Introduction: New Zealand (NZ) ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2002, committing to prudent greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions. In an effort to promote public sector carbon management, in 2004, Clark’s Labour-led Government funded local government membership in ICLEI’s Communities for Climate Protection - NZ (CCP-NZ) programme. In 2007, the same Government, in tandem with efforts to price carbon and develop an Emissions Trading Scheme, through the Carbon Neutral Public Service (CNPS) programme, sought to move the core public sector towards carbon neutrality (Clark, 2007c). In 2008, the NZ government changed from a Labour-led to a National-led Government, and this resulted in a shift in its carbon emission mitigation strategy, including the termination of the CNPS and the CCP-NZ programmes. Purpose: The research has two central objectives: First, to determine why NZ’s newly elected National -led Government cancelled the CNPS and the CCP-NZ programmes; and, second, to determine whether despite the discontinuation of these two programmes and in the absence of Government support, will NZ government organizations continue to strive for carbon emission reductions and neutrality. Approach: This empirical research is investigative and probing, and comprises a series of semi-structured interviews with senior managers responsible for the delivery of the CNPS and the CCP-NZ programmes within their respective organization. The architects of each programme (e.g. the NZ Prime Minister and CEO of ICLEI/ Director of ICLEI Oceania) are also investigated in order to glean insight into the rationale for the ultimate termination of these two programmes. Fieldwork is informed by publicly available information that provides insight into Government’s rationale for creating and discontinuing the CNPS and the CCP-NZ programmes. Narrative analysis and termination theory serve as the primary methodological tools for this study, providing insight into meaning, interpretation and individual experience as it relates to the dismantling of the CNPS and the CCP-NZ programmes. Findings: This study finds that though economic constraints and programmatic inefficiencies may have played a contributing role, political ideology is the primary rationale for the termination of the CNPS and the CCP-NZ programmes. With the ideological shift towards strong neoliberal market environmentalism, Government support for initiatives like the CNPS and the CCP-NZ programmes has declined markedly, with the desire to demonstrate leadership in this area in complete retreat. Ultimately, notwithstanding the desire of some government organizations to continue with programme objectives, albeit with less priority, NZ public sector organizational resolve towards these goals has weakened.

Using a Foucault-inspired critical analysis of discourse within a Gramscian framework of hegemony, this thesis analyzes how patterns of international climate change policy relate to climate policy in British Columbia (BC), Canada, and explores the patterns of resistance to carbon neutrality in a single municipality. The BC Carbon Neutral Government Strategy and the Provincial Crown Corporation responsible for stimulating the growth of the BC carbon-offset market are characterized by neo-liberalism ideology and dispossession. The District of Saanich’s policy, which establishes a local and public form of carbon offset alternative, is characterized as a form of resistance. Saanich’s policy represents a passive revolution. This thesis suggests that the discourse of ecological modernization exists within both the hegemonic climate policy structure as well as the alternative found in Saanich. This thesis also suggests that municipalities represent a political space in which a Gramscian war of position may be waged. / Graduate

<p>Cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, or ”net-zero”, may be the biggest sustainability goal to be achieved in the next 30 years. While chemical engineering evolved against the backdrop of an abundant supply of fossil resources for chemical production and energy, renewable energy resources such as solar and wind will find more usage in the future. This thesis work develops new concepts, methods and algorithms to identify and synthesize process schemes to address multiple aspects towards sustainable chemical and energy systems. Shale gas can serve as both energy resource and chemical feedstock for the transition period towards a sustainable economy, and has the potential to be a carbon source for the long term. The past two decades have seen increasing natural gas flaring and venting due to the lack of transforming or transportation infrastructure in emerging shale gas producing regions. To reduce carbon emission and wastage of shale resources, an innovative process hierarchy is identified for the valorization of natural gas liquids from shale gas at medium to small scale near the wellhead. This paradigm shift