The transition to renewable energy sources is vital to mitigate global warming and achieve the climate targets set by the EU. The availability of natural gas in Europe is challenged due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, leading to a shift towards fossil-free alternatives. In collaboration with Siemens Energy, this thesis investigates the availability of green fuels for gas turbines in Europe, specifically in Germany, Poland, and the UK. The methodology includes analysing literature, internal and official documents, and conducting a customer survey.  The fuel availability outlook indicates an upcoming expansion of hydrogen infrastructure, with Germany and the UK expected to have operational hydrogen infrastructure within the next 5-10 years. While green ammonia and e-methanol may have limited roles in the energy transition, ammonia's capacity to transport hydrogen makes it a potential energy carrier, and the existing distribution network could facilitate the early adoption of large-scale ammonia transportation. Biofuel availability varies across regions, feedstocks, and production methods, with biogas, biomethane and HVO showing significant potential. Natural gas remains the most cost-effective fuel until 2040, with blue hydrogen and ammonia, along with carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS), identified as the best alternative green fuels. After 2035, green hydrogen will emerge as the most cost-effective green option. The customer survey highlights the preference for hydrogen and ammonia, driven by governmental requirements and environmental responsibility. This study emphasises the promising transition fuels and the need to explore CCUS technologies' impact on fossil-based fuel prices.

Climate change is no novelty – we witness its disastrous impact more and more by each day. Although we already started envisaging a future where the vitality of our societies is derived not from conventional fossil fuels, but from a sophisticated, clean, and steadfast energy source – the latest benchmarks tracked by leading global energy agencies show grim performance, thereby calling for an intervention. The exploration into Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) could present a stable and likely journey towards this vision – offering a glimpse into a future where energy is not only abundant, but also conscientiously generated. SMRs are compact versions of traditional nuclear power plants, yet they bring additional advantages such as potential cost-effectiveness and adaptability to diverse locations and environments. These reactors promise to cater to our escalating energy demands while simultaneously upholding environmental integrity. However, as this research reveals, their implementation – particularly in Finland and Sweden – isn't without challenges. While SMRs offer potential benefits, the regulatory landscapes in both countries present formidable obstacles. Finland's regulatory body, known for its stringent oversight, ensures adherence to the highest safety standards. Yet, this rigor can sometimes be a double-edged sword – especially when navigating the dynamic realm of SMRs. In contrast, Sweden grapples with pronounced regulatory uncertainties and ambiguity, further complicated by historical public skepticism towards the nuclear sector. Safety perceptions in the nuclear industry often deviate towards feelings rather than quantifiable metrics. This underlines an ongoing debate: should we define an acceptable safety threshold or aim for absolute safety? Moreover, the intertwined nature of politics and large-scale nuclear projects necessitates well-considered, stable strategies to harness SMRs' potential. Focused on Finland and Sweden – countries with rich nuclear histories – this research offers a deep dive into the complex narrative of risks, opportunities, and strategic challenges surrounding SMRs in the Nordic context. It underscores the need for a nuanced approach that combines technological innovation with socio-political considerations.

In recent decades, there has been a growing recognition of Indigenous rights over traditional territories and natural resources, alongside the intensification of extractive activities on Indigenous lands, often in violation of their rights.The paradox is driven by several factors, including escalating global commodity prices, energy security concerns, and the shift towards green energy. While Sweden has long been known for promoting human rights and environmental standards, the exploitation of rare earth metals in Kiruna has emerged as a significant priority on the Swedish political agenda. These metals are crucial for producing green energy technologies and advancing green energy transition in the country as well as Europe. However, mining rare earth metals in Kiruna raises concerns about the impact on the traditional ways of life of the Sámi Indigenous people, who rely on these territories for their survival and cultural identity. The Sámi people have a deep connection to the land and are greatly affected by environmental changes, including mining activities in their territories. This thesis aims to explore the role of the Sámi Indigenous people in the decision-making process of the Per Geijer expansion of Kiruna mine. Considering the significant priority given to advancing the green energy transition, a critical question arises whether the green energy transition is truly “green” if it requires sacrificing the cultural heritage of the Sámi Indigenous communities in the area.  By employing various perspectives and drawing on environmental justice and interactive governance theories, this thesis aims to shed light on this complex intersection of mining, Indigenous rights, and the pursuit of sustainability, with a particular emphasis on the social sustainability implications.

