| 1. |
- Ekener, Elisabeth, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Developing Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment methodology by applying values-based sustainability weighting - Tested on biomass based and fossil transportation fuels
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 181, s. 337-351
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The production and use of transportation fuels can lead to sustainability impacts. Assessing them simultaneously in a holistic way is a challenge. This paper examines methodology for assessing the sustainability performance of products in a more integrated way, including a broad range of social impacts. Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) methodology is applied for this assessment. LSCA often constitutes of the integration of results from social LCA (S-LCA), environmental life cycle assessment (E-LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC). In this study, an S-LCA from an earlier project is extended with a positive social aspect, as well as refined and detailed. E-LCA and LCC results are built from LCA database and literature. Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methodology is applied to integrate the results from the three different assessments into an LCSA. The weighting of key sustainability dimensions in the MCDA is performed in different ways, where the sustainability dimensions are prioritized differently priority based on the assumed values of different stakeholder profiles (Egalitarian, Hierarchist, and Individualist). The developed methodology is tested on selected biomass based and fossil transportation fuels - ethanol produced from Brazilian sugarcane and US corn/maize, and petrol produced from Russian and Nigerian crude oils, where it delineates differences in sustainability performance between products assessed. The outcome in terms of relative ranking of the transportation fuel chains based on sustain ability performance differs when applying different decision-maker profiles. This result highlights and supports views that there is no one single answer regarding which of the alternatives that is most sustainable. Rather, it depends strongly upon the worldview and values held by the decision maker. A key conclusion is that sustainability assessments should pay more attention to potential differences in underlying values held by key stakeholders in relevant societal contexts. The LCSA methodology still faces challenges regarding results integration but MCDA in combination with stakeholder profiles appears to be a useful approach to build on further.
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| 2. |
- Dulio, Valeria, et al.
(författare)
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The NORMAN Association and the European Partnership for Chemicals Risk Assessment (PARC) : let’s cooperate!
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environmental Sciences Europe. - : Springer. - 2190-4707 .- 2190-4715. ; 32:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Partnership for Chemicals Risk Assessment (PARC) is currently under development as a joint research and innovation programme to strengthen the scientific basis for chemical risk assessment in the EU. The plan is to bring chemical risk assessors and managers together with scientists to accelerate method development and the production of necessary data and knowledge, and to facilitate the transition to next-generation evidence-based risk assessment, a non-toxic environment and the European Green Deal. The NORMAN Network is an independent, well-established and competent network of more than 80 organisations in the field of emerging substances and has enormous potential to contribute to the implementation of the PARC partnership. NORMAN stands ready to provide expert advice to PARC, drawing on its long experience in the development, harmonisation and testing of advanced tools in relation to chemicals of emerging concern and in support of a European Early Warning System to unravel the risks of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and close the gap between research and innovation and regulatory processes. In this commentary we highlight the tools developed by NORMAN that we consider most relevant to supporting the PARC initiative: (i) joint data space and cutting-edge research tools for risk assessment of contaminants of emerging concern; (ii) collaborative European framework to improve data quality and comparability; (iii) advanced data analysis tools for a European early warning system and (iv) support to national and European chemical risk assessment thanks to harnessing, combining and sharing evidence and expertise on CECs. By combining the extensive knowledge and experience of the NORMAN network with the financial and policy-related strengths of the PARC initiative, a large step towards the goal of a non-toxic environment can be taken.
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| 3. |
- Warneryd, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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Microgrid communities: disclosing the path to future system-active communities
- 2022
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Ingår i: Sustainable Futures. - Göterborg : IVL Svenska Miljöinstitutet AB. - 2666-1888. ; 4, s. 100079-100079
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To increase sustainability in future energy systems, both technical and social measures must be taken. Microgrid communities offer local balancing of supply and demand, while also integrating the community as an active part of the energy system. This study investigates two cases of microgrid communities; how they were realized and what wider effects they offered its communities and other stakeholders. The study shows that the microgrid collaboration between community and utility offers a new organizational division that can overcome the traditional locked-in position of the utility. This brings forward communities as system-active participants and a sustainably beneficial energy system for the future.
