Combating climate change has become the key objective of the 21st century. Energy transition, with the intensive introduction of the renewable energy sources to the world’s energy systems, is one of the biggest driving forces in stimulating global sustainable development. Growing shares of renewables, including wind power as a major player (35% of the world’s electricity needs by 2050 raised the issues of grid stability and supply/demand balancing (IRENA, 2019). A popular view on solutions for these issues lies with global energy interconnections, which could support grid stability and let the countries trade green electricity between themselves, creating big regional or even global electricity markets. These interconnections would call for close cooperation between the states, not only in the sphere of transmission, but in generation as well. The cross-border character of such projects would bring new aspects and nuances to the wind power developer’s work, making it more complex and politically sensitive. The potential planning process of such wind power projects has not been investigated before. Therefore, in order to fill this research gap, a cross-border wind power environment analysis framework was developed on the basis of the reviewed literature to assist a wind power developer in a potential planning process of a complex cross-border wind energy project in a sensitive setting. The developed framework was then used to evaluate an empirical case of an assumed offshore wind park on the Southern Kuril Islands, a disputed territory between Japan and Russia. The results showed that introduction of the cross-border factor makes permitting and coordination of projects more challenging and confusing. In addition to that, the wind power developer might have to contribute to the development of improved wind power regulations and norms. Moreover, coordination of such projects would not involve only the developer, but most likely representatives of the involved countries and regions, and possibly mediating organisations; the developers’ work would take place in a multicultural environment with people of various traditions, values, economic backgrounds and interests, which would complicate balancing the stakeholders’ interests during the planning phase.

One route to fight climate change that is both a strategy in itself and a mediator to other interventions is climatechange communication. Currently, most climate change communication follows the assumption that conveyingthreat and urgency leads to attitude and behaviour change. A number of studies has shown that this type ofcommunication fails to evoke individual change, and instead leads to a phenomenon called ApocalypseFatigue: a numbness resulting from being confronted too many times with too much frightening information.As a result, the message is not implemented in one’s action, but instead rejected, denied and avoided. Thisstudy has investigated the effectiveness of message phrasing, specifically of messages that are phrasing climatechange as inevitable doom and the consequences as happening at a distance. Distance furthermore has fourspheres: geographical, temporal, social and hypothetical. Based on the literature of this study, it is suggestedthat the effect of threatening messages on the message receiver is mediated by the communication of distance:threatening messages are only perceived as threatening, when they are not phrased distant. The effect on thereceiver of the message was measured by assessing two types of responses. First, it was investigated whetherthey changed their climate change attitude after exposure to the message. Second, it was assessed how manymessage details they remembered. The results indicate different mechanisms of message phrasing on attitudechange and recall ability. In this study, doom and distance phrasing did not have an effect on attitude change,but the means and standard deviations indicate that there could be an effect in the proposed direction, namelythat it is beneficial for attitude change to phrase climate change as not threatening and not distant. Whether thiseffect is statistically significant has to be investigated in future studies. In contrast, there were statisticallysignificant effects on recall ability, but in the opposite direction: it is beneficial for recall ability to phraseclimate change as threatening and distant. Therefore, this thesis concludes that AF does not affect recall ability,and that further research is needed to investigate the effect of message phrasing on attitude change. Itconcludes on limitations and recommendations for climate practice and future research.

