Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka skillnaden i hållbarhetsredovisningens väsentlighet över tid innan hållbarhetsredovisning var obligatorisk (2013) och efter att den blev obligatorisk (2020). De tio valda hållbarhetsredovisningarna återfinns bland de fem största företagen i den svenska skogsindustrin. Den teoretiska ram som valts för att undersöka denna studie är legitimitetsteorin och intressentteorin. För att utforska rapporterna har vi använt oss av innehållsanalys med kategorisering. Kategoriseringen baseras på obligatorisk information och icke-obligatorisk information, baserad på CSR-terminologi. Resultatet presenteras som procentandelen av den totala rapporten. En kvalitativ metod användes för att tolka resultatet och analysera andelen väsentlig information i rapporterna. Resultatet av denna studie indikerar att en del av informationen har ökat och annan information har minskat i omfattning sedan lagstiftningen. Det innebär också att det är avgörande att företag använder riktlinjer för att sammanställa en hållbarhetsrapport. Studien indikerar också att företagen bedömde samma områden som väsentliga under samma jämförda år. / The aim of this study is to explore the difference in the materiality of sustainability reports over time, before sustainability reporting was mandatory (in 2013) and during (in 2020). The ten sustainability reports analyzed are found among the five biggest companies in the Swedish forest industry. The theoretical framework chosen to investigate this study is the Legitimacy Theory and the Stakeholder Theory. To explore the reports, we have used Content analysis with categorization. The categorization is based on mandatory information and non-mandatory information, based on CSR terminology. The result is presented as a percentage share of the total report. A qualitative approach was used in order to interpret the result and analyze the share of material information in the reports. The result of this study indicates that some of the information has increased, and other information has decreased since the law regulation. It also implies that it is crucial that companies use guidelines in order to assemble a sustainability report. The study also indicates that the companies assessed the same areas as material during the same compared years.

Background and problem: There is a need for more research that is specific to a particular branch of industry when it comes to capital budgeting. Especially when it comes to mapping how companies within the Swedish forest industry proceed capital budgeting when investing in tangible fixed assets. The reason for this is that the research regarding the subject within the industry is either made abroad, focusing only on a few companies or excluding the non-financial considerations that are made during the capital budgeting process. It is not reasonable to not take these considerations into account, due to the fact that it has a great impact on the capital investment decision. Besides this, it is through both the financial and the non-financial consequences that the complex reality can be captured. In other words, capital budgeting can only be studied in large when including both financial and non-financial considerations at the same time as there is a need to delimit the research to one industry and one country.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to map how companies within the Swedish forest industry handle capital budgeting when investing in tangible fixed assets. The mapping will be done by determining which calculation methods that are frequently used and what financial and non-financial considerations that are made. The purpose is also to define the reasons as to why the Swedish forest companies prioritize precisely these considerations when managing capital budgeting. The ambition is to make sure that the research’s conclusions depict capital budgeting in the industry and trought that contribute to a greater understanding of the practical application of capital budgeting within Swedish forest industry.  Method: The thesis is primarily described as a qualitative research that is based on interviews. The empirical data is mostly gathered through semi structured interviews with respondents from different Swedish forest companies and the interviews are supplemented with information from various websites, annual reports and internal documents.  Conclusions: Swedish forest companies are influenced by a number of factors which in turn affects how they handle capital budgeting when investing in tangible fixed assets. The financial considerations are mainly found through the usage of different investment calculation methods, where the payback method followed by the net present value method are most commonly used. The non-financial considerations are mainly characterized by industry specific conditions together with a focus on environment, security and competitiveness.

