In a contemporary with intense concerns towards global warming, this thesis has investigated the matter of how trade regulation policies, responding to climate change, are rhetorically motivated and discussed within international forums. Particularly by looking at the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and by critically dissecting how the EU has been navigating its conflicting position; on one hand, as the self-appointed leader of progressive climate actions, on the other hand, as the guardian of the common economic interests of the Union – and on a third stand, as a prominent member of the World Trade Organization, with binding obligations to not violate its rules.  On the basis of a theoretically post-colonial perspective, this paper has explored the power-relational tensions operating within discussions, practically by investigating the narrating presence of post-colonial tendencies. The study has additionally been interested in contributing to wider discussions on ideas and processes influencing the evolvement of international trade regulations on climate, and similarly, to constructively nuance the leadership role shouldered by the EU. This has been completed through an operationalization of three theoretical concepts; Universalism, Otherness/Self and Hegemony - and by implementing a mixed-method approach, bringing forward both qualitative and quantitative results answering up to the question on how the EU’s motivation in favour of the CBAM has been carried out rhetorically – both within internal discussions and during official WTO meetings.  Based on two data-cases reflecting the nature of EU’s rhetoric within the two forums, and in relation to the three theoretical concepts - intentionally developed to detect different post-colonial features - this study resulted in interesting outcomes demonstrating distinct rhetorical patterns. While in WTO contexts, emphases were put on asserting the EU as the natural leader and the CBAM as the most ambitious and effective environmental tool – internal discussions revealed contrastingly higher emphases on motivating the CBAM in terms of being a convenient regulation, serving the climate objective - most importantly - without interfering, nor jeopardizing the sovereignty of EU’s economic position. In fact, comparing between the two data-cases, the frequency of code-words motivating economic interests were 178% higher in internal EU discussions. It has therefore been verified that EU’s internal discussions on how to tackle global warming are strongly interlinked with reasonings around economic matters of interests. On the contrary, this is exceedingly toned down during official WTO-meetings.

Antropogena utsläpp av koldioxid och andra växthusgaser har orsakat en ökning avden globala genomsnittliga yttemperaturen över förindustriella nivåer. Samhället stårdärför inför en klimatomställning på en global, nationell och lokal nivå. Den globalakoldioxidbudgeten motsvarar den totala mängd antropogena koldioxidutsläpp som ärtillåtet för att hålla sig inom ramen av de uppsatta målen inom Parisavtalet. Studienbryter ner den globala koldioxidbudgeten på lokal nivå för att åskådliggörapotentiella vägar för Tranemo till att bli en fossilfri kommun. Studien bygger därförpå en datainsamling av territoriella och konsumtionsbaserade koldioxidutsläpp inomkommunens geografiska område samt inom kommunens förvaltningsorganisation.Studien analyserar vidare hur den framtida utvecklingen av klimatarbetet påverkarkoldioxidutsläpp med hjälp av scenariotekniker baserat på suveränitetsprincipen.Utsläpp orsakade från industrisektorn, transporter och utrikesflyg motsvarar de trestörsta utsläppskällorna i det geografiska området. Det beskrivna önskvärda scenariot,Best case scenario, budgeterar 602 KT CO2 mellan åren 2021-2045 därutsläppsminskande åtgärder från en av kommunens största industrier är avgörandeför att hålla sig inom ramen av budgeten. Studien visar att om samhället fortsätter attproducera och konsumera i samma takt som tidigare år kommer budgeterade utsläppvara förbrukad vid år 2027. Studien speglar den nationella och globala bilden av industrisektorn som endominerande utsläppskälla. I kontrast till identifierade konsumtionsbaseradeutsläppsminskande åtgärder är industrisektorn är en aktör som skapar en avgörandeeffekt i klimatarbetet för att reducera koldioxidutsläppen. Slutsatser dras attkoldioxidbudgeten som ett politiskt styrande dokument betraktas som ett effektivtstyrmedel om kommunen har större handlingskraft och rådighet över utsläppen somsker. Samverkan mellan offentlig och privat sektor betraktas därför som enframgångsfaktor. Kommunens utmaning för att möjliggöra klimatomställningen är attföra en kraftfull klimatpolitik och vidta åtgärder i ett tidigt skede. Vidare slutsatsersom dras i studien är därför vikten av ett strategiskt utvecklingsarbete för attmöjliggöra klimatomställningen. / Carbon dioxide emissions together with other greenhouse gases emitted byanthropogenic activities have caused an increased global average surface temperatureabove pre-industrial levels. The society is therefore facing a challenge to limit theenvironmental and societal risks associated to a global warming below 2 ° C, with theambition of 1.5 ° C. The global carbon budget determines the total amount ofanthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions that are allowed to likely limit a globalwarming of 2 ° C. By breaking down the global carbon budget at a local level,highlights this study hypothetical ways for the municipality of Tranemo to become afossil free municipality by using scenario techniques according to the principal of“grandfathering”. The study therefor maps out historical territorial and consumptionbasedcarbon dioxide emissions that are caused within the municipality’sgeographical area, and within the municipality’s administrative organization, in orderto further identify and propose climate actions.The study points out that emissions caused by the industrial sector, transportationsector, and international flights generate the greatest impact in the geographical areaof Tranemo. The desirable scenario, Best case scenario, accounts 602 KT CO2 betweenyear 2021-2045 where an emission reduction action from one of the municipality’slargest industries is crucial to stay within the budget. The study illustrates that thebudget will be spent by the year 2027 if the society continues to produce and consumein the same pace as previous years. The industrial sector is a dominant polluter at a national and global level. The studyconfirms that industrial sector is also a dominant emission source at a local level forthe geographical area of Tranemo. Climate actions within the industrial sector aretherefore crucial. The identified consumption-based climate actions are consequentlynegligible in contrast to emissions caused by the industrial sector. The studyconcludes that the carbon budget as a political document is regarded as an effectivetool if the municipality has a greater leverage and resourcefulness of the overallgenerated emissions. Cooperation between public and private actors is considered tobe a factor for success. The study clarifies the importance of strategic developmentwork, and influencing factors connected to it when it comes to transforming oursociety towards a sustainable development. / <p>2020-06-05</p>