fundamentally changes the sequencing of various separation and reaction steps and results in dramatically simplified and intensified process flowsheets. The resulting processes could achieve over 20% lower capital with a higher recovery of products. Historically, heat energy is supplied to chemical plants by burning fossil resources. However, in future, with the emphasis on greenhouse gas reduction, renewable energy resources will find more usage. Renewable electricity from photovoltaic and wind has now become competitive with the electricity from fossil resources. Therefore, a major challenge for chemical engineering processes is how to use renewable electricity efficiently within a chemical plant and eliminate any carbon dioxide release from chemical plants. We introduce several decarbonization flowsheets for the process to first convert natural gas liquids (NGLs) to  mainly ethylene in an energy intensive dehydrogenation reactor and subsequent conversion of ethylene into value-added and easy-to-transport liquid fuels. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Molecular separations are needed across many types of industries, including oil and gas, food, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries. In a chemical plant, 40%–60% of energy and capital cost is tied to separation processes. For widespread use of membrane-based processes for high recovery and purity products from gaseous and liquid mixtures on an industrial scale, availability of models that allow the use of membrane cascades at their optimal operating modes is desirable towards sustainable separation systems. This will also enable proper comparison of membrane performance vis-a-vis other competing separation technologies. However, such a model for multicomponent fluid separation has been missing from the literature. We have developed an MINLP global optimization algorithm that guarantees the identification of minimum power consumption of multicomponent membrane cascades. The proposed optimization algorithm is implemented in GAMS and is demonstrated to have the capability to solve up to 4-component and 5-stage membrane cascades via BARON solver, which is significantly more advantageous than the state-of-the-art processes. The model is currently being further developed to include optimization of total cost including capital. Such a model holds the promise to be useful for the development in implementation of energy-efficient separation plants with least carbon footprint. This thesis work also addresses important topics in separation including dividing wall columns and water desalination. </p>

In recent years, the demand for data center computing has increased significantly due to the growing popularity of cloud applications and Internet-based services. Today's large data centers host hundreds of thousands of servers and the peak power rating of a single data center may even exceed 100MW. The combined electricity consumption of global data centers accounts for about 3% of worldwide production, raising serious concerns about their carbon footprint. The utility providers and governments are consistently pressuring data center operators to reduce their carbon footprint and energy consumption. While these operators (e.g., Apple, Facebook, and Google) have taken steps to reduce their carbon footprints (e.g., by installing on-site/off-site renewable energy facility), they are aggressively looking for new approaches that do not require expensive hardware installation or modification. This dissertation focuses on developing algorithms and systems to improve the sustainability in data centers without incurring significant additional operational or setup costs. In the first part, we propose a provably-efficient resource management solution for a self-managed data center to cap and reduce the carbon emission while maintaining satisfactory service performance. Our solution reduces the carbon emission of a self-managed data center to net-zero level and achieves carbon neutrality. In the second part, we consider minimizing the carbon emission in a hybrid data center infrastructure that includes geographically distributed self-managed and colocation data centers. This segment identifies and addresses the challenges of resource management in a hybrid data center infrastructure and proposes an efficient distributed solution to optimize the workload and resource allocation jointly in both self-managed and colocation data centers. In the final part, we explore sustainable resource management from cloud service users' point of view. A cloud service user purchases computing resources (e.g., virtual machines) from the service provider and does not have direct control over the carbon emission of the service provider's data center. Our proposed solution encourages a user to take part in sustainable (both economical and environmental) computing by limiting its spending on cloud resource purchase while satisfying its application performance requirements.