I have in this thesis problematized the Swedish climate transition potentially making Sweden one of the first fossil free welfare states in the world. The forest industry has been designated as one of the central components of climate transition in that it will help replace fossil fuels and other unsustainable materials. One group being affected by the increased forestry is that of the Sámi reindeer herders. Not only are they already affected by the effects of climate change to a great extent, but the forest industry in turn causes problems for reindeer husbandry and is a direct source of reduced quality in forests which provide lichen, the primary food source for reindeer. I have conducted interviews with five reindeer herders in the Malå forest Sámi village, in Västerbotten, in northern Sweden, to gain a keener understanding of the effects of climate change and the forest industry on reindeer herding, from a security perspective. The results show that the interviewees perceive climate change and large-scale forestry as a threat to their livelihood connected to reindeer husbandry and, in turn, a significant part of Sámi culture and existence, and that the two exacerbate the effects of each other. Among the effects, are the loss of forest that provides shelter and sustenance for reindeer, as well as the wellbeing and spirituality of the reindeer herders. Using theories drawn from Anthropocene and postcolonial literature, I hereby problematize the climate transition in Sweden in that it is based on a particular way of viewing the relationship between humans and nature. This causes problems for reindeer husbandry, and ultimately a reduction in security for reindeer herders that is reminiscent of and upholding the frictional and colonial bonds between Sweden and Sápmi (the region inhabited by Sámi people).

I många år har linjär ekonomi tillämpats i samhället men det börjar ske en förändring. Nu börjar det bli intressant att skapa ett ekonomiskt värde i restprodukter genom att bilda cirkulära ekonomier, som dessutom minskar utarmningen av jordens resurser och skapar hållbarhet. En kritisk ändlig naturresurs för alla levande organismer är mackronäringsämnet fosfor. Den bryts i stora dagbrott men börjar bli mer svåråtkomlig och utspädd vilket kan leda till att det blir en resursbrist i framtiden. De skogsindustriella reningsverken behöver näringsämnen för att kunna rena avloppsvatten från organiskt material. Där tillsätts bland annat kväve och fosfor vars utvinning är energikrävande och bidrar till miljöföroreningar. Inne i reningsverket sker många biologiska processer som är beroende av flera faktorer för att uppnå en hög reningsgrad. En faktor är temperatur. Pappers och massabruken har ofta varma flöden som behöver kylas ner innan de går till reningsverket, därav fås ett stort överskott av lågvärdig energi som ej används (spillvärme). Under de senaste åren har både ett politiskt och privat driv uppstått att utöka det svenska vattenbruket med akvatiska produkter, exempelvis fisk. Fiskar kan odlas i öppna kassar i sjöar/hav men det finns risker så som övergödning och spridning av sjukdomar. Därav är intresset stort för landbaserade fiskodlingar med Recirculating Aquaculture Systems. En landbaserad fiskodling har dock ett stort värmebehov för att bibehålla rätt vattentemperatur för fisken. Avloppsvattnet har även ett högt innehåll av kväve och fosfor som behöver renas innan det släpps ut. Med hjälp av programmet Simulink byggdes en simuleringsmodell över ett skogsindustriellt reningsverk i symbios med en fiskodling. Syftet var att undersöka möjligheter och begränsningar för symbiosen med ett extra fokus på reningsverket. Målen var att ta reda på hur mycket mindre kväve och fosfor som behövs i reningsverket, utföra en miljöanalys av symbiosen, identifiera begränsande faktorer och hitta lösningar samt ta reda på om spillvärmen räcker för att värma fiskodlingen De erhållna resultaten var att reningsverket kan spara 82 ton fosforsyra och upp till 817 ton ammoniak per år. Reningsverket klarar belastningen från en fiskodling med en årlig produktion på 2200 ton fisk utan överskrida sin dåvarande utsläpp år 2021, vilket motsvarar 2,9 kg odlad fisk per ton producerad massa. Det kan reducera reningsverkets och fiskodlingen koldioxidutsläpp med 471,1 ton respektive 485,7 ton per år. Under året infaller ett processtop i pappers och massaindustrin. Det leder till strypt värmetillförsel för fiskodlingen som resulterar i för kall fiskvattentemperatur samt för höga utsläpp närsalter vid uppstart av reningsverket. En lösning är att lägga på fem centimeters isolering på fiskpoolerna. För att minimera närsaltsutsläppen kan fasta närsalter ur fiskavloppsvattnet filtreras bort och en kolkälla tillsättas. För att maximera användningen av spillvärme kan en icke isolerad 3000 ton fiskodling byggas. Värmningsbehovet per år blir då runt 16000 MWh vilket motsvarar cirka 4,7 % av spillvärmen. / For many years, linear economics has been applied in society, but it is changing. Instead, it is now interesting to create an economic value in residual products by forming circular economies, which also reduces the depletion of the earth's resources and promote sustainability. A critical