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| 4. |
- Söderholm, Patrik, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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Technological development for sustainability : The role of network management in the innovation policy mix
- 2019
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Ingår i: Technological forecasting & social change. - : Elsevier. - 0040-1625 .- 1873-5509. ; 138, s. 309-323
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite the key role of actor networks in progressing new sustainable technologies, there is a shortage of conceptual knowledge on how policy can help strengthen collaborative practices in such networks. The objective of this paper is to analyze the roles of such policies – so-called network management – throughout the entire technological development processes. The analysis draws on the public management and sustainability transitions literatures, and discusses how various network characteristics could affect the development of sustainable technologies, including how different categories of network management strategies could be deployed to influence actor collaborations. The paper's main contribution is an analytical framework that addresses the changing roles of network management at the interface between various phases of the technological development process, illustrated with the empirical case of advanced biorefinery technology development in Sweden. Furthermore, the analysis also addresses some challenges that policy makers are likely to encounter when pursuing network management strategies, and identifies a number of negative consequences of ignoring such instruments in the innovation policy mix. The latter include inefficient actor role-taking, the emergence of small, ineffective and competing actor networks in similar technological fields, and a shortage of interpretative knowledge.
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| 5. |
- Wrange, Anna-Lisa, et al.
(författare)
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Monitoring biofouling as a management tool for reducing toxic antifouling practices in the Baltic Sea
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Management. - : Academic Press. - 0301-4797 .- 1095-8630. ; 264
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Over two million leisure boats use the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea for recreational purposes. The majority of these boats are painted with toxic antifouling paints that release biocides into the coastal ecosystems and negatively impact non-targeted species. Regulations concerning the use of antifouling paints differ dramatically between countries bordering the Baltic Sea and most of them lack the support of biological data. In the present study, we collected data on biofouling in 17 marinas along the Baltic Sea coast during three consecutive boating seasons (May–October 2014, 2015 and 2016). In this context, we compared different monitoring strategies and developed a fouling index (FI) to characterise marinas according to the recorded biofouling abundance and type (defined according to the hardness and strength of attachment to the substrate). Lower FI values, i.e. softer and/or less abundant biofouling, were consistently observed in marinas in the northern Baltic Sea. The decrease in FI from the south-western to the northern Baltic Sea was partially explained by the concomitant decrease in salinity. Nevertheless, most of the observed changes in biofouling seemed to be determined by local factors and inter-annual variability, which emphasizes the necessity for systematic monitoring of biofouling by end-users and/or authorities for the effective implementation of non-toxic antifouling alternatives in marinas. Based on the obtained results, we discuss how monitoring programs and other related measures can be used to support adaptive management strategies towards more sustainable antifouling practices in the Baltic Sea. © 2020 The Authors
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| 6. |
- Fridahl, Mathias, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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Novel carbon dioxide removals techniques must be integrated into the European Union’s climate policies
- 2023
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Ingår i: Communications Earth & Environment. - Stockholm : Springer Nature. - 2662-4435. ; 4:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Emissions reductions are crucial to mitigating climate change. However, in the past decade, the world community’s failure to reduce emissions at a sufficient speed to avoid dangerous climate change has become obvious4. This reality acutely necessitates the development of innovative sets of policies to spur the deployment of novel CO2 removals, an urgency that is further underlined by the long lead time for many novel removal methods. Disregarding the potential of novel removals is incommensurate with the scale of the challenge of achieving EU’s commitment to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.We argue that the current policy framework neither provides Union-wide economic incentives for novel CO2 removals, nor does it encourage EU Member States to develop national policy incentives. Our proposed solutions includes incentivizing removals through a conditional integration into the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), expanding the portfolio of removal methods in the Land-Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) Regulation, and to manage anticipations regarding which residual emissions that need to be counterbalanced by removals.
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| 7. |
- Glebe, Dag, et al.
