Currently, the world as we know it is undergoing many different transformations towards a more sustainable future, one of which is the energy transition. The energy transition is a wicked problem that requires transformative and creative thinking to be solved. One way to foster an innovative environment in organizations is by having a diverse workforce with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. However, the energy sector, which has a major responsibility in the transition, is currently gender-segregated. Thus, not taking advantage of diverse capabilities. This thesis studies the energy-gender nexus within a Swedish context and explores what implications a male-dominated energy sector could entail for the energy transition. This is done through a qualitative research design using two methods, (1) a document review to analyze how important actors in the Swedish energy transition currently address gender equality, (2) expert interviews to further explore these findings. The results showed that the energy-gender nexus is a complex paradigm and that opportunities and challenges to integrate more diversity often are interconnected. The main challenges were showed to be connected to presumptions of generalized gender norms, the sectorial image, and the need for structural change. Opportunities were connected to affirmative action and advocacy from initiatives or role models, and benefits from specific measurable targets. It was also concluded that more perspectives and a diversified energy sector could potentially benefit the energy transition through acceleration.

The work focuses on risk management in the Czech power engineering, introduces its functioning and connections. It also explains some of the general principles of risk management, its importance in the energy sector and energy projects. Selected risk management methods are described, which is the basis for the recommendation of one of them for application in the field of power engineering. The selected method is further demonstrated in the example of power energy project and its enhancements are proposed.

World energy systems are going through a continuous change. The focus has been shifted from large thermal or hydal power generation to small distributed generation, mainly based upon renewable energy systems. This transition is also backed by some governments. There have also been significant improvements in grid technology, and modern-day smart grid can provide real time bi-directional flow of data i.e. “real time energy deficit and surplus, and also real time prices to both producers and consumers. Smart grid can also accommodate intermittent small suppliers of electricity. This shift in energy generation policy and improvement in grid technology has opened ways for small scale energy producers and consumers to share energy with each other. It has also opened ways to purchase or sale energy to unknown peers over a smart grid. Need has been felt to store these transactions among peers in a secure, non-alterable yet quickly accessible way. Blockchain technology offers to provide this secure, unalterable yet quickly accessible ledger. In this study this transition process and role of blockchain technology for future energy systems has been historically reviewed. It has been found out that on top of keeping record of Peer to Peer transactions, blockchain technology can fill many other purposes. However, technology is still not matured for large scale projects, Research projects are underway to decrease the large time and energy consumption for block building computational processes yet keeping them safe and reliable.

The energy sector of Ukraine is of strategic importance not only within the national economy, but is also significant from a European perspective, because it includes transit energy networks that are essential for a large part of Europe. The fundamental problem still remains low energy efficiency of the economy, obsolete infrastructure, dysfunctional system and the absence of major reforms. At the moment, another round of reforms is taking place under the influence of a rapprochement with the European Union, to modernize the sector and adapt it to European standards. This work describes the development of the sector and the reform efforts since independence until today with a particular focus on the gas sector and the period 2014 to 2017. This is particularly the developments in the energy market, pricing policies, availability, security and decentralization of the system. In addition, the work also focuses on the development of energy efficiency, the environment and renewable energy sources. Following on the theoretical basis (especially the theory of institutional economics) through analysis of described facts assesses developments in the reforms and their impact on the whole sector including evaluation of the role and influence of oligarchs in these reform attempts. In terms of reforms, four...

The rural areas in the Gaza Strip suffer from the problem of sanitation and organic waste as well as electricity and cooking fuel. In this thesis, the biogas plant was designed to solve those problems based on the fixed dome plant design as shown in Figure 3 and4. Therefore, the efficiency and selectivity was good for biogas plant which is easy for the local people disposal of organic waste and wastewater as well as self-sufficiency of biogas for cooking and electricity for the family. The sediments from the biogas plant are also used as fertilizers in agriculture. Thus it is possible to know the amount of biogas production, the cost of biogas, the amount of fertilizer, the cost of fertilizers and the amount of disposal of organic waste and wastewater. The calculation shows that the size of digester which is equal to 12 cubic meters as shown in figure 4.The construction is cost of $ 930 as shown in Table 2. Through the results will be disposed of organic waste, wastewater and manure are about 48 kilograms per day for the family. The Biogas is produced 0.5 tons of biogas is estimated about $ 100 in rural areas in the Gaza Strip. It is also produced fertilizers equivalent of $ 113 per month. So the results and calculations are clear that the rural family is self-sufficient of biogas, the dispose of organic waste and wastewater and agricultural growth by the fertilizers from the biogas plant.

