| 1. |
- Alänge, Sverker, 1951, et al.
(författare)
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Backcasting - What is a sustainable future and how do we reach it?
- 2014
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Ingår i: Chapter 5 in Alänge, Sverker & Lundqvist, Mats eds. (2014) Sustainable Business Development: Frameworks for Idea Evaluation and Cases of Realized Ideas, Chalmers University Press, Gothenburg. - 9789187463037 ; , s. 63-69
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This chapter is about ways of defining sustainability in an actionable way, in order to innovate and change the way products and services are being developed. The starting point is the four system conditions for sustainability developed by Holmberg (1995) and the Natural Step (a non-governmental organization). The second part of the chapter proceeds to introduce one particular proven way to introduce sustainable strategies in organizations, the ‘backcasting approach’ (Holmberg 1998; Holmberg & Robèrt 2000). The chapter ends by suggesting a combined backcasting/scenario planning approach (Alänge et al. 2007).
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| 2. |
- Andersson, David, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Greenhouse gas emissions and subjective well-being: An analysis of Swedish households
- 2014
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Ingår i: Ecological Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0921-8009. ; 102, s. 75-82
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the contemporary discussion on society's transformation towards long-termclimate targets, it is often implicitly assumed that behavioral changes, unlike technological changes, would lead to reductions in human wellbeing.However, this assumption has been questioned by researchers, who instead argue that people may live better lives by consuming less and reduce their environmental impact in the process. In this study we explore the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and subjective well-being, using a sample of 1000 Swedish respondents.Our results show that there is no strong link between an individual's emissions and subjectivewellbeing. We also analyze the relationship between specific emission-intensive activities and subjective well-being and find thatnone of the activities examined correlates with subjective well-being. Finally, we explore a hypothesis put forward in the literature, suggesting that a poor work-life balance, long commuting distances, and materialistic values may decrease individuals' subjective well-being and increase greenhouse gas emissions. Our results indicate that materialistic values do correlate with lower levels of well-being and to some extent also with highergreenhouse gas emissions.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Holmberg, John, 1963, et al.
(författare)
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Low-carbon transitions and the good life
- 2012
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A transition to a low-carbon economy requires farreaching reductions in emissions, which in addition will have to take place at the same time as the global population is growing. A growing population also makes ever greater demands on welfare, while the ecological, social and economic systems that have to sustain this development are already under severe strain. It is commonly argued that emission reductions in a growing world economy can and should be achieved by technical innovations so that the transition to a low-carbon economy does not imply a negative impact on human well-being.This report discusses whether there might perhaps be another way of understanding the situation. Is the presumed linkage between well-being and climate impact always negative? Could a greater focus on human well-being be a driver of, rather than an obstacle to, sustainable development? This report attempts to identify possible strategies to support both [the good life] and decreased emissions. By adopting this research approach, the authors aim to make a contribution to the discussion of low-carbon transitions in society.
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| 5. |
- Holmberg, John, 1963, et al.
(författare)
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The university and transformation towards sustainability: The strategy used at Chalmers University of Technology
- 2012
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Ingår i: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. - : Emerald. - 1467-6370. ; 13:3, s. 219-231
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present the strategy used for achieving change towards sustainability at Chalmers University of Technology (Chalmers). Examples of how this strategy has been used are described and discussed, and exemplified with different lines of activities in a project on Education for Sustainable Development, the ESD project. Design/methodology/approach - The strategy consists of three important building blocks: Create a neutral arena; Build on individual engagement and involvement; and Communicate a clear commitment from the management team. The analysis is made along three different lines of activities in. the ESD project: The work to improve the quality of the compulsory courses on sustainable development; The efforts to integrate ESD into educational programmes; and The work to collect and spread information on good teaching practices within ESD. Some other related examples where the strategy has been applied are also presented. Findings - The ESD project functioned as a neutral arena since it was not placed at any specific department but rather engaged participants from many departments. This neutral arena has been important, for example, to increase the willingness of teachers to share their good teaching examples. The process was successful in creating a shared responsibility and for starting learning processes in many individuals by the involvement of a broad range of educational actors at Chalmers. The strong and clear commitment from the management team has worked as a driving force. Originality/value - This paper can provide valuable input to universities that struggle with change processes.