Research on historical developments that lead to the establishment of global organizations for climate change has shown that the phenomenon of surface temperature is not a new topic of focus. Increased policy restrictions, brand image, fear of resource scarcity, growing market trends towards sustainability and consumer awareness are among the several external factors that have influenced the growing research in corporate transition towards carbon neutrality. The main aim of this study is to understand through data accounting of major material and energy carrier changes, how a non-production facility could transition to become a carbon-neutral facility. Therefore, an exploratory case study has been performed and conducted at Volvo CE Customer center in Eskilstuna, Sweden, with two objectives: i) to identify and quantify the customer center current footprint by mapping the main contributors to greenhouse gases emissions, and ii) to recommend specific &amp; general measures that can mitigate the carbon footprint of the facility. Three research questions related to the facility’s current carbon footprint, measures implemented so far, and the best applied assessment method, have guided us throughout the study. The methodology has been framed to give a theoretical underpinning for understanding the project from a holistic perspective. The split of the methodology has been constructed in line with the theoretical framework that gave the foundation to the needed theories to be taken into account i.e. GHG protocol, which is the tool that has been adopted by the study to attain the desired aim, including the three scopes under the protocol which were also defined accordingly. ‘Scope 1’ has been taken into account and is a representation of direct emissions, ‘Scope 2 represents the indirect emissions, and ‘Scope 3’ (according to the GHG protocol) takes into account the rest of the indirect emissions arranged into 15 categories, from which applicable to our study were 4 categories (1, 3, 4 and 6). The results showed that during the base year (2019) the highest user within Scope 1 was diesel, followed by HVO, and under Scope 2, The results from Scope 1 and 2, together with the results of Scope 3 category, were analyzed using the attributional LCA approach recommended by the GHG protocol to calculate their contribution to the customer centers’ total carbon footprint. It was found that Scope 1 stands for 128.52 t CO₂-eq while Scope 2 stands only for 1.16 t CO₂-eq and finally Scope 3 stands for most of the emissions with 3719 t CO₂-eq. It has been found that in 2019, the customer center has saved 101.05 tonnes of GHG by implementing measures, such as switching from using Diesel to HVO and switching from the mixed electricity to the renewable ones, according to the attributional perspective presented in the GHG protocol. However, different results were found when these values were discussed and analyzed from the consequential perspective, since this perspective analyses the effects of the implemented measures on the global emission level. This concluded that implementation of conservation and efficiency measures must take priority before switching to higher priced renewables. Thus, the resulting carbon neutrality will be consequentially safer. The recommendations stated in this study also follows the same principle “Conserve before investing”. Suggestions and recommendations outlined in the study for future implementation approach carbon neutrality as a strategy and not a burden, helping the customer neutral achieve the goal in an Environment, Economic and Socially sustainable manner.

Les villes sont au cœur de l’urgence climatique et elles sont fondamentales pour accélérer la transition vers un monde ‘carboneutre’. Aujourd'hui, les municipalités ne sont plus que de simples fournisseurs de services; elles doivent catalyser des transitions urbaines durables. La réalisation de villes durables est un défi extrêmement complexe car les exigences et le contexte changent constamment, plusieurs interdépendances dynamiques jouent un rôle crucial et il y a peu de possibilités d'apprendre par essais et erreurs. La signification même de ce qu'est une ‘ville durable’ est très vaste et basé sur des débats sociétaux très contesté. Bien que la société civile et les ‘entrepreneurs politiques’ jouent déjà un rôle important dans le contexte urbain et façonnent considérablement la façon dont les gens perçoivent la crise climatique; on ne sait pas encore comment ils peuvent répondre à des défis ‘super vicieux’ telle que l’urgence climatique dans le contexte urbain et comment