| 1. |
- Bauer, Fredric, et al.
(författare)
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Petrochemicals and climate change: Powerful fossil fuel lock-ins and interventions for transformative change
- 2023
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- With the risk of climate breakdown, pressure is increasing for all sectors of the economy to break with fossil fuel dependence and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this context, the chemical industry requires more focused attention as it uses more fossil-fuel based energy than any other industry and the production of chemicals is associated with very large emissions. Beyond the climate crisis, the chemical industry significantly impacts several critical dimensions of sustainability, including the planetary boundaries for novel entities, biosphere integrity, and ocean acidification. In this report, we focus on the petrochemical sector, which represents the largest share of the chemicals industry and is generally understood to refer to the part of the industry that relies on fossil-fuel feedstocks from oil, gas, and coal. The petrochemicals sector produces chemicals mainly used for plastics and fertilisers, but the products also end up in paints, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and other applications. This report provides a critical exploration of the petrochemical sector to strengthen awareness of its relevance to the climate crisis and to provide tools and recommendations for decision-makers in different domains to initiate, support, and accelerate much-needed transformation. The report highlights the rapid expansion of the petrochemical sector as well as the range and growth of economic, infrastructural, and political interlinkages with the fossil fuel extraction sector. It argues that these developments and dynamics are crucial to understanding pathways, strategies, and interventions for a low-carbon transition for petrochemicals.
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| 2. |
- Bergek, Anna, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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Directionality challenges for transformative innovation policy: lessons from implementing climate goals in the process industry
- 2023
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Ingår i: Industry and Innovation. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1366-2716 .- 1469-8390. ; 30:8, s. 1110-1139
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the new paradigm of ‘transformative’ or ‘mission-oriented’ innovation policy, which addresses broad societal challenges, policy makers are given a large responsibility for setting or shaping the direction of socio-technical transitions. However, the literature has so far not provided much concrete advice on how to achieve directionality in practice. The main argument of this conceptual article is that a more detailed approach is needed to better understand the challenges policy makers might face when they attempt to translate societal goals into more concrete and actionable policy agendas. It identifies and discusses eight analytically derived directionality challenges: handling goal conflicts, defining system boundaries, identifying realistic pathways, formulating strategies, realising destabilisation, mobilising relevant policy domains, identifying target groups, and accessing intervention points. To illustrate these challenges, the article uses examples from the implementation of the Swedish climate goal in the process industry.
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| 3. |
- Eneqvist, Erica, 1982-
(författare)
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Experimental Governance : Capacity and legitimacy in local governments
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Contemporary planning and governance of cities involves practices of experiments and trials in urban experiments, collaborative platforms, and urban development projects with high ambitions for sustainability and innovative solutions. These practices of experimental governance can be seen as new policy instruments that include actors from all sectors of society in collective problem-solving. The introduction of experimental governance establishes a new logic of public administration that results in multiple opportunities and challenges. Previous research has emphasised the importance of organisational development beyond a focus on single experimental projects and institutional designs to support experimentation. This thesis aims to examine the municipalities’ organisational capacity for experimental governance and the opportunities to ensure legitimacy.The thesis involves a case study of the City of Stockholm and its innovative practices in general and experimental governance practices in particular. The focus is on the municipal organisation and how it has developed over the past decade, rather than single experiments, collaborations, and projects. Using a qualitative research approach, empirical data was collected by shadowing City of Stockholm staff members, while also conducting semi-structured interviews, participatory observations, and document studies. The thesis comprises four research articles: three using the City of Stockholm as an empirical case of a municipality engaged in experimental governance, and one that develops theoretical insights using examples from Stockholm. The first article provides a discussion of municipal innovation approaches and their influence of institutional logics. The second article is about municipal functions related to experiments, and how these functions challenge the local government. The third article examines the work of experiments and partnerships in policy and practice from a legitimacy perspective. The fourth article explores the institutional capacity for translating innovation actions from high-profile urban development projects into regular processes of the municipality.The results provide new knowledge about public actors and urban experimentation, while also providing practical insights that are relevant to stakeholders who engage in urban experiments. Specifically, the thesis reveals the challenges that municipalities face in embracing experiments while also ensuring and developing procedures for legitimacy. It also highlights the tensions of introducing new logics and roles for public authorities in a changing governance environment. The findings point towards the need for a more nuanced understanding of practices of experimental governance, and the development of permanent organisational structures and cultures to support and steer these practices. There is also a need for organisational procedures to ensure legitimacy, related to both input in terms of transparency, accountability and equality, and output in terms of results and effectiveness, with a capacity to implement the results. By meeting these needs, municipalities can harness the opportunities of experimental governance to serve the public good.
