| 1. |
- Gee, Kira, et al.
(author)
-
Can tools contribute to integration in MSP? : A comparative review of selected tools and approaches
- 2019
-
In: Ocean and Coastal Management. - : Elsevier. - 0964-5691 .- 1873-524X. ; 179, s. 1-11
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The role of tools and approaches is currently much debated in maritime spatial planning (MSP). Past evaluation has mainly concentrated on decision support tools and the tangible outputs these can provide for MSP, but little attention has so far been been given to the soft or indirect benefits tool use can have in MSP. This paper assesses the potential benefits of tool use in the context of four common integration challenges in MSP. Drawing on case study material from the Baltic Sea region, the paper reviews the potential contribution of five selected tools and approaches to multi-level and transboundary, policy and sector, stakeholder and knowledge integration. Specific end points are defined for each integration challenge, including general desired outcomes of integrated MSP processes as a template for assessment. Our review shows that the selected tools play different roles in moving towards the various end points of MSP integration. There is an important difference between the potential of each tool, or its inherent capacity, and how it is applied, e.g. in a participative or non-participative setting. Another lesson is that some integration benefits can be achieved by the tools alone, while others – often secondary benefits - depend on how the outcomes of tool use are taken up by the subsequent MSP process. Although the nature of a tool does restrict its potential contribution to MSP integration challenges, the secondary “soft” benefits that can be achieved through certain styles of application and good links to the MSP process can add important integration benefits up and beyond the tool itself. The results presented here may also be relevant to other types of spatial planning and conservation management.
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
- Hassler, Björn, 1964-, et al.
(author)
-
BONUS BALTSPACE D2:2 : Ambitions and Realities in Baltic Sea Marine Spatial Planning and the Ecosystem Approach: Policy and Sector Coordination in Promotion of Regional Integration
- 2017
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This report is part of the BONUS BALTSPACE project and is focused on challenges for policy and sector integration in Baltic Sea marine spatial planning (MSP). The main objectives have been to identify concrete coordination problems, to analyse why they have emerged and to discuss possible remedies. It is based on selected aspects extracted from case studies carried out in this project related to the development of regional MSP approaches in Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Sweden and on an additional case study on the HELCOM-VASAB Working Group on MSP. To facilitate the analysis of vertical policy interactions between institutions at different levels as well as of horizontal interactions over sector and country borders, an analytical framework was constructed. This framework consists of two main components; (a) institution-driven coordination where institutions such as global treaties, the EU, regional organisations, and state authorities provide boundaries for decisions taken at lower levels and (b) benefit-driven coordination capturing horizontal coordination across sector and country borders.
|
|
| 5. |
- Hassler, Björn, 1964-, et al.
(author)
-
BONUS BALTSPACE: Deliverable 2.7: New generation EU Directives and the role of transnational coordination : Marine Spatial Planning of the Baltic Sea
- 2018
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The EU Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (MSP Directive) from 2014 is an example of a so-called new generation directive, which gives Member States room for adaptation to national contexts. Because of this larger room for adaptation, transposition becomes a process of designing domestic policy frameworks that fulfil the broad requirements of the Directive, rather than a simple and linear implementation procedure. However, allowing Member States to design marine spatial planning frameworks that fit domestic contexts, have thus far meant that regional coherence suffers. Although the pivotal role of transnational coordination is emphasised in the Directive, it does not stipulate how to set up such coordination, and the Member States have not yet been able to achieve much of self-organising in this area.A closer look is in this report taken on four policy-dimensions that are emphasised in the MSP Directive: Planning approach, Organisation, Sustainability, and Stakeholder inclusion. Based on in-depth case studies carried out in the BALTSPACE research project on MSP frameworks in Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Sweden, examples of coordination and coherency challenges are described and discussed for each dimension.It is shown that planning approaches can differ substantially between neighbouring countries, which can make it challenging to coordinate across country borders. Even though they share the same (EU) regulatory pressures, Latvia and Lithuania, for example, are developing national MSP frameworks based on quite different conceptual foundations. Whereas Latvia has taken the Ecosystem Approach as a point of departure for constructing a new MSP framework, Lithuania has instead chosen to adapt existing functional zoning approaches