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| 6. |
- Holmberg, John, 1963
(författare)
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Transformative learning and leadership for a sustainable future
- 2014
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Ingår i: Corcoran, P. B. and B. P. Hollingshead (Eds.). Intergenerational Learning and Transformative Leadership for Sustainable Futures. Wageningen, The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers, 2014.. - 9789086862528 ; , s. 431-
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 7. |
- Holmberg, John, 1963
(författare)
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Transformative learning and leadership for a sustainable future: Challenge Lab at Chalmers University of Technology
- 2014
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Ingår i: Intergenerational learning and transformative leadership for sustainable futures. Wageningen Academic Publishers.. ; , s. 91-102
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This chapter describes Chalmers University of Technology’s strategy fortransforming the university toward sustainability. The description focuses on theintegration of education, research and innovation in what we call ‘Areas of Advance’,and the efforts to create collaborative structures – regional knowledge clusters –for academia, business and society to jointly approach complex societal challenges.This strategy includes developing the Challenge Lab, launched in January 2014,a missing link that has the potential to be an important ‘bonding agent’ for thevarious stakeholders and a natural vehicle for transformative learning, leadershipand change.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Lundqvist, Ulrika, 1968, et al.
(författare)
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Experiences from an International Training Programme on ESD in Higher Education at Chalmers University of Technology
- 2013
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Ingår i: Konferensproceedings Engineering Education for Sustainable Development 2013 (EESD13), Cambridge 22-25 September 2013. ; , s. 254-261
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) is funding, as part of its bilateral development assistance, International Training Programmes (ITPs) to support social and economic development in developing countries. Niras Natura (previously Ramboll Natura) has since 2008 organized an ITP on ESD in higher education together with Rhodes University in South Africa and the last two years also with Tongji University in China. The ITP is implemented in cooperation with UNEP and seeks to support the Global University Partnership on Environment and Sustainability (GUPES) initiative. The participants in the ITP come from universities and ministries of education (or similar) in Africa and Asia. Participants from universities typically belong to the staff of teachers/researchers or university management. All participants have their own change project for ESD with the purpose to enable participants to link the learning from the ITP to their own work context and institutional priorities. The ITP is going on for almost a year and includes several phases where the participants mainly work on their change projects at their home university (or ministry). Early on in the ITP, the participants spend two weeks at universities in Sweden and since the start of the ITP in 2008, the participants have spent their last week in Sweden at Chalmers University of Technology, with the purpose to share knowledge and experiences in ESD and institutional change at universities. Chalmers has a long history on ESD since the 1980’s and is constantly working to improve the quality and increase the quantity of ESD in the educational programmes. The aim of this paper is to evaluate how an ITP like this can contribute to ESD and institutional change at universities. The objectives are to find out which influence Chalmers’ contribution to the ITP on ESD in higher education has had on: 1) change projects and other ESD activities of the participants and 2) the ESD work at Chalmers. We have sent out a survey to participants in the ITP and another survey to lecturers at Chalmers who have contributed to the ITP. Some results are that people at Chalmers have got an opportunity to reflect upon the ESD work that they have done so far and for the future. The sharing of experiences has been inspiring and increased the engagement.
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| 10. |
- Nässén, Jonas, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Concrete vs. wood in buildings - An energy system approach
- 2012
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Ingår i: Building and Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0360-1323. ; 51, s. 361-369
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Substitution between energy and CO2 intensive materials is a potentially important climate mitigation strategy. We compare buildings with concrete frames and wooden frames concerning their life-time carbon dioxide emissions as well as their total material, energy and carbon dioxide costs. By using consistent energy systems scenarios meeting stringent targets for atmospheric CO2 concentrations we investigate the impact of higher energy and carbon dioxide prices as well as of the availability of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. We find that wooden frames cause lower carbon dioxide emissions given the prevailing energy system, but concrete frames obtain about the same emissions as the wood frame in a system where CCS is not used for wood incineration in the demolishing phase. The net present costs for the different buildings are also affected by the future energy supply system, even though the impact is small, especially compared to the total construction cost. We conclude that it is unclear whether wood framed buildings will be a cost-effective carbon mitigation option and that further analyses of costs should be performed before prescriptive materials policies are enforced in the buildings sector.
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