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| 4. |
- Fagerström, Anton, et al.
(författare)
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BeKind - Circularity and climate benefit of a bio- and electro-based chemical industry - effects of transitions in petrochemical value chains
- 2022
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This document reports the finding from the project BeKind: Circularity and climate benefit of a Bio- and Electro-based Chemical Industry - effects of transitions in petrochemical value chains. The aim of the BeKind-project has been to identify challenges for transition to a circular and climate-neutral petrochemical industry, to develop proposals for remedial activities for these obstacles and challenges, and to quantify the benefits such a transition can have for circularity, climate and social sustainability. The focus of the project has been on industrial production of liquid fuels and plastics.
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| 5. |
- Hammar, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Analys av påverkan från EUförslag för omställningen inom svensk industri : För industrin relevanta delar av kommissionens nya gröna giv och lagstiftningspaketet Fit for 55Underlagsrapport till Naturvårdsverkets arbetsgrupp
- 2022
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Rapporten presenterar resultatet av projektet ” Analys av påverkan från EU-förslag för omställningen inom svensk industri”. Projektets syfte har varit att analysera hur Kommissionens förslag till lagstiftningspaket (Fit for 55) för att göra EU redo för att minska utsläppen i linje med det skärpta utsläppsmålet om -55 procent netto till 2030 jämfört med 1990 påverkar möjligheterna till omställning av svensk industri. Analysen visar att förslagen från EU täcker flera av de hinder som finns för att ställa om industrin, men att det inte fullt ut räcker för att uppfylla den svenska målsättningen om nettonollutsläpp till 2045. Analysen visar att EU-förslagen framför allt brister avseende stöd och stöttning för en uppbyggnad av supportinfrastruktur för en transformativ omställning. Alltså stöd för att bygga upp de nya samhällen som krävs för den omställning industrin ska gå mot, både vad gäller kompetensuppbyggnad och samhällsfunktioner, men även frågor kopplade till infrastruktur som eldistribution och vägar. Rapporten har utgjort ett underlag i Naturvårdsverkets och Energimyndighetens arbete med rapporten ”Industrins klimatomställning”
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| 6. |
- Hammar, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Styrmedel för ökad efterfrågan på klimateffektiva produkter : Stöd för transformativ omställning inom basmaterialindustrin
- 2022
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Här presenterar resultatet av projektet "Styrmedel för ökad efterfrågan på klimateffektiva produkter". Projektets syfte har varit att analysera hur styrmedel – antingen direkt eller indirekt – kan skapa efterfrågan på produkter med mycket låga eller inga utsläpp.Rapporten är avgränsad till att undersöka, föreslå och analysera styrmedel för att få till transformativa förändringar på systemnivå snarare än åtgärder för inkrementella förbättringar. Detta i syfte att möjliggöra klimatneutral basindustri. Ett antal hinder kopplat till cement-, järn-och stål-, kemi-, och raffinaderiindustrins klimatomställning har identifierats i rapporten och ett antal styrmedel som kan adressera hinder kopplade till en osäker efterfrågan på klimateffektiva produkter analyseras.
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| 7. |
- Hylmö, Anders, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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How do firm internal and external factors combine to contribute to the propensity of energy incumbents to implement radical innovations?