to management of maritime areas. Such diversity may be possible to explain because of differing domestic contexts, but may nevertheless lead to coordination problems when coordination is needed.Divergence between national MSP frameworks can also emerge from different political, jurisdictional and, administrative systems and traditions, that is, in societal organisation. In an example based on case studies undertaken in Denmark and Sweden, it is shown that degree of societal centralisation and distribution of political power can be related to differences in how environmental protection and blue growth are prioritised. However, it is difficult to tell whether diverging prioritisations have led to differences on organisation, or of it is the other way around, that differences in organisation have led to diverging prioritisations.It is stated in the MSP Directive that the overarching objective is to promote sustainable development. The focus on sustainable development can be said to reflect the Directive’s new generation characteristics. The concept of sustainable development is broad and imprecise, which facilitates political agreement. However, when more precise details must be addressed, disagreements may surface that make implementation challenging. In cases where neighbouring countries diverge substantially on how ecological, economic and social sustainable ought to be balanced, finding agreements on how to coordinate policies and practices, when needed, can be difficult. Based on case studies in Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, and Sweden, it is, for example, argued that adoption of functional zoning or the Ecosystem Approach may not say much about how ecological, economic, and social dimensions are prioritised in different countries.Stakeholder consultations of some kind have historically been undertaken in all Baltic Sea countries. However, how such consultations have been undertaken, who have been invited, and the role the consultations play in relation to political decision-making differ, as shown in examples from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Poland. Because the MSP Directive is silent on how to design stakeholder consultations – it only says that they should be held – there is no political pressure on regional coordination. It is not clear from our data if these differences cause efficiency losses due to coordination deficits, but a reasonable assumption is that when, for example, marine natural resources are shared between two or more countries, jointly designed and undertaken consultations on specific transboundary issues potentially can promote transparency, understanding, and coordination.In conclusion, it is suggested that while regional coherency is often called for as a means to reduce inefficiencies, it might not be a good idea to integrate without discretion. Considering that the MSP Directive allows domestic context to matter when Member States design national MSP frameworks and that adaptation to domestic context is likely to reduce implantation gaps and increase the legitimacy of marine spatial planning, a more reasonable objective can be to embrace domestic diversity, while simultaneously adaptively promoting possibilities to solve coordination problems at lower levels, if they emerge or can be foreseen. From this perspective, increased coherence is a tool to reduce efficiency losses, rather than an intrinsic good.
|
|
| 6. |
- Hassler, Björn, 1964-, et al.
(author)
-
Collective action and agency in Baltic Sea marine spatial planning: Transnational policy coordination in the promotion of regional coherence
- 2018
-
In: Marine Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0308-597X .- 1872-9460. ; 92, s. 138-147
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Despite the increasing attention given to marine spatial planning and the widely acknowledged need for transnational policy coordination, regional coherence has not yet improved a great deal in the Baltic Sea region. Therefore, the main objectives in this article are: (a) to map existing governance structures at all levels that influence how domestic marine spatial planning policy strategies are formed, (b) to identify specific challenges to improved regional cooperation and coordination, and (c) to discuss possible remedies. Based on data from in-depth case studies carried out in the BONUS BALTSPACE research project, it is shown that, despite the shared goal of sustainability and efficient resource use in relevant EU Directives, action plans and other policy instruments, domestic plans are emerging in diverse ways, mainly reflecting varying domestic administrative structures, sectoral interests, political prioritisations, and handling of potentially conflicting policy objectives. A fruitful distinction can be made between, on the one hand, regulatory institutions and structures above the state level where decision-making mechanisms are typically grounded in consensual regimes and, on the other hand, bilateral, issue-specific collaboration, typically between adjacent countries. It is argued that, to improve overall marine spatial planning governance, these two governance components need to be brought together to improve consistency between regional alignment and to enhance opportunities for countries to collaborate at lower levels. Issue-specific transnational working groups or workshops can be one way to identify and act upon such potential synergies. © 2018 The Authors
|
|
| 7. |
|
|
| 8. |
- Hassler, Björn, 1964-, et al.
