Decarbonising the Swedish road transport sector

Road transport contributes to around one-fifth of the EU’s total CO2 emissions and is the only major sector in the EU where greenhouse gas emissions are still rising. Swedish road transport causes 30% of all emissions. Addressing transport emissions is therefore crucial for meeting the Paris Agreement commitments on climate change. The Swedish government aims to have a fossil-independent vehicle fleet by 2050; moreover, an emissions reduction target for the road transport sector of 80% (compared to 2010) by 2030 has been suggested. The government-initiated investigation ‘Fossilfrihet på väg’ sets out potential pathways, but a knowledge gap currently remains in regard to which path would be the most beneficial or least burdensome in terms of macroeconomic effects while still decarbonising the road transport sector. This paper contributes to fill that knowledge gap by applying a vehicle stock modelling framework and a demand-driven global econometric model (E3ME) and by evaluating different technology pathways for Sweden to meet the 2030 and 2050 government targets. The stock model has been adjusted to be consistent with ‘Fossilfrihet på väg’ and uses technology deployment and cost estimates to model the Swedish vehicle stock emissions in three technology-driven scenarios. The analysis shows that decarbonisation of transport can have positive impacts upon the Swedish economy, primarily through the replacement of imported fossil fuels with domestically produced electricity and biomass, while a further stimulus is provided by the construction of infrastructure to support electric vehicle recharging and fuel cell refuelling. Through quick action to encourage the deployment of new technologies and powertrains into the vehicle stock, plus policies aimed at promoting the domestic production of sustainable biomass, Sweden can maximise the potential gains from the decarbonisation process

Process eco-innovation: assessing meso-level eco-efficiency in industrial water-service systems

Eco-innovation combines economic advantage with lower ecological-resource burdens. Eco-innovation has been generally directed at energy input-substitutes, component recycling, etc. Some companies have made investments reducing resource burdens in the production process. This study investigated options for eco-efficiency improvement in two large manufacturing companies, Volvo and Arla Foods. Their impetus for eco-innovation comes from the companies' environmental policies, as well as from external drivers such as future higher costs and resource scarcity. Relative to their respective industrial sector, these companies represent strong prospects for reducing resource burdens in water-service processes, especially from chemical inputs and wastewater. Such eco-innovations involve more complex interactions beyond the production site, so the options warrant a whole-system comparative assessment. The EcoWater project has analysed the entire water-service value chain through meso-level interactions among heterogeneous actors (process-water users, providers and wastewater treatment companies). The project has developed a methodology to obtain the necessary information, to involve stakeholders in the assessment and to facilitate their discussion on alternative options. Each study stimulated internal company discussions on the need and means to evaluate whole-system effects of investment decisions. Inter-organisational cooperation helped to anticipate how meso-level resource efficiency relates to lower burdens in wastewater treatment. The assessment method can be extended to any water-service system. By comparing options, the method can facilitate better decisions improving meso-level resource efficiency. As wider implications, some improvement options may complicate ‘eco-innovation’ as double-eco benefits: win-win for whom, where and what level

Dismantling Lock-ins and Tragedies of the Commons

Most of us are affected by “thought models” that lock us into mindsets and behaviors that create inertia for change. We may remain for long periods of time in this state without any need for significant changes. But the lock-in can become a threat to the individual, the organization or the society that is locked-in when the context in which one “operates” changes faster than one can unlock. The inertia to change inhibits sufficiently rapid adaptation. From an evolutionary perspective, such inhibitions can be life-threatening. Many examples can be given where individuals, companies and societies die off because of inabilities to adapt caused by lock-ins in mental models unsuitable for the contextual changes they experience (cf. Diamond, 2006).This lock-in effect may be one important explanation for why society, despite our knowledge regarding human-caused environmental degradation, climate change and the extinction rate of other life forms, seems so reluctant to do something about it.It may also be one important explanation for why companies seem reluctant to change their product offerings despite the insight that those who do – in directions that solve the environmental challenges in ways appreciated and valued by their customers – will experience “one of the biggest business opportunities in the history of commerce” (Hart and Milstein, 1999:25).Lock-in can appear at all three system levels of society: the individual level, the organizational level and the societal level. Each of these three levels’ lock-ins pose threats and opportunities for the entrepreneur. This article tries to dismantle these lock-ins and the tragedies of the commons that seem to be consequences of these lock-ins. The focus is the entrepreneur and it is discussed how the threats can be addressed and opportunities exploited in ways that will benefit the entrepreneur’s business

