The green state and industrial decarbonisation

ABSTRACT

The large share of carbon emitted by energy-intensive industries in the extraction and processing of basic materials must be limited to decarbonise society and the economy. Ways in which the state can govern industrial decarbonisation and contributes to green state theory are explored by addressing a largely ignored issue: the green state’s industrial relations and its role in industrial governance. With insights from a Swedish case study, the tension between the state’s economic imperative and ecological concerns in greening industry are shown to persist. However, as the energy-intensive industry’s previously privileged position in the economy is weakening, industry is opened to decarbonisation strategies. While the case exposes a number of governance challenges, it also suggests potential areas where the state can pursue decarbonisation in energy-intensive industry and points the way to an active role of the green state in governing industrial decarbonisation and greening industry.     

Multicriteria Decision Aid in Supporting Decisions Related to Groundwater Protection

In the recent decades, there have been frequent conflicts between groundwater resources and environmentally hazardous activities. An example is the construction of the new highway through the important glaciofluvial esker aquifer Nybroåsen, which passes the protection zone of the water supply for the Kalmar municipality, in the southeastern part of Sweden. The decision to build the new road through this important aquifer has been strongly questioned by the municipality and the public because the value of the water resources in Nybroåsen was not taken into consideration during the first phase of the decision-making process. Multicriteria decision aid (MCDA) is applied as a tool to structure and analyze the four road alternatives proposed in the environmental impact assessment for the above conflict. The alternatives, including the existing road, are in conflict with water resources, agriculture, natural, and cultural values. The impacts on the water resources have been predicted by a two-dimensional physically based time-variant flow and solute groundwater model, which has been calibrated and evaluated. The MCDA illustrates how it can be used to identify (1) actors and their concerns, (2) ranking of alternative road scenarios according to actors preferences, and (3) coalition groups of actors, i.e., groups that have similar views with regard to the road alternatives. The analysis shows that the two best compromise solutions obtained in the MCDA were unacceptable by the strongest coalition group, showing that either the family of criteria was not well chosen or new alternatives should have been developed.     

Public Perceptions and Acceptance of Intensive Forestry in Sweden

The use of intensive forestry on part of the forested area in Sweden increases the production of forest biomass and enables an increased use of such biomass to mitigate climate change. However, with increasing conflicting interests in forests and forestry, the success of such a strategy depends on the public acceptance. In this paper, the results of a mail survey show that although a majority of the general public in Sweden supports measures to increase forest growth, they oppose the use of intensive forestry practices such as the cultivation of exotic tree species, clones, and forest fertilization. The acceptance of such practices is mainly influenced by the perceptions of their environmental consequences. Public acceptance was highest for forest fertilization, whereas clone cultivation was the least accepted practice.     

Nitrogen leaching and acidification during 19 years of NH₄NO₃ additions to a coniferous-forested catchment at Gårdsjön, Sweden (NITREX)

The role of nitrogen (N) in acidification of soil and water has become relatively more important as the deposition of sulphur has decreased. Starting in 1991, we have conducted a whole-catchment experiment with N addition at Gårdsjön, Sweden, to investigate the risk of N saturation. We have added 41 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ as NH₄NO₃ to the ambient 9 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ in fortnightly doses by means of sprinkling system. The fraction of input N lost to runoff has increased from 0% to 10%. Increased concentrations of NO₃ in runoff partially offset the decreasing concentrations of SO₄ and slowed ecosystem recovery from acid deposition. From 1990-2002, about 5% of the total N input went to runoff, 44% to biomass, and the remaining 51% to soil. The soil N pool increased by 5%. N deposition enhanced carbon (C) sequestration at a mean C/N ratio of 42-59 g g⁻¹.     

