Scientific publications
Parris, H., Sorman, A. H., Valor, C., Tuerk, A., & Anger-Kraavi, A. (2022). Cultures of transformation: An integrated framework for transformative action. Environmental Science & Policy, 132, 24-34.
The challenges posed by climate change have generated many initiatives that seek to implement societal transformations. In most cases, these focus on technology developments, adoption and diffusion but neglect the social and cultural dimensions of a transformation. Insights from systems and behavioural sciences can provide valuable guidance on these aspects, but the utility of this literature is limited by two factors.
Plötz, P. (2022). Hydrogen technology is unlikely to play a major role in sustainable road transport. Nature Electronics, 5, 8–10.
Technical and economic developments in battery and fast-charging technologies could soon make fuel cell electric vehicles, which run on hydrogen, superfluous in road transport.
Wilgosh, B., Sorman, A. H., & Barcena, I. (2022). When two movements collide: learning from labour and environmental struggles for future Just Transitions. Futures, 137, 102903.
The term ‘Just Transition’ (JT) emerged from the 1970s North American labour movement to become a campaign for a planned energy transition that includes justice and fairness for workers. There is diversity in the JT narratives and ambitions that different actors put forward regarding its aims and strategies.
Koasidis K., Karamaneas A., Kanellou E., Neofytou H., Nikas A., & Doukas H. (2022). Towards Sustainable Development and Climate Co-governance: A Multicriteria Stakeholders’ Perspective. Multiple Criteria Decision Making for Sustainable Development. Multiple Criteria Decision Making. Springer, Cham.
Although 2015 featured the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, broken down into 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), the year is mostly remembered for the global climate targets of the Paris Agreement. Seemingly two separate agendas, sustainable development and climate action are highly intertwined: the former is an explicit part of the Paris Agreement, while the latter constitutes one of the 17 goals.
Nikas, A., Koasidis, K., Koberle, A.C., Kourtesi, G., & Doukas, H. (2022). A comparative study of biodiesel in Brazil and Argentina: An integrated systems of innovation perspective. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 156, 112022.
Transport is among the sectors highly dependent on fossil fuels, relying almost exclusively on petroleum products. Biofuels have been suggested as a technology contributing to the sector's decarbonisation, especially in sub-sectors where upscaling electrification innovation is challenging. Brazil and Argentina have long been top biofuel producers.
Koasidis, K., Marinakis, V., Nikas, A., Chira, K., Flamos, A., & Doukas, H. (2022). Monetising behavioural change as a policy measure to support energy management in the residential sector: A case study in Greece. Energy Policy, 161, 112759.
Energy efficiency from behavioural changes will play a key role in meeting future climate targets. Current energy management actions, however, are still dominated by conventional interventions. Furthermore, demand-side transformations based on behavioural actions are hitherto underrepresented in modelling scenarios informing climate policy. In this context, this study aims to explore whether monetisation of behavioural change should be considered as a policy measure to support energy management in the residential sector.
Gambhir, A., George, M., McJeon, H., Arnell, N.W., Bernie, D., Mittal, S., Köberle, A.C., Lowe, J., Rogelj, J., Monteith, S. (2022). Near-term transition and longer-term physical climate risks of greenhouse gas emissions pathways. Nature Climate Change, 12, 88-96.
Policy, business, finance and civil society stakeholders are increasingly looking to compare future emissions pathways across both their associated physical climate risks stemming from increasing temperatures and their transition climate risks stemming from the shift to a low-carbon economy.
Nikas, A., Xexakis, G., Koasidis, K., Acosta-Fernández, J., Arto, I., Calzadilla, A., Domenech, T., Gambhir, A., Giljum, S., Gonzalez-Eguino, M., Herbst, A., Ivanova, O., van Sluisveld, M.A.E., van de Ven, D.-J., Karamaneas, A., & Doukas, H. (2022). Coupling circularity performance and climate action: from disciplinary silos to transdisciplinary modelling science. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 30, 269-277.
Technological breakthroughs and policy measures targeting energy efficiency and clean energy alone will not suffice to deliver Paris Agreement-compliant greenhouse gas emissions trajectories in the next decades. Strong cases have recently been made for acknowledging the decarbonisation potential lying in transforming linear economic models into closed-loop industrial ecosystems and in shifting lifestyle patterns towards this direction.
Cain, M., Jenkins, S., Allen, M.R., Lynch, J., Frame, D.J., Macey, A.H., & Peters, G.P. (2022). Methane and the Paris Agreement temperature goals. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 380, 20200456.
Meeting the Paris Agreement temperature goal necessitates limiting methane (CH4)-induced warming, in addition to achieving net-zero or (net-negative) carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. In our model, for the median 1.5°C scenario between 2020 and 2050, CH4 mitigation lowers temperatures by 0.1°C; CO2 increases it by 0.2°C. CO2 emissions continue increasing global mean temperature until net-zero emissions are reached, with potential for lowering temperatures with net-negative emissions.
Song, S., Lin, H., Sherman, P., Yang, X., Nielsen, C. P., Chen, X., & McElroy, M. B. (2021). Production of hydrogen from offshore wind in China and cost-competitive supply to Japan. Nature communications, 12(1), 1-8.
The Japanese government has announced a commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It envisages an important role for hydrogen in the nation’s future energy economy. This paper explores the possibility that a significant source for this hydrogen could be produced by electrolysis fueled by power generated from offshore wind in China. Hydrogen could be delivered to Japan either as liquid, or bound to a chemical carrier such as toluene, or as a component of ammonia.