The current decision-making processes involved in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) in South Africa suffer from a lack of coherence and do not include evaluation of trade-offs between qualitative and quantitative impacts, as well as environmental, economic, and social dimensions. In addition, insufficient capacity and knowledge among authorities, a lack of objectivity among Environmental Assessment Practitioners (EAPs), and mediocre reports add to the problems associated with effective decision-making. This work presents a framework aimed at improving the effectiveness and objectivity of the decision-making process applied in South Africa’s EIAs in the energy sector. A number of decision-making models and tools are available to researchers and practitioners throughout the world that could potentially be applied in EIAs. Among these are Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), Rapid Impact Assessment Matrix (RIAM), and Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA). Each of the tools has its own advantages and disadvantages. With respect to the CBA, its biggest disadvantage is the fact that it requires conversion into monetary terms of all impacts, which is sometimes difficult to achieve. The RIAM, on the other hand, fails to provide a systematic approach to the ranking of alternatives. Both of these issues are addressed by the MCA tools. The MCA framework, furthermore, is universal, transparent, easy to replicate, and does not require a particularly large amount of labour and financial resources to complete. It is, however, subjective, but this shortcoming can be overcome by making the decision process more transparent. The framework proposed in this research paper is based on the Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) technique that allows the identification of the proposed development's cumulative impact versus the current status of the environment. It then compares possible alternatives, where available, in order to identify the most optimal solution. The proposed solution takes into account the trade-offs between the different impact metrics. The research methodology followed in this paper comprised four steps, namely:<ul><li> Selection of case studies, </li><li> Information collection, </li><li> Framework application and testing and </li><li> Feedback. </li></ul> The development of the framework followed an eight-step approach that is generic for MCA and was tested on two case studies that have already gone through the Environmental Impact Assessment process, i.e. the Open Cycle Gas Turbine (OCGT) plant in the Western Cape and the Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant in the Northern Cape. The former was evaluated against the "no-go option", but included a decision tree comprised of impact areas, categories of impacts and dimensions (environmental, social, and economic). The latter included alternatives for four components of the project, but the decision tree comprised only of categories and dimensions. The effectiveness of the framework was verified by testing the results of the case studies against the recommendations proposed in the respective Environmental Impact Reports. In all cases, but one, the results of the framework correlated with the recommendations made by the Environmental Assessment Practitioners in the respective studies. In addition, a workshop with the decision-makers was held to obtain their viewpoints regarding the usefulness of the framework in their decision-making environment. These decision-makers supported the use of the framework in their environment as it offered an integrated and transparent approach to the evaluation of projects and alternatives. They emphasised, however, that the decision-making process was complex and the application of the framework alone would not be able to address all the challenges. The case studies demonstrated that the proposed framework could be successfully applied in the process of undertaking impact assessments in the energy sector. It can be used to determine the trade-offs between impacts and dimensions, while taking into consideration the opinions of specialists and decision-makers when assigning weights. The framework has the ability to clearly illustrate the benefit of introducing mitigation measures and it also indicates an alternative that produces the optimal cumulative impact. In conclusion, the work presented contributes to the new body of knowledge in the field of Environmental Impact Assessment in the energy sector as it will assist authorities in making objective and informed decisions, while ensuring greater transparency in the process. It also opens opportunities for conducting follow-on investigations, such the application of the framework in other sectors of the economy, undertaking a sensitivity analysis to compare the range of scores used in the evaluation of impacts, and investigating the possibility of acquiring input from Interested and Affected Parties (I&APs) and integrating those into the framework. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM) / unrestricted

Engineers belong to a group of workers that will form a large and important part of the green transition in northern Sweden. At the same time there are many engineers with the right competence in the energy sector that remains missing. To resolve the future skills gap, this essay aims to find an understanding of engineers’ perspectives of the labor market and how to manage and attract the skills needed for a sustainable industrialization in northern Sweden. This essay used qualitative methods, more specifically semi-structured interviews, and thematic analysis, to gather and analyse the collected data. The results of the essay indicate that engineers in the energy sector value development opportunities, flexibility, and the opportunity to achieve a work life balance highly. Thus, salary seems to not form a large part of the engineers most important preferences in their work life. This shows that regardless of what sector a company belongs to, they could focus on and promote motivational factors rather than monetary rewards.

