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Exploring sustainability transitions in the iron and steel industry : A case study from Sweden
The iron and steel industry accounts for one third of global industrial CO2 emissions (IEA, 2015a), putting transformative pressures on the industry to shift towards more sustainable modes of production. Steel is widely used in every country and almost all industries, with a growing trend around the globe. There is a common agreement that the industry needs to improve the energy efficiency, recycle more and switch to low-carbon production processes (IEA, 2015a; Rynikiewicz, 2008; Sridhar and Li, 2016; WSA, 2016). However, this transitions requires a lengthy and complex process at which radical innovations are required to reduce the emissions and ,thus, facilitate the sustainability transitions (Wesseling et al., 2016). In this study, we focus on the iron and steel industry in Sweden – a rarely studied context in the field of sustainability transitions. The country is the host of SSAB AB, known to be a promising steel company to lead the sustainability transitions of the industry worldwide (Fryer et al., 2016), as well as the LKAB, which is the EU´s largest iron ore producer with 78% market share (LKAB, 2016). The SSAB and LKAB, together with the Swedish policy makers and Vattenfall – as electricity supplier –, committed themselves making Sweden to be the first place to reach zero-carbon steel production (PC, 2016). However, despite the ambitious goals, a few decades might be needed. For example, much is expected from the radical innovations, such as the hydrogen based reduction technology (HYBRIT, 2016), which are still at the experimental stage. Thus, we raise the following research question: What are the possible pathways for sustainability transitions in the iron and steel industry in Sweden? The case in Sweden is highly relevant for the field of sustainability transitions because there is a collective guidance and governance towards carbon free steel production (PR, 2017). As a method, we choose an explorative case study approach (Yin, 2003). We combine primary qualitative data, such as semi structured ...
Exploring sustainability transitions in the iron and steel industry : A case study from Sweden
The iron and steel industry accounts for one third of global industrial CO2 emissions (IEA, 2015a), putting transformative pressures on the industry to shift towards more sustainable modes of production. Steel is widely used in every country and almost all industries, with a growing trend around the globe. There is a common agreement that the industry needs to improve the energy efficiency, recycle more and switch to low-carbon production processes (IEA, 2015a; Rynikiewicz, 2008; Sridhar and Li, 2016; WSA, 2016). However, this transitions requires a lengthy and complex process at which radical innovations are required to reduce the emissions and ,thus, facilitate the sustainability transitions (Wesseling et al., 2016). In this study, we focus on the iron and steel industry in Sweden – a rarely studied context in the field of sustainability transitions. The country is the host of SSAB AB, known to be a promising steel company to lead the sustainability transitions of the industry worldwide (Fryer et al., 2016), as well as the LKAB, which is the EU´s largest iron ore producer with 78% market share (LKAB, 2016). The SSAB and LKAB, together with the Swedish policy makers and Vattenfall – as electricity supplier –, committed themselves making Sweden to be the first place to reach zero-carbon steel production (PC, 2016). However, despite the ambitious goals, a few decades might be needed. For example, much is expected from the radical innovations, such as the hydrogen based reduction technology (HYBRIT, 2016), which are still at the experimental stage. Thus, we raise the following research question: What are the possible pathways for sustainability transitions in the iron and steel industry in Sweden? The case in Sweden is highly relevant for the field of sustainability transitions because there is a collective guidance and governance towards carbon free steel production (PR, 2017). As a method, we choose an explorative case study approach (Yin, 2003). We combine primary qualitative data, such as semi structured ...
Exploring sustainability transitions in the iron and steel industry : A case study from Sweden
Karakaya, Emrah (author) / Assbring, Linda (author) / Nuur, Cali (author)
2017-01-01
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
DDC:
690
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