Concrete is one of the world's most widely used building materials,but due to the high carbon dioxide emissions produced by the concretecomponent Portland cement, there is a growing need of alternativeconcrete recipes that require less portland cement. When you replace aportion of the Portland cement in the concrete recipe with an additivematerial such as granulated blast furnace slag, the carbon dioxideemissions decrease, but the strength growth becomes slower. Inconcrete casting, there are currently several working methods foraccelerating strength growth and the purpose of this work is toinvestigate the effect that various hardening accelerating measureshave on slag-based concrete. The work is limited to studying buildingproduction and focuses on the structural parts concrete slabs, wallsand filigree slabs. The study was carried out in collaboration withSkanska AB.To investigate the effect of different hardening accelerating measureson slag-based concrete, concrete casting simulations are compared inthe software Produktionsplanering Betong (PPB). The measures that arestudied in different variations are heating coils, external heating,insulation and elevated casting temperature. A total of 114simulations are planned, which include variations of the investigatedmeasures, outdoor temperature and design geometry. A survey is alsoconducted with the purpose to assess how hardening acceleratingmeasures are applied in swedish building production today. The surveyis spread with a geographical spread to five of the largesthouseproducing construction groups in Sweden. The result of thesimulations performed is that the measure heating loops has achievedthe best result where its effect has been optimized for eachindividual case. The results indicate that heating coils, incombination with insulation, are an effective measure. At the sametime, the survey shows that there is annoyance with the methods thathave proven effective in the simulations performed. Although it is notpossible to draw a conclusion about a universal solution to compensatefor the slower hardening time of the slag concrete, the results stillindicate that today's construction industry has good conditions for atransition to a more environmentally friendly concrete. / Betong är ett av världens mest använda byggmaterial, men på grund av den stora haltkoldioxidemissioner betongkomponenten cement producerar så finns ett ökandebehov att tillämpa betongrecept som kräver mindre cement. Då man ersätter en andelav portlandcementet i betongreceptet med ett alternativt tillsatsmaterial somgranulerad masugnsslagg, minskar koldioxidemissionerna, men hållfasthetstillväxtenblir långsammare. Vid betonggjutning finns i dag flera arbetsmetoder för att påskyndahållfasthetstillväxten och syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka vilken effekt dessaolika härdningspåskyndande åtgärder har på slaggbaserad betong, även kalladslaggbetong. Arbetet begränsas till att studera husproduktion och fokuserar påkonstruktionsdelarna platta på mark, väggelement och filigranbjälklag. Studien ärutförd i samarbete med Skanska Sverige AB.För att undersöka vilken effekt olika härdningspåskyndande åtgärder har påslaggbetong jämförs betonggjutningssimuleringar i programvaranProduktionsplanering Betong, (PPB). Slaggbetongen som undersöks är Skanska GrönBetong, och åtgärderna som huvudsakligen studeras är olika variationer avvärmeslingor, extern uppvärmning, isolering och höjd gjutningstemperatur. 114stycken simuleringar planeras totalt, vilka inkluderar variationer av de undersöktaåtgärderna, uteluftstemperatur och konstruktionsgeometri. En enkätundersökningutförs även med syfte att bedöma hur härdningspåskyndande åtgärder tillämpas isvensk husproduktion idag. Enkäten sprids med en geografisk spridning till fem avde största husproducerande byggkoncernerna i Sverige. Resultatet av de utfördasimuleringarna är att åtgärden värmeslingor uppnått bäst resultat där dess effekt varitoptimerad för varje enskilt fall. Resultatet tyder på att värmeslingor i kombinationmed isolering, är en effektiv åtgärd. Samtidigt visar enkätundersökningen att det finnserfarenhet av de metoder som visat sig effektiva i de simuleringar som utförts. Trotsatt det ej går att dra en slutsats om en allmängiltig lösning för att kompensera förslaggbetongens långsammare härdningstid, tyder ändock resultatet på att dagensbyggindustri har goda förutsättningar för en övergång till en miljövänligare betong.