SAMMANFATTNING Titel: Sambandet mellan ESG-betyg och finansiell prestation inom energibranschen – en kvantitativ studie inom EU-länderna  Nivå: Examensarbete på grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi  Författare: Fanny Bergström och Julia Larsson  Handledare: Jan Svanberg  Datum: 2023 - maj  Syfte: Intresset för hållbarhet och hållbarhetsredovisning har växt sig allt större och i takt med detta har sambandet mellan ett företags ESG-betyg och dess finansiella prestation blivit ett omdiskuterat forskningsområde. Tidigare forskning har kommit fram till motstridiga resultat då resultaten skiljer sig branscher och länder emellan. Med anledning av detta ska denna studie rikta in sig på energibranschen i EU för att utveckla det aktuella forskningsområdet. Studiens syfte är därmed att undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan företagens ESG-betyg och finansiell prestation inom energibranschen i EU. Studien ämnar dessutom undersöka vad ett eventuellt samband visar samt om sambandet skiljer sig om ett företag fokuserar mer individuellt på något av delkomponenterna miljö, social och bolagsstyrning.  Metod: Studien utgår ifrån en kvantitativ metod och tillämpar en deduktiv ansats. Datan som inhämtats är av sekundär art och har hämtats ifrån databasen Refinitiv Eikon. Urvalet består av 86 energibolag från 15 olika länder inom EU och har analyserats under en tidsperiod på fem år. Datan har analyserats med hjälp av univariat-, bivariat- och multivariat analys i statistikprogrammet SPSS.  Resultat och slutsats: Resultatet indikerade på ett negativt signifikant samband mellan ESG-betyg och ROA men också mellan E-betyget samt S-betyget och ROA. Fortsatt visade resultatet inget signifikant samband mellan G-betyget och ROA samtidigt som det inte, med varken ESG-betyget eller de enskilda komponenterna, fanns något signifikant samband med ROE.  Examensarbetets bidrag: Denna studie bidrar med forskning om sambandet mellan ESG-betyg och finansiell prestation i en bransch som är relativt outforskad. Den utforskar även sambandet mellan de tre enskilda komponenterna och finansiell prestation. På så sätt går det att få en ökad kunskap om sambandet även i denna bransch.  Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Förslag till vidare forskning har föreslagits utefter denna studies begränsningar. Ett förslag är att använda data från fler databaser än en för att då kunna öka studiens generaliserbarhet. Ytterligare ett förslag är att undersöka detta samband i fler länder och fler branscher för att på så sätt kunna få en större bild på hur sambandet ser ut i olika branscher världen över.  Nyckelord: ESG-betyg, E-, S- och G-betyg, ROA, ROE, Finansiell prestation och Energibranschen / ABSTRACT Title: The relationship between ESG-score and financial performance within the energy sector – a quantitative study within the EU countries.  Level: Student thesis, final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration  Author: Fanny Bergström and Julia Larsson  Supervisor: Jan Svanberg  Date: 2023 – May  Aim: The interest in sustainability and sustainability reporting has increased, and because of this, the relationship between a company´s ESG-rating and its financial performance has become a debated area of research. The result of previous research is conflicting as the results differ between sectors and countries. Due to this, this study will focus on the energy sector in the EU in order to develop the current research area. The purpose of the study is therefore to investigate whether there is a relationship between the companies ESG-rating and financial performance within the energy sector in the EU. The study also intends to investigate what a possible relationship shows and whether the relationship differs if a company focuses more individually on one of the sub-components environments, social and governance.  Method: The study is based on a quantitative method and has a deductive approach. The collected data is secondary and has been obtained from the Refinitiv Eikon database. The sample consists of 86 energy companies from 15 different countries in EU and has been analyzed over a period of five years. The data has been analyzed using univariate-, bivariate- and multivariate analysis in the statistical program SPSS.  Results and conclusions: The result indicates a negative significant correlation between ESG-score and ROA but also between E-score, S-score and ROA. The result showed a non-significant correlation between G-score and ROA while there was a non-significant correlation with ROE for either ESG-score or the individual components.  Contribution of the thesis: This study contributes to the research on the relationship between ESG-score and financial performance in a sector that is relatively unexplored. This study also explores the relationship between the three individual components and financial performance, thus allowing for a better understanding of the relationship in this sector.  Suggestions for future research: Suggestions for the future research have been proposed on the limitations of this study. One suggestion is to use data from more than one database to increase the generalizability of the study. Another suggestion is to investigate the relationship in more countries and sectors to get more knowledge about the relationship in different sectors and countries in the world.  Key Words: ESG-score, E-, S- and G-score, ROA, ROE, financial performance, energy sector