(author)
-
Cooperating for sustainable regional marine governance : The case of fisheries and nutrient runoff from agriculture to the Baltic Sea, Synthesis report
- 2019
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Over-fishing and eutrophication (too much nutrients) are among the most severe threats to the ecosystems of the Baltic Sea and the ecosystem services they provide. Despite the well-known fact that effective and sustainable management requires cooperation – among as well as within states – appropriate frameworks that work have not yet been constructed and successfully applied. This report summarises findings from a research project on cooperation for sustainable marine governance of the Baltic Sea carried out between 2013 and 2018. Three aspects of central relevance for the understanding of regional cooperation in environmental governance are distinguished: interests, knowledge and management. It is shown that it is not enough to design cooperative arrangements that make the group of users, stakeholders or states better off than without such an arrangement. It is furthermore required that all actors have individual interests to participate, and that free-riding on others’ contributions can be controlled. When this is not the case, effective abatement of eutrophication is not likely to be forthcoming, even though aggregated benefits from such measures are larger than expected costs.Knowledge often play important roles in marine environmental governance, not least in relation to so-called epistemic communities, that is, groups of experts that share a common understanding of the environmental problem at hand, and how to address it. It is shown that the coherence of the epistemic group can be a crucial factor influencing its impact. In both abatement of eutrophication and management of fish stocks, these expert groups have been somewhat divided, which has limited their impact.Modes of management can influence cooperation and outcomes in ways that can be difficult to predict. Although environmental taxes and subsidies are powerful policy instruments in contemporary governance, they must be carefully crafted to fit into exiting norms and contexts to be effective. It is shown that monetary incentives targeting farmers’ use of fertilisers tend not to be effective when they are at odds with deeply held norms on what constitute a “good farmer”.
|
|
| 9. |
|
|
| 10. |
- Hassler, Björn, 1964-, et al.
(author)
-
Environmental risk governance in the Baltic Sea - A comparison between five key areas : Deliverable number 8
- 2011
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This report focuses on challenges for adaptive, reflective and legitimate regional environmental governance related to environmental risks in the regional context of the Baltic Sea. The point of departure is the assumed challenges for establishing mutually fruitful regional collaboration among a diverse group of neighbouring countries. The Baltic Sea countries differ considerably in terms of socioeconomic development, institutional structures and procedures, power relations, policy styles, political cultures and history. How can regional governance arrangements cope with such differences and establish robust and sustainable modes of risk management? The report places its focus on regulatory frameworks for identified environmental risks as well as decision-making forms and processes. It builds on a discursive comparative case-study design where five key risks for the long-term ecological integrity of the Baltic Sea previously have been studied in detail: oil discharges from marine transportations, chemical pollution, over-fishing, eutrophication and invasive alien species. The analysis is based on case studies undertaken for the international research project ‘Risk governance of the Baltic Sea’ (RISKGOV). The analytical framework is primarily based on mappings of problem structures (i.e. bio-geophysical features affecting collaborative patterns), existing international conventions, regulatory institutions and to what extent civil society actors take part in governance arrangements. Although our primary focus is on the regional scale, the analysis takes into consideration the interplay (in terms of synergistic or conflicting effects) of such regional arrangements with national, EU, and international risk management. Our findings suggest that whereas comprehensive regulatory frameworks in most cases are in place, enforcement and implementation often lags behind. Moreover, regional institutional mechanisms for systematic reflection among relevant stakeholders on long term improvement of environmental safety within the individual issue-areas as well as between different sectors are largely lacking. This tends to lead to – via mecchanisms such as path dependency, sectoral management, too narrow coneptions of uncertainty, static rather than dynamic approaches, neglect of self-moitoring activities and inadequate appreciation of governance plurality – reactive rather than forward-looking policy responses, legitimacy deficits and sub-optimal social and institutional learning
|
|
| 11. |
|
|
| 12. |
- Hassler, Björn, 1964-, et al.
