Centrum för klimatpolitisk forskning (CSPR) genomförde under 2023 en utvärdering av Linköpings universitets (LiU) klimatarbete. I detta brief pekar vi på de mest akuta utmaningarna med nuvarande klimatarbete och presenterar fyra rekommendationer för hur LiU:s klimatarbete kan utformas i linje med dess vision om att bidra till en bättre värld (LiU:s vision 2030). 

The aim of this paper is to bring insights into the lack of concerted action in the governing of Swedish industry’s green transition by investigating national policymakers’ views on the polycentric landscape that they are part of. I apply positioning theory to analyse policymakers’ views on their own and other actors’ roles and responsibilities in governing industry’s green transition. The results show that policymakers take on an orchestrating role that is not aligned with the interests expressed by industry. Accepting a polycentric governance landscape, national policymakers partly displace their mandate to craft policies to industry. They also describe a shift of the regulative role from the national to the supranational level that is at odds with industry’s expectations of national regulations – something that risks creating a ‘policy implementation gap’. The study concludes with theoretical implications by suggesting that taking each other into consideration while acting for a common goal, is insufficient for concerted action. Rather, joint arenas for deliberation, where actors can accept and refute positions attributed to them in real time, can be important to allow for alignment of interests and mutual adjustment between emerging initiatives and, eventually, concerted action.

The European Green Deal (EGD) was introduced as a transformative policy agenda for sustainability aiming to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent in the world. While previous research has studied its transformative potential, there is no comprehensive review of that research. We provide an integrative review of discursive policy analyses of the EGD, arguing that it is pivotal that policymakers understand what transformational potentials the agenda has—along with the obstacles to realize it in transformative ways that are inherent in its formulations. We discuss the transformative potential of the EGD, as presented in the 26 articles included in our review, using a theoretical framework of “empty signifiers” and “ivy discourses”. We conclude that the agenda is characterized by a certain amount of transformational discourse. However, its transformative impact risks being limited as it is enmeshed in assumptions of de-coupling and international relations remain tainted by colonial power dynamics.

In December 2019, the European Commission launched the European Green Deal (EGD) and hereby ramped up the climate ambitions of the European Union. Responding to a mounting sense of climate urgency, the European Commission proposed a comprehensive reform program to make the EU's economy climate neutral by 2050. In this paper, we trace the practical work undertaken to ensure that Europe's green transition is just and leaves no one behind. To that end, we turn to the Just Transition Platform, an online portal coordinated by the European Commission. By analysing the many guidelines, checklists, and event reports produced by this platform, we trace the problem objects towards which the EU's just transition efforts are directed, what practical techniques are deployed to act upon them in order to transform them, and ultimately, how they define what it means to be a modern and green European.

"Författarna tar sin utgångspunkt i vad som troligen är den mest välkända definitionen av hållbar utveckling: ”Hållbar utveckling är en utveckling som tillfredsställer dagens behov utan att äventyra kommande generationers möjligheter att tillfredsställa sina behov.” Med denna som grund konstaterar de att hållbar utveckling innebär ett paradigmskifte som inbegriper radikala förändringar i hur vi ser på vår egen roll i världen." Läs hela Cecilia Enbergs recension av boken Att undervisa för hållbar utveckling.

The objective of this study is to explore whether the green recovery packages issued by the Swedish government are aligned with the work of the construction and building industry to become climate-neutral by 2045. We have interviewed heads of sustainability of some of the largest companies in the industry and surveyed companies that have signed the Roadmap for a fossil-free construction and building industry1. Our results show that market-related challenges constitute the most important challenges to the environmental and climate work of the companies in our study. To better respond to these challenges, they require policies that reward frontrunners, primarily green public procurement, and tougher standards and norms. They also requested investments and policies that support the transition to a circular economy. We conclude that while green public procurement is not among the policies and investments included in the recovery packages, other parts are well aligned with the challenges encountered, requested investments and policies, and on-going work. This is particularly true for the above-mentioned investments related to the transition to a circular economy. Further, the study enables us to conclude that it is important to consider the long-term effects of green recovery packages and their potential for return-on-investment in terms of reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per SEK. Such packages will also have a better effect if they support on-going environmental and climate work, initiate new actions, and are designed with a systems perspective that facilitates joint action between different companies along the entire supply chain.

In the current thematic collection of Högre Utbildning, we present eight contributions on how to change higher education in ways which will enable students to contribute to a sustainable future, including three invited papers on the systematic transformation of higher education necessary to addressour existential societal challenges.

This study explores the role of relational power and discursive positioning in the knowledge integration process of an interdisciplinary project developing a steam turbine. As boundaries are an important focus of study for knowledge integration studies, more engagement is needed to not only map boundary work in the knowledge integration process, but also to acknowledge the role of power in this context. With help of governmentality and positioning theory, we show how power struggles are manifested as boundary work that both reinforces and undermines temporal and domain-specific boundaries. The study concludes that these reinforcements and underminings are central for our understanding of how knowledge integration develops. In addition, the study shed lights on the significance of the co-existence of domination and freedom in the project work. By acknowledging power relations and studying them as they are played out in discursive talk, the study contributes to an increased understanding of the nuances and intricacies of knowledge integration processes.

 Denna rapport beskriver en studie vars syfte har varit att undersöka vilka utmaningar och möjligheter som finns med att på ett systematiskt sätt arbeta för att främja ett lärande för hållbar utveckling vid LiU. Vår utgångspunkt har varit universitetskanslerämbetets tematiska utvärdering från 2017 av lärosätenas arbete med att främja en hållbar utveckling genom sina utbildningar. Vi har genomfört en studie med programansvariga vid utbildningar som ges vid institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling, IEI varav en del på filosofisk och andra på teknisk fakultet. Dels har vi gått igenom utbildningsplanerna för programmen, dels har vi genomfört en enkätundersökning och en uppsättning fokusgruppsdiskussioner med programansvariga.

Ett mindre antal av programmen och specifikt civilingenjörsutbildningen i Energi, Miljö & Management (EMM) har i utbildningsplaner referenser till specifika mål för en hållbar utveckling som man avser förbereda sina studenter att kunna bidra till. De flesta programs primära fokus ligger dock på anställningsbarhet för sina studenter. Från enkäten och fokusgruppsdiskussioner har vi förstått att det för många programansvariga har varit det första tillfället de fått att fundera över hur deras utbildningar eventuellt bidrar till att förbereda studenter för att hantera utmaningar kopplade till en hållbar utveckling. I våra resultat märks också en tydlig ambivalens och tveksamhet inför både vad man gör just nu, vad man vill göra och vilken sorts drivkrafter och styrning man önskar i det arbetet. Flera programansvariga hävdar å ena sidan att begreppet är svårdefinierat, men att man å andra sidan är säker på att man arbetar i en riktning som gör att utbildningarna bidrar till att främja en hållbar utveckling. Man hävdar att en del lärare vid de egna programmen kan sakna kompetens att hantera problem med flera dimensioner, men anser samtidigt att de egna lärarna har den kompetens som behövs för utbildnings-programmen. Man ser positivt på studenters och externa finansiärers önskemål om förändringar av utbildningarna, men är samtidigt tveksam till många av de sätt som LiU skulle kunna använda för att stödja arbetet med för-ändringar.

Baserat på vår analys av programansvarigas respons och universitetskanslersämbetets rekommendationer ger vi avslutningsvis rekommendationer för fortsatt arbete med frågan om lärande för hållbar utveckling på LiU.