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| 2. |
- Bauer, Fredric, et al.
(author)
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Plastics and climate change breaking carbon lock-ins through three mitigation pathways
- 2022
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In: One Earth. - : Elsevier BV. - 2590-3330 .- 2590-3322. ; 5:4, s. 361-376
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The plastic industry is dependent on fossil fuels in various ways that result in strong “carbon lock-in” throughout the value chain and large and growing CO2 emissions. The industry must decarbonize to reach global net-zero pledges. Although a few initiatives have been launched, they primarily focus on plastic waste. Current research has investigated mitigation potential on different parts of the plastic value chain but remains in silos. Here, we review carbon lock-ins throughout the plastic value chain and identify possible mitigation pathways for each stage of the plastic life cycle. We show how lock-ins are stubbornly entrenched across the domains of production, markets, waste management, industry organization, and governance. Overcoming these carbon lock-ins and achieving zero-carbon targets for the sector by 2050 will require thorough systemic change to how plastics are produced, used, and recycled, including promotion of demand reduction strategies, bio-based feedstocks, and circular economy principles. Strict governance structures, enforceable regulation, and a new proactive and inclusive vision for the low-carbon transition are equally important.
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| 3. |
- Boije Af Gennäs Erre, Ellen, et al.
(author)
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Energigemenskap – olika modeller för att äga förnybar energi gemensamt
- 2023
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Reports (pop. science, debate, etc.)abstract
- När medborgare vill gå samman och äga och producera energi gemensamt finns det olika sätt att organisera det på. I den här community briefen presenterar vi fem olika modeller av energigemenskaper. Modellerna baseras på en analys av 12 existerande solenergigemenskaper i Sverige. Genom att presentera de olika modellerna för delat ägande av förnybar energi hoppas vi kunna inspirera fler att etablera energigemenskaper, och sänka ribban för er som har bestämt er för att investera i förnybar energi tillsammans.
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| 4. |
- Palm, Ellen, et al.
(author)
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Conflicting expectations on carbon dioxide utilisation
- 2021
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In: Technology Analysis and Strategic Management. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0953-7325 .- 1465-3990. ; 33:2, s. 217-228
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To utilise carbon dioxide as a resource rather than treating it only as a polluting greenhouse gas is gaining increased attention. Expectations on the future capabilities of technologies that could make utilisation of carbon dioxide possible are currently raised in scientific literature. These are in important ways shaping the development process by defining what is possible and desirable to develop. Building on sociology of expectations, we show how some of these expectations are in conflict. The most notable expectation of carbon dioxide utilisation is that it will contribute to mitigation of climate change, but at the same time there are conflicting expectations regarding suitable applications, requirements on feedstock and energy use, and how the concept should be framed in relation to other technologies. These conflicting expectations show how different types of actions are encouraged, and how technologies related to seemingly similar goals could result in very different levels of greenhouse gas emissions and thereby climate change impact.
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| 5. |
- Palm, Ellen
(author)
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Decarbonising plastics – On the technologies and framings of carbon capture and utilisation
- 2024
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Plastics consist of fossil fuels, from both a feedstock and energy perspective and thus need to decarbonise. This thesis maps and explores the framings and technologies that surround plastics decarbonisation and the potential mitigation pathway of carbon capture and utilisation. Here, three of the main findings are presented.By unpacking how EU policymakers understand issues concerning plastics, this thesis exposes how they are mainly conceptualised as a waste issue. This narrow framing of the issues concerning plastics neglects their complexities and systemic nature. The explicit downplaying of climate impact is especially noteworthy. If policymakers do not recognise the connection between plastics and climate change, it is not likely that they will introduce policy measures to address it.In a first-of-a-kind study, this thesis shows that, from a technological perspective, European plastics production could decarbonise via the pathway of carbon capture and utilisation. However, producing plastics from water and carbon dioxide is extremely energy-intensive and hence very costly. Even if this perspective neglects all the social, political and institutional considerations, it serves as a thought experiment that plastics production could decarbonise.How expectations of carbon capture and utilisation, and the larger imaginary of circular carbon, are articulated can shape and limit how and whether they are enacted. This thesis maps and analyses such framings in two cases: firstly, within the scientific carbon capture and utilisation community, and secondly within the plastics and petrochemical industry. The material shows that the scale of production (growth) is not discussed, and strategies to decarbonise via low-tech pathways are often neglected.If supporting the technological development surrounding plastics decarbonisation, all these aspects must be recognised. Failure to do so risks resulting in delayed decarbonisation efforts. In conclusion, this thesis advocates for a pluralistic approach to plastics decarbonisation and emphasises the importance of considering both high- and low-tech mitigation pathways, since one perspective or technology is insufficient to address the complexities of plastics decarbonisation.
