How many local actors need to do what to reduce Hammarby Sjöstad’s climate impact till 2030 in alignment with "Carbon Law”, i.e. halving the citizens’ consumption-based emissions every ten years? This is demonstrated in a backcasting study of the city district. The local actors’ reduction potentials concerning ground transport, food, housing, aviation and other consumption are explored in individual transitions. The quantitative city district scenario scales up the individual transitions to city district level, asking how many local actors must do how much, starting when, for the Sjöstad’s target to be reached? The overarching backcasting has both prognostic and explorative elements but is essentially normative. It is both quantitative and qualitative, addressing the two main questions what does it take and by whom? The result shows that the city district’s aim is feasible only if Stockholm City and other external actors fulfil their climate targets and the technological development continues to advance. These are external contributions shaping the local actors’ field of options. Furthermore, the result shows that a vast majority of the households must utilize a substantial part of their full potential for the target to be met. New organizational models and actor networks must also emerge for the transition to launch. The scenario’s qualitative part illustrates the need for energy managers, local supermarkets, car sharing companies etc. to become agents of change. The transition is further catalyzed by local network builder and transition agent ElectriCITY. / Hur många lokala aktörer behöver göra vad för att minska Hammarby Sjöstads klimatpåverkan till 2030 i linje med "Carbon Law", det vill säga att halvera invånarnas konsumtionsbaserade utsläpp vart tionde år? Detta demonstreras i en backcastingstudie av stadsdelen. De lokala aktörernas reduktionspotential för marktransporter, livsmedel, bostäder, flyg och övrig konsumtion utforskas i enskilda omställningar. Det kvantitativa stadsdelsscenariot skalar upp de enskilda omställningarna till stadsdelsnivå och frågar: Hur många lokala aktörer måste göra hur mycket, och när för att Sjöstadens Carbon Law-mål ska nås? Den övergripande backcastingstudien har både prognostiska och explorativa inslag men är huvudsakligen normativ. Den är både kvantitativt och kvalitativt då den både adresserar frågan Vad krävs det och av Vem? Resultatet visar att stadsdelsmålet endast är möjligt att nås om Stockholms stad och andra aktörer uppfyller sina klimatmål och den tekniska utvecklingen framskrider. Detta är externa bidrag som formar de lokala aktörernas handlingsutrymme. Vidare visar resultatet att en majoritet av hushållen måste utnyttja en betydande del av sin fulla potential för att målet ska nås. Nya organisationsmodeller och aktörsnätverk måste också utvecklas för att omställningen ska ta fart. Scenariots kvalitativa del illustrerar behovet av att exempelvis energiförvaltare, lokala livsmedelsbutiker och bilpoolsföretag blir förändringsagenter i omställningen. Övergången katalyseras vidare av den lokala förändringsdrivaren och nätverksbyggaren ElectriCITY.

This study aims to empirically explore if there is an association between climate-related disasters and climate mitigation policy change in middle-income countries. This is important for understanding future climate mitigation policy, as disasters are predicted to increase in both frequency and severity. I explore this by studying climate mitigation policy activity change among countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The region is chosen due to a lack of previous studies in both the region specifically, as well as in middle-income countries generally. Due to uncertainties in the exact time lag between the disaster and policy response, different methods are used: one 5-year normalized scatterplot and two fixed effects (FE) regressions with 1- and 2-year time lags respectively. The results show no statistically significant effects between the variables when looking at a 1-year FE regression or a 5-year normalized scatterplot, however, it does find a negative correlation between extreme-impact events and affected people when using a 2-year FE regression. A possible interpretation of the results is that severe climate-related disasters pause climate mitigation policy development, but not the process of the policies already developed pre-disaster and that these are short-term effects. However, further studies are needed to confirm this.