les acteurs de la société civile peuvent contribuer à accélérer la transition vers des villes carboneutre. Souvent caractérisés par leur désir de maintenir une certaine indépendance vis-à-vis des institutions publiques, la question est de savoir comment les acteurs de la société civile occupent différentes positions vis-à-vis les institutions qu'ils cherchent à transformer, et les effets que ces différentes positions ont sur leurs contributions aux transitions urbaines durables. Si de nombreuses recherches ont été menées sur les entrepreneurs politiques ‘puissants’ associés aux systèmes dominant de nos sociétés, les ‘régimes’, on en sait beaucoup moins sur les entrepreneurs politiques issus de la société civile. Il est nécessaire d'améliorer notre compréhension de la manière dont ces derniers encadrent l'urgence climatique dans le contexte urbain et de la manière dont ils mettent à l'échelle leurs actions pour parvenir à une profonde et rapide décarbonisation du contexte urbain. La question de la thèse est: Comment est-ce que les entrepreneurs politiques issue de la société civile encadrent le problème de l'urgence climatique et comment mettent-ils à l'échelle leurs actions pour rapidement décarboniser le contexte urbain et accélérer la transition vers des villes carboneutres? La recherche est une étude de cas unique longitudinale et approfondie, sur une période cinq ans (2015-2020), qui reconstruit l'émergence de la Coalition climat Montréal; un organisme à but non lucratif qui vise à ce que Montréal atteigne la carboneutralité d'ici 2042, année du 400e anniversaire de la ville. La thèse mobilise le champ de recherche des théories de transition (Transition Theory) et des études en politiques publiques, pour mieux comprendre les efforts, actions et stratégies de la Coalition climat Montréal depuis sa création, au moment de l'accord de Paris COP21 de 2015. Basé sur un cadre théorique qui revisite la perspective multi-acteurs (MaP), l'accent est mis sur une meilleure compréhension des ‘actes’ des acteurs de la société civile qui visent à ‘gagner’ dans le champ d’action stratégique de la carboneutralité dans lequel ils opèrent à Montréal. La recherche met en relief leurs stratégies, comment elles ont émergé et se sont structuré à travers les années, ainsi que leurs capacités à influencer les processus d'élaboration des politiques publiques urbaines pour la carboneutralité et les processus de transition urbaine en général. Une attention particulière est portée au contexte; examinant comment (et dans quelle mesure) la nature ‘polycentrique’ de la gouvernance climatique et les caractéristiques des institutions municipales locales facilitent et contraignent les efforts des acteurs. Adoptant une stratégie d'analyse processuelle et abductive, la recherche révèle les stratégies entrepreneuriales des acteurs de la société civile qui cherchent à perturber le statu quo en faisant progresser des politiques publiques ambitieuses pour la carboneutralité urbaines, et le potentiel que de telles actions au niveau micro puissent provoquer des changements au niveau macro. Adoptant le rôle engagé d'un ‘chercheur-activiste’, j'explore les formes d'entrepreneuriat qui ‘tiennent tête’ aux acteurs et secteurs les plus puissant de notre société; enrichissant notre compréhension du rôle actif que certains acteurs de la société civile jouent afin d’ancrer la carboneutralité dans l’agenda des politiques publiques. Ce faisant, la thèse contribue à enrichir une notre compréhension nuancée de l’influence que certains acteurs de la société civiles ont sur la direction et la vitesse des transitions urbaine pour la carboneutralité, et la durabilité en général. D'un point de vue pratique, la recherche contribue à mieux informer les actions et les stratégies de la société civile concerné par l’urgence climatique, ainsi que le types de processus de politique publique climatique au niveau municipal qui peuvent effectivement accélérer les transitions urbaines vers la carboneutralité; contribuant au développement de ‘sagesse pratique’ pour l’action climatique locale. Fondamentalement, le potentiel des villes n'est pas de tout simplement adopter les cadres politiques internationaux, mais aussi de montrer comment d'autres voies alternatives venant des ‘marges’ sont possibles. Impliquant un important potentiel émancipateur, la ville en tant que site d'expérimentation socio-écologique radicale doit être encouragée et catalysée, plutôt que d’être simplement laissé au mirage d'une ‘économie verte’. / Cities are at the heart of climate emergency, and they’re fundamental if we are to