finite natural resources for all living organisms is the macronutrient phosphorus. It is mined in large open pits but is becoming diluted and difficult to access, which may lead to a lack of resource in the future. The forest industry wastewater treatment plants need nutrients to be able to treat wastewater from organic material. Among other things, nitrogen and phosphorus are added, the extraction of which is energy-intensive and contributes to environmental pollution. Inside the treatment plant, many biological processes take place that depend on several factors to achieve a high degree of treatment. One factor is temperature. Paper and pulp mills often have warm streams of water that needs to be cooled down before being sent to the treatment plant, which results in a large surplus of waste heat that is not used. In recent years, both a political and private drive has arisen to expand Swedish aquaculture with aquatic products such as fish. Fish can be grown in open net pens in lakes / seas, but there are risks such as eutrophication and the spread of diseases. As a result, there is great interest in land-based fish farms with Recirculating Aquaculture Systems. However, a land-based fish farm has a great need for heat to maintain the right water temperature for the fish. The wastewater also has a high content of nitrogen and phosphorus that needs to be treated before it is discharged. With the help of the program Simulink, a simulation model was built describing a forest industry treatment plant in symbiosis with a fish farm. The purpose was to investigate possibilities and limitations for the symbiosis with an extra focus on the treatment plant. The goals were to investigate how much less nitrogen and phosphorus is needed in the treatment plant, perform an environmental analysis of the symbiosis, identify limiting factors, find solutions and find out if there is enough waste heat to heat the fish farm The results obtained were that the treatment plant can save 82 tonnes of phosphoric acid and up to 817 tonnes of ammonia per year. The treatment plant manages the load from a fish farm with an annual production of 2200 tonnes of fish without exceeding its equivalent discharge pollution levels of 2021, which is equal to 2,9 kg farmed fish per tonne produced pulp. It can reduce the treatment plant's and fish farm's carbon dioxide emissions by 471.1 tonnes and 485.7 tonnes per year, respectively During the year, a process stop occurs in the paper and pulp industry. This leads to a restricted heat supply for the fish farm, which results in a too cold water temperature for the fish and too high discharges of nutrients in to receiving lake at the start-up of the treatment plant. One solution to this issue is to put five centimetres of insulation on the fish pools. To minimize nutrient discharges, the solid nutrients from the fish wastewater can be filtered out and a carbon source added. To maximize the use of waste heat, a non-insulated 3000 ton fish farm can be built. The heating demand per year will then be around 16,000 MWh, which corresponds to approximately 4.7% of the waste heat.

The globalization of business has contributed to an increased risk within companies' supply chains. To manage these changes and risks within the supply chain, Supply Chain Risk Management has been important for businesses in order to be able to better detect, predict, avoid or reduce effects with a negative impact within the supply chain.The Covid-19 pandemic has caused disruptions and risks to companies' supply chains on a global level, which has put robustness and resilience to the test. For this reason, it is necessary to investigate how companies handle risks and disruptions as a result of Covid-19 in the supply chain.The aim of this study was to identify and prioritize disruptions that have been caused as a result of global disruptions such as the Covid-19 pandemic with the aim of being able to contribute with risk reduction measures for these types of disruptions. This was carried out through a case study at a manufacturing company in the forest industry, where the risks were identified through a review of documents, theory and proposals from the head of department at Supply Chain Management Logistics. Semistructured interviews with a total of ten informants were conducted in order to obtain information on how several of these risks have caused disruptions and consequences.In order to be able to prioritize the risks, risk assessments have been carried out by the same informants from the case company where the risks were valued and classified in risk matrices. The study showed that risks related to disrupted production, staff shortages, political disruptions, natural disasters, uncertain business scenarios, fully booked ferries, driver shortages, delivery disruptions, cargo shortages and risks linked to contractors at the production unit have caused consequences within the global supply chain.The two aggregated risk matrices showed that the risks related to staff shortages, natural disasters, disrupted production and risks linked to contractors in the production unit were the most serious and should therefore be prioritised and require risk mitigation measures.

