Sweden implemented a unique policy instrument over two consecutive five-year periods aimed at promoting industrial energy efficiency: a voluntary agreement programme (VAP) known as the Programme for Improving Energy Efficiency in Energy-Intensive Industries (PFE). This paper evaluates the second programme period using process and impact evaluation approaches. The impact evaluation revealed that the programme generated numerous benefits beyond the implementation of energy efficiency measures. The second programme period demonstrated impacts comparable to the first, underscoring the pivotal role of energy management within policy frameworks. Moreover, the findings suggest that VAPs may be among the few policy instruments capable of achieving substantial impact within industrial production processes. The process evaluation identified two critical gaps: a policy gap and a knowledge gap. Many of the positive elements present in the evaluated programme are currently absent from Sweden’s industrial policy mix. The role of the policy operator—as facilitator or intermediary—proved essential, particularly in the context of policies involving energy audits and certified energy management systems. In this case, the Swedish Energy Agency played a central role. The study concludes that continuous energy management, when integrated throughout the entire organization, significantly enhances companies’ capacity to identify and implement energy efficiency measures. This approach not only deepens internal knowledge but also fosters the development of more structured and effective routines. Furthermore, the findings suggest that financial incentives may be essential to ensure the long-term persistence of energy efficiency practices. Consequently, future policy design should include a strong facilitator and incorporate mechanisms that both reinforce organizational knowledge of energy end-use processes and promote sustained engagement over time, preferably involving a financial incentive.

Paris-compatible climate scenarios often consider bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) as an important technology for carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Although the main barrier to BECCS deployment is often associated with lack of economic policy incentives, unfavorable regulations can also impede investments. Over the past decade, the regulatory conditions at the UN and on the EU level have developed to be more permissive toward BECCS. For instance, CDR accounting guidelines have been developed by the UN, and the EU CCS Directive regulates responsibilities regarding storage of CO2. However, several existing regulations still cause deployment hurdles. Taking a European viewpoint, this perspectives article takes stock of recent regulatory developments and provides a discussion on legal acts that need to be reformed in order to facilitate BECCS deployment. Although the European trend is characterized by developing a regulatory regime that is more supportive of BECCS, we identify three areas for further improvement: (1) allowing EU Member States to use negative emissions from BECCS to comply with their obligations under the legislative pillars that underpin the EU’s climate objectives: (2) amending the CCS Directive to exempt physical leakage of biogenic CO2, attributable to sustainably sourced biomass, from the requirement to surrender emission allowances in the EU ETS or, if BECCS has been economically rewarded, the penalty for leakage should correspond to the level of the reward; and (3) pushing to erase the last few barriers due to multilateral regimes, such as clarifying whether BECCS is covered by the geoengineering moratorium maintained by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. These proposed reforms would further improve the regulatory preconditions for BECCS deployment in the EU.

Förbättrad industriell energieffektivitet i östgötska företag är ett projekt (med kortnamnet Excen-e) som har bedrivits av avdelningen för Energisystem vid Linköpings universitet under 2018–2021 med finansiering från europeiska regionalfonden. Via samverkan mellan akademi, offentlig sektor och näringsliv, har syftet med projektet varit att bidra till en mer koldioxidsnål och energieffektiv industriell produktion genom kunskapsspridning om mervärden av energieffektivisering och hållbarhetsaspekter, samt att utveckla och använda ett beslutsstödsverktyg kring mervärden vid energirelaterade investeringsbedömningar. Projektet har byggt på kunskaps- och erfarenhetsutbyte mellan projektmedarbetande forskare och ett nätverk av åtta regionala tillverkningsföretag inom vilket projektet har introducerat mervärdeskonceptet och involverat deltagande företag i arbetet med att ta fram verktyget. Denna rapport syftar till att sätta projektet och dess arbete i ett större sammanhang, d.v.s. visa på möjliga samband och synergieffekter mellan övergripande ramverk och begrepp, t.ex. energieffektivisering och mervärden, hållbarhetsaspekterna i det regionala utvecklingsarbetet samt de globala hållbarhetsmålen. Rapporten visar att mervärdesbedömningar av energieffektivisering via projektets framtagna verktyg ökar kunskapen om och användningen av mervärden vilket kan stödja såväl förberedande beslutfattande arbete som uppföljande och utvärderande arbete som rör energieffektiviseringsåtgärder, samt även bidra till och demonstrera samhällsnytta och hållbarhetsvinster på lokal till global nivå.