Forests perform many important ecological functions and provide numerous environmental services to humanity. Currently forests are under ever increasing pressures from humans through deforestation, changes in land use, and anthropogenic climate change. Managed forests play an important role in supplying forest products to the global population, necessitating the need to predict how forests will respond to climate change and how this will influence future wood product supplies. In this dissertation I used loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), the most extensively cultivated tree species in the United States, as a study system to simulate how climate change and forest management could alter the dynamics of managed forests in the future. Using the land component (the Community Land Model) of the widely used Community Earth System Model (CESM), I developed and validated a set of tools necessary to simulate the loblolly pine plantation system using the vegetation demography model embedded in CESM (FATES). This included developing a representation of loblolly pine using data from the literature, which was better able to capture forest growth and development observed in field studies than FATES's existing conifer tree representation. I added the ability to simulate several aspects of forest management not previously supported in FATES by creating the Vegetation Management Module, which I showed was able to realistically reproduce the common management practice of stand thinning. I used these new tools to perform simulations of how loblolly pine will grow across the Southeastern United States until the end of the 21st century, under the high and low climate change scenarios developed by the scientific community in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6). Our experiments show that loblolly pine productivity may as much as double by the end of the century, with total wood harvest over that period increasing by almost half. I also showed that different management activities had significant effects on loblolly plantation yields, with mid-rotation stand thinning having an effect under both climate scenarios on par with increases due to the extreme climate change scenario SSP5 RCP8.5. I showed that these changes in wood yields could decrease the forest area in the Southeast required to meet the wood product demands over the rest of the century. These changes in plantation productivity could interact with socioeconomic factors to drive changes in land use and carbon storage in the Southeastern U.S. This work increases our understanding of how managed forests in the U.S.\ will be affected by climate change and how our management choices modulate that response. The techniques and tools developed here open up new areas of research into the role of forest management in the climate system. / Doctor of Philosophy / Forests benefit humans by regulating Earth's climate and by providing natural resources such as wood. In the Southeastern United States forestry is an important industry. Tree farms of southern pine trees produce a large percentage of the region's wood. Predicting how forests will grow in the future is important for planning and making investments. However, the burning of fossil fuels has increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and is changing Earth's climate. This is affecting how fast trees grow and how much wood can be harvested from forests. The methods that foresters have traditionally used to predict how trees will grow in the future do not account for climate change, and thus may not be as accurate in the future. An alternative is to use the computer models that scientists have developed to predict both how global climate will change in the future and how forests are influenced by climate. These computer programs can be used to predict how natural forests will grow in the future, but aren't set up to predict managed forests well. I made changes to one of these programs to make it possible to simulate the managed loblolly pine forests of the Southeastern United States. First, I tested these changes to make sure that simulated forests grew like real forests do today. Then I simulated how pine forests in Southeastern United States could grow over the next century with climate change. I found that pine forests will grow faster and allow more wood to be harvested as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases. If climate changes are extreme, loblolly forests could produce 70\% more wood than today by the end of the 21st century. I also showed that the manner in which forests were managed in simulations changes the amount of wood they produced, with some management practices increasing wood harvested by 50\% over the rest of the century. Because climate change could increase the amount of wood that can be produced from a fixed area of forest, I investigated how this might change the area of forest plantation in the Southeastern United States. Based on projections of demand for wood for the rest of the century I calculated how much loblolly pine forest would be needed to produce this wood over the next century. I found that increases in forest productivity due to climate change and forest management could decrease the forest area required to grow the wood we need. This could change how we use forests in the Southeastern United States, which in turn could have impacts on the climate.

As the world’s largest emitters and economies, the United States and China play a critical role in global climate mitigation. Using Putnam’s two-level game showcases how the domestic political context of each country impacts their international policies. However, Putnam’s framework does not differentiate between bilateral and multilateral circumstances. The clarity and concentration of perceived costs and benefits for the United States and China from climate policies lead to differing outcomes on the multilateral and bilateral stage. Fear of the free-rider effect makes players assume payoffs that resemble the Prisoner’s Dilemma during multilateral climate negotiations, whereas bilateral negotiations usually result in more cooperative outcomes. These contrasting policy outcomes reflect the hot and cold relationship between the United States and China. The additional expediency and effectiveness of bilateral agreements suggest that substantial climate action will likely originate from strong bilateral agreements. In an optimal scenario, increased U.S.-China climate collaboration translates into a stronger relationship between the two global superpowers and provides other nations with the confidence and certainty to invest in abatement in a renewed global climate regime.