Svenska företag står inför stora marknadsförändringar i takt med att modern teknik, sociala strukturer och den etniska sammansättningen i samhället förändras. Ett sätt att arbeta med dessa förändringar är att öka mångfalden på arbetsplatsen genom inkluderande verksamhet. Detta arbete ska ge en nulägesanalys av graden av mångfald på Holmen Skog, som i sin tur kan ligga till grund för en fortsatt ökad förståelse kring begreppen och skapa förutsättningar att bedriva inkluderande verksamhet. / Swedish companies are facing major market changes as modern technology, social structures and the ethnic makeup in society is changing. One way of working with these changes is to increase diversity within the workplace though inclusiveness. This essay gives a current situation assessment of the degree of diversity within Holmen Skog, which in turn can form the foundation for an increased understanding of the concepts surrounding diversity and create pre-requisites to conduct inclusiveness in the workplace.

This study analyses the international timber trade between Malaysia and Europe with respect to the importance of environmental issues on trade and the role of Malaysia as a major timber exporter to Europe. It also evaluates the comparative advantage of Malaysian wood products and the willingness of French consumers (to represent European communities) to pay for sustainable forest management. The first part gives an overview the clashes of perception between developed and developing countries on the environmental concerns over trade. It was observed that environmental standards may act as non-tariff barriers to exporting countries. In addition, the stringent requirements posed by importing countries on technical, marking and labelling to some extent provide unnecessary barriers to trade. The second part deals with the role of Malaysia as a key player in the tropical timber trade. This part evaluates the main export market for Malaysian wood products to the world. For the purpose of this thesis, the analysis focuses on the European market. From the observations, it was found that the export of wooden furniture surpassed major timber exports in 2004. However, to penetrate the European market, Malaysia has to compete with the Chinese with their lower cost tropical wood products, and Brazil with their advantage in certification and labelling of tropical wood products. In tandem with that, the commitment towards sustainable forest management at national level causes shortage of raw materials in Malaysia. To a certain extent, the internal and external factors create necessary challenges to enter the European market. In the third part, the Balassa approach was used to classify the comparative advantage of Malaysia's twenty one types of wood products in Europe. It was estimated that Malaysia had high comparative advantage only in five products which were mechanized and intermediary industrial products. The products identified were sawn wood, wooden mouldings, plywood, veneer and builders' joinery and carpentry. The remaining products had lower comparative advantage and disadvantage to export to the European market based on the Balassa index. In the last part, the estimation on the willingness to pay for sustainable forest management attributes was conducted. Besides that, additional attributes such as fair trade and wood origin were included. A questionnaire was set up using all the attributes reflected in the hypothetical wood flooring product in the market. Based on the result, consumers were willing to pay the highest for the presence of fair trade and wood origin (in this study referring to French origin); nevertheless they were still willing to pay for sustainable aspects of forest. However, the willingness to pay for all the attributes was altered depending on the respondents' knowledge of forest labelling, their attitudes towards environmental preservation, living area, education level, type of job and income level. In the overall finding of the thesis, all the results from each part were synthesized in a systemic approach simultaneously deliberating on the macro and microeconomic perspectives as well as the dimensions on demand and supply. Overall, the findings suggest that the challenges and constraints facing the Malaysian timber industry indirectly shaped the export of Malaysian wooden products. Malaysia has adapted by going into value-added products to lessen the impact of environment-related trade barriers and to circumvent the shortage of raw materials supply. Malaysia has successfully customized the wooden products to the sustainability and legality requirements of the European market by pursuing the national certification (Malaysian Timber Certification) and being committed to sustainable forest management objectives.