Chapter 1: This paper offers new causal evidence on how the timing of prenatal temperature shocks affects fetal health, sex ratio at birth, and early-age human capital. Analyzing data on nearly 2 million live births from sub-Saharan African countries and exploiting exogenous spatial and temporal variation in monthly temperature, we uncover three findings. First, we find that a cold temperature shock decreases the likelihood of a male birth. This effect is non-linear, being larger in the first and third trimesters of pregnancy. It is also highly heterogeneous, being larger for older women, higher parity births, and rural areas. Second, combining our empirical estimates with a climate model, we find that the number of fetal deaths caused by climate change will rise from 200 to 400 per 100,000 live births by 2050 throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Third, in contrast to their differential effect on fetal mortality, prenatal temperature shocks increase infant mortality more for females than for males, suggesting that only healthier male fetuses survive to adverse in utero conditions. Our analysis implies that the design of policies to avert the negative impacts of climate change on children should account for stages of fetal development. Chapter 2: Despite its enormous individual and social costs; the fundamental and long- run causes of cognitive aging remain understudied. We study the causal effect of in-utero temperature exposure on cognition during old age. Combining unique data on South African adults between 40 and 99 years of age with geospatial information on historical temperatures, our identification strategy exploits exogenous, within-municipality-of-birth, month-to-month variations in temperature, and controls for contemporaneous weather and location at the time of survey administration. We find that temperature in the first trimester of pregnancy negatively affects the cognitive function score later in life, but temperature in the second and third trimesters has a positive effect on adults cognitive function score. These differing effects result in an overall U-shaped relationship between prenatal exposure to temperature and cognition. This non-linear relationship is robust across measures of memory, reasoning, and information processing speed. Our findings are consistent with the fetal programming theory, which holds that the first trimester of pregnancy is the most crucial window of brain formation. In accordance with this theory, brain development occurring in the first trimester of pregnancy would therefore have the highest vulnerability to external shocks. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effect of prenatal temperature on cognition is larger for men, individuals over 75 years of age, and individuals with low social capital. Analyzing causal mechanisms, we find that prenatal temperature affects key determinants of individuals' cognitive reserve. We also find that exposure to drought during the first trimester of pregnancy and reduced sleep during adulthood are other potential channels through which the effects of prenatal exposure to temperature operate. Chapter 3: A large literature seeking to understand the labor market impacts associated with the clean energy transitions broadly finds opposite effects. On the one hand, a net positive impact on the workforce i.e. the new green jobs created in renewable energy sectors will compensate for the jobs lost in fossil-fuel sectors, while on the other hand, the so-called regulated dirty energy sector will reduce the fraction of workers hired. However, empirical and simulation models typically ignore transitional impacts associated with environmental regulations on labour. These relate to how workers adjust over time to environmental regulations, not just the steady state impact that is the focus of prior studies. We evaluate an environmental regulation (Ontario coal-fired electricity generating plants phase-out) regarding its transitional and long-term impacts on employee's outcomes including (i) wages; (ii) unemployment insurance; (iii) sector mobility; and (iv) geographic location. Using the Longitudinal Worker File (LWF) and Postal Codes Conversion File (PCCF) maintained by Statistics Canada, we estimate the labor market impacts of clean energy policy by comparing employees from affected coal plants to a comparable group of employees from non-affected plants. We find that, workers exposed to Ontario phase-out coal policy have earned on average 7000 $ CAD yearly less compared to those who weren't exposed. Our findings are consistent across a set of alternative specifications and robustness checks. Moreover, results from the event study approach suggest that the regulation leads to labor costs with the de- cline of wages just in transition. We provide supportive evidence on large labor costs due to environmental regulation policy and shed lights on the importance of reforms and training programs to support workers during the transition.