I nuläget existerar det 85 000 områden i Sverige som är eller misstänks vara kontaminerade. Dessa områden behöver minskas för att miljökvalitetsmålet om en Giftfri miljö ska uppnås. Saneringen kan ske på olika sätt varav schaktsanering är den vanligaste. Det är en ex-situ metod som innebär att föroreningen grävs upp och förflyttas till annan plats där själva reningen sker. En annan metod är termisk in-situ sanering, vilket är när man behandlar föroreningen direkt i marken med hjälp av värme. Inom termisk behandlings brukar metoderna Elektrisk konduktiv uppvärmning (ECH) och Elektrisk resistivitetsuppvärmning (ERH) användas. ECH är en metod som beror på markens elektriska konduktivitet dvs markens förmåga att transportera elektrisk laddning. I behandlingsområdet installeras värmeelement som blir varma och sprider värmen till jorden. På så vis uppnås önskvärd temperatur och föroreningen förångas. Gasen samlas sedan upp vid markytan och renas. ERH är en metod som använder sig av elektrisk resistivitet dvs markens elektriska motståndsförmåga för att alstra värme. Elektroder installeras i behandlingsområdet som skickar ut elektrisk ström till jorden. Marken gör motstånd och värme alstras. Syftet med denna studie är att dels fördjupa sig i hur dessa metoder fungerar och att jämföra dem utifrån tekniska- och ekonomiska aspekter. Kan en av metoderna klassificeras som billigare och effektivare än den andra. En fallstudie genomfördes där sex förorenade områden med klorerande lösningsmedel studerades. Dessutom studerades tidigare undersökningar om metoderna. En statistisk bearbetning genomfördes för att se korrelationen mellan parametrarna. Utvärdering från fallstudien indikerade att det finns en stor skillnad mellan metoderna. Parametrarna: kostnad, energikonsumtion, reningseffektivitet och behandlingstid jämfördes mellan metoderna. Jämförelsen visade på att ERH har en högre kostnad, energikonsumtion och längre behandlingstid än ECH. Reningseffektiviteten är några procent högre för ECH, men båda åstadkommer över 95% rening. Däremot existerar det förutsatta meningar angående vilken metod som har högst energikonsumtion. Enligt tidigare studier påvisas det att ECH kräver mer energi än ERH vilket motsäger denna studie. Det krävs därför ytterligare undersökning för att fastställa det. Slutsatsen är därför att ECH är billigare, effektivare och snabbare än ERH.

With a high reliance on fossil fuels, the need to transition the transportation sector to clean energy is great. Traditional public transportation has been used to reduce congestion and emissions in urban spaces but faces implementation challenges in rural areas from settlements being spread out with low density populations. This study used a survey to look at different groups living in one rural community on Gotland, Stenkyrka, to identify how their needs differ depending on belonging to these groups, to answer the research question: What are the public transportation needs of different groups within Stenkyrka?   The survey received 50 responses, enabling the respondents to be grouped into those who have children, those who do not have children, and by age group, 25-30, 21-40, 41-50, 51-65, and over 65. The results show that people aged 31-40 are most likely to have younger children and appear to need more flexibility and frequent trips in a public transportation system, while people aged 41-50 are more likely to have older children and seem to need shorter trips along with convenience and flexibility. People over 65 value travel time and need flexibility but, while they are more likely to use public transportation than other groups, are not very likely to be drawn to or use more flexible public transportation options such as taxis or dial-a-ride services. Based on these results, it can be said that different groups in Stenkyrka have different needs and look for different solutions in public transportation. Suggestions for how to create a successful public transportation system in Stenkyrka was discussed to provide examples for how resident needs can affect the design of a transit system. In this case, a demand responsive transportation system that uses a variety of transportation options and goes to the places most often used by residents in the community is important to help ensure that all resident’s needs are met.

Climate change is known to cause more frequently occurring extreme events which threaten both natural and human systems as we know them. Island nations are particularly vulnerable to these climate-induced changes, and the Åland Islands are no exception to this rule. Åland has already seen a change in typical climate patterns as the temperature has been increasing and precipitation decreasing, which is a cause for concern. Political leaders have a great responsibility to mitigate climate change, through decisions on policy implementation and other legislative action, to strive towards sustainability. However, change is not being made fast enough. Hence, this study aims to determine the challenges that politicians of the Parliament of Åland face when making decisions that promote climate change mitigation, as well as seek why these challenges are present. The study was conducted through qualitative interviews with the seven political group leaders, one for each represented party, that participate in Bärkraft’s group leader forum. Bärkraft is a local network on Åland which strive toward sustainability through its Development and Sustainability Agenda. In addition, the main secretary of Bärkraft was interviewed. The interviews demonstrated that a majority of the participants had previous experience with climate change issues although, just under half of the respondents agreed that Åland faces little to no climate-related risks. From the interviews six themes were identified which relate to challenges in decision-making for climate change mitigation. For instance, a clear majority of the participants mentioned different economic aspects as a barrier in decision-making, likewise, the abstractness of climate change mitigation was deemed as challenging to handle, and marketing climate change mitigation to the citizens and other politicians was seen as challenging since proper arguments are essential for success. In addition, twelve sub-challenges were found that explains why the identified challenges are present. These sub-challenges included e.g., electoral popularity, municipal planning, motivation, etc. In conclusion, these challenges, with associated sub-challenges, highlight the complexity and uncertainty of climate change mitigation which sets barriers for the political leaders in making decisions for policy implementation. The study would have benefited from a larger number of participants. It also has limited generalizability, being a specific case and not including the complete decision-making process for policy implementation and viewpoints from other societal actors. However, the mentioned limitations can be subject to further research on the topic.

