Økonomiske metaforer : en flerfaglig vitenskapsstudie av økonomiske metaforers implikasjoner på klimapolitikk og oppfatninger om penger.

Når klimakrisen er så alvorlig, hvorfor skjer det så lite? En viktig forklaring er at fastgrodde teorier fra 1800- og tidlig 1900-tallet fortsatt utøves blant økonomer i dag, fremkommer det i analysen. Avhandlingen tar for seg hvordan den konvensjonelle virkelighetsbeskrivelsen oppstår gjennom bruk av visse grunnleggende metaforer slik som ”den usynlige hånd”, ”velferd er nytte” og ”regnskap er fakta”. Slike tankebilder fra tidlig industri-alder lager en ubevisst ramme rundt diskusjonen om miljø og klima. De bidrar til at noen tiltak automatisk foretrekkes mens andre nedprioriteres. Én sentral konklusjon er at begrepet om ”kostnadseffektivitet” låner administrative tyngde fra en slik uuttalt virkelighetsforståelse blant mennesker med bakgrunn i økonomi. Samtidig påføres et skinn av vitenskaplighet til resultater som har lite med naturvitenskaplig metode å gjøre. Avhandlingen munner ut i spørsmålet om det ikke kreves minst én tilleggsdimensjon for verdsettelse av naturgoder i tillegg til vanlige penger. Den drøfter mulige rammer og scenarier for en komplementær pengetype som refererer direkte til klimautslipp og som ikke kan byttes direkte til penger. Undersøkelsen ser på hvordan såkalte ”special purpose money” kan bidra til flere verdidimensjoner innenfor det økonomiske system. Dette er første gang – særlig i norsk sammenheng – at det metaforiske grunnlaget for økonomi analyseres i bredde opp mot nyere miljø- og klimapolitikk

Willingness to pay for crowdfunding local agricultural climate solutions

The recent rise in climate concern among citizens worldwide is coinciding with a rising interest in agricultural climate solutions. The future scaling-up of these solutions, however, requires more knowledge about the mitigation potential, costs and financing options, including crowdfunding (CF). Our objective is to explore the driving factors behind the public’s willingness to pay for crowdfunded climate mitigation projects at the farm level. In this study, four mitigation options from the perspective of farmers were identified: solar panels on the barn roof, biogas from animal manure, drag hoses for improved manure dispersal, and the addition of biochar to soils. The study investigates the optimal characteristics of crowdfunding campaigns to finance such mitigation measures. The most influential factors on the respondents’ WTP is neither climate concern nor proximity, but instead the knowledge regarding CF, combined with how comprehensible and salient the suggested measure is. The main implications are that future projects that aim to achieve broad participation in CF campaigns need to communicate well, to improve both public knowledge of the funding mechanism (CF) itself and the comprehensibility and salience of the agricultural measure. Keywords

COOLCROWD – en veiledning for lokal folkefinansiering av klimatiltak i landbruket

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Rethinking climate communications and the “psychological climate paradox”

Climate science has provided ever more reliable data and models over the last 20–30 years, thereby indicating increasingly severe impacts in the coming decades and centuries. Nonetheless, public concern for climate change and the issue's perceived importance has been declining over the past few decades, thus giving less public support for ambitious climate policies. Conventional climate communication strategies have failed to resolve this “climate paradox.” This article reviews research on the psychology of the climate paradox, and rethinks new emerging strategies for how to resolve it in the coming decades

Hvordan måle ekte grønn vekst og unngå grønnvaskingsfellen

Sett at du og jeg og hele organisasjonen vi jobber med, tar klimaproblemet på alvor. Hvordan kan et selskap, en sektor eller et helt land dokumentere at vi arbeider i tråd med klimamålet i Paris-avtalen? Hvordan kan man rapportere på en måte som ikke bare grønnvasker enkeltinitiativer, men som viser at man både skaper mer verdier og samtidig yter sin rettferdige andel på hele klima- og miljøfeltet? Dette er spørsmålet som artikkelen besvarer gjennom å gi en kort innføring i sammenhengen mellom grønn vekst og vitenskapsbaserte mål (science-based targets). Vi finner at karbonproduktiviteten må vokse med mer enn fem prosent per år for at vi skal ha ekte grønn vekst