Avskiljning och geologisk lagring av biogen koldioxid (bio-CCS) utgör en potentiellt viktig kompletterande åtgärd i att nå Sveriges mål om noll nettoutsläpp av växthusgaser år 2045 och därefter negativa utsläpp. Potentialen för att skapa negativa utsläpp via bio-CCS i Sverige bedöms som god, men i gällande lagar och regelverk finns fortfarande utmaningar att ta hänsyn till och lösa för att verksamhetsutövare ska kunna tillämpa tekniken. Denna rapport belyser och ger ett nuläge av de områden i regelverket som behöver behandlas för att möjliggöra investeringar och drift av bio-CCS anläggningar för verksamhetsutövare inom massa- och pappersindustrin och el- och fjärrvärmeproduktion inklusive avfallsförbränning. Rapporten sammanfattar även gällande regelverk på internationell nivå, EU-nivå och nationell nivå. Områden som kräver behandling inför en framtida implementering av bio-CCS är bland annat hur negativa utsläpp ska beräknas och redovisas genom kedjan för bio-CCS, hur moratoriet kring biologisk mångfald kopplar till bio-CCS och bilaterala avtal mellan Sverige och lagringsstat.

Research has revealed the existence of an energy-efficiency gap – the difference between optimal and actual energy end-use, suggesting that energy efficiency can be improved. Energy management (EnM) is a means for improving industrial energy efficiency. However, due to various barriers, the full potential of EnM is not realised. Several studies have addressed drivers and barriers to energy efficiency but few to EnM. This study aims to identify EnM practices, the most important perceived drivers and barriers for EnM, and relations among them in the energy-intensive Swedish pulp and paper industry (PPI), which has the longest experience internationally of practising EnM systems, and has worked according to the standards since 2004. Our results show that, altogether, the PPI works regularly and continuously with EnM, with a clear division of responsibilities. The highest maturity for EnM practices was for energy policy, followed by organization, investments, and performance measurement. The study also shows that communication between middle management and operations personnel has potential for improvement. The most important categories of drivers were economic, whereas for barriers they were organizational. Nevertheless, knowledge-related barriers and drivers were amongst the most important, suggesting that the absorptive capacity for energy issues could be improved.

Our study looked at the extent to which firm characteristics such as total firm capital affect electricity saving in energy-intensive industry in Sweden from 2007 to 2015. Specifically, the most influential variables for systematic variation in electricity saving in the energy-intensive companies participating in Sweden’s voluntary programme for improving energy efficiency in energy-intensive industry (the PFE) were studied by analysing monetary investment, payback time and firm characteristics. Monetary investment and payback time influenced electricity savings during the PFE more than firm characteristics, with monetary investment being most influential. Nevertheless, the total systematic variation in firm characteristics may account for ∼16% of the systematic variation in electricity saving, where ∼74% (32 of 43) of the studied firm characteristics seemed to merit further investigation and where ∼49% (21 of 43) of firm characteristics appeared most influential. The most influential firm characteristics were total firm capital, stock turnover ratio, machinery, short-term liabilities per turnover ratio and goodwill. The overall results showed that firm characteristics can influence a firm’s energy-saving activities and indicated a tendency for more energy savings in companies that were financially weaker or had done less work to improve energy efficiency prior to the PFE.

Denna studie har bl.a. lett till nya insikter och en fördjupad förståelse för energiledning ur ett styrningsperspektiv. Det finns idag endast ett fåtal studier på energiledning med liknande perspektiv (Schulze et al., 2018, 2016; Virtanen et al., 2013) varför fortsatt forskning starkt rekommenderas. Den multipla fallstudien visade att det finns skillnader i organisering och styrning för energiledning även mellan liknande företag inom samma industri. Dessa skillnader kan till synes härledas till den strategiska riktning respektive företag tagit i sitt energiarbete. Ett ramverk har utvecklats som visar på vilka aktiviteter som bör prioriteras för att möjliggöra för ett proaktivt energiarbete. Fallstudien som fokuserade på investeringsprocessen och dess aktiviteter och procedurer stärker dessa slutsatser: energi bör på operativ nivå integreras som ett kriterium vid investeringar samt på strategisk nivå som en strategisk prioritet.