(author)
-
New generation EU directives, sustainability, and the role of transnationalcoordination in Baltic Sea maritime spatial planning
- 2019
-
In: Ocean and Coastal Management. - : Elsevier. - 0964-5691 .- 1873-524X. ; :169, s. 254-263
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The EU MSP Directive is an example of a so-called new generation directive, which gives Member States room foradaptation to national contexts. The main objective in this article is to identify and analyse potential obstacles toeffective and efficient planning caused by the diversity among national MSP frameworks that the Directive'sbroad regulatory boundaries have led to. It is shown that planning approaches can differ substantially betweenneighbouring countries, which can make it challenging to coordinate across national borders. Divergence betweennational MSP frameworks can also emerge from how political, jurisdictional and, administrative systemsand traditions are organised in different Member States. It is shown that neighbouring countries can divergesubstantially in how the ecological, economic and social dimensions of sustainability are balanced, which canmake transnational coordination challenging. Furthermore, it is shown that stakeholder consultations differamong Member States in terms of, for example, who were invited, how the consultations were undertaken, andthe role they play in relation to political decision-making. Because of these, and other differences in how MSPframeworks are being developed in the Member States, it is suggested that regional integration should bepromoted with discretion. From this perspective, it seems reasonable to embrace diversity, while simultaneouslypromoting the adaptive management of coordination problems at lower levels, when, or if, they emerge or canbe foreseen. Thus, increased integration of national MSP frameworks should be viewed as an instrument toreduce concrete efficiency losses, rather than as an intrinsic good.
|
|
| 13. |
|
|
| 14. |
- Hassler, Björn, 1964-
(author)
-
Postmaterialistic environmental attitudes : From attitudinal change to behavioural implications
- 2006
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- It has been argued that economic development and increased socioeconomic security tend to foster postmaterialistic attitudes including an increased concern for the environment. According to the postmaterialist hypothesis, individuals who grow up under favorable materialistic conditions tend to place a higher value on non-materialistic issues, not only during their adolescence but also for the rest of their lives. During a modernization process where people’s socioeconomic welfare increases with time, a generational effect is created where younger cohorts systematically demonstrate a higher concern for postmaterialistic values. In contrast to the postmaterialist hypothesis, a link between current income and postmaterialism has been suggested as an alternative explanation for the alleged spread of postmaterialistic attitudes. This would imply that the generational effect is substituted for a current income effect where societies with more affluent citizens tend to have a more postmaterialistic outlook. In this article, concern for the environment is taken as an example of a postmaterialistic outlook. Survey data about attitudes towards environmental issues in Estonia (2001) is used to show that no clear correlation can be found between either personal income or age and the adoption of a positive attitude towards environmental issues. This finding is taken as a starting point for a theoretical elaboration about the relationship between income, attitudes and the consumption of postmaterialistic goods. It is suggested that the important link might not be between attitudes and socioeconomic security but between income and spending on postmaterialistic goods. Changes in behavior are therefore dependent on differences in income elasticity between materialistic and postmaterialistic goods. The most important implication is that the observed changes in attitude in a postmaterialistic direction probably entail less consumption of materialistic goods in relative terms but not in absolute terms.
|
|
| 15. |
- Hassler, Björn, 1964-, et al.
(author)
-
Problems and potential solutions to effective communication among stakeholders in the Baltic Sea shipping for reduced air pollution : Outcomes from a survey
- 2013
-
In: Clean Shipping Currents. - : Baltic Institute of Finland. - 2242-9794. ; 2:5, s. -33
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This report presents the results of a web survey distributed to stakeholders in the Baltic Sea marine sector regarding environmental communication on air pollution from shipping. The survey was carried out in the spring and summer of 2012. Drawing on the literature on risk communication and environmental governance, the main focus was placed on so-called communication barriers, that is, possible hindrances to effective communication among stakeholders on how to reduce air pollution without threatening sector competitiveness. The results show that although there is a dense networking among stakeholders in this sector, there is a demand for improvements in communication in (a) exploratory phases among broad groups of stakeholders and (b) operational phases among selected groups of e.g. business and research teams. To facilitate the emergence of such improved communication, regional organizations such as HELCOM and EU could play important roles. Furthermore, it is shown that there is a perceived need among many stakeholders to step up the involvement of certain stakeholders, for example fuel companies, in collaboration on how to reduce pollution from shipping in cost-efficient ways. Finally, the results show that although continuous improvements of international regulation is a vital part of the governance of the marine sector, compliance will suffer if operators’ incentives are too strong in favor of not contributing to reduced pollution levels. Therefore, there is a strong need for innovative thinking on how to design such incentive schemes, not the least in relation to the continued implementation of Baltic Sea SECA and NECA as well as of the Baltic Sea Action Plan.