Between municipal and regional planning: the development of regional district heating systems in Stockholm from 1978 to 2010

District heating (DH) is an important part of the Swedish energy system and one of the most important climate measures at the municipal level. The Swedish planning system gives a large amount of power to municipalities, thus leaving the regional level weak. Despite this, the DH systems in Stockholm have developed into regional systems; how has this development occurred and what made it possible? Regional and municipal strategies concerning DH and energy from 1978 to 2010 have been studied through Regional plans and comprehensive plans. The conclusions show that the municipal DH systems have grown and become interconnected, thus fulfilling one of the most important regional strategies: to expand and interconnect the systems to be able to build combined heat and power plants. This is not entirely due to the regional strategies, however; the local importance of the system, economic reasons and supply security are other explanations. The study shows that regional importance generally has grown, and thus also the regional focus on DH. As environmental and climate issues have risen on the agenda, the importance of DH from the municipal perspective has become more evident, as well as a shift from supply orientation to more focus on energy efficiency.     

Pioneers of ecological restoration: the people and legacy of the University of Wisconsin Arboretum

A focus on communication can provide in-depth understanding of public participation in natural resource management. Analysis of empirical material from a participatory process using the theoretical concepts of discursive closure and discursive opening revealed that openings were achieved, but the perspectives represented in the process were also closed down. The reasons for closures are discussed in terms of structural constraints, with participants shown to have many different constraints and different reasons for making closures. The conclusion is that the type of theoretical analysis presented in this paper could be used by a facilitator in meetings as a participatory tool to investigate closures and open them up to achieve a more deliberative process.     

The role of participation in the planning process: examples from Sweden

Participation in decision-making has successively developed into a guiding principle at both EU and national level. However, diverse perspectives exist on what the role of different interests in participative processes should be, and the legal rules regarding participation varies between different sectors; from clearly defined to virtually non-existent requirements. This may have adverse effects on the legitimacy of decisions and decision-making. This paper reviews the role of participation in the planning process in relation to natural resource development in Sweden, as guided by EU and international law. Based on the notion of effective participation, the study illustrates the potential clashes that may result from different conceptions of participation, for instance, at various levels of governance, as well as from disparate principles for implementation in different sectors.     

瑞典城市垃圾处置利用新进展

介绍了瑞典在城市垃圾处置利用方面的最新进展 ,并对中国城市垃圾处理技术和产业发展提出了若干对策建议。     

Breeding birds in short-rotation coppices on farmland in central Sweden—the importance of Salix height and adjacent habitats

Plantations of short-rotation coppice (SRC) have a potential for being a useful measure to stop the ongoing impoverishment of farmland biodiversity by increasing structural diversity, and decreasing cultivation intensity and use of pesticides in intensively managed farmland landscapes. The aim of this study was to investigate the relative importance of the structure of the plantation and composition of adjacent habitats for breeding birds in 41 SRCs (meansize±S.E.=9.4±1.6 ha). Mean number of species per ha in the SRCs was 2.8±0.3 species and there were more farmland birds (32 species, 808 territories) than forest birds (22 species, 400 territories). A major result of the present study was the strong influence of adjacent habitats on bird community composition (18 of 22 analysed species affected). There were large differences in bird communities between forest-bordered and open-bordered sites, but occurrence of residual habitats (i.e. other habitats than forest, pastures, shrub areas and arable fields) was also associated with occurrence of several species. The second factor of major importance for the bird fauna was the height of the plantations. Most species (14) were associated with tall plantations (>2 m), seven species were associated with plantations of intermediate (1–2 m) height, and six species were associated with plantations of low height (<1 m). A comparison of ecological traits between species classified as preferring SRC and species classified as avoiding SRC suggests that nest height was the only ecological character associated with a preference for Salix habitats, i.e. species with nests on the ground or in shrubs were more abundant in Salix habitats than in farmland landscapes in general. However, a broad spectrum of species was found in the SRCs and many of these seemed to be dependent on habitat features outside the plantations. Planting of Salix in intensively managed farmland plains will have positive effects on bird diversity by increasing the structural diversity of the landscape. In contrast, plantations on infields in forest-dominated landscapes will have negative effects, since the mosaic structure (i.e. mixture of open and forested habitats) positive for most farmland birds will disappear, and Salix plantations favour relatively few forest species. Additionally, Salix could be planted along sharp edges between coniferous plantations and open farmland in order to increase the complexity of the ecotone in intensively managed forest-farmland landscapes.