Climate and environmental targets place significant requirements on energy efficiency and improved industrial energy efficiency is viewed as one of the most important means of reducing CO₂ emissions and mitigating climate change. Even though efforts have been undertaken to improve energy efficiency there is still the potential for further improvements to be made. The potential is a result of that proposed energy efficiency improvement measures are not implemented, even if judged as cost-effective.

Besides improving energy efficiency, the implementation of energy efficiency improvements in industrial firms can generate additional beneficial effects: so-called non-energy benefits. Examples of non-energy benefits are: improved productivity, lower operation and maintenance costs, a better work environment, decreased waste and fewer external effects, such as lower emissions. This thesis has investigated the roles and potential of non-energy benefits in decisions on energy efficiency improvements from three perspectives: energy efficiency measures, energy efficiency investments and energy management activities.

The results of the studies presented in this thesis demonstrated that different types of non-energy benefits were observed in various areas within industrial firms due to the energy efficiency measures, energy efficiency investments and energy management activities they have implemented. Studying energy efficiency measures and investments revealed that implementing one single energy efficiency measure or investment can generate several non-energy benefits. The studies also uncovered a relationship between the non-energy benefits, i.e. chain reactions of primary, secondary and further effects, in which one benefit can generate other types of benefits. Consequently, some non-energy benefits were observed immediately after the implementation of energy efficiency measures, direct effects, while others were perceived later on, indirect effects. Furthermore, extending the perspective by including energy management activities led to the recognition of novel non-energy benefits.

The results of this thesis demonstrated that non-energy benefits were seldom acknowledged in decisions on energy efficiency improvements. However, the non-energy benefits’ character, diversity and relations among them enabled opportunities for the non-energy benefits to be included in decisions on energy efficiency in various ways. For instance, based on the results of these studies, monetised non-energy benefits could be included in investment calculations contributing to cost-effectiveness, while certain effects that are difficult to measure and quantify could be utilised qualitatively in investment evaluations as extra arguments, or, if important to the firm, as objectives for making the investment. Hence, depending on their type, non-energy benefits seemed to have different roles in decisions on industrial energy efficiency improvements.

This thesis contributed with a comprehensive approach by investigating energy efficiency improvements and the related non-energy benefits through three perspectives. By combining the results from each perspective, the view on industrial firms’ decisions on energy efficiency improvements was widened. In this thesis it is concluded that the potential of non-energy benefits in decision-making on industrial energy efficiency improvements lies in the utilisation of all types of non-energy benefits and to consider all the roles that non-energy benefits may have. By utilising knowledge on non-energy benefits along with their roles observed in relation to previous implementations of energy efficiency improvements, non-energy benefits can impact decisions on new implementations.

Effektivisering av industrins energianvändning ses som ett av de viktigaste redskapen för att minska koldioxidutsläppen i syfte att mildra klimatpåverkan och nå uppsatta klimat- och miljömål. Konkurrens och resursbrist driver industrin till att effektivisera och kopplingen mellan energi och tillverkningsprocesser i företagen betyder att energieffektivisering är av vikt då den även bidrar till effektivisering generellt inom företaget. Trots detta genomförs inte alla föreslagna åtgärder även om de är kostnadseffektiva, vilket gör att det finns en potential till ytterligare industriell energieffektivisering.

Förutom energibesparing och energikostnadsbesparing kan implementering av energieffektiviserande åtgärder även ge ytterligare positiva effekter för företaget, så kallade mervärden (eng. non-energy benefits), exempelvis i form av ökad produktivitet, ökad livslängd för maskiner och utrustning, förbättrad arbetsmiljö samt minskad mängd utsläpp och avfall. Denna avhandling har studerat mervärdens roller och potential i beslut kring energieffektiviserande åtgärder och investeringar samt energiledningsaktiviteter.

Resultaten visade att implementering av energieffektiviserande åtgärder och investeringar samt energiledningsaktiviteter gav flera olika typer av mervärden observerade på olika nivåer och inom olika delar av verksamheten i industriföretag. Genom att studera mervärden ur flera perspektiv synliggjordes nya typer av mervärden samt att implementering av en enstaka energieffektiviserande åtgärd kan generera ett flertal mervärden av olika typ. Vidare sågs även samband mellan olika mervärden, dvs att ett mervärde gav upphov till ett flertal andra mervärden.