|
|
| 16. |
- Hassler, Björn, 1964-
(author)
-
The strategy of assistance : Swedish environmental support to the Baltic states 1991-1996
- 2000
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Sweden has provided considerable amounts of environmental assistance to the Baltic States since their regained independence. To explain the existence and character of this support program, the rationales behind the Swedish policy have to be analyzed.This dissertation uses a rational choice approach, where it is assumed that the Swedish support to the Baltic States in the 1991-1996 period primarily was guided by self-interest. It is shown that there has been remarkable agreement among the political parties concerning the environmental support to the Baltic States during the whole period. This makes the unitary actor assumption reasonable. Swedish foreign aid history and earlier international environmental cooperation is provided as a background to the analysis of the support policy.It is shown that Sweden tended to favor support projects where the environmental impact had a trans-boundary character, thus implying that Swedish environmental interests were affected. This choice of policy introduced a bias in the allocation of environmental investments in the Baltic States, as they have been required to fmance the largest part of the investments with local funding. The consequence has been that issue-areas that have not been attractive to foreign aid providers have been neglected.
|
|
| 17. |
- Hassler, Björn, 1964-, et al.
(author)
-
Towards an Ecosystem Approach to Management in Regional Marine Governance? : The Baltic Sea Context
- 2013
-
In: Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning. - : Routledge. - 1523-908X .- 1522-7200. ; 15:2, s. 225-245
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Currently, European marine governance seems to be undergoing significant changes. From having been based largely on scientific expert knowledge, restricted risk assessments and governmental regulation, we are now witnessing a management turn towards holistic perspectives, the inclusion of stakeholders, adaptive governance, and co-production of knowledge—the so-called ecosystem approach to management (EAM). By using the Baltic Sea as an example of these changes, we have taken a closer look at the 2007 Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) of the Helsinki Commission and the recent organizational changes within the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). Informed by a Reflexive Governance perspective, the primary objective has been to analyse the extent to which institutional preconditions for using an EAM exist in these two cases. Our results show that even though the BSAP has been designed with an EAM approach as its core philosophy, existing implementation, financing, monitoring, and enforcement structures make it unlikely that actual management modes will change significantly in the near feature. Changes in the ICES have occurred as a result of an internal restructuring process characterized by integrative and learning elements. It has been shown that adopting a broad social science perspective and a reflexive governance viewpoint can elucidate how factors such as inadequate institutional change, limited cooperation over sector borders, and adjustment problems caused by path dependency can threaten the successful turn towards the EAM in marine governance.
|
|
| 18. |
- Hassler, Björn, 1964-
(author)
-
Transnational environmental collective action facing implementation constraints : the case of nutrient leakage in the Baltic Sea Action Plan
- 2017
-
In: Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning. - : Routledge. - 1523-908X .- 1522-7200. ; 19:4, s. 408-422
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- While scholars have showed a long-standing interest for how to design effective environmental treaties and other international agreements, less interest has been paid to implementation phases of these agreements. This article takes the Eutrophication Segment in the Baltic Sea Action Plan as an example of a regional effort to reduce nutrient leakages, where national reporting of adopted strategies has been a key mechanism to improve implementation effectiveness. It is shown that although transnational collective action theory is a powerful tool to analyse underlying drivers and priorities in state implementation policies, a deeper analysis of domestic and external constraints can shed additional light on observed implementation gaps. Varying views among countries on, for example, the role of stakeholder participation, legitimacy and top-down governing versus multi-stakeholder governance approaches may comprise domestic constraints that make effective and efficient implementation problematic. In terms of external constraints, states’ balancing of action plan objectives versus other international commitments, such as other environmental treaties and EU Directives, is shown to potentially reduce implementation efficiency as well.
|
|
| 19. |
|
|
| 20. |
- Saunders, Fred, 1961-, et al.