Significant and plausible futures. Global surroundings of Norway’s climate strategies

This report describes the approach and results of a scenario workshop for a transdisciplinary team of 18 experts held in the project SMART PATHS in June 2017. The purpose was to span out a handful of alternative qualitative scenarios for the forthcoming global development. The specified question that the scenarios set out to shed light on is: what future external drivers are particularly decisive for the design and performance of national climate strategies in the period of 2020-2050? The work resulted in four, internally consistent, qualitative narratives of the global social, economic, technological, and political future and, in particular, of what they would mean for the external surroundings of the small, open Norwegian economy and its climate strategy Ahead

Significant and plausible futures. Global surroundings of Norway’s climate strategies

This report describes the approach and results of a scenario workshop for a transdisciplinary team of 18 experts held in the project SMART PATHS in June 2017. The purpose was to span out a handful of alternative qualitative scenarios for the forthcoming global development. The specified question that the scenarios set out to shed light on is: what future external drivers are particularly decisive for the design and performance of national climate strategies in the period of 2020-2050? The work resulted in four, internally consistent, qualitative narratives of the global social, economic, technological, and political future and, in particular, of what they would mean for the external surroundings of the small, open Norwegian economy and its climate strategy Ahead

User guides for the climate adaptation of buildings and infrastructure in Norway – Characteristics and impact

To reduce future damages on buildings and infrastructure, and prepare society for the coming climate challenges, in recent years numerous user guides have been developed. The objective of this study is to provide the first overview and analysis of, the characteristics of the existing guidance material for the climate adaptation of the built environment in Norway. 84 user guides and web portals are mapped and analysed, focusing on target groups and topics. The results are viewed in relation to qualitative interviews with experts responsible for promoting climate adaptation. A large share of the guidance material communicates climate adaptation at a general level rather than in-depth practical measures. The interviews confirm that there is an overwhelming amount of guidance material, and it is suggested that this may cause confusion and uncertainty among users. The study and its findings are placed within a context of the climate services literature, and ‘‘user guides” are understood as a type of ‘‘climate services product”. A main conclusion is that the abundance of user guides does not automatically lead to better climate adaptation. Too few user guides for climate adaptation sufficiently secure easily accessible information on practical measures. The guides are not broadly utilised, the language and length of the texts are sometimes problematic, and the target groups are often wide or not specified. The results presented may be used in order to develop improved user guides for climate adaptation in societies with similar climate and societal challenges to those in Norway.publishedVersio

Plausible futures for the Norwegian Offshore Energy Sector: Business as Usual, Harvest or Rebuild?

The global energy transition from fossil to low-carbon energy challenges the future of the Norwegian petroleum sector, a major factor in the country’s economy, now facing financial climate risk and longterm declining demand, particularly for gas to the EU. What energy policies can assist the transition into a low-carbon society? We explore three investment scenarios for the Norwegian offshore energy sector from 2020 to 2070: 1) Business as usual, 2) Increasing cash-flow by harvesting existing petroleum fields and cutting investments (Harvest-and-Exit), or 3) Rebuilding with green offshore energy investments. In a new economic model, we compare impacts on key macro- and sectoreconomic variables. We find that investing moderately in green offshore energy production can reverse the extra job decline that a quicker phase-out of petroleum investments would incur. The impacts on the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund - Government Pension Fund Global - and on gross domestic product (GDP) per capita are insignificant to 2050 and positive by 2070. The simulated investments and economic results can be compared with observations to constitute forward-looking indicators of Norway's energy transitioning