Resultaten av dessa studier visade att användningen av mervärden vid beslut kring energieffektivisering begränsas av att många mervärden är svåra att mäta och kvantifiera. Trots att många mervärden var svåra att värdera i pengar och inkludera i investeringskalkyler, visade resultaten att mervärden ibland användes kvalitativt i investeringsunderlag som extra argument. Om mervärdet var av stor vikt kunde det till och med anses vara del utav syftet med en energieffektiviserande investering. Detta visade på mervärdens olika roller beroende på deras karaktär samt hur viktiga de ansågs vara för företaget.

Denna avhandling har studerat energieffektiviseringar och relaterade mervärden ur tre perspektiv. Genom att kombinera resultaten från varje perspektiv erhölls en bredare syn på beslut kring energieffektivisering. Resultaten i denna avhandling visade att mervärden kan bidra på olika sätt i beslut kring energieffektiviseringar beroende på deras olika roller samt att mervärdens potential i sådana beslut beror på om och hur mervärdens olika roller beaktas och används. Genom att använda kunskap om mervärden och deras olika roller som observerats i samband med tidigare energieffektiviserande implementeringar, kan mervärden bidra till att påverka beslut vid planering av nya energieffektiviserande implementeringar.

Manufacturing industry has a large energy efficiency potential, yet to be utilized, known as the energy efficiency gap. This gap exists due to barriers that hinder industrial companies from making energy efficiency investments. Research also shows that the gap is even larger if energy management practices are included as well. One type of energy management practice for industrial companies is energy performance benchmarking, which deals with several organisational applications. For example, energy performance benchmarking can be used to compare a company’s degree of energy efficiency to its peers. A benchmarking approach can also be adopted on different levels of aggregation, including sector, site, and process level. Furthermore, continuous work with energy management also entails additional benefits beyond the energy effects, known as non-energy benefits. In an energy management context, these benefits might for instance be organisational or informational in nature. The aim of this paper is to study these aspects of energy management – benchmarking and non-energy benefits – within the Swedish pulp and paper industry.

These aspects of energy management have not, to the authors’ knowledge, been extensively investigated. The adopted method for data collection is a mixed method approach, where a questionnaire was sent to all operating pulp and paper mills in Sweden, and semi-structured interviews were carried out at six mills. The findings in this study show that the most common benchmarking method in the Swedish pulp and paper mills is external benchmarking within a company group. The benchmarking method with the highest perceived value for a mill’s energy management, however, is historical benchmarking of energy use. Furthermore, the pulp and paper mills have perceived a number of non-energy benefits from energy management practices, where top management’s interest in energy efficiency issues increasing more than expected was perceived as the most substantial.

Industrial energy efficiency (EE) is widely recognised to be one of the most important means for achieving environmen-tal sustainability. However, a large share – up to 50 % – of the potential for EE in industry is still untapped. Previous studies have shown that there are potential additional effects beyond energy savings, referred to as non-energy benefits (NEBs), such as improvements in relation to production, operation and maintenance, the work environment or the external en-vironment. Nevertheless, there is a need to fill a knowledge gap about how NEBs can be communicated to industries and how they are linked to policy instruments (PIs) for improv-ing industrial EE. In Sweden, several PIs have been launched with the aim of improving EE. The Swedish Environmental Code (MB), the Act on Energy Audits (EKL), the Swedish Energy Audit Programme (EKS) and Industrial Energy Ef-ficiency Networks (networks) are examples of PIs that are in use in Swedish businesses, and they are the focus of this pa-per. The aim of this study was to map the NEBs arising as a result of Swedish PIs for EE measures in the industrial sector. In-depth interviews were held with administrators, energy auditors and companies about the four PIs to investigate how NEBs are perceived by actors at these levels. Results showed a variety of NEBs identified for the various PIs and revealed that NEBs were generally perceived positively by the inter-viewees. Moreover, the results also revealed that it is difficult to directly link one NEB to a specific PI. Administrators tend to be those who are most aware of NEBs and work actively with the concept, while energy auditors and companies were somewhat less aware.