The thesis investigates the view and knowledge among large versus small and medium sized enterprises (SME) regarding the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). To enable a broad collection of data the study carries out semi-structured interviews and surveys on companies and stakeholders within the Swedish energy sector, as well as a literature review. The aim of the thesis is to identify the expected strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and the knowledge base within the Swedish energy sector. Furthermore, the aim is to analyze potential consequences of implementation and to suggest potential mitigations where possible. The results indicate that large companies and SMEs to a great extent identify the same challenges and possibilities. However, large companies on average have a higher knowledge level than SMEs. The potential reasons behind this include differences in reporting time frame, level of engagement among sustainability responsible roles, lack of specific ESRS and difficulty in applying the directive. The greatest challenges relate to information dissemination in general and internally, information and data collection along the value chain, implementation for SMEs, increasing the knowledge level among companies and the structure of the directive. The potential solutions include different types of systemic structuring, collaborative efforts and extended responsibilities for stakeholders and authorities. Overall, the directive will entail positive changes and implement CSR as a statutory aspect, however, the directive still requires improvement to fully reach its’ desired potential. / I avhandlingen undersöks synen på och kunskapen om implementeringen av Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) bland stora kontra små och medelstora företag (SME) i den svenska energisektorn. För att möjliggöra en bred insamling av data grundas studien på semistrukturerade intervjuer och enkäter hos företag, intervjuer med intressenter och en litteraturstudie. Syftet med avhandlingen är att identifiera förväntade styrkor, svagheter, möjligheter och hot samt kartlägga kunskapsbasen inom den svenska energisektorn. Vidare är syftet att analysera potentiella konsekvenser av implementeringen och föreslå potentiella åtgärder där det är möjligt. Resultaten visar att företag oavsett storlek i stor utsträckning identifierar samma utmaningar och möjligheter. Inom stora företagen finns dock i genomsnitt en högre kunskapsnivå än hos de små och medelstora företagen. De potentiella orsakerna till detta är bland annat skillnader i tidsramar för rapportering, graden av engagemang hos hållbarhetsansvariga, brist på specifika ESRS och svårigheter att tillämpa direktivet. De största utmaningarna gäller informationsspridning externt och internt, information och datainsamling inom värdekedjan, genomförande för små och medelstora företag, ökad kunskapsnivå bland företag och direktivets struktur. De potentiella lösningarna inkluderar olika typer av systemstrukturering, insatser och ansvarskrav för berörda parter och myndigheter. På det hela taget kommer direktivet att medföra positiva förändringar och göra företagens hållbarhetsansvar till en lagstadgad aspekt, men direktivet behöver fortfarande förbättras för att fullt ut nå sin önskade potential.