The building sector contributes significantly to carbon dioxide (CO2) due to the high energy use in building material production. One of the most critical concerns the World Summit on Sustainable Development must address is saving energy. In order to reduce CO2 emissions and their impact on the climate, strategies such as reducing energy demand, increasing efficiency, and using renewable resources instead of fossil fuels need to be implemented. This study was conducted through a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the possibility of lowering energy use and emissions in columns. The main purpose is to examine the potential environmental impact and energy use using a lifecycle assessment (LCA) approach. Steel production contributes significantly to climate change because it uses a lot of energy and produces many greenhouse gases. In Sweden, the steel industry uses coal as the main fuel, as shown from the data collected. Various studies explore the potential for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improving carbon sinks, such as taking measures in the building, energy supply, and forestry industries. This study concludes that buildings can be designed to be more energy-efficient, with better materials that are energy-efficient and lower carbon emissions. Material substitution can reduce energy use and carbon emissions. The replacement of steel with wood in construction can significantly reduce carbon emissions. The research findings indicate that an effective strategy to enhance the sustainability of buildings during the production phase is to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions by incorporating wood as a primary building material.

Climate change is one of the pressing issues of our time. In order to limit global warming, the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) need to be reduced drastically over the next decades in all sectors. A special role is played by the power sector, because it is the one responsible for most GHG emissions and because its costs for decarbonization are rather low. Consequently, national policies aim at reducing GHG emissions by supporting the expansion of renewable energy sources for electricity production (RES) and initiating a coal phase-out (CPO). European policymakers have implemented the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), a mechanism for pricing GHG emissions in the power and industry sector across Europe that incentives carbon mitigation. This dissertation investigates how national and European policies affect the power market and especially its GHG emissions and examines how these policies interact. This dissertation shows that RES, in addition to the short-term, well-studied, merit order effect, which reduces power wholesale prices, also have long-term effects on electricity markets. The long-term effect describes the impact that RES have on investment decisions into conventional technologies, which are reduced by over 8 GW in Germany. This indicates that the power market adapts to the expansion of RES. With regard to the GHG mitigation of RES, it is shown that currently RES contribute substantially to the mitigation of GHG emissions. Because wind power substitutes coal power, it has a significantly higher potential to avoid GHG emissions than solar power in Germany. Provided wind stays favorable in the future, this portends from a climate perspective that politics should focus on the expansion of wind. It further justifies higher support schemes for wind than solar energy. The impact of the CPO on the GHG emissions depends strongly on legal implementation. If no further actions are taken, the demand for emission decreases, because existing emitters leave the market and the price drops to 0 EUR/t. The EU ETS loses its incentive effect and the emissions are realized elsewhere since the cap remains the same and is fully exploited. Therefore, alongside the CPO, emission certificates have to be deleted in order to maintain the incentive effect of the EU ETS. Furthermore, the loss in valuation of the German coal power plants depends strongly on the time of the CPO. Given high expected emission prices and the expansion of RES, coal-fired power plants cannot be operated economically advantageously in the long-term. Therefore, no devaluation is expected if power plants are phased out in 2038 or shortly before and hence, those power plants should not receive any compensation. Additionally, this dissertation shows that the EU ETS is a strong European policy that provides sufficient incentives to meet the European climate targets in 2030 and to realize the necessary expansion of RES. However, if national RES development paths are implemented, this leads to higher overall costs but also very different profitability of RES in each country This is because countries with high ambitions regarding the expansion of RES face self-marginalization effects, which reduces the revenues for RES due to the merit order effect, and increases the level of support needed for them to expand. In contrast, countries with low RES ambitions have little or no need of support schemes but benefit from low prices in the EU ETS due to strong RES expansion in countries with high ambitions. Summarizing, this dissertation demonstrated that both national and European policy contribute to the decarbonization of the European power sector. However, the different policies interact. This can have negative impacts, which indicates that a greater harmonization of policies is necessary. Further research should develop comprehensive policy approaches and discuss possible challenges.

