’s workload was distributed across several work packages: one person‑month (PM) for the initial scenario compilation (AP 1), two PM for the technology potential analysis (AP 2), two PM for the synthesis of optimal energy system pathways (AP 9), and two PM for coordination, communication and reporting (AP 10). The overall effort was integrated into the project’s 48‑month schedule, with AP 9 spanning months 38–42 and AP 1 and AP 2 covering the first nine months.

Technically, the University of Stuttgart performed a comprehensive life‑cycle assessment (LCA) of the full range of electricity and heat technologies considered in the energy scenarios. Using the system‑dynamics model developed by ISE, the team quantified both direct and indirect contributions of each scenario to climate change, thereby identifying potential conflicts with national climate targets. These findings are documented in Loibl (2022) and Loibl (2023). While a similar resource‑level representation could not be achieved—due to challenges outlined in AP 5 and the absence of defined physical upper limits for German resource consumption—the LCA provided a detailed inventory of material requirements for each technology. Representative technologies were selected based on installed capacity and critical raw‑material content, and technology data sheets were created to ensure consistency across all work packages. The resulting material‑intensity figures were incorporated into the University of Stuttgart’s curriculum, adding a module on resource criticality to the “Sustainability and Holistic Accounting” lecture series. Two student theses were supervised, and five students were engaged as research assistants. The LCA outcomes, particularly the material‑demand tables, were published in Gervais et al. (2022) and are available for use by other research institutions. The project also demonstrated the feasibility of integrating environmental impacts—such as greenhouse‑gas potential and resource depletion—derived from LCA into broader energy‑system analyses, a capability that the consortium regards as both possible and desirable.

The collaboration framework ensured methodological rigor through the involvement of an expert advisory board and a dedicated LCA session, which helped validate data quality and analytical consistency. The University of Stuttgart’s contributions were fully reported in all project meetings, expert‑advisory sessions, and the final conference, fulfilling all reporting obligations. The results are expected to inform future publicly funded research projects, providing a solid knowledge base for assessing material demands and environmental impacts of emerging energy technologies. The project’s outputs, including peer‑reviewed publications and teaching materials, are poised to support both scientific advancement and policy development in Germany’s energy transition.