With changes in climate and increasing resource scarcity in the future, transition towards a more sustainable and resilient agriculture system that promotes maintenance of a range of ecosystem services is important. Meanwhile, significant global greenhouse gas reduction targets require all sectors including agriculture to take radical actions immediately. Carbon farming is a promising approach which can contribute to mitigating climate change, increase soil accumulation and fertility, enhance ecosystem services and increase productivity within a range of farming systems. Currently, Sweden does not have any formal carbon farming projects. As the implementation of carbon farming is likely to be location, technology and circumstance specific, a case study was undertaken in Sweden in order to cast light on the envisaged synergies and trade-offs associated with carbon farming by assessing the opportunities and barriers to farmer’s sustainable livelihoods. Eleven pilot farmers from south and central Sweden participated in the case study. Data were collected through online survey. Findings suggest that opportunities and barriers to enhance the carbon sink potential of farmlands are closely linked to people’s livelihoods as well as their broader context and; Swedish farmers are interested in incorporating carbon farming practices within their existing farming systems. Further, opportunities and barriers were found in relation to different assets, external shocks and the policy environment. Moreover, carbon farming has the potential to promote sustainable rural livelihoods in Sweden by reducing farmer’s vulnerability context and enhancing farmer’s assets and livelihood strategies.

The crisis of the climate is really very dangerous for the whole planet. The human activities cause that the production of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gasses is increasing. The greenhouse effect in the atmosphere is increasing, and as a result, the global temperature is rising. This can cause several problems to the humanity as well as to the rest of the planet. There is a high probability that there will be less food, sweet water, more epidemics because of rising temperatures. Some coastal parts of the earth will disappear under the seawater in the future. These are just some of the consequences of the climate change caused by human activities. We can say that the global warming exists and that the human activity according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report is the reason. As the response to the climate change many countries are implementing the requirements formulated at the Summit in Rio de Janeiro 1992 in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and in the Protocol of Kyoto for reduce the production of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. In the Protocol was formulated that the required commitments from some countries (known as Annex I countries) are 5% for average quantitative reductions in emissions from their level in 1990 to...

The policy of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) has been promoted at the global level as an innovative approach to reduce forest loss that contributes to about one-fifth of global climate change. My dissertation brings together theories of policy processes and political ecology to examine REDD+ at three levels: global, national and local. It focuses on how this global climate policy is translated from one geographical scale to another and from policy into practice. The analysis of how REDD+ is transformed through this process provides insights into the extent to which REDD+ is likely to achieve its aims of reducing forest loss and mitigating global climate change. The national and local cases are drawn from Ghana, West Africa. The study is mainly qualitative, and employs semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, oral histories, participatory activities, and document analysis, as methodologies. At the global scale, I explore how REDD+ became a global climate policy and the range of global expectations that supported its rise to prominence. I argue that REDD+ became prominent because of three main strategies employed by its proponents: first, the re-introduction of the role of forest-sector emissions to climate change negotiations; second, the setting-up of financial schemes to attract and mobilise support for REDD+; and third, the establishment of safeguards mechanisms to address criticisms raised by stakeholders that opposed REDD+. At the national level, I examine how the policy processes related to REDD+ were translated from the global scale to the national context of Ghana. I critically examine the narratives around how deforestation was understood and the range of actions that were subsequently identified as options for achieving REDD+ outcomes. I show that REDD+ has created opportunities for promising reforms and structures on forest management in Ghana; yet it is unlikely to achieve its intended objectives because of (i) problems with the way the narrative has framed the causes of deforestation; (ii) a failure to fully address long-standing problems with tenure and benefit-sharing frameworks; and (iii) the centralisation of revenue generation that is limiting local-level implementation of plans. At the local levels, I focus on how two REDD+ pilot projects were unfolding. Similar to the national level, my analysis reveals that the projects have employed questionable narratives about the ways deforestation is produced in both cases. In addition, the solutions designed to address deforestation were found to contain misplaced assumptions that undermine the prospects of both projects to achieve their intended objectives. The research highlights the messy processes of translation of global climate policies such as REDD+ as they move from one scale to another, and from policy to practice. The study contributes to understanding how problematic narratives, misguided assumptions, and diverse interests, create gaps between the policy ideas and their implementation as global climate policy is translated from one geographical scale to another.