There is a need to reduce global carbon emissions in order to limit climate change, especially from the transport sector, as it contributes to a large share of these emissions. This thesis explores carbon emissions from urban freight transport in Oslo, Norway, and Stockholm, Sweden, and the measures and strategies that have been implemented in accordance with the municipalities’ targets. In addition, the involvement of relevant freight transport companies in these issues has been investigated, as well as the challenges and possibilities related to reducing carbon emissions from urban freight transport. Both municipalities have expressed ambitions to adhere to the European Union’s goals of emission reduction. However, based on the observations of this thesis, it is evident that the municipalities have yet to adequately implement impactful measures for urban freight transport, in order to reduce carbon emissions from this sector if they are to achieve their goals. The results show that that Oslo municipality has access to a substantial amount of data and statistics regarding urban freight transport, but is lacking a comprehensive freight plan. Stockholm municipality, on the other hand, has an urban freight transport plan, but is lacking comprehensive data and statistics about urban freight transport. The focus on - and inclusion of - urban freight transport in comprehensive urban planning could be argued to be increasing, but we contend that there is still a need to increase knowledge and understanding regarding emission reduction for urban freight transport across departments and cities, in order to reach a more sustainable future for urban freight transport.

Thesis (M.COM. (Accounting)) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / Corporate environmental investments have traditionally been deemed to be an unnecessary cost to companies because of perceived or no significant return on investment. However, recent literature is highlighting financial benefits accruing from environmental investments. This study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental investment and shareholder value. The study uses the stakeholder and legitimacy theory to define the company‟s engagement with its external society and environment. From that perspective, the study examines the effect of corporate environmental investment on carbon emissions, hazardous solid waste disposal and company share price. Panel data multiple regression was used to investigate the relationship between the variables under study. Findings show a significant positive relationship between investment in carbon emissions and share price while there is an insignificant negative relationship between investment in hazardous solid waste and share price. The study contributes to the notion that reducing the environmental footprint generates positive shareholder gains by bringing new evidence from the South African mining industry. Further studies can be performed with company profitability as a measure of financial performance and further in a different sector such as manufacturing.

This thesis aims to explore the potential of virtual reality (VR) to promote sustainable behaviours. The literature review draws from various fields that discuss the advantages and limitations of VR in design experiences (Scurati, et al., 2021)and how VR can provide an overview on training and transfer, education, and procedural, cognitive and maintenance training (Psotka, 1995) In virtual reality and education and training paper Joseph Psotka provides a brief overview of existing VR research on. Contributing to this literature in VR and education for designing behaviour change with a sustainability focus, by utilizing VR technology, this research focuses on transforming a carbon calculator into an immersive VR environment with the goal of increasing users’ awareness of carbon emissions. Hence, this research allows individuals with little to no experience to create and be part of immersive experiences that effectively convey information and increase users’ awareness of carbon emissions. Adopting semi-structured interviews and digital material exploration as its research methodology, this study involves participants from different backgrounds and levels of knowledge about carbon emissions aiming to create an immersive experience that could effectively educate and engage users in understanding and addressing sustainability issues. Through the development of a hi-fi prototype, participants who tested the VR experience expressed an increased interest in learning about carbon emissions, indicating the potential of immersive VR in raising awareness and fostering behaviour change. The study was conducted in collaboration with Nordic Waves Group, a Denmark-based organization that focuses on UN’s 17 New World Goals, demonstrates the practical application of the research in a real-world context, aligning with their commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals. The findings of this study emphasize the potential of VR in promoting sustainable behaviours and highlight the importance of incorporating immersive experiences in sustainability education and awareness campaigns. Overall, this research provides insights into the use of VR as a tool for promoting sustainability and offers practical solutions for designing behaviour change interventions with a focus on carbon emissions. / <p>Examensarbetet är utfört vid Institutionen för teknik och naturvetenskap (ITN) vid Tekniska fakulteten, Linköpings universitet</p>

