Success Story or Cautionary Tale? : Swedish Ethanol in Co-existing Science-Policy Frameworks

• Sweden's consumption of transport ethanol has given the country a specific biofuel profile in Europe. In recent commentary, Sweden is either depicted as an environmental role model, or figures as a cautionary tale of things going wrong. In both cases, science plays a central role for how this success, or failure, has been achieved. Drawing on the insight that science and policy are highly interwoven, the article identifies different, co-existing and sometimes conflicting, science-policy frameworks. It sets out to shed some light over the complexities of science-policy interactions in the biofuel case and argues that one needs to ask which science is relevant for which policy choice, be aware that lack of scientific certainty carries different weight in different political situations and recognise that high decision-stakes entail value-plurality, also within scientific circles.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Idé- och lärdomshistoria (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- History of Ideas (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Biofuel

bioethanol

policy-making

science and policy

idé- och lärdomshistoria

History Of Sciences and Ideas

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)