- 2023
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Ingår i: 14th IST conference 2023, Responsibility and Reflexivity in Transitions.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Transitioning the energy sector to meet sustainability challenges requires introducing innovative solutions for energy production, storage, flexibility, security, and consumption (Fahnestock and Karltorp, 2019). Some of these innovations will be radical compared to incumbent firms’ competence base, solutions, and market attributes (Bergek et al., 2013). Although some energy utilities embrace innovation, most of these incumbents are inert due to significant lock-in effects of infrastructures and facilities.While a larger body of research focuses on incumbents as developers of innovation (Klepper, 1997; Christensen, 1997/2013), less attention is paid to the factors that influence incumbents’ ability to implement radical innovation. A review of the comparatively few existing studies reveals that a) a combination of firm internal and external factors needs to be accounted for, b) factors are interdependent and form complex causal relations, and c) the same outcome related to adoption may result from different combinations of conditions as revealed by contradictions (Karltop and Perez Vico, forthcoming). Yet, no existing studies examine the complex casual relationships as configurations of factors that combine to contribute to incumbents’ propensity to implement radical innovations. Thus, we study how incumbent firms’ internal and external characteristics contribute to implementing radical innovation in the form of configurations of factors, using regional energy firms as empirical case.We explore this question using a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) that enables us to consider the effects of multiple causal factors and their complex causal relationships on a particular outcome, such as the propensity to implement radical innovation (Ragin, 2008). We use a comparative case study of eight Swedish public regional energy firms to explore the influence of factors derived from a recent literature review (Karltop and Perez Vico, forthcoming) that include external landscape, financial, technology, and industry conditions, as well as firm internal structural conditions, absorptive capacity and alignment with innovation. We base the analysis on semi-structured interviews with firm representatives and qualitative and quantitative data from media, annual reports, economic databases, and funding agencies.Our analysis generates multiple solutions in the form of configurations of different factors contributing to incumbents’ propensity to implement radical innovations. These solutions reveal how factors amplify or offset each other and provide insight into different development paths for incumbents seeking to implement radical innovation. This paves the way for building a coherent theoretical frame for understanding incumbents in the light of radical innovation that accounts for multiple causes related to the firm’s structure, strategy, and external conditions.Our findings have several management and policy implications. To implement radical innovation necessary for energy transitions, firms and policy makers must simultaneously pay attention to the multiple ways in which internal and external conditions may interact. Although some factors are beyond the firm’s control, managers could focus on the factors that moderate others, as these represent an opportunity for compensation. With this study, we also contribute to the field of transition studies by exploring a configurational approach to understanding the role of incumbents in meeting sustainability challenges.
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| 8. |
- Karltorp, Kersti, et al.
(författare)
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Factors conditioning incumbent firms’ implementation of radical innovations : A systematic literature review
- 2022
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Meeting the urgent climate challenge will require that incumbent firms implementinnovations, of which some are radical compared to firms’ competence-base or market solutions.To support this development, a thorough understanding of the prerequisites for implementationis needed. The body of literature on conditioning factors for incumbent firms’ innovationimplementation is vast and informative but also scattered in a diversity of fields, such asinnovation management, industrial dynamics and transition studies. Further, findings aresometimes contradictory. It is thus difficult to get a coherent understanding of which factorsinfluence implementation and how. We therefore set out to conduct a systematic literature reviewon factors influencing the propensity of incumbents to implement radical innovation. Our studyrevealed 8 firm-external factors related to the landscape pressure, the maturity of the innovationand related infrastructure as well as external network fit, and 11 firm-internal factors related tostructural conditions, responsive capacity and the internal alignment with the innovation. We alsofound extensive interdependence between these factors within and across the firm internal andexternal level. We thus conclude that reaching a thorough understanding of the prerequisites forimplementation requires simultaneously paying attention to a wide variety of conditioning factorson firm internal and external level, and their interconnectedness. @ 2022 The Authors.
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| 9. |
- Maltais, Aaron, et al.