In 2022, a significant fish die-off happened in the Odra River due to a bloomof the toxic gold algae species Prymnesium parvum, which occurs in saline andwarm waters. This event is seen as a major ecological disaster in recent Europeanriver incident history. Understanding the hydro-climatic factors and basin characteristicsthat led to this disaster is crucial to prevent similar occurrences inthe future. Multiple national and international research groups have been activelystudying this event, reconstructing its chronology and analyzing the toxicalgal bloom. However, the specific relationship between the algal occurrence andhydro-climatic conditions, as well as the potential for recurrence, remains largelyunexplored. This project utilizes the semi-distributed hydrological model Soiland Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) on a daily time scale to investigate runoffbehavior during the disaster year. The main goal is to assess SWATs capability tosimulate runoff in a large-scale watershed. The obtained results are then analyzedin relation to water quality parameters and climatic conditions. The focus is onunderstanding the relationship between runoff and salinity, which is further examinedthrough a climate change scenario analysis to evaluate the potential riskof increased river salinity due to a change in the flow regime in the future. Byimplementing two Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios in the calibratedand validated SWAT model, a relative trend of runoff behavior and salinityin the Odra River is examined. The findings indicate that SWAT effectively simulatesrunoff in a large-scale catchment, despite limited information and computationalresources. The analysis reveals a significant relationship between salinityand runoff. The climate change scenario analysis predicts a decrease in runoffunder the pessimistic scenario, while the optimistic scenario suggests a more balancedrunoff trend. Additionally, the estimation of future river salinity suggestsan increase under reduced runoff conditions, and a subsequent recovery in salinitylevels for high discharge conditions. This thesis provides insights into the2022 disaster event in the Odra River and highlights the interplay between hydroclimaticfactors, catchment conditions, and toxic algae blooms. The findings contributeto a better understanding of potential risks and can give information foreffective water management strategies to protect the river ecosystem.

River restoration is something that is often used to help restore watercourses that were historically used for timber floating. In these restorations, instream wood (IW) plays a big role in increasing biodiversity and habitat heterogeneity in watercourses. Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have proven to be useful when monitoring changes following river restoration but there is a need for less time-consuming methods to detect IW. This study’s objective was to investigate IW following a river restoration in an alluvial reach in Vargån, Northern Sweden and how well UAVs can be used to do this. Manual digitizing of IW was done in GIS from orthomosaics of three different flight occasions: pre-restoration, directly after and one year after restoration. An object- and color-based automated image thresholding was done to investigate if it could be used to automatically detect IW. The results showed that there were differences in number of IW, volume, width, and length between the different flight occasions. There was also indication that there had been movement of IW as well as changes in cluster composition, with more clusters with a higher number of wood pieces in the latest flight occasion. The automated image thresholding was able to accurately detect IW with an accuracy of 47,4 %, but it had limitations due to natural conditions. However, it showed the possibility of using automated methods to detect IW and with improvements it could become a faster and more accessible way of detecting IW in river monitoring.