With increasing shares of variable renewable energy sources in the power mix, the need for energy storage solutions is projected to increase as well. Storage can in such combined systems help mitigate the issues with relying on intermittent sources by time-shifting the supply and smoothing out frequency fluctuations, to name some examples. This thesis has focused on Azelio ABs flagship product, the TES.POD, which is a long-duration thermal energy storage technology. When integrated with, for example, solar PV power, the TES.POD can store excess energy and dispatch it during times of low supply or when during the evening/night. The aim of the thesis has been the development of a day-ahead dispatch optimization tool for systems that include multiple TES.PODs, combined into a Cluster, and solar PV. The model was to be built using the Python programming language and based on Mixed-Integer-Linear-Programming (MILP) methods. The PV+storage system was then allowed to be connected to supplementary power sources such as a larger electric grid, or diesel generators in off-grid locations. The purpose of the optimization model is to find the most economic way to operate the individual TES.PODs while also keeping track of other system components, using a cost-based objective function (minimize costs). A focus has been on using high time resolution (small time step) in order to investigate the impact that the TES.PODs dynamic constraints has on operation. Another strength compared to pre-existing models was the ability to operate individual units indifferent to each other, as opposed to having them all operated in unison. Final results from benchmarking tests and two case studies indicated that using the optimization tool with smaller time steps had an effect on key indicators, and could lead to improved economy in the system. It was observed in both cases that the cost of electricity was reduced by running the optimization tool with time steps of either two or three minutes when compared with using an hourly resolution. Furthermore, several usage parameters for the TES.PODs, notably the total amount of operated hours and energy output per cycle, saw improvements which could lead to reduced cost of operation and maintenance. While not the main intent, testing different Cluster sizes and amount of installed PV capacity with the model, it could also be used in strategic decisions for system sizing. However, due to rapidly growing computational times in systems with large TES.POD clusters and using smaller time steps, the possibility of adding more complexity to the model in future work must be done with caution. To combat this issue, either improvements to the model formulation could be attempted, or by using more powerful hardware or optimizer (imported software algorithm that handles solving the model).

This thesis investigates the performance of business model innovation (BMI) by incumbent power utility and clean-tech start-up firms influenced by the German Energiewende. It emphasises the factors that impact BMI from a managers’ perspective, examines success factors for managers to overcome BMI challenges, and addresses contingencies to perform BMI in a more structured way. The research is driven by the German Energiewende. It has been chosen as Germany is considered one of the world’s leading markets for renewable energies and a transformation of the power sector is currently underway. Therefore, established power utility firms face severe changes, which have the characteristics of a potential disruption to their business model (BM). At the same time, new players are challenging these incumbents with new BMs. The research is underpinned by the extant literature on BMs and BMI. The research approach is based on two case studies; the incumbent power utility and the clean-tech start-up sector. The qualitative study comprises of 24 semi-structured interviews conducted with top tier managers, from 18 firms, responsible for BMI within these firms. Key findings: This study extends our knowledge of BMI in both a start-up and an incumbent environment that is influenced by various contingent events. It portrays barriers to BMI and depicts critical success factors for BMI that point out solutions on how to overcome these barriers. It provides a structured BMI framework for established firms and illustrates future BM archetypes in this sector. It clearly documents the German Energiewende is regarded as a disruptive threat from the perspective of incumbent power utility managers. The theoretical contribution of this thesis is a process framework including all identified drivers and challenges for BMI in both established and start-up firms. Contributions to practice include critical success factors for BMI, recommendations to overcome barriers to BMI and future BM archetypes within the newly evolving Energiewende industry based on sustainable technologies.

