In this paper, we study the powerful imaginative space of the fossil-free society in Swedish climate policy discourse taking shape in collaboration between the Swedish government and industry actors. In 2017, the Swedish parliament decided that Sweden should arrive at net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by the year 2045, and an ambitious climate policy framework was adopted. We trace the promise attached to the sociotechnical imaginary of the fossil-free society as it is mobilized by the government initiative fossil-free Sweden (FFS) to gain support for industrial decarbonization. We build on analyses of roadmaps produced by FFS together with the Swedish steel, cement and petroleum industries, as well as semi-structured interviews with selected industry actors. We find that the roadmaps work as powerful ‘techniques of futuring’ which enable industry actors to anticipate the risks and opportunities attached to the fossil-free society while also contributing to shaping that society. The roadmaps effectively involve the industrial actors in the political project of decarbonization, but they also consolidate around an imagined future that is a techno-optimistic extension of the fossil-intensive present.
Baserad på följande paper författat tillsammans med Eva Lövbrand: https://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1679153&dswid=1214