accelerate the transition to a ‘carbon-neutral’ world. Today, municipal governments are no longer just service providers; they need to be catalysts for sustainability transitions. Achieving sustainable cities is a vicious problem as requirements are always changing, complex and dynamic interdependencies play a crucial role, there is no absolute right or wrong solution, and little opportunities exist to learn by trial and error. The very meaning of what is a ‘sustainable city’ is a very contested societal debate. Although civil society and policy entrepreneurs are already central actors in the urban context and considerably influence the way by which people think about the climate crisis; it’s not clear yet how they can respond to challenges of such magnitude as the climate emergency, and how they can contribute to accelerating the transition to a carbon-neutral world. While often characterized by their desire to sustain a certain form of independence from governments, it’s not yet clear how civil society actors occupy different positions vis-à-vis the institutions they try to transform, and the effects that these diverse positions have on their contributions to urban sustainability transitions. For instance, while much has been researched about powerful ‘regime’ policy entrepreneurs, much less is known about policy entrepreneurs emanating from civil society. There’s a need to enhance our understanding of how such actors frame the climate emergency in the urban context and how they scale their actions in order to achieve deep urban decarbonisation. The thesis question is: How do civil society’s policy entrepreneurs frame the climate emergency problem and scale their actions to quickly decarbonise the urban context and accelerate the transition to carbon-neutral cities? The research is a five-year in-depth longitudinal single case study that reconstructs the emergence of the Montreal Climate Coalition; a non-profit organization that aims for Montreal to achieve carbon-neutrality by 2042, year of the city's 400th anniversary. The thesis mobilizes the research fields of sustainability transitions and public policy studies to better understand the Coalition’s efforts, actions and strategies since the 2015 COP21 Paris agreement. Based on a conceptualised theoretical framework that revisits the Multi-actor perspective (MaP), the focus is to shed light on the ‘acts’ of civil society actors that aim to ‘punch above their weight’ in the strategic urban carbon-neutrality action field in which they operate, the way that they develop and deploy their strategies, and how this contributes to (and shapes) policymaking processes for urban carbon-neutrality; as well as overall urban sustainability transition dynamics. Particular attention is paid to context, examining how (and to what extent) the ‘polycentric’ nature of climate governance and local municipal institutions facilitate and/or frustrate the efforts of actors. Adopting a processual, abductive and transformation-based strategy of analysis that aims to generate ‘practical wisdom’ knowledge for urban sustainability science, the research reveals civil society’s entrepreneuring strategies that seek to disrupt the status quo by advancing ambitious urban carbon-neutrality policies, as well as the potential for such micro-level acts to bring about changes at the macro level. In this way, and by taking on the role of an engaged climate ‘researcher-activist’, I explore the forms of entrepreneurship that stand up to powerful actors and sectors in our society, enriching our knowledge of the active role that some civil society actors (can) play in setting the urban carbon-neutrality agenda. In doing so, the thesis contributes to enriching an ever more nuanced understanding of the influence that civil society actors can have on the speed and direction of urban sustainability transitions. From a practice-based perspective, the research contributes to better informing civil society’ actions and strategies, as well as the kind of municipal climate policy processes that can catalyze deep decarbonisation and accelerate the urgently needed urban sustainability transitions to carbon-neutral cities. Fundamentally, the potential of cities is not just to simply associate themselves with current international climate frameworks; but more critically, to show how other alternative pathways from the fringes of society are possible. Involving considerable emancipatory potential, the city as a site of radical socio-ecological experimentation needs to be fostered, and not just handed over to the mirage of a ‘green economy’.