The consequences of the climate crisis and the increasing energy demand make the energy transi-tion crucial and necessary. Green hydrogen has a significant potential for a low-carbon energy transition. New policies and strategies emerge in line with energy transition and hydrogen poli-cies. This study has presented a model-based outline for the global green hydrogen supply and trade infrastructure in 2050 focusing on supply cost and potential using a cost minimization linear pro-gramming (LP) model which is implemented in the General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) with two scenarios. The results of the Hydrogen Policies Scenario are presented which examines today's hydrogen strategies and initiatives, as well as where the evolution of current technologies could take the hydrogen and energy sectors in 2050. The global hydrogen trade volume reaches 605 Mt (megaton) hydrogen trade per year, with North Africa dominating at 210 Mt. In conclusion, solar power and pipeline infrastructure will be the decisive force of the expansion of the global hydrogen trade.:Concept Methods Hydrogen Policies Conclusion Results

Energy management concerns were raised in France after the oil crisis in the 1970s. From then, the local actors developed policies to better control the energy production and consumption on the territories. Climate considerations and the need to limit greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions were then added to these energy issues in the early 2000s. The Climate Plans first appeared in France in 2004, in the National Climate Plan. This regulatory document outlined the desire to apply national and European energy and climate objectives at the territorial level. This initiative laid the foundations for the principle of territorial climate-air-energy planning, which became statutory in 2015 for Public Establishment of Intercommunal Cooperation with over 50,000 inhabitants. A regulatory framework has defined the ins and outs of this planning exercise, but the first results have shown that not all local authorities have fully taken up these planning issues, due to a lack of internal competence, means and method to answer the formal exercise. Tot heir credit, the regulatory objectives imposed by the National Low Carbon Strategy were quickly judged to be out of touch and disconnected from local reality, particularly for industrial territories. More recently, a growing number of local authorities have chosen to flesh out their territorial strategy by drawing up an Energy Master Plan, a roadmap that outlines a comprehensive and integrated approach to managing energy resources. Based on a case study of the Urban Community of Dunkirk, this thesis investigates how local authorities have taken up these energy and climate planning challenges, the difficulties they face, and how the Plan Climat-Air-Energie Territoriaux (Local Climate Air Energy Plan) could become essential monitoring tools for the low-carbon transition of territories if they were equipped with real decision-support tools. The case of the Urban Community of Dunkirk is emblematic. Responsible for 4% of France's GHG emissions due to its port and industrial activities, the urban area has committed itself to implementing accelerated decarbonisation. An exploratory study is carried out based on a comparative analysis of the 2022 revised climate plan of the Urban Community of Dunkirk and the Energy Master Plan developed by the Greater Lyon Metropolis in 2019, as well as a series of interviews with the departments and researchers specialising in environmental and territorial planning. On the one hand, results identified approximations in the calculations of emissions reduction, and in particular on the formulation of the working and calculation hypotheses for energy and carbon trends by 2050 in the revised climate plan of the Urban Community of Dunkirk. They led to a lack of clarity in the presentation of the territorial strategy defined by the community. On the other hand, results showed that the Energy Master Plan of Grand Lyon allows to build a more robust action plan, whose strength lies in integrating economic, temporal, technical