Weathering of silicate minerals has long been a known source of natural CO2 sequestration, that could be increased in the presence of microorganisms. Bio-enhanced weathering of silicate minerals could increase the sequestration of CO2 from the atmosphere.   The aim of this project was to evaluate the potential for a new Neutral emission technology (NET), using four different organisms, Aspergillus Niger, Knufia Petricola, Bacillus Subtilis and Cupriavidus Metallidurans and their potential to increase olivine weathering (dunite). Straw, manure and digestate was used as carbon sources. In total 9 biotic - and 9 abioitc reactors were made, containing a mixture of dunite and one of the three carbon sources. In total 250 mL of water was added to each reactor per week, for 6 weeks, and collected at the end of the week for analysis. Geochemical analyses of the leachate were performed, including pH, conductivity, alkalinity, total organic carbon (TOC), total inorganic carbon (TIC), cations, anions and three organic acids: citrate, acetate, and oxalate. Scanning emission microscope (SEM) was used to monitor potential differences pre- and post-treatment.   Straw reactors produced the most growth, both on the carbon source and the dunite grains. Likely due to the increased labile organic carbon concentrations. The total inorganic carbon and alkalinity demonstrated that inoculation of the reactors promoted weathering for all carbon sources, most significantly for the straw reactors. This observation was evidenced by etch pits in the SEM images and higher TIC, alkalinity, and magnesium values. Microbially enhanced silicate weathering has demonstrated it could be used for the development of NETs for the sequestration of atmospheric carbon. / BAM!

Trajectory data is playing an increasingly important role in our daily lives, as well as in commercial applications and scientific research. With the rapid development andpopularity of GPS, people can locate themselves in real time. Therefore, the users’behavior information can be collected by analyzing their GPS trajectory data, so as topredict their new trajectories’ destinations, ways of travelling and even thetransportation mode they use, which forms a complete personal travel diary. The taskin this thesis is to implement travel diary semantics enrichment of user’s trajectoriesbased on the historical labeled data of the user and trajectory similarity measures.Specially, this dissertation studies the following tasks: Firstly, trip segmentationconcerns detecting the trips from trajectory which is an unbounded sequence oftimestamp locations of the user. This means that it is important to detect the stops,moves and trips of the user between two consecutive stops. In this thesis, a heuristicrule is used to identify the stops. Secondly, tripleg segmentation concerns identifyingthe location / time instances between two triplegs where / when a user changesbetween transport modes in the user's trajectory, also called makes transport modetransitions. Finally, mode inference concerns identifying travel mode for each tripleg.Specially, steps 2 and 3 are both based on the same trajectory similarity measure andproject the information from the matched similar trip trajectory onto the unlabeled triptrajectory. The empirical evaluation of these three tasks is based on real word data set(contains 4240 trips and 5451 triplegs with 14 travel modes for 206 users using oneweek study period) and the experiment performance (including trends, coverage andaccuracy) are evaluated and accuracy is around 25% for trip segmentation; accuracyvaries between 50% and 55% for tripleg segmentation; for mode inference, it isbetween 55% and 60%. Moreover, accuracy is higher for longer trips than shortertrips, probably because people have more mode choices in short distance trips (likemoped, bus and car), which makes the measure more confused and the accuracy canbe increased by nearly 10% with the help of reverse trip identifiable, because it makesa trip have more similar historical trips and increases the probability that a newunlabeled trip can be matched based on its historical trips.

Forests provide ecosystem services, whereby near-natural forests offer mainly cultural as well as regulating services, and economical forests offer mainly provisional services. Even though wind resources above forests show a strong wind shear and veer as well as high turbulence intensity, the development of tall and low-wind-speed-adapted turbines led to the feasibility of wind power development in economical forests, adding a new land use. Nonetheless, wind power in economical forests is still a new concept for Germany. So far, only eight of the 16 federal states enable this by forest law and spatial planning programs driven by land-use pressure and the goal of climate neutrality. Lower Saxony is currently amending its spatial planning program to open economical forests for wind power. The thesis aims to improve the understanding of the actors’ perspectives and federal-state-specific circumstances in Lower Saxony regarding this policy shift supported by a constellation analysis. A constellation analysis helps to perceive multiple perspectives by creating a diagram and textually describing the situation to identify, present, and elaborate relevant constellation elements and their relation to each other. The constellation analysis highlights that the development should add a local value to impacted municipalities and communities by following the principles of distributive and procedural justice. This facilitates local acceptance. However, environmental and landscape impacts are the main driver for local opposition in a forest context. Thus, the development shall strive for nature compatibility.