Today, the construction sector accounts for one-fifth of Sweden's climate impact. The Swedish Parliament has decided that Sweden should have net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. This is happening at a time when Sweden is constantly growing. In 2025, we will have 11 million inhabitants. That means hundreds of thousands of new homes, more infrastructure and more public facilities. It is therefore critical that the building and construction sector collectively adjust its approach to climate neutrality. To achieve this vision, it is essential that construction companies drive the work throughout their value chain with a holistic focus across all environmental areas, from design and production to demolition. If Sweden is to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, public procurement must take the lead and become fossil-free or climate-neutral within a few years Construction and real estate contracts, together with civil engineering and infrastructure, account for a significant proportion of public purchases in Sweden, and what is built today will affect nature, the environment and people for a long time to come. One way for Sweden to achieve these goals is to set more and higher requirements in public procurement.  Public clients have a major influence through the choices they make in their investments and construction contracts to achieve the vision of climate neutrality. When a public works procurement is carried out, the contractor usually has limited possibilities to make decisions that have a significant impact on the CO2e emissions of the project. This means that the contractor is critically dependent on the climate requirements set by the clients in order for the company itself to achieve its climate targets. The overall aim of this study was thus to contribute to a better understanding of how public clients currently reason - and what can be done to bring about a positive shift - in order for public clients to set higher climate requirements in construction contracts and in the production of dwellings.  This scientific study is conducted as a qualitative case study at Skanska Sweden, where an abductive research approach has been used for data collection. The study used a quantitative method in the form of a questionnaire survey where 16 municipal housing and real estate companies from the western geography of Sweden participated as respondents in the form of their respective Chief Executive Officer.  The results of the study highlighted the opportunities that the Paris Agreement and other climate policy measures have brought to actors in the Swedish building and construction sector. Furthermore, the results show that each actor in the construction sector needs to work strategically to set their own climate targets and implement them throughout their operations, with production methods that enable the use of materials with low or net zero climate impact and increase their reuse in order to succeed in achieving Sweden's goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2045. The municipal housing and property companies that participated as respondents have shown a willingness to act sustainably, this is considered to be very helpful for the development of sustainable public procurement in Sweden, these are also consistent with what previous research has found. There is a need for collaboration between municipal housing and property companies and the construction sector where, by identifying the specific challenges faced by municipalities, it is recommended that they set higher climate and competence requirements in public procurement and allow these to permeate the entire value value chain with systematic monitoring for a successful transition. / Idag står bygg- och anläggningssektorn för en femtedel av Sveriges klimatpåverkan. Riksdagen har beslutat att Sverige ska ha nettonollutsläpp av växthusgaser år 2045. Detta sker samtidigt som Sverige ständigt växer. År 2025 är vi 11 miljoner invånare. Det innebär hundratusentals nya bostäder, mer infrastruktur och fler offentliga lokaler. Det är därför kritiskt att bygg- och anläggningssektorn gemensamt ställer om i arbetet mot klimatneutralitet. För att kunna uppnå denna vision så är det viktigt att byggföretagen driver arbetet genom hela sin värdekedja med ett helhetsfokus inom samtliga miljöområden, från projektering och produktion till rivning.  För att Sverige ska klara av att nå nettonollutsläpp av växthusgaser till år 2045 så måste den offentliga upphandlingen stå i täten och bli fossilfri eller klimatneutral redan inom några år Bygg- och fastighetsentreprenader, tillsammans med anläggningsarbeten och infrastruktur, står för en betydande del av offentliga inköp i Sverige och det som byggs idag påverkar natur, miljö och människor för en lång tid framöver. En möjlighet för Sverige att uppnå målen är att ställa fler och högre krav i offentlig upphandling.  