Exploring systems thinking competence of Finns in fostering sustainable transformation

Systems thinking competence is one of the key sustainability competences to make the future more sustainable by focusing on individuals’ capability to analyse sustainability problems across different sectors and scales. The other competencies to foster systems thinking are futures thinking competence, values and critical thinking competence, action-oriented competence, and collaboration competence. In this study, we examined Finnish people’s systems thinking competence and its connections to sustainable transformation. The survey data collected from Finns (n = 2006) were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical regression analysis. The study showed that the sustainability component loaded reliably into principal components. In particular, the Cronbach’s alpha (0.91) and Spearman–Brown (0.90) were high for systems thinking competence. The hierarchical regression analysis showed that Finns’ values, critical thinking, and individual action-oriented competence predict their systems thinking competence. The results indicate that Finns’ ideas of climate change and biodiversity loss mitigation arise from their individual values and opinions that actions are implemented in an ethically just way

Emotional responses to energy projects: A new method for modeling and prediction beyond self-reported emotion measure

A considerable amount of studies report that negative emotions evoked by Wind Energy, Nuclear Energy and CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) can lead to cancellation of the energy project or a delay in policy decisions for its implementation if not adequately addressed. Earlier studies have attempted to study this problem using self-reported emotion measurements to identify the emotions the participants felt. As an alternative, we propose the use of an emotional artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm for improved modeling and prediction of the participants’ emotional behaviour to guide decision-making. We have validated the system using emotional responses to a hypothetical CCS project as a case study. Running our simulation on the experimental dataset (thus 40% of the 72,105), we obtained an average validation accuracy of 98.81%. We challenged the algorithm further with 84 test samples (unseen cases), and it predicted 75 feelings correctly when the stakeholders took a definite position on how they felt. Although there are few limitations to this study, we did find, in a sensitivity experiment, that it was challenging for the algorithm to predict indecisive feelings. The method is adaptable to study emotional responses to other projects, including Wind Energy, Nuclear Energy and Hydrogen Technology.Post-print / Final draf

Augmenting the communication and engagement toolkit for CO2 capture and storage projects

This paper revisits the Communication and Engagement Toolkit for CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) projects proposed by Ashworth and colleagues in collaboration with the Global CCS Institute. The paper proposes a new method for understanding the social context where CCS will be deployed based on the toolkit. In practice, the proposed method can be used to harness social data collected on the CCS project. The outcome of this application is a development of a predictive tool for gaining insight into the future, to guide strategic decisions that may enhance deployment. Methodologically, the proposed predictive tool is an artificial intelligence (AI) tool. It uses fuzzy deep neural network to develop computational ability to reason about the social behavior. The hybridization of fuzzy logic and deep neural network algorithms make the predictive tool an explainable AI system. It means that the prediction of the algorithm is interpretable using fuzzy logical rules. The practical feasibility of the proposed system has been demonstrated using an experimental sample of 198 volunteers. Their perceptions, emotions and sentiments were tested using a standard questionnaire from the literature, on a hypothetical CCS project based on 26 predictors. The generalizability of the algorithm to predict future reactions was tested on, 84 out-of-sample respondents. In the simulation experiment, we observed an approximately 90 % performance. This performance was measured when the algorithm's predictions were compared to the self- reported reactions of the out of sample subjects. The implication of the proposed tool to enhance the predictive power of the conventional CCS Communication and Engagement tool is discussed © 2020 xx. Hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Post-print / Final draf

Circular Economy: Just Sectoral Transition in the Production and Consumption of Textiles

The global textile industry is dominated by the fast fashion paradigm, which causes diverse negative environmental and social impacts. A more circular textile economy is advocated as an answer to unsustainable practices. A transition to a circular economy, based on slowing and closing textile loops, will have social consequences all over the world. This chapter explores the implications for social justice in transitioning to a circular textile economy. It finds that the transition is likely to produce negative and positive outcomes for different regions and people. Circularity in itself might not affect some of the root causes of social harm in global supply chains, but might enable some better practices, for example, through relieving time and prize pressures. Circularity will not likely address power relations that cause oppression, nor improve ill-functioning institutions. Livelihoods in vulnerable regions might be lost, but also gained all over the world. The circular economy transition is necessary but will fail to answer to multiple social justice challenges, unless a strong focus on social justice is explicitly integrated in design, conceptualization, and application.Post-print / Final draf