and governance issues. However, a number of limitations have been identified, related to the cumbersome nature of implementing integrated tools for local authorities and the rapid obsolescence of the energy diagnoses carried out on territories resulting from a difficult updating process. Finally, results showed that the decision-support tools that will be developed must meet the technical needs of fine-tuned modelling of territories, the practical needs of coordinating actions over time and measuring their impact, and the cross-sectoral needs of organising governance between all the players involved. / Energifrågorna aktualiserades i Frankrike efter oljekrisen på 1970-talet. Därefter utvecklade de lokala aktörerna strategier för att hantera energiförbrukningen på sina territorier. Klimathänsyn och behovet av att begränsa utsläppen av växthusgaser lades sedan till dessa energifrågor i början av 2000-talet. Klimatplanerna dök först upp i Frankrike 2004, i den nationella klimatplanen. I detta lagstiftningsdokument beskrevs önskan att tillämpa nationella och europeiska energi- och klimatmål på territoriell nivå. Detta initiativ lade grunden till principen om lokal klimat-, luft- och energiplanering, som 2015 blev lagstadgad för offentliga inrättningar för interkommunalt samarbete med över 50 000 invånare. Ett regelverk har definierat hur denna planering ska gå till, men de första resultaten har visat att inte alla lokala myndigheter har tagit sig an dessa planeringsfrågor fullt ut, på grund av brist på intern kompetens, medel och metoder för att svara på den formella uppgiften. De lagstadgade mål som infördes genom den nationella strategin för låga koldioxidutsläpp bedömdes snabbt vara verklighetsfrämmande och inte kopplade till den lokala verkligheten, särskilt för industriområden. På senare tid har ett växande antal lokala myndigheter valt att konkretisera sin territoriella strategi genom att utarbeta en energiplan, en färdplan som beskriver en omfattande och integrerad strategi för att hantera energiresurser. Med utgångspunkt i en fallstudie av stadsregionen Dunkerque undersöker denna avhandling hur lokala myndigheter har tagit sig av dessa utmaningar inom energi- och klimatplanering, vilka svårigheter de möter och hur den lokala klimat- och energiplanen (Plan Climat-Air-Energie Territoriaux) skulle kunna bli viktiga övervakningsverktyg för den koldioxidsnåla omställningen av territorier om de utrustades med verkliga beslutsstödsverktyg. Fallet med den urbana gemenskapen i Dunkerque är emblematiskt. Stadsområdet står för 4% av Frankrikes utsläpp av växthusgaser på grund av sin hamn- och industriverksamhet, och har åtagit sig att genomföra en snabbare utfasning av fossila bränslen. En explorativ studie genomförs baserad på en jämförande analys av den reviderade klimatplanen 2022 för Dunkerque och Energy Master Plan som utvecklades av Greater Lyon Metropolis 2019, samt en serie intervjuer med avdelningar och forskare som är specialiserade på miljö- och territoriell planering. Å ena sidan identifierar resultaten approximationer i beräkningarna av utsläppsminskningar, och i synnerhet i formuleringen av arbets- och beräkningshypoteser för energi- och koldioxidtrender fram till 2050 i den reviderade klimatplanen för Dunkerques stadsgemenskap. De leder till en brist på tydlighet i presentationen av den territoriella strategi som fastställts av kommunen. Å andra sidan visar resultaten att Grand Lyons energimasterplan gör det möjligt att bygga en mer robust handlingsplan, vars styrka ligger i att integrera ekonomiska, tidsmässiga, tekniska och styrningsfrågor. Vi har dock identifierat ett antal begränsningar som rör den besvärliga implementeringen av integrerade verktyg för lokala myndigheter och den snabba föråldringen av de energidiagnoser som utförts på territorier till följd av en svår uppdateringsprocess. Slutligen visade sig att det behövs utveckla beslutsverktyg som måste uppfylla de tekniska behoven av finjusterad modellering av territorier, de praktiska behoven av att samordna åtgärder över tid och mäta deras effekter, samt de sektorsövergripande behoven av att organisera styrning mellan alla aktörer som är involverade.