Offentliga beställare har en stor påverkansfaktor genom valet de gör i sina investeringar och byggupphandlingar för att uppnå visionen om klimatneutralitet. När en offentlig entreprenadupphandling genomförs har entreprenören i regel begränsade möjligheter att fatta beslut som får betydande konsekvenser för projektets CO2e-utsläpp. Det innebär att entreprenören är kritiskt beroende av de klimatkrav som kunderna ställer för att bolaget själva skall kunna nå sina klimatmål. Övergripande syftet med den här studien var således att bidra till en ökad förståelse kring hur offentliga beställare resonerar i dagsläget – och vad som kan göras för att få till en positiv förflyttning – för att offentliga beställare skall ställa högre klimatkrav i entreprenadupphandlingar och vid produktion av bostäder. Denna vetenskapliga studie är genomförd som en kvalitativ fallstudie hos Skanska Sverige, där en abduktiv forskningsansats har använts för datainsamlingen. I undersökningen användes en kvantitativ metod i form av en enkätundersökning där 16 kommunala bostads- och fastighetsbolag från Sveriges västra geografi har deltagit som respondenter i form av respektive Verkställande direktör. Studiens resultat har ådagalagt de möjligheter som Parisavtalet och andra klimatpolitiska åtgärder har gett upphov till aktörer inom den svenska bygg- och anläggningssektorn. Vidare så visar resultatet att respektive aktör inom bygg- och anläggningssektorn behöver arbeta strategiskt med att sätta upp egna klimatmål och implementera dem i hela verksamheten, med produktionsmetoder som möjliggör användning av material med låg eller netto noll klimatpåverkan och öka sin återanvändning för att lyckas med nå Sveriges mål med att uppnå klimatneutralitet till år 2045. De kommunala bostad- och fastighetsbolagen som deltagit som respondenter har visat på en vilja att agera hållbart, detta anses vara till stor hjälp för utvecklingen av hållbar offentlig upphandling i Sverige, dessa överensstämmer också med vad tidigare forskning har funnit. Det behövs en samverkan mellan kommunala bostad- och fastighetsbolagen och byggsektorn där genom att identifiera kommunernas särskilda utmaningar rekommenderas att de ställer högre klimat- och kompetenskrav vid offentliga upphandlingar och låter dessa genomsyra hela värdekedjan med systematisk uppföljning för en framgångsrik omställning till en klimatneutral sektor.

Germany’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2045 underscores the need for climate action, with hydrogen’s multiple uses in industry, transport, and energy offering a viable solution. Efficient retrofitting of the extensive natural gas pipeline network can enable hydrogen to be transported from supply to demand centers. The aim of this study is to develop a hydrogen pipeline network strategy for Germany in 2045 that is consistent with carbon neutrality goals while minimizing associated costs. Using a single-period deterministic Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) approach, the focus is on estimating peak-hour transport demand derived from the spatial distribution of demand and supply. This estimation is based on openly available data from the Germany Energy Agency (dena) pilot study on carbon neutrality. The methodology aims to allocate hydrogen energy flows along existing pipelines through a retrofitting approach. The base scenario is derived from the projected hydrogen demand and supply for a carbon-neutral Germany in 2045, as estimated in the dena pilot study. To explore different possibilities, a sensitivity analysis compares five different demand scenarios. Each scenario examines different hard-to-abate subsectors that have limited options for decarbonization. Evaluating the routes and utilization rates across the pipeline network provides insights into the feasibility, with certain routes, particularly those originating in the north, emerging as key. The majority of pipelines in the network have low utilization rates below 25% in peak hours, which may indicate economic infeasibility or the need for alternative transport strategies. In addition, a cost of avoided emissions analysis weighs scenario-specific emission reductions against network costs. Of particular note is the network connecting CHP plants and energy-intensive industries, which appears to strike an optimal balance in terms of costs of avoided emissions and utilization rate in peak hours. Nevertheless, the study does not consider physical flow calculations, so further validation is required in this respect. The potential of the methodology, however, liesin its ability to quickly assess different scenarios and provide valuable insights into economic, environmental, and social impacts. / Tysklands åtagande