Corrigendum to Sustainability guardrails for energy scenarios of the global energy transition [Renew. Sustain. Rev. (2018) 91 321–334]

The authors regret that on page 324, subsection 2.1.3 of the publication a presented statistic was used inaccurately and improperly cited. The statistics attributed to global nuclear safety incidents should more accurately be applied to all low-carbon energy systems collectively over the time period. The correct statistics attributed to nuclear safety incidents only are reported to be 172 incidents, USD 241 billion in property damage and 4803 deaths. These statistics should also be properly attributed to Sovacool et al., Balancing safety with sustainability: assessing the risk of accidents for modern low-carbon energy systems. Journal of Cleaner Production 2016;112:3952-3965. These errors do not affect the main results or conclusions of the publication in any way. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.Post-print / Final draf

Taking planetary nutrient boundaries seriously: Can we feed the people?

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Feasibility of ASH DEC‐ process in treating sewage sludge and manure ash in Finland

In Finland the thermal treatment of sewage sludge has been moderate in 21th century. The reason has been the high moisture content of sludge. During 2005-2008, 97-99% of sewage sludge was utilized in landscaping and agriculture. However agricultural use has been during 2005-2007 less than 3 %. The aim of national waste management plan is that by 2016 100% of sludge is used either as soil amendment or energy. The most popular utilization method for manure is spreading it on arable land. The dry manures such as poultry manure and horse manure could also be used in incineration. The ashes could be used as fertilizers and while it is not suitable as a starter fertilizer, it is suitable in maintaining P levels in the soil. One of the main drivers for more efficient nutrient management is the eutrophication in lakes and the Baltic See. ASH DEC process can be used in concentrating phosphorus rich ashes while separating the heavy metals that could be included. ASH DEC process uses thermochemical treatment to produce renewable phosphate for fertilizer production. The process includes mixing of ashes and chlorine donors and subsequent treatment in rotary kiln for 20 min in temperature of 900 – 1 050 oC. The heavy metals evaporate and P-rich product is obtained. The toxic substances are retained in air pollution control system in form of mixed metal hydroxides. The aim of conducting this study is to estimate the potential of ASH DEC process in treating phosphorus rich ashes in Finland. The masses considered in are sewage sludge, dry manure from horses, and poultry and liquid pig manure. To date the usual treatment method for sewage sludge in Finland is composting or anaerobic digestion. Part of the amount of produced sewage sludge (800 kt/a fresh mass and 160 kt/a TS) could also be incinerated and the residual ashes used in ASH DEC process. Incinerating only manure can be economically difficult to manage because the incineration of manure is in Finland considered as waste incineration. Getting a permit for waste incineration is difficult and also small scale waste incineration is too expensive. The manure could act as an additional feedstock in counties with high density of animal husbandry where the land area might not be enough for spreading of manure. Now when the manure acts as a supplementary feedstock beside sludge, the ash can’t be used directly as fertilizer. Then it could be used in ASH DEC process. The perquisite is that the manure producers could pay for the incineration, which might prove problematic

Local and social facets of planetary boundaries: right to nutrients

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Time as a Subject in Sustainable Consumption

The aim of this paper was to assess the use and consistency of the time concept in the sustainable consumption context. In this field, time is generally defined as a limited resource, such as money, which is allocated to activities and understood by the activities that it is allocated to. We assessed time as a subject matter in the reviewed articles to verify how it was conceptualized and used in sustainable consumption. During this analysis, we defined six categories: time-use, time of use, time-related rebound effects, time-related value-action gap, time pressure, and time-related well-being. Despite identical definitions, there are some inconsistencies in the essential assumptions regarding time, and we observed that the current recognition of time in sustainable consumption debates is not comprehensive. Clarifying the difference between an objective definition of time and the practical knowledge that people have about time has applications in terms of developing sustainable consumption strategies and policies.Publishers versio