(author)
-
BONUS BALTSPACE Deliverable D1.3 : Evaluating the sustainability of governance: a proposal for evaluating marine spatial planning in the Baltic Sea
- 2017
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This Deliverable elaborates an evaluation design for MSP that responds to a growing call for a more nuanced and critical conceptualisation and implementation of MSP as complex sites of governance. Here we posit that such an evaluation design should be based on 'sustainability of governance' in MSP. Furthermore, that such an evaluation approach should be built on good governance principles of participation, coordination, openness and collaboration in governance processes with the aim to strengthen MSP on both democratic and functionality grounds. To advance this position, we elaborate the relationship between integration as a concept that can be used to examine the sustainability of governance in practice. The conceptual framework is then used to structure a discussion of illustrative examples of the relationship between integration and sustainability of governance across several Baltic Sea case-studies. The results of these case studies are then framed in a discussion on aspects that need to be considered when designing an evaluation process for MSP. Points highlighted here are the need to adopt a deliberative and reflexive approach that draws on a wide body of evidence in evaluation. A set of clustered evaluative criteria (CEC), referring to practices deemed to be desirable for sustainability of MSP governance, are proposed to guide or direct an evaluation process. The CEC were derived through an assessment of what is deemed important in the relevant literature as well as through consideration of the experience of the Baltic cases. The CEC could be seen as indicators of integration that relate to aspects of sustainability of governance in MSP, as well as, in more instrumental terms to support problem-solving aimed at improving MSP coherence. The evaluation design outlined here would require to be tested and trialled in MSP settings to assess its saliency and refine its usability in practice.
|
|
| 21. |
- Saunders, Fred, 1961-, et al.
(author)
-
BONUS BALTSPACE Deliverable D2.4 : MSP as a governance approach? Knowledge integration challenges in MSP in the Baltic Sea
- 2017
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Developing integrative decision-making underpinned by a diverse knowledge base is seen as essential to meet marine spatial planning’s (MSP) sustainable development aspirations. In contributing to a better understanding of how this might be achieved, this report considers knowledge integration challenges drawing on several MSP empirical cases across the Baltic Sea Region. Each case-study, involves Baltic Sea states at different stages of developing national marine spatial plans. At the Baltic-wide level, HELCOM-VASAB has interpreted the Ecosystem Approach in MSP as relying heavily on an evidence-base informed by natural scientific and expert knowledge. The results of the report show that challenges arise when trying to apply scientific knowledge to MSP events or processes for a number of reasons such as, incomplete data and associated substantial uncertainty or because stakeholders contest the policy interpretation of the data. This raises questions of how to assess or evaluate the quality and comprehensiveness/sufficiency of scientific and stakeholder knowledge or input into MSP decision-making, particularly in highly politicised, conflictual contexts, such as the integration of parts of the fishing sector in MSP in Poland. MSP in German territorial waters provides a positive example, where science and stakeholder knowledge input have been integrated in decision-making through informal and formal processes. This case exhibits evidence of social learning where authorities have reflected on previous experiences and invested in actively nurturing the meaningful participation of a wide variety of stakeholders (to form a community of practice) over an extended period of time. The key findings of the report call for more attention to be paid to ways that scientific and stakeholder knowledge can be fruitfully incorporated in MSP, through initiatives such as: the development of knowledge evaluation measures; drawing more actively on social science expertise to help facilitate processes of stakeholder engagement and knowledge inclusion; and paying more attention to how to include heterogeneous socio-cultural values and knowledge (placed-based) in a way that improves the salience of scientific knowledge and the legitimacy of MSP decision-making.
|
|
| 22. |
|
|
| 23. |
- Stalmokaitė, Ignė, et al.