(författare)
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Bullerdatainsamling och autonom artidentifiering för att underlätta miljöövervakning
- 2022
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Rapport (refereegranskat)abstract
- Trenden för Sveriges miljömål är i flera fall nedåtgående, och ett av de områdensom visar negativ trend är målet ”Ett rikt växt- och djurliv”. Sveriges uppföljning avhabitat- och fågeldirektivet påvisar ett utsatt läge för den biologiska mångfalden.Det är idag svårt och kostsamt att övervaka om de svenska miljömålen uppfylls.Insamling av ljud- och bilddata sker redan idag i en stor omfattning, men detfinns en stor och outnyttjad potential att förenkla miljöövervakningen genom nyabilliga datainsamlingsenheter och framför allt genom nya automatiska AI-baseradeanalyssystem. Manuell provtagning och datainsamling är tidskrävande och kostsam,vilket gör autonom ljud- och bilddatainsamling attraktivt, särskilt på otillgängligaplatser som till exempel under vatten. I flera fall skulle allmänheten kunna anlitasför att hjälpa till med detektering av invasiva främmande arter med hjälp av enmobiltelefonapplikation som använder artificiell intelligens för artidentifiering.I denna rapport granskas state of the art, det vill säga resultat och tekniki forskningsfronten, när det gäller användning av ljud- och bilddata för bullerövervakningoch bullerkartläggning, för artidentifiering av djur och växter ochför övervakning av invasiva främmande arter. Rapporten granskar och analyserarnuvarande och framväxande teknik och metoder och bedömer deras mognad,tillgänglighet och tillförlitlighet.Denna rapport syftar till att redovisa möjligheter och utmaningar kopplade till:System för att samla in bullerdata för att modellera bullerpåverkan i de terrestraoch akvatiska domänerna och möjliggöra bullerkartläggning.System för autonom ljud- och bildbaserad artidentifiering, uppskattning avpopulation och övervakning av biologisk mångfald.System för detektion av invasiva främmande arter, till exempel medmobiltelefonapp.Ekoakustisk bullerdatainsamling Biologiska tillämpningar inom akustik kallas bioakustik eller ekoakustik. De mestutforskade områdena med passiv akustisk övervakning eller PAM, är djurläteni ultraljudsområdet (exempel är fladder-möss och valar), eftersom traditionellaanalysmetoder kan användas i de fallen. PAM kan till exempel realiseras med ljudboxar,enskilda eller i matriser, eller med halsband eller inopererade enheter påenskilda djurindivider. Akustiskt aktiva djur inrättar sig efter varandra och övrigaljud, varför ljudlandskap anses ge information om biosystemets hälsa.Det viktigt att adressera hela mätkedjan i PAM-teknik. Rapportens översikt avhårdvara fokuseras mot ljud, eftersom kamerateknik är etablerat i svensk viltvård.De flesta hårdvarukomponenter i mätkedjan behöver väljas från praktisk synvinkelför att fungera bra i mätsystem, till exempel batteritid, minneshantering elleruppkopplingsmöjligheter,och låg kostnad om många insamlingsenheter behövs. Rapporten innehåller även en översikt av autonoma system eller integrerade enhetersom täcker hela mätkedjan vid insamling av ljuddata. Möjligheterna att kombineraljud- och bilddata för analys används sällan idag, och det kan finnas stora vinsteratt göra inom detta fält.Framgångsrika AI-baserade analysmetoder har inte slagit igenom i kommersiellamjukvaruprogram. Det är ett stort tryck inom forskarvärlden på att tillgängliggöraanalysresultat, analysverktyg och insamlade data, för att kunna återanvända data och resultat av resursskäl, och erbjuda större datatäckning. Även standardiseradeformat på metadata efterfrågas, syftande mot internationell forskningspraxis.Framgångarna inom medborgarforskning kan delvis tillskrivas nya verktygimplementerade i mobilappar, men det finns en stor utvecklingspotential attskräddarsy verktyg och metoder efter verksamheter och faktiska behov.AI inom bioakustik –State of the art De AI-baserade metoder som används mest inom bioakustik är djupinlärningsmetoder,framför allt olika former av neurala nätverk som lämpar sig för resurskrävandelyssning och bildgranskande. Det största området är fågelklassificering.Den vanligaste typen av neuralt nätverk inom bioakustik är CNN (convolutionalneural network), vilken är viktig inom bild- och ljudanalys, men nya varianterutvecklas ständigt. Ofta används spektrogram (en bildrepresentation av ljud) somindata till djupinlärningsmodeller, men många varianter har visats fungera. Melspektrogramär det som funkat bäst i bioakustiska sammanhang, på grund av attfrekvensskalningen avbildar läten likadant oavsett tonhöjd, vilket passar nätverkav CNN-typ. Observera att samma rådata kan ligga till grund för olika typer avträningsindata,om de har tillräckligt bra kvalitet och upplösning. Kraven på högupplöstdata väntas öka, vilket är viktigt om insamlade rådata ska kunna användasi framtiden, liksom kraven att metadata ska kopplas till konstaterade observationer.För maskinlyssning har en femtonfaldig ökning skett av antalet publikationeri området mellan 1998–2018. Skattning av populationstäthet hos fåglar med hjälpav maskinlyssning har visat sig ge lika bra resultat som manuell punkträkning,med avseende på nyckelparametrar som antal noterade fågelarter.Metoder som inte kräver manuell klassificering av upplärningsdata är en lovandeframåt för bullerreducering och källseparering. Vid brist på annoterade indata förträning av modeller kan ”embedding functions” användas. Från området stadsbullerfinns metoder för att realtidsströmma data med hjälp av distribuerade nät. Aktiva inlärningsmetoder, det vill säga metoder där experter aktivt deltar iinlärningsprocessen,ger snabbt kraftfulla resultat. En intressant variant på detta äratt träna djur för att göra val som blir annoteringar av indata. Detta ger en modell somrepresenterar djurens egen perception, vilket dock får användas med försiktighet.Sammanfattningsvis ses inte en omfattande satsning på bullerdatainsamlingutanför Sveriges bebyggda områden eller runt Sveriges kustersom realistisk i dagensläge, men det finns stora möjligheter att integrera autonom artidentifiering i depågående övervakningsaktiviteter som bedrivs i svensk natur eller som ett proof-of concept.