This thesis analyses how the Swedish forest industry has (re)acted regarding the energy transition and, in particular, regarding the reconstruction of the electricity and forest resources in Sweden during the 1989–2009 period. The thesis consists of four papers that analyse how the Swedish forest industry by means of energy management practices at individual pulp and/or paper mills, in corporate strategies performed by CEOs and boards of directors, and via its industry association, has dealt with mounting political and public demands for the industry to become ‘greener’. At the heart of the thesis are issues related to the industry’s substantial use and management of electricity and forest resources. This thesis focuses on the patterns of conflict and reconstruction that various forest industry representatives (e.g., CEOs) and entities (e.g., mills and resources) have experienced in relation to opposing and/or adjusting to the energy transition. The Swedish forest industry constitutes an illuminating case in a wider research context of how an industry (re)acts regarding increasing environmental and energy-related demands concerning its strategic resources. By using multidisciplinary theoretical concepts when analysing industrial change, this thesis demonstrates the industry’s wider embeddedness in science, policy, and material resources. / Den här sammanläggningsavhandlingen analyserar hur svensk skogsindustri (re)agerat beträffande energiomställningen och särskilt omvandlingen av elektricitets- och skogsresurserna i Sverige, 1989-2009. Avhandlingen består av fyra artiklar vilka analyserar hur svensk skogsindustri, genom energiledning i massa- och pappersbruk, i företagsledningars koncernstrategier, och genom branschorganisationen, hanterat de ökade miljökrav som politiker och allmänhet riktat mot branschen. I centrum för avhandlingen står särskilt frågor relaterade till branschens omfattande användning och hantering av elektricitet och skogsresurser. Mer specifikt fokuserar avhandlingen på de konflikter och förändringar som skogsindustrin genomgått som ett led i motståndet och/eller anpassningen till energiomställningen. Den svenska skogsindustrin utgör ett belysande fall på hur en energiintensiv bransch (re)agerar på ökade miljömässiga krav riktade mot dess energi- och naturresursanvändning. Avhandlingen kan därmed även bidra med kunskap om hur en bransch hanterar förändringskrav riktade mot dess strategiska nyckelresurser. Genom att analysera industriell förändring med multidisciplinära teoretiska begrepp tydliggörs branschens inbäddning i vetenskap, politik, och materiella resurser.

Nivåerna av växthusgaser i atmosfären har ökat drastiskt de senaste århundradet, till följd av mänsklig aktivitet. Det krävs en stor omställning för oss människor om klimatförändringarna ska motverkas och för att konsekvenserna för planeten inte ska bli allt för stora. Koldioxid är en av de viktigaste växthusgaserna och skogen är en viktig del i balansen av koldioxid i atmosfären genom att växter och träd binder in koldioxid och lagrar biogent kol i biomassan. Rundvirke kan användas för att producera en mängd olika produkter med olika användningsområden och varierande livslängd och det finns både globala och nationella mål som stödjer ett arbete för en minskad klimatpåverkan med skogens resurser som verktyg. Syftet med examensarbetet var att analysera inbindningen av biogent kol i det årliga tillskottet av träbaserade produkter från svensk skogsindustri, för att sedan undersöka potentialen att öka tiden för inbindning av det biogena kolet. FN:s klimatpanel (IPCC) har tagit fram en generell metod för att beräkna lagringen av kol i skördade träprodukter och beräkningarna bygger på tre produktkategorier, vilka är sågade trävaror, spånskivor och papper och kartong. Detta examensarbete har utvidgat FN:s klimatrapportering genom att studera totalt sexton produktkategorier. Flödet av biogent kol studerades genom en materialflödesanalys, som bygger på massbalans mellan ”inputs” och ”outputs” i ett system. Systemet studerades från det att råvara förbrukas till dess att produkterna går som avfall och förbränns. Statistik över råvaruförbrukning inom sågverksindustrin och massaindustrin, samt produktionsmängd av fibermassa och träbaserade produkter användes i analysen. En stor volym biomassa går dessutom direkt till förbränning och ger bioenergi. Resultatet visade att sågade trävaror från sågverksindustrin har längst medellivslängd och binder även in störst mängd biogent kol. Biobränslen har kortast medellivslängd, och koldioxid frigörs till atmosfären på mycket kortast tid. Enligt detta examensarbete innehåller träbaserade produkter från Sverige 29,0 miljoner ton koldioxid årligen. Tre strategier att förlänga inbindningstiden av biogent kol studerades, vilka är förlängd livslängd för produkter, kaskadanvändning och