Supply chain struggles : abilities and inabilities to influence the conditions for Indian tea workers on a global market

The tea plantation structure in India where tea pickers both work and live on the plantations stems back to colonial times and has through the years been subject to much criticism. The criticism revolves around harsh working- and living conditions for plantation workers, and calls for improvements on a number of areas, such as housing and wages. This study focuses on possibilities for such improvements, and specifically on the perspectives of different actors connected to a supply chain of tea from India, including both supply chain actors (tea plantations, packers, buyers and certification schemes) and civil society actors (trade unions and an NGO). The aim is to better understand the pre-conditions for supply chain initiatives for sustainability by exploring these actors’ views on how improvements on social conditions for workers in primary production can happen, and who is able and responsible for making it happen. The study is based on semi-structured interviews conducted both online and during field work in Tamil Nadu in India. The result is structured into following themes: 1) the actors view on the problem definition, 2) the actors view on their own role in improving for workers 3) the actors views on others’ roles in improving for workers. The result shows that the actors all feel limited in their position to influence to any larger degree. The reasons they give for the limitations are many, the main ones expressed being the price pressing conditions of the global markets and the prevalence of corruption in governments, plantations, and trade unions. I draw on a framework of Supply chain capitalism to shed light on how the actors’ stories, though vastly different, all fit together and are connected to mechanisms of global capitalism. The solutions suggested by the actors are diverse and they seem to have quite different perspectives on what is needed for development to happen in general. Such perspectives and assumptions could be relevant to consider when planning supply chain initiatives for sustainability involving different actors and stakeholders.Plantagestrukturen i tesektorn i Indien där arbetarna som plockare bor och lever hela sina liv på plantagen härstammar från kolonialtiden och har genom åren varit föremål för mycket kritik. Kritiken har kretsat kring hårda arbets- och levnadsvillkor för plantagearbetarna och förbättringar på en rad områden har efterfrågats, till exempel på arbetsbostäder och lönenivåer. Denna studie fokuserar på möjligheter till sådana förbättringar, med ett specifikt fokus på perspektiven hos olika aktörer kopplade till en leverantörskedja av te från Indien, inklusive både aktörer i leverantörskedjan (teplantager, packare, köpare och certifieringar) och aktörer från det civila samhället (fackföreningar och en ideell hjälporganisation). Syftet är att bättre förstå förutsättningarna för initiativ för sociala förbättringar i leverantörsled genom att utforska involverade aktörers syn på hur förbättringar av sociala villkor för arbetare i primärproduktion kan ske, och vem som kan och ansvarar för att det ska hända. Studien bygger på semistrukturerade intervjuer utförda både online och under fältarbete i Tamil Nadu i Indien. Resultatet är strukturerat i följande teman: 1) aktörernas syn på problemdefinitionen, 2) aktörernas syn på sin egen roll i att förbättra för tearbetare 3) aktörernas syn på andras roll i att förbättra för tearbetare. Resultatet visar att aktörerna alla känner sig begränsade i sin möjlighet att påverka i någon högre grad. Skälen de ger till begränsningarna är många, de främsta anledningarna som uttrycks är prispressande förhållandena på de globala marknaderna och förekomsten av korruption hos staten, plantageägare och fackföreningar. Jag använder ett ramverk kallat Supply chain capitalism för att belysa hur aktörernas berättelser, även om de är mycket olika, alla passar ihop och är kopplade till fenomen skapade av den global kapitalismen. De lösningar som aktörerna föreslår är mångsidiga och det är stor mångfald på uttrycken om vad som krävs för att utveckling ska ske i stort. Sådan diversitet i antaganden, åsikter och synsätt kan vara av vikt att ta hänsyn till i planeringen av initiativ för sociala förhållanden i leverantörsled där en rad olika aktörer är involverade