Anthropogenic climate change is a global problem that affects every country and each individual. The UK introduced its own carbon budgets, aiming to reduce its GHGs by 80% by 2050 compared with 1990 levels. The United Nations Conference of the Parties in Paris in 2015 came to an agreement on limiting the global average temperature rise to "well below 2oC". It has been argued that the Paris Agreement requires deeper and more rapid emission reductions than current UK targets. The CO2 emissions from energy use by households account for almost a third of total CO2 emissions in the UK in recent years. The research aims to explore drivers of high energy consumption in order to identify where there may be intervention points that can achieve a greater level of emission reductions than conventional policy tools in the short to medium term. Previous studies have focused on either socioeconomic factors or practices to explore household energy consumption and CO2 emissions, but have not integrated both aspects to identify drivers behind high energy consumption. To address this gap in the literature, the research applies an interdisciplinary approach to analyse the interconnected factors impacting on household energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Socioeconomic characteristics and practice theory are combined in order to understand how and why energy is consumed at home, and specifically to explore high energy consumption and related CO2 emissions at the household level. Both quantitative cluster analyses based on household socioeconomic factors and qualitative data collection and thematic analyses on energy-related practices at home have been conducted in the research. Results indicate that various combinations of socioeconomic factors and dwelling-related characteristics can collectively lead to high CO2 emissions from energy use at home. Nonetheless, these characteristics cannot fully explain why some households are high emitters, as they still share a variety of similar characteristics with average households in the UK. Besides household socioeconomic factors and dwelling-related characteristics, the materials, procedure and meanings of practices; people's discursive and practical consciousness; and dominant meanings of the home, also collectively influence energy use at home. Policymakers should consider not only improving the energy efficiency of the dwelling and appliances, but also how people's hidden knowledge and routines allow or constrain the performance of energy-related practices, as well as how the existing meanings of practices and dominant meanings of the home can be supported with less energy input and associated CO2 emissions. Energy efficiency related policies could focus more on how to reduce the interruption to people's everyday lives and the level of space loss. Policymakers could also work with different stakeholders, such as local authorities and community groups to tackle the challenges of installation of double gazing, cavity wall and roof insulation in the private rented sector. Policies for promoting renewable electricity micro-generation in the UK can target more effectively the high emitters who are at home most weekdays, as they can be more flexible in rearranging their use of appliances in daily routines and potentially reduce energy consumption during the peak time. In addition to combining a novel range of approaches and perspectives to understanding energy use at home, the research makes a contribution to achieving deeper and more rapid emission reductions in the short to medium term in the UK by focusing on the drivers behind high energy consumption at home than average energy consumption in general.

Oförmåga att minska utsläppen av växthusgaser i tillräckligt takt för att undvika en alltför kraftig global uppvärmning har motiverat framtagandet av tekniker med potential att minska mängden koldioxid i atmosfären. En av dessa tekniker är bioenergi med koldioxidlagring (Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage, BECCS), där koldioxid avskiljs från punktkällor med biogena utsläpp och lagras i geologiska strukturer. Även biokol tillsatt till jordbruksmark har potential att bidra till negativa utsläpp. Både svenska och internationella strategier inkluderar negativa utsläpp för att uppfylla förpliktelserna i Parisavtalet. För att säkerhetsställa att teknikerna lever upp till potentialen krävs ett livscykelperspektiv där klimatpåverkan beräknas på systemnivå. En livscykelanalys utfördes, där klimatpåverkan vid utnyttjande av grenar och toppar (GROT) från den svenska skogsindustrin beräknades för teknikerna BECCS och biokol tillsatt till jordbruksmark. Teknikerna jämfördes med ett referensscenario där GROT förbränns i ett kraftvärmeverk för att producera el och fjärrvärme utan omhändertagande av koldioxid som bildas vid förbränning. Resultaten visar att BECCS har potentialen att bidra med negativa utsläpp på mellan -168 och -666 kg CO2-ekvivalenter/ ton GROT torrsubstans (TS). Då GROT-skörden ökar till 80% av den årliga avverkade arealen skog i Sverige och kombineras med gallring, resulterar 666 kg CO2-ekvivalenter/ ton GROT TS, i 4,4 miljoner ton CO2-ekvivalenter per år. Detta motsvarar 25,8 % av klimatpåverkan från inrikestransporter i Sverige år 2016. Nettoutsläppen från biokol tillsatt till jordbruksmarker, varierar mellan 934 och -344 kg CO2-ekvivalenter/ ton GROT TS. Då GROT-skörden ökar till 80% av den avverkade arealen skog i Sverige och kombineras med gallring, resulterar 344 kg CO2-ekvivalenter/ton GROT TS i 2,2 miljoner ton CO2-ekvivalenter. Detta motsvarar 13,3 % av klimatpåverkan från inrikes transporter i Sverige år 2016. Båda teknikerna har potential att åstadkomma nettonegativa växthusgasutsläpp, men resultaten är beroende av klimatpåverkan från ersättande el- och fjärrvärmeproduktion. / The inability to achieve sufficient reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has led to the development of techniques with potential to achieve negative greenhouse gas emissions. One of these techniques is called Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), where carbon dioxide is captured from biogenic point sources with biogenic emissions and stored underground. Biochar applied to farmland is another technique with potential to achieve negative greenhouse gas emissions. Both Swedish and international strategies, to meet the obligations in the Paris Agreement, include negative greenhouse gas emissions. A life cycle approach is required to ensure that the techniques deliver on the promise of negative emissions. A Life cycle assessment was conducted where the global warming potential was calculated for BECCS and biochar added to farmland in two different scenarios where tops and branches (GROT) from the Swedish forest industry were used as feedstock. The techniques were compared to a reference scenario where GROT were used in a combined heat and power plant (CHP-plant). The results show that BECCS has the potential to achieve net negative emissions of between -168 and -666 kg CO2-equivalents/ tonne GROT dry matter (DM). When GROT is harvested from 80% of the yearly final felling areas in Sweden and combined with thinning, 666 kg CO2-equivalents/ Mg GROT DM is equivalent to in 4,4 million ton CO2-equivalents per year. This corresponds to 25,8 % of Sweden's greenhouse gas emissions from domestic transportation in 2016. The results of greenhouse gas emissions from biochar applied to farmland varied between 934 to -344 CO2-equivalents/ Mg GROT DM. When GROT is harvested from 80% of final felling areas in Sweden and combined with thinning, -344 CO2-equivalents/ Mg GROT DM is equivalent to 2,2 million ton CO2- equivalents per year. This corresponds to 13,3 % of Sweden's greenhouse gas emissions from domestic transportation in 2016. Both techniques have the potential to achieve net negative greenhouse gas emissions. However, the results are greatly influenced by the climate impact from generating the electricity to replace the losses in electricity production when GROT is used for BECCS and biochar instead of in a CHP-plant.