Bio-Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). Att förlänga livslängden för produkter innebär att återvinning av exempelvis cellulosabaserade textilier införs. Kaskadanvändning innebär att skogsindustrin primärt ska producera långlivade produkter och undvika att biomassa direkt går till förbränning. BECCS bygger på att träden binder in kol i sin biomassa och när en träbaserad produkt förbränns pressas frigjord koldioxid ned i marken och lagras. BECCS bedöms vara den strategi som är mest avancerad. / The levels of greenhouse gases have increased drastically over the past hundred years as a result of human activity. Major actions are needed to counter climate change, if the consequences are not to be too great. Carbon dioxide is one of the most important greenhouse gases and the forest is an important part of the balance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, by the fact that plants and trees bind carbon dioxide and store biogenic carbon in the biomass. Roundwood can be used to produce a variety of products with different applications and varying life spans and there are both global and national goals that support a work to reduce climate change with forest resources as tools. The aim of the thesis was to analyse the storage of biogenic carbon in the annual addition of wood-based products from the Swedish forest industry, and then to investigate the potential to increase the time of storage. The UN Climate Panel (IPCC) has developed a general method for calculating the storage of carbon in harvested wood products and the calculations is based on three product categories, which are sawn wood, wood-based panels and paper and paperboard. This thesis has expanded the UN climate reporting by studying a total of sixteen product categories. The flow of carbon was studied using a material flow analysis, which is based on the mass balance of inputs and outputs in a system. The system was studied from the raw material being consumed until the products are defined as waste and incinerated. The calculations were based on statistics on raw material consumption in the sawmill industry and the pulp and paper industry, as well as production volume of fibre pulp and wood-based products. A large volume of biomass also goes directly to incineration and provides bioenergy. The binding time of biogenic carbon was analysed to explore the potential of increasing the binding time, using different strategies. Sawn timber products from the sawmill industry have the longest average life span and also bind the highest amount of biogenic carbon. Biofuels have the shortest average life span, which means that carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere rapidly. A total of 29.0 million tonnes of carbon dioxide are stored in wood-based products annually, according to this study. Three strategies to extend the storage time of biogenic carbon were studied in this study, which were extended life span of the products, cascading wood use and so called BECCS. To extend product life means introducing recycling of, for example, cellulose-based textiles. Cascading wood use means that the forest industry primarily produce long-lived products and avoid biomass going directly to incineration. BECCS is based on the fact that trees bind carbon dioxide in their biomass and when wood-based product is incinerated, the carbon dioxide is stored in the ground. BECCS is considered to be the most advanced strategy, of the three.

Forestry stands for 12% of the global greenhouse emissions which makes forestry an important policy area for sustainable development. On the 16th of July 2021, the EU’s new forest strategy was released. Since 2018 Sweden has its own forest program. Due to the new EU forest strategy receiving a lot of criticism, it is clear that the forest policy in EU and Sweden have different understandings on the forests' role for sustainable development. This thesis aims to explore how different understandings of a policy problem are expressed in a case of multi-level governance, which in this case is forest policy. To investigate this, we use the method of discourse analysis where the analytical tool applied is Carol Bacchi's “What’s the problem represented to be?”- framework. Our approach consists of four interrelated questions that are asked to the policy documents, which lead to an understanding of how problems are represented as well as which discursive effects these problematizations create. The study shows that the EU and Sweden's forest policies have different understandings on how the forest best should contribute to climate change. These differences create certain discursive effects where the Swedish forest policies to a larger extent benefit the forest industry and the EU forest policy to a larger extent sees the intrinsic value of nature as well as incorporates the indigenous perspective.