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| 6. |
- Palm, Ellen, et al.
(author)
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Imagining circular carbon : A mitigation (deterrence) strategy for the petrochemical industry
- 2024
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In: Environmental Science and Policy. - 1462-9011. ; 151
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Petrochemical producers both rely upon and generate some of the most problematic substances in the current age of socioecological crisis: fossil fuels and plastics. With mounting calls to cap fossil fuel extraction as well as plastics production, the industry appears to be caught between a rock and a hard place. Nonetheless, betting on continuously increasing global plastic demand, petrochemical production is expanding significantly. This predicament raises the question of how the industry attempts to square increasing petrochemical production with the need to address environmental issues. In recent years, leading actors in and around the industry have promoted notions of carbon circularity as a desirable mitigation strategy. In this paper, we examine this strategy, using discourse analysis to uncover what we refer to as the imaginary of circular carbon. We highlight how the circular carbon imaginary risks delaying climate mitigation by rendering alternative mitigation pathways undesirable. It does so by reconciling increased production, carbon neutrality, and circular economy in a vision of a circular carbon economy, framing the climate crisis as an issue of carbon management. In the circular carbon economy, carbon dioxide, petrochemicals, and plastics all fit as mere flows of carbon. The circular carbon imaginary thereby helps future-proof the petrochemical industry in legitimizing its carbon-intensive practises essential to the fossil world order and the plastic crisis.
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| 7. |
- Palm, Ellen, et al.
(author)
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Narrating plastics governance : policy narratives in the European plastics strategy
- 2022
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In: Environmental Politics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0964-4016 .- 1743-8934. ; 31:3, s. 365-385
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The European Union (EU) aspires to be an important global agenda-setter on how to treat and regulate the growing plastics problem. We present an analysis of the plastic policy narratives shaping European plastics governance, in particular through the European Commission’s Plastics Strategy. Our aim is to first uncover the policy narratives at play, and then examine how actors make use of those narratives through strategic construction. Based on interviews with key stakeholders and document analysis, we identify four narratives: fossil feedstock dependency, resource inefficiency, pollution, and toxicity. We find that the resource inefficiency and pollution narratives figure most prominently in European plastics governance, and that the circular economy is being advanced as a policy solution that cuts across the different narratives. However, surface agreement on the need for ‘circularity’ hides deeper-lying ideological divisions over what exactly the circular economy means and the different directions this implies for plastics governance.
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| 8. |
- Palm, Jenny, et al.
(author)
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Policy Brief: Energigemenskaper i Sverige
- 2022
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Other publication (pop. science, debate, etc.)abstract
- Den tredje februari 2022 anordnades en workshop vars syfte var att diskutera policy rekommendationer som skulle kunna främja utvecklingen av energigemenskaper i Sverige. Under workshopen diskuterades energigemenskapers möjlighet att äga nät, incitamentsstruktur för att utveckla energigemenskaper och huruvida energiföretag bör tillåtas vara medlemmar i energigemenskaper. Deltagarna i workshopen var enliga om att det behövdes bättre incitamentsstrukturer och att energiföretag ska tillåtas vara medlemmar. Däremot var det delade meningar om ifall energigemenskaper ska få äga elnät eller inte. Kritikerna var tveksamma till om det var en hållbar lösning på långsikt, om energigemenskaperna skulle kunna vara stabila långsiktiga ägare. Förespråkarna menade att det var möjligt med energigemenskaper som ägare om det kombinerades med tydliga regler om ansvar.
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| 9. |
- Palm, Jenny, et al.
(author)
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Policy Brief: Regeringen menar att det inte finns behov av lag om energigemenskaper
- 2022
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Other publication (pop. science, debate, etc.)abstract
- I proposition 2021/22:153 Genomförandet av elmarknadsdirektivet fastslår regeringen att det i nuläget inte krävs någon ny lagstiftning för att reglera energigemenskaper. Energimarknadsinspektionen, som hade ansvaret att utreda frågan, föreslog att energigemenskaper skulle vara ekonomiska föreningar med ett skyddat namn där det framgår att de är just energigemenskaper. I propositionen bedömer regeringen att det inte behövs en speciell lag för energigemenskaper eftersom det inte finns några hinder i den nuvarande lagstiftningen att bilda energigemenskaper och att det därmed inte behövs någon ny reglering för att uppfylla EU:s förnybarhetsdirektivs krav.
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