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| 8. |
- Hagbert, Pernilla, et al.
(författare)
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Approaching change : Exploring cracks in the eco-modern sustainability paradigm
- 2021
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Ingår i: Environmental Values. - : White Horse Press. - 0963-2719 .- 1752-7015. ; 30:5, s. 613-634
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sustainability discourse offers a plethora of perspectives on the type of change needed to ensure a just development within planetary boundaries, and how that change could come about. Calls for radical transformations nonetheless under-line the need to examine prevalent discursive structures in society, including challenging the ‘ideology of growth’, in order to formulate new and trans-formative policy approaches. Based on empirical insights as to how different actors – including grassroots, planners, officials and politicians – in Sweden perceive the transformations needed to reach sustainability goals, this paper explores how narratives of change reproduce, make use of or show cracks in the eco-modern sustainability paradigm. © 2021, White Horse Press. All rights reserved.
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| 9. |
- Malmaeus, Mikael, et al.
(författare)
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Basic Income and Social Sustainability in Post-Growth Economies
- 2020
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Ingår i: Basic Income Studies. - : Walter de Gruyter GmbH. - 2194-6094 .- 1932-0183. ; 15:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A central task in efforts to identify pathways to ecologically and socially sustainable economies is to reduce inequality and poverty while reducing material consumption, which has recently inspired future post-growth scenarios. We build a model to explore the potential of a universal basic income (UBI) to serve these objectives. Starting from the observation that post-growth trajectories can take very different forms we analyze UBI in two scenarios advanced in the literature. Comparing UBI in a "local self-sufficiency" economy to a UBI in an "automation" economy, we show that although both scenarios satisfy central sustainability criteria, the impact of a UBI would differ greatly between these contexts. Our analysis shows that a UBI is less compatible with a labor-intensive local self-sufficiency economy than a capital-intensive, high tech economy. We conclude that the feasibility and attractiveness of a UBI in a post-growth scenario depends greatly on the specific characteristics of the economy.
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| 10. |
- McGivney, Eric, et al.
(författare)
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Assessing the impact of acid rain and forest harvest intensity with the HD-MINTEQ model - soil chemistry of three Swedish conifer sites from 1880 to 2080
- 2019
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Ingår i: SOIL. - : COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH. - 2199-3971 .- 2199-398X. ; 5:1, s. 63-77
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Forest soils are susceptible to anthropogenic acidification. In the past, acid rain was a major contributor to soil acidification, but, now that atmospheric levels of S have dramatically declined, concern has shifted towards biomass-induced acidification, i.e. decreasing soil solution pH due to tree growth and harvesting events that permanently remove base cations (BCs) from forest stands. We use a novel dynamic model, HD-MINTEQ (Husby Dynamic MINTEQ), to investigate possible long-term impacts of two theoretical future harvesting scenarios in the year 2020, a conventional harvest (CH, which removes stems only), and a whole-tree harvest (WTH, which removes 100 % of the above-ground biomass except for stumps) on soil chemistry and weathering rates at three different Swedish forest sites (Aneboda, Gardsjon, and Kindla). Furthermore, acidification following the harvesting events is compared to the historical acidification that took place during the 20th century due to acid rain. Our results show that historical acidification due to acid rain had a larger impact on pore water chemistry and mineral weathering than tree growth and harvesting, at least if nitrification remained at a low level. However, compared to a no-harvest baseline, WTH and CH significantly impacted soil chemistry. Directly after a harvesting event (CH or WTH), the soil solution pH sharply increased for 5 to 10 years before slowly declining over the remainder of the simulation (until year 2080). WTH acidified soils slightly more than CH, but in certain soil horizons there was practically no difference by the year 2080. Even though the pH in the WTH and CH scenario decreased with time as compared to the no-harvest scenario (NH), they did not drop to the levels observed around the peak of historic acidification (1980-1990), indicating that the pH decrease due to tree growth and harvesting would be less impactful than that of historic atmospheric acidification. Weathering rates differed across locations and horizons in response to historic acidification. In general, the predicted changes in weathering rates were very small, which can be explained by the net effect of decreased pH and increased Al3+, which affected the weathering rate in opposite ways Similarly, weathering rates after the harvesting scenarios in 2020 remained largely unchanged according to the model.
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