After the Paris Agreement, the people of the world have a more clear understanding of the goals to combat climate change and reduce carbon emissions. Previous studies have shown that improving people's carbon literacy could play a role in achieving ambitious climate emission targets. Being the country with the largest carbon emission and the largest population, more efforts should be made to increase environmental awareness and promote carbon literacy among Chinese people. This study investigates the features of such a game intended to raise awareness on carbon emissions in China. The study involves the design and development of the game and the insights learnt from the process. The goal of this project is to design and develop a mobile game. In this game, the player interacts with a virtual pet penguin. During the interaction, emotional attachment could be developed. This study investigates the features of such a game that can raise awareness on carbon emissions in China. This game aims to promote carbon literacy among Chinese young adults, focusing on eating habits, garbage classification and carbon emissions due to traditions. According to the evaluation of this game, it is possible for such a virtual pet game to raise carbon literacy in China. / Efter Parisavtalet har världens människor en tydligare förståelse för målen för att bekämpa klimatförändringarna och minska koldioxidutsläppen. Tidigare studier har visat att en förbättring av människors koldioxidkunnighet kan spela en roll för att uppnå ambitiösa klimatmål. Eftersom det är det land som har de största koldioxidutsläppen och den största befolkningen, bör fler ansträngningar göras för att öka miljömedvetenheten och främja koldioxidkunnighet bland kineser. Denna studie undersöker egenskaperna hos ett sådant spel som syftar till att öka medvetenheten om koldioxidutsläpp i Kina. Studien involverar design och utveckling av spelet och de insikter man lärt sig från processen. Målet med detta projekt är att designa och utveckla ett mobilspel. I det här spelet interagerar spelaren med en virtuell husdjurspingvin. Under interaktionen kunde känslomässig anknytning utvecklas. Denna studie undersöker egenskaperna hos ett sådant spel som kan öka medvetenheten om koldioxidutsläpp i Kina. Det här spelet syftar till att främja kolkunskap bland kinesiska unga vuxna, med fokus på matvanor, klassificering av skräp och koldioxidutsläpp på grund av traditioner. Enligt utvärderingen av detta spel är det möjligt för ett sådant virtuellt husdjursspel att höja koldioxid kunnigheten i Kina.

In order to achieve the reductions in emissions that nowadays our planet urgently needs, the collaboration of citizens is necessary. It is necessary that citizens consume products and services that sustainably reduce indirect emissions, but also it is necessary that citizens reduce their associated direct emissions, through the use that they make of their time. In this Thesis, a study is carried out on the direct carbon emissions produced by UK citizens in 2005. These emissions are those emitted when citizens carry out certain daily activities in their households. Later, a comparison with the results of total emissions that other studies obtained is done, to show the importance of the direct emissions derived by this Thesis. This is done first for an average UK citizen, and then the variations in the time use between men and women in each daily activity are analyzed, as well as age ranges, to examine how these variations affect emissions. A relationship between direct and total emissions is found, as well as a gender role issue and a household labor role issue, which produce variations in emissions produced by women and men, as well as variations in emissions associated with different age ranges. In the discussion, the implications of the results obtained in this Thesis are explored, both individually and collectively within the social and economic structure, as well as certain changes that can be introduced daily to achieve a reduction in the direct carbon emissions. “This document presents results drawn from the Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS), but the interpretation of this data and other views expressed in this text are those of the author. This text does not necessarily represent the views of the MTUS team or any agency which has contributed data to the MTUS archive. The author bears full responsibility for all errors and omissions in the interpretation of the MTUS data.” / För att lyckas uppnå utsläppsminskningar är det nödvändigt att göra förändringar för både indirekta utsläpp, som konsumtion av produkter och service, men också hos de direkta utsläppen. För att minska dessa utsläpp är medborgarna en viktig roll och deras samarbete är nödvändigt. Detta arbete undersöker de direkta koldioxidutsläppen som uppstår i vardagslivet för de brittiska medborgare under år 2005. Resultaten jämförs med tidigare studier som utförts på brittiska medborgare och som analyserar både direkta och indirekta utsläpp. Detta arbete analyserar både utsläppen från en genomsnittsmedborgare i Storbritannien men undersöker även de skillnader som finns mellan kön och olika åldrar. Hur lång tid de olika grupperna spenderar på olika aktiviteter i hemmet skiljer sig åt och även hur mycket arbete de bidrar till i hemmet. Detta har tagits med i beaktning och koldioxidutsläppen från de olika rollerna analyseras. Det var möjligt att dra slutsatser mellan direkta och de totala utsläpp, det var också möjligt att se en variation av utsläpp orsakade av de olika kön och inom olika åldersintervall. I diskussionen genomförs analysen av individuella och kollektiva utsläpp inom den sociala och ekonomiska strukturen. Där förs även en diskussion om vilka förändringar som kan införas i vardagen för att minska koldioxidutsläppen.