Large-scale infrastructure projects are risky ventures, often subjected to poor performance. Time and cost are often escalating beyond estimation while quality and benefits remain unchanged. However, little is known about the project performance in the district heating sector, which serves as basic infrastructure and plays an important role in regional energy transitions. This thesis aims to explore the project performance of large-scale infrastructure projects within the energy sector, particularly the district heating setting to enhance the knowledge of large-scale project performance, and further explore what factors contribute to explaining the performance of large-scale projects within this setting. To fulfil the purpose of this thesis, a multiple case study was conducted in a Swedish district heating setting. A review of relevant literature served as a complement to the primary data retrieved from the cases, laying a theoretical foundation for analysis. The empirical study consists of three parts. The first phase consisted of 18 interviews conducted with people at various positions within the case company to get a holistic picture of the problem and to select the nine cases focused on within this study. The second phase consisted of gathering qualitative and quantitative data on project performance, while the last phase consisted of nine in-depth interviews with the project managers of the nine selected projects. This thesis found a varying project performance, with a mean cost escalation of 12.9 percent and a time increase of 140 days on average. Similar to other studies, large-scale energy infrastructure projects have a tendency to fail rather than succeed when compared to the Iron Triangle criterias, cost, time and quality. Insufficient planning and procurement, weak leadership and ill-performing contractors are significant factors that have a large negative impact on performance. In addition, scope change, environmental context and luck are also shown to impact project performance. Limited evidence on whether political factors have a substantial impact on project performance has been found, in contrast to a large segment within earlier literature. Strong teamwork, both internally within the project team and externally with contracting parties can help neutralise any poor performance caused by any of the above-mentioned factors. The thesis contributes to the literature by discussing large-scale energy infrastructure performance. It is known that large-scale projects are complex and uncertain endeavours and by analysing project performance, knowledge can be enhanced not only on what went wrong but also on what went right. With a global sustainability transition and decarbonisation, energy infrastructure is going to experience large investments in the years to come. With this in mind, developing the most sustainable best practices and prudent project objectives can help project managers to embrace uncertainty and make the right decisions to enhance project performance. / Storskaliga infrastrukturprojekt är ofta riskfyllda, och levererar sällan i linje med uppsatta mål. Både projektens tid och kostnad eskalerar långt bortom de initiala estimeringar som gjorts medan kvalitén och investeringens förmåner förblir oförändrade. Fjärrvärmesektorn är en viktig del i Sveriges energisystem men behöver ständigt tackla dyra investeringar med låg lönsamhet. Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka storskaliga infrastrukturprojekt inom energisektorn, i synnerhet med fokus på fjärrvärme, för att öka kunskapen om projektens resultat gällande tid, kostnad och kvalité samt att utforska vilka faktorer som påverkar utfallet av storskaliga projekt i denna sektor. För att uppfylla syftet med denna studie så valdes en flerfallsstudie med en kombination av kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod tillsammans med en genomgång av relevant litteratur. Litteraturstudien fungerade som ett komplement till den projektspecifika informationen som samlades in och la grunden till det teoretiska ramverk som användes under analysen. Den empiriska studien bestod av tre delar. I den första delen utfördes 18 intervjuer med anställda på olika positioner inom företaget, syftet med dessa intervjuer var att få en holistisk bild av problemet samt att välja ut de nio projekt som analyserades vidare. Fokus för studiens andra del var att samla in kvantitativa och kvalitativa data för de nio projekten medan den sista delen bestod av intervjuer med projektledarna för de nio utvalda projekten. Studien visade på ett varierande resultat gällande projektens utfall där medelvärdet för kostnadsöverskridningar var 12,9 procent och medelvärdet för tidsfördröjningar var 140 dagar. I linje med tidigare studier så har storskaliga energiprojekt en tendens att misslyckas gällande att uppfylla både tidoch kostnadskriterier. De främsta faktorerna som påverkade projektens utfall var otillräcklig planering, en ofördelaktig inköpsstrategi, svagt ledarskap samt entreprenörer som presterade dåligt. Utöver dessa så påverkade även förändringar av projektets omfattning, projektets omgivande kontext och ren och skär tur projektens utfall. Politiska faktorer var ej en framträdande faktor i denna studie, till skillnad från tidigare litteratur där politiska faktorer ofta är i fokus. En sammansvetsad projektgrupp, både internt och externt med avtalade parter, visade sig kunna neutralisera de ovan nämnda faktorerna så att det övergripande utfallet ändå blev bra. Storskaliga energiprojekt är både komplexa och osäkra investeringar. Genom att studera projekts utfall och prestation kan insikter fås inte bara kring vad som gick fel utan också kring vad som gick rätt. Stora investeringar kommer att krävas inom energisektorn under kommande år för att möjliggöra den hållbara omställning som krävs på global nivå. Att etablera bra och hållbara metoder med försiktiga projektmål kan hjälpa projektledningen att flytta fokus från att minimera riskerna till att istället omfamna osäkerheten och fatta rätt beslut på bra grunder.