On Green Innovation Inertia

A growing number of nations, firms and individuals realize that the current ways in whichproducts are produced, consumed and disposed of is unsustainable. Yet most actors seem toawait options that deliver the needed eco-environmental improvement without requiring anyindividual sacrifices. It is a classic example of the tragedy of the commons, whereindividuals self-interest brings ruin to everyone. It seems that most firms have learnt tobecome efficient in innovating and commercialising as they currently do during a time whensociety did not know of the problems thereby created. Now that knowledge about the negativeexternalities emerges, firm-internal inertia to change has developed. The interdependent webof consumers and supporting infrastructure of products and services in which these firmsoperate seemingly do not encourage them to change, but rather add contextual inertia to thefirm-internal inertia. In this gloomy situation lies, however, also a substantial businessopportunity for firms that can create innovations which do not ask for any individualsacrifices in order to reduce, or perhaps even stop, the eco-environmental degradation.This thesis deals with the prerequisites for successful green innovations in the automotiveindustry by using an insider research approach, enabling an understanding of what factorsconstitute the firm-internal inertia to green innovations and a quest for clues about how tochange these factors so that a more eco-benign path can be entered successfully, given thecontextual conditions of reluctance and hesitance. The issue of successful green innovations isa matter both of developing more eco-benign technology and of being commerciallyinnovative with this technology, to provide sufficient utility- and identity-enhancing attributesto the customer in ways that bring profit to the firm. To achieve this requires the firm to viewthe market differently and to innovate differently. Firms absorptive capacity, aspiration toexploit new technology, and manner of validating knowledge claims are therefore importantorganizational factors that impact its inertia to green innovations. It is a substantial challengefor senior management to decide on the alternative green innovation path, and arecommendation is given to seek help by teaming up with external experts and their networks

Dismantling Lock-ins and Tragedies of the Commons

Most of us are affected by “thought models” that lock us into mindsets and behaviors that create inertia for change. We may remain for long periods of time in this state without any need for significant changes. But the lock-in can become a threat to the individual, the organization or the society that is locked-in when the context in which one “operates” changes faster than one can unlock. The inertia to change inhibits sufficiently rapid adaptation. From an evolutionary perspective, such inhibitions can be life-threatening. Many examples can be given where individuals, companies and societies die off because of inabilities to adapt caused by lock-ins in mental models unsuitable for the contextual changes they experience (cf. Diamond, 2006).This lock-in effect may be one important explanation for why society, despite our knowledge regarding human-caused environmental degradation, climate change and the extinction rate of other life forms, seems so reluctant to do something about it.It may also be one important explanation for why companies seem reluctant to change their product offerings despite the insight that those who do – in directions that solve the environmental challenges in ways appreciated and valued by their customers – will experience “one of the biggest business opportunities in the history of commerce” (Hart and Milstein, 1999:25).Lock-in can appear at all three system levels of society: the individual level, the organizational level and the societal level. Each of these three levels’ lock-ins pose threats and opportunities for the entrepreneur. This article tries to dismantle these lock-ins and the tragedies of the commons that seem to be consequences of these lock-ins. The focus is the entrepreneur and it is discussed how the threats can be addressed and opportunities exploited in ways that will benefit the entrepreneur’s business

Path-dependent thinking and ecoproducts An empirical study of socio-cognitive models and product propositions of ford and volvo cars

The debate as to whether it pays to be \u27green\u27 or under what circumstances it pays to be green may underestimate the issue of the ability of companies to create value in environmentally benign offerings captured from customers or other economic actors. This chapter address this issue by looking into why two companies in the automotive industry do not sell their environmentally benign car offers in sufficiently high volumes and briefly compares with two alternative and potentially more successful offerings. The study reveals that the industry\u27s perceived reluctance towards becoming more environmentally friendly may not be rooted in a lack of willingness, lack of ethics or lack of belief in the strategic relevance of environmental issues. Instead, it may be caused by institutionalised perceptions and engineering practices creating a bias in the understanding of consumers\u27 behaviour-driven expectations on environmentally benign products. Consumers follow rational choice on environmental issues in situations of high private cost, relatively independent of their attitude. The study indicates that \u27high cost\u27 may be very low, which suggests a need for innovative solutions addressing not only the monetary issue but also the symbolic, behavioural and organisational attributes of the product. Findings from the comparison suggest a potential solution in bundling common-good and private-good attributes