Diese Dissertation beantwortet verschiedene politikrelevante ökonomische Fragen in den Bereichen Handelspolitik, Geldpolitik, sowie Rohstoffmärkte und Energieökonomik mit Hilfe von strukturellen Vektorautoregressionsmodellen (SVAR). SVARs stellen eine effektive Möglichkeit dar, die Beziehungen zwischen verschiedenen makroökonomischen und/oder Finanzmarkt-Variablen zu modellieren und werden verwendet, um die dynamischen kausalen Effekte von ökonomischen Schocks zu schätzen. Für jede ökonomische Fragestellung wird eine Identifikationsstrategie angewandt, die auf die betrachteten Daten und ihre statistischen Eigenschaften sowie die zugrundeliegenden Annahmen über ökonomische Mechanismen zwischen den betrachteten Zeitreihen zugeschnitten ist. Im Einzelnen besteht diese Dissertation aus vier Kapiteln. In den ersten beiden Kapiteln werden die Auswirkungen von Handelspolitik auf Finanzmärkte und auf die Makroökonomie geschätzt. Das dritte Kapitel liefert einen methodischen Beitrag zur SVAR-Literatur, der in einer Anwendung zu den Effekten von Geldpolitik dargestellt wird. Das letzte Kapitel verlässt die Felder der Handels- und Geldpolitik und wendet sich Rohstoffmärkten und der Energiewirtschaft zu, stützt sich dabei aber ebenfalls auf Zeitreihenmethoden. Es analysiert die Rolle von Metallen in der Energiewende. / This dissertation answers various policy relevant economic questions in the fields of trade policy, monetary policy, and commodity markets and energy economics using structural vector autoregression (SVAR) models. SVARs constitute a parsimonious way to model the relations between different macroeconomic and/or financial variables and they are used to estimate the dynamic causal effects of economic shocks. For each economic question, this dissertation applies an identification strategy that is tailored to the relevant data and its statistical properties as well as the underlying assumptions about economic mechanisms among the regarded time series. Specifically, this dissertation consists of four chapters. The first two chapters estimate the effects of trade policy on financial markets and on the macroeconomy. The third chapter makes a methodological contribution to the SVAR literature in an application to monetary policy shocks. The final chapter moves away from trade and monetary policy to commodity markets and energy economics but also relies on time series methods. It analyzes the role of metals for the clean energy transition.

[pt] O presente trabalho tem o objetivo de estudar a política energética da União Europeia, compreendendo as estratégias e objetivos do bloco, tanto no seu cenário interno, quanto externo. Primeiramente, é apresentado o histórico de formação e estruturação da política externa da União Europeia e de suas três principais potências, evidenciando que este processo foi pautado sob os pilares de segurança interna e demonstrando quais foram os impactos e efeitos desta construção. Em seguida, a pesquisa se aprofunda em três bases para compreender a política energética do bloco, explorando as estratégias de interdependência, securitização e autonomia da União Europeia e assim, analisa as principais características de cada um desses três direcionamentos. Por fim, são analisados documentos oficiais do bloco e seus dados presentes para compreensão do atual desenho da política energética europeia, possibilitando observar que este escopo segue somente dois pilares, eficiência e transição energética. Além disso, a parte final do trabalho busca traçar uma conexão entre a política externa de defesa e segurança e a política externa energética da União Europeia, baseada na ideia de Habermas e Derrida, desenvolvida no artigo February 15, or What Binds Europeans Together. / [en] This paper aims to study the European Union s energy policy, understanding the IO’s strategies and objectives, both internally and externally. First, it will be presented the history of the formation and structuring of the foreign policy of the European Union and its three main powers, showing that this process was based on the pillars of internal security and demonstrating the impacts and effects of this construction. Next, the research delves into three bases for understanding the EU s energy policy: the European Union s interdependence, securitization and autonomy strategies, and with this information, analyses the main characteristics of each of these three directions. Finally, official documents from the UE and their data are analysed to understand the current design of European energy policy, making it possible to observe that this scope follows only two pillars, efficiency and energy transition. Furthermore, the final part of the work seeks to draw a connection between the foreign policy of defense and security and the foreign energy policy of the European Union, based on the idea of Habermas and Derrida, developed in the article February 15, or What Binds Europeans Together.