(författare)
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Policy priorities for mobilizing investment in Swedish green industrial transitions
- 2022
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In its latest assessment reports, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stresses that there is a rapidly closing window of opportunity for global action to prevent and adapt to climate change and that mitigation and adaptation is needed now. The Swedish Climate Policy Council has stated that a transition has been initiated in Sweden, and national emissions have been cut by about 35% since 1990. Still an acceleration of this transition is needed to reach the national target of net-zero emissions by 2045. Industry is responsible for about a third of Sweden’s greenhouse gas emissions, and investments in deep emissions cuts in this sector are key for reaching the national target. This involves investments in innovative technologies that enable increased efficiency in the use of materials and energy, increased circularity, and fuel and feedstock switches. For most industrial sectors several pathways are being implemented, although there remain large uncertainties and risks associated with the options they are pursuing.The implementation of new technologies will often increase both capital needs and operating costs and there might be periods of elevated working capital as investments in new technologies have to overlap old production processes while verifying new solutions. Moreover, industrial sites have long lifetimes and long investment cycles. As a result, investments in technological and production changes that bring deep emissions cuts in heavy industry risk older assets having to be written off prematurely. Details are scarce on the extent to which capital investment entails a challenge for industrial transition and if so how to handle these challenges. The aim of this report is to better understand the key challenges for investments in technological and production changes that bring deep emissions cuts in heavy industry in Sweden. We investigate this matter from the perspective of both industry actors and actors from the financial sector. Our key research questions are: • Is the size of the capital investments needed for green industrial production a significant challenge for bringing about these transitions in Sweden?• What are the most important challenges for actors’ willingness to invest in deep green industrial transitions and investors’ willingness to provide financing for those investments?• What policies do industrial and financial actors think can best support the willingness to invest in and provide financing for deep green industrial transitions in Sweden? The report focuses on Sweden and the heavy industries that account for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions: iron and steel, cement, refining and chemicals. We also include the pulp and paper industry in this study given that it is a large industrial point source of biogenic CO2 emissions (through the combustion of bio-fuels) and has the potential to contribute to meeting the national net-zero target with so-called “negative emissions”.The study focuses on technological alternatives that can lead to radical reductions of direct emissions. This means that incremental energy efficiency measures and reduced demand, although important, are not considered. Our results are based on interviews with representatives from key industrial firms and financial firms and institutions. Our main results and recommendations: 1. Neither the scale of investments nor access to financing are significant obstacles to deep green industrial transformation. Our key finding is that neither the scale of capital investments in deep green industrial transition nor access to financing to make these investments are perceived to be significant obstacles by industry or financial actors. The scale of investments is large and for many industrial actors there are needs for direct support for early-stage development of new technologies and production processes. However, given a viable business case for green industrial products, capital requirements and access to finance do not appear to be critical obstructions once companies are prepared for commercial level deployments. Instead, our interviewees emphasized issues related to creating market demand and infrastructure and permitting processes as most important for enabling investments in deep green industrial transitions.2. Loan guarantees are an appropriate method of risk sharing for commercial-scale investments in deep green industrial transitions. According to our results, industry and financial actors find that existing direct financial support mechanisms and government credit guarantees are appropriate support and risk sharing tools. Our results do not point to any specific and new financing support mechanisms that industry and financial actors would like government to put in place. However, respondents did indicate that the scale of government support, both direct financial support and financial risk sharing, may need to be ramped up as industrial decarbonization pathways move from early stages to demonstration and commercial deployment.3. Policies for improving the terms of financing will not likely play a large role in mobilizing the willingness to invest in deep green industrial transitions. Industrial and financial actors stated that securing financing for green industrial transitions will likely not be a challenge when the business case for making these investments is in place. Improving the terms of financing was not prioritized among our respondents as a key lever for improving business cases. Favourable financing terms certainly contribute, but our respondents pointed to issues of market demand, direct financial support for early development, infrastructure and permitting policies as much more important. As such, decision-makers should focus on these areas for the largest effects. Importantly, our respondents’ comparatively minor concerns regarding financing should be understood in the context of the early stage of development of deep green industrial transition. As many of the major