Energy conservation and decarbonization of the building stock is a way to achieve sustainable development goals. Visualizing and monitoring energy consumption with a help of Decision Support Systems (DSS) can help to inform and support making decisions to conserve energy, reduce emissions, save costs and improve overall quality of life. However, there are no clear guidelines to how such tools should be designed, and which demands from the different stakeholders they should meet. This literature review presents an overview of existing DSSs that calculate, optimize, visualize and monitor energy usage in buildings. A total of 22 studies have been selected through an in-depth literature search and analysed in a study matrix split into four categories describing relevant features that are vital for each DSS. The study has identified that main functions of analysed DSSs are: 1) to compare costs for CO2 emission reduction or energy saving for various actions; and 2) to compare current energy performance of buildings. Finally, it has shown a variety of needs for different stakeholders that affect the choice of methods and data used by DSS. Hence it is crucial to ensure early alignment of the needs and functions for the developed tools, in order to be efficient in decision-support for better energy efficiency and climate mitigation. / Energibesparing och koldioxidminskning av befintliga byggnader är ett sätt att uppnå de globala målen. Att visualisera och övervaka energiförbrukningen i byggnader med hjälp av ett beslutsstödsystem kan hjälpa till att informera och stödja beslut för att spara energi, minska utsläppen, minska kostnaderna och överlag öka livskvalitén. Det finns dock inga tydliga riktlinjer för hur ett verktyg kan utformas och vilka behov som behöver tillfredsställas från de olika intressenterna. Denna litteraturstudie presenterar en översikt över befintliga beslutsstödsystem som beräknar, optimerar, visualiserar och övervakar energianvändningen i byggnader. Genom en ingående litteratursökning valdes 22 olika studier för en djupare analys med hjälp av en studiematris delad inom fyra olika kategorier som beskriver relevanta funktioner som är viktiga för varje beslutsstödsystem. Studien har identifierat att huvuduppgifterna för varje analyserad beslutsstödsystem är: 1) att jämföra kostnader för CO2 minskning och energibesparing för olika åtgärder; och 2) att jämföra aktuell energiprestanda av byggnader. Slutligen har det visat att olika behov från intressenter styrt de val av metoder och data som används i respektive beslutsstödsystem. Därför är det viktigt att säkerställa en tidig anpassning av behov och huvuduppgifter för de utvecklade verktygen för att vara effektiva i beslutsstöd kring energieffektivisering och klimatpåverkan.