Governing transitions towards Low-Carbon Energy and Transport Systems for 2050 (LETS)
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Introduction
Governing transitions towards Low-Carbon Energy and Transport Systems for 2050 (LETS) Programme idea and objectives The core mission of the research programme is to identify, explore and suggest ways forward, i.e., roads to implementation of low carbon energy and transport systems for 2050, in order to reach ambitious climate policy objectives such as expressed by the 2 °C target. Hence, the overarching research question is: What societal transitions are implied by low-carbon futures and how can these transitions be governed and implemented to meet challenging climate policy objectives? Based on a thorough understanding of technical mitigation options and the role of behaviour, our focus is on the ensuing key opportunities and challenges in terms of changes in the modus operandi of political, administrative and economic systems. Our understanding of this challenge goes beyond the scope of incremental and instrumental change and is rather informed by the need for stringent climate governance to induce necessary shifts and leaps in technology and behaviour, if ambitious climate policy objectives (such as the 2 C target) are ever to be met. The programme will combine scientific excellence with close user interaction to ensure relevance and efficient dissemination of knowledge and results among key stakeholders. The objective is to produce new knowledge, but also to synthesise and interpret existing knowledge for more informed choices by decision makers, planners, and other stakeholders. Low-carbon futures necessitate shifts to carbon-free energy carriers produced in low carbon conversion processes and changes in consumption behaviour. When accommodating such shifts, existing political and administrative regimes are challenged by the need for climate policy integration across policy domains, dynamic consistency, new planning tools and processes, ceding power to the appropriate level, etc. The outputs from this programme will range from high-level research based policy advice to tools and guidelines for the “street level” implementing agencies and other administrative bodies. The research team brings together key disciplines from social sciences, economics and engineering (i.e. energy and transport system studies), and is supported by professional project and information management. The types of outputs are determined by the critical issues and identified needs at hand in different research areas. For the purpose of meeting our goals we have identified, and organised the programme in, five research areas that are particularly crucial for making the transition to low-carbon energy and transport systems (LETS). The five research areas, work packages hereafter, include: - WP0: Future Policy Scenarios and Alternative Pathways for LETS studies alternative technological and policy scenarios and asks: What kind of transformations, in terms of technological and behavioural change, are required for LETS to meet challenging climate policy objectives? What are the political, economic and social challenges associated with such transformations? What alternative pathways towards LETS are possible under various scenarios? - WP 1: Governance: Developing Institutions and Policy for LETS considers implications for policy and institutional change and asks: What type of governance, in terms of institutions and policy, are needed to enable the transition towards LETS? and How can such institutions handle a set of governance dilemmas such as legitimacy, Lund University LETS Research Programme 2008-06-13 2 accountability, dynamic consistency, effectiveness and efficiency related to climate policy? WP 2: Urban and regional planning and infrastructure for LETS studies urban and regional planning and changes in infrastructure as a means for reducing greenhouse gases and asks: What tools, instruments and recommendations are necessary to (re)organize the built environment and transport system in order to enable and support the transition towards LETS? WP3: Markets, industry and policy for bioenergy focuses on fossil fuel substitution using biomass and asks: What are the market and resource implications of high carbon prices? What are the sustainability challenges, commercial opportunities and policy options involved in governing the transition to increased use of bioenergy? – WP 4: Citizen-Consumers and Voluntary Instruments for LETS looks at implications of ‘soft’ policy and voluntary instruments, as complements to regulation and market based instruments, and asks: What type of voluntary policy and planning instruments will contribute to behavioural change among citizen-consumers consistent with the transition towards LETS?
Department Researchers in this Project
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Koordinator/Projektledare
Annica
Kronsell
(Professor) |
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Projektmedlem - infomaster
Roger
Hildingsson
(Doctoral candidate) |
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Projektmedlem - infomaster
Johannes
Stripple
(Associate Senior Lecturer) |
External Project Members
Prof. Lars J Nilsson Environmental and Energy, System Studies (IMES), LTH Program Director; Dr. Inger Linderholm Trivector Information Manager MSc. Björn Wendle Trivector Administrative Manager Dr. Jamil Khan Environmental and Energy System Studies (IMES), LTH Project leader WP0; WP1 Prof. Patrik Söderholm Economics Unit, LTU Deputy WP0; WP3 Dr. Tommy Andersson Dept of Economics Project leader WP1 Prof. Lena Neij International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) Project leader WP2 Ass. Prof. Eva Ericsson Traffic Planning, Dept of Technology and Society, LTH Deputy WP2 Ass. Prof. Annika Nilsson Faculty of Law Ass. Prof. Karl-Johan Lundquist Dept of Social and Economic Geography Prof. Lars-Olof Olander Dept of Social and Economic Geography Dr. Sone Ekman, SLI Swedish Institute for Food and Agricultural Economics (SLI) Project leader WP3 Dr. Helena Johansson Swedish Institute for Food and Agricultural Economics (SLI) Dr. Karin Ericsson Environmental and Energy System Studies, LTH Deputy WP3 Ass. Prof. Pål Börjesson Environmental and Energy System Studies, LTH Ass. Prof. Mikael Klintman Research Policy Institute Project leader WP4 Dr. Lena Winslott Hiselius Traffic Planning, Dept of Technology and Society, LTH Deputy WP4 Fredrik NG Andersson PhD candidate, Dept of Economics Evgenia Pavlovskaia PhD candidate, Faculty of Law WP3