investment decisions have yet to be made, our results may not reflect challenges that could occur at the point of commercial deployment. Moreover, it is very difficult to predict how financial markets will develop over the long timeframes over which investments in deep green industrial transitions are needed. As such it is still too early to make a judgement on the extent to which policy efforts could be needed to mobilize financing towards these transitions.4. If needs for new financing solutions become apparent over time, public authorities will likely need to take a leadership role and set in motion proposals and dialogue with relevant private actors. We did not find developed ideas among industry or financial actor respondents for new financing solutions for green industrial transitions. This reflects both the perspective that financing is not a major obstacle and the early stage of development and deployment in some sectors. Because our results did not find forward-looking strategies in this area, decision-makers can contribute to green industrial transitions by tasking public authorities with investigating potential needs, gaps and innovative financing solutions for green industry transitions for future stages of deployment when capital requirements can become very high.5. Policymakers should focus on market formation efforts. Particularly important are efforts at the European Union level to ensure that carbon price signals are high enough to create business cases for green industrial products and that efforts to prevent carbon leakage maintain fair competition. Our results show that the key policy space for mobilizing investments into green industry is in supporting market formation and demand for green industrial products. As confidence in technological solutions advances, more attention is focused on how the increased costs of green production can be transferred to end consumers. The most desired market generation policies from both industry and finance are general policies like carbon taxes combined with measures to protect the competitiveness of industries, for example a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM).6. The methods for and extent of demand-generating policies should be considered sector by sector as there may be divergence on the degree to which general policies and bottom-up approaches achieve the desired pace of change in different sectors. In addition to general market formation efforts, some actors emphasized demand generation policies directed at specific sectors, motivated by the different prerequisites for transition in those sectors. For example, public procurement policies for green industrial products were put forward as important for the cement sector especially. Another example, particularly important for the refining sector, are the policies requiring the blending of biofuels into petrol and diesel, which are already being implemented.7. Both investors and policymakers should continue to push for companies to deliver transparency and target setting with respect to their scope 3 emissions. Working with value chains to create demand for green industrial products can accelerate the pace of transitions as has been proven in the case of green steel production in Sweden. Repeating this dynamic in other emissions-intensive industrial sectors is crucial. Our respondents emphasize that setting targets for emissions reduction and transparent reporting about progress towards these targets are important to stimulate transition not only of individual firms but also of whole value chains.8. Government should continue with its existing financial support mechanism, reviewing financing needs periodically, and work to ensure that Swedish industry is able to access support measures at the EU level. Although our respondents indicated that access to financing for commercial deployment (assuming good market demand indications) is good, publ
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| 10. |
- Rootzén, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Turning the tanker? Exploring the preconditions for change in the global petrochemical industry
- 2023
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - 2214-6326 .- 2214-6296. ; 104:103256
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Meeting the goals set out in the Paris Agreement will require rapid and deep reductions of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) across all sectors of the global economy. Like all major societal transformations, this climate transition will impact both social and technical aspects of society and, depending on how it evolves, will reallocate social and economic benefits and costs differently. Recognising the importance of decarbonising key industry sectors with large GHG emissions and an significant impact on society, this study explores the opportunities and tensions involved in a transition of the petrochemical industry. We do so by analysing how access to natural resources, the petrochemical industry's role in the economy and the socio-political landscape in key petrochemical producing countries impacts prerequisites for change. The assessment shows that devising adequate policy responses, building legitimacy for change and potentially building bottom-up pressure for a timely climate transition are likely to look very different in the 10 countries with the greatest active petrochemical capacity in the world: China, the United States, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Russia, Iran, Germany and Taiwan. The indicators used to explore the prerequisites for change all point to areas where actions and policies must advance for a transition to be realised. This includes efforts to cap fossil feedstock supply and production capacity, efforts to limit and ultimately reduce demand for plastics and fertilisers, and measures to formulate transition strategies and policies that capture and provide agency for communities and groups that are currently on the receiving end of negative health and environmental impacts from the petrochemical industry and that will also, in many cases, be most closely affected by a transition.
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