(author)
-
Dynamic capabilities and strategic reorientation towards decarbonisation in Baltic Sea shipping
- 2020
-
In: Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions. - : Elsevier. - 2210-4224 .- 2210-4232. ; 37, s. 187-202
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Despite the challenges of decarbonisation faced by the shipping sector, this topic has rarely been addressed in sustainability transitions studies. This paper questions common views of established firms as agents resisting change and broadens discussions on the role of incumbents and strategic reorientation. Using the dynamic capabilities approach, we provide a deeper understanding of firms’ strategic reorientation over time. Qualitative content analysis is applied to data from interviews, companies’ reports and observations to address questions on how and why incumbent shipping firms in the Baltic Sea region reoriented towards decarbonisation in 2007−2018. We demonstrate that the engagement in decarbonisation has been a gradual process, characterised by a shift from reactive strategies to a mixed portfolio of integrated active and proactive innovation strategies. Although firms experiment with decarbonisation through alternative energy solutions, they simultaneously continue to devote considerable attention to less radical innovations such as increased energy efficiency.
|
|
| 24. |
- Stalmokaitė, Ignė
(author)
-
New Tides in Shipping : Studying incumbent firms in maritime energy transitions
- 2021
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Shipping is a cornerstone of global transportation responsible for moving large volumes of traded goods. At the same time, negative environmental impacts of shipping operations have attracted growing concerns. Although recognised as the most energy-efficient mode of transportation compared to air and land-based transport, maritime transportation contributes significantly to air-borne emissions, alongside other types of pollutants. Hence, it is apparent that alternatives to highly polluting conventional marine fuels, i.e., crude oil or diesel, have to be found in shipping, just as in other sectors. Responding to calls for a greater attention to actors’ roles in transitions, as well as for broader sectoral coverage of empirical work in the field of sustainability transition studies, this doctoral thesis explores the role of incumbents (established shipping firms) in the early stages of maritime energy transitions. Focusing on incumbents is a relatively recent, yet rapidly evolving, stream of research in sustainability transitions studies, with increasing evidence showing heterogeneity and strategic variety in incumbent activities in various transition contexts. By drawing on a multi-level perspective from the socio-technical transition literature, the dynamic capabilities approach from the strategic management literature, and structuration theory, this thesis contributes new knowledge on “how” and “why” frontrunner incumbent shipping firms engage with maritime niche technologies and alternative energy solutions as well as what strategies they adopt to overcome increasing environmental sustainability pressures. These are the topics that have so far received scant attention in sustainability transitions studies. The thesis utilises a qualitative case study approach to study the selection of firms from passenger, vehicle carrier and container shipping business segments that are active in environmental work. The findings of this thesis indicate that the roles of shipping firms in the early stage of maritime energy transitions are diverse and more complex than often accounted for in sustainability transitions literature. It is demonstrated that due to increased regulatory, social and competitive pressures, firms’ activities with regards to engagement in maritime niche technologies and alternative energy have shifted from reactive to a mix of strategies where a portfolio of solutions are pursued at the same time across and within individual firms. While adoption of incremental end-of-pipe technologies reinforces dependence on the fossil fuel energy system, a parallel engagement and experimentation with alternative energy solutions indicates that incumbent firms can also adopt a central role in niche development activities.
|
|
| 25. |
- Stalmokaitė, Ignė, et al.
(author)
-
Sustainability transformations – research in the Baltic and beyond
- 2021
-
In: Baltic Rim Economies review. - Turku. ; 5, s. 20-21
-
Journal article (pop. science, debate, etc.)abstract
- Understanding and promoting sustainability is one of the key concerns across research, policy-making and everyday lifestyle choices. At the same time, there is growing acknowledgement that responding to sustainability challenges such as biodiversity loss, climate justice and decarbonisation, among others, is rife with differences about what sustainability transformation means and implies across different settings, including the Baltic. The multifaceted character of the sustainability conundrum highlights a range of interrelated questions. For example, what repercussions the promotion of local solutions may have for long-term sustainability paths at national, regional and global levels? How to value ethical, political, social and scientific views on which problems to prioritise and whose knowledge counts? In response, universities are increasingly partnering with stakeholders in solution-oriented sustainability research projects. We understand sustainability transformations as fundamental to how societal, institutional, and technological domains interact towards just, legitimate and enduring arrangements. This perspective provides opportunities to reflect on the complexities of societal change towards sustainability, including who should be involved in partnering for change, what constitutes positive change in particular contexts, how change could come about as well as who benefits and who loses. We relate to these questions with illustrations from research projects undertaken in the Baltic and beyond.
|
|
| 26. |
|
|
| 27. |
|
|
