The transition to cleaner technologies : the Swedish pulp and paper industry in a comparative perspective

• The pulp and paper industry (PPI) has historically caused serious water pollution and offensive fumes and therefore peak the environmental agenda in virtually every nation with such production. Serious pressure on the pulp and paper industry to reduce emissions started in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, and was driven by new regulatory frameworks, public debates and changing market preferences, such as a new demand for chlorine free paper products on the European market in the 1990s. For any polluting industry technology is at the very core of the challenge of reducing the environmental impact, and this has been the case also for the PPI. Technological strategies and timing for investments have differed between countries and regions depending on the different institutional environments, organizational solutions and market demand characteristics. In the chapter we will focus on the Swedish PPI from the late 1960s until today, and discuss how the interplay between regulatory- and market/opinion pressure, technology development and environmental performance has evolved. We will also include the development of energy technology in our analysis, which before the 1990s was not distinctly connected to environmental concerns. The Swedish development will be partly contrasted to the parallel Finnish and North American development, mainly from an institutional and technology development perspective, and we will focus on explanations to the differing development paths. The chapter constitutes a synthesis of a longstanding research collaboration of Bergquist and Söderholm with focus on the environmental and energy technology strategies of the Swedish PPI. The comparative analyses of the Swedish and North American, respectively Finnish development is however previously partly unpublished. When it comes to the source materials used for these earlier publications concerning the Swedish case, we have primarily used board minutes (from individual companies as well as from industry organizations on the environment and energy), annual reports, trade journals, environmental licensing documents and interviews with representatives of the industry as well as government agencies. Concerning the comparative analyzes, including with North America and Finland, those have so far mainly been based on literature studies. The Swedish-Finnish comparison will however be supplemented by interviews.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Teknikhistoria (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- History of Technology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Teknikhistoria

History of Technology

Förnybar energi (FOI)

Renewable energy (AERI)

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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