om koldioxidneutralitet senast 2045 understryker behovet av klimatåtgärder, och vätgasens många användningsområden inom industri, transport och energi erbjuder en hållbar lösning. Effektiv eftermontering av det omfattande naturgasledningsnätet kan göra det möjligt att transportera vätgas från utbuds- till efterfrågecentra. Syftet med denna studie är att utveckla en strategi för vätgasnätet i Tyskland 2045 som är förenlig med målen för koldioxidneutralitet och samtidigt minimerar de tillhörande kostnaderna. Med hjälp av en deterministisk MILP-metod (Mixed Integer Linear Programming) för en enda period ligger fokus på att uppskatta efterfrågan på transporter under maxtimmar utifrån den rumsliga fördelningen av efterfrågan och utbud. Denna uppskattning baseras på öppet tillgängliga data från denas pilotstudie om koldioxidneutralitet. Metoden syftar till att fördela vätgasenergiflöden längs befintliga rörledningar genom en eftermonteringsstrategi. Det grundläggande scenariot härleds från den beräknade efterfrågan och tillgången på vätgas för ett koldioxidneutralt Tyskland 2045, enligt uppskattningar i dena-pilotstudien. För att utforska olika möjligheter jämförs fem olika efterfrågescenarier i en känslighetsanalys. Varje scenario undersöker olika delsektorer som är svåra att minska och som har begränsade alternativ för utfasning av fossila bränslen. Utvärderingen av sträckningarna och utnyttjandegraden i rörledningsnätet ger insikter om genomförbarheten, där vissa sträckningar, särskilt de med ursprung i norr, framstår som viktiga. Majoriteten av rörledningarna i nätverkethar låga nyttjandegrader under 25% under rusningstid, vilket kan indikera ekonomisk ogenomförbarhet eller behovet av alternativa transportstrategier. Dessutom väger en kostnads-/nyttoanalys av utsläpp scenariospecifika utsläppsminskningar mot nätverkskostnader. Särskilt värt att notera är det nätverk som förbinder kraftvärmeverk och energiintensiva industrier, vilket verkar ge en optimal balans när det gäller kostnader för utsläpp och nyttjandegrad. Studien tar dock inte hänsyn till fysiska flödesberäkningar, så ytterligare validering krävs i detta avseende. Metodens potential ligger dock i dess förmåga att snabbt bedöma olika scenarier och ge värdefulla insikter om ekonomiska, miljömässiga och sociala effekter.

Studien syftade till att ge en rekommendation angående hur fjärrvärmebolaget Stockholm Exergi bör utforma sin framtida strategi beträffande fasta oförädlade skogliga biobräanslen. Genom litteraturstudier och intervjuer utreddes dessa bränslens konkurrenskraft utifrån perspektiven klimatneutralitet, politiska direktiv och styrmedel, leveranssäkerhet samt lönsamhet. Resultatet visade bland annat att användningen av grenar och toppar kan medföra klimatnytta. Vidare framkom att implementeringen av EU:s nya förnybartdirektiv inte kommer att ha storskalig påverkan på Stockholm Exergis framtida användning av dessa bränslen. Gällande leveranssäkerhet och lönsamhet påvisades exempelvis en större framtida efterfrågan på skogliga restprodukter från andra sektorer. Ändock kunde slutsatsen dras att skogliga biobräanslen, under vissa förutsäattningar, har en viktig roll i Stockholm Exergis framtida fjärrvärmeproduktion. / The study aimed to give a recommendation regarding how the district heating company Stockholm Exergi should design their future strategy concerning unprocessed solid woody biofuels. Through literature studies and interviews, the competitiveness of the fuels has been assessed based on climate neutrality, political directives and instruments, security of supply as well as profitability. Among other things, the results showed that the use of tree branches and tops can imply positive climate effects. Furthermore, the implementation of EU's new renewable energy directive will only have a marginal impact on Stockholm Exergi's future use of woody biofuels. Regarding the security of supply and profitability,an increased future demand of forest residues in other sectors have been identified. However, the study concludes that, under certain circumstances, woody biofuels have an important role in Stockholm Exergi's future district heating production.

Rooted deep in Germany's past is its modern socio-political grounding for environmental respect and sustainability. This translates into individual and collective action and extends equally to the economic and policy realm as it does to educational institutions. This thesis evaluates research conducted in Germany with a view to what best approaches are transferable to the United States liberal arts setting. Furthermore, exemplary American models of institutional sustainability and environmental education are explored and combined with those from abroad to produce a blueprint and action plan fitting for the American college and university.