Agnese and her blog

Considering the findings by Newell in his summary and analysis of academic literature regarding corporate decarbonization strategies, a successful action plan for rapid transition of business is characterized by: Adoption of new technologies which substitute old inefficient ones with clear climate benefits highlighted Movement of capital towards a green financing of the company's assets in order to shift the long term gains and interests External governance pressure either from public domain, in countries where the governmental push is aiming at a less carbonized private sector Pressure to ownership shareholders to modify their business strategy, aka return on investment KPI, not exclusively related to financial profit in order to create shared liability towards net zero Transparent and accountable target setting in order to disclose and report a coherent climate strategy throughout all levels of the organization Finally and most importantly, external consumers pressure towards sma...

Considering historical examples of rapid societal changes, such as the construction of the railway in the first industrial era or the re-direction of a country's industry to fast recover from a world war, makes us recognize the ability of humanity to achieve successful socio-economical developments when posed into situations of urgency and collective necessity (BBC 2019). In terms of energy transition towards a net zero 2050 and its main drivers, the forth running countries in Europe, Sweden and France, have adopted a rapid change, similarly as above, as a response to the incumbent energy crisis which required a fast development towards an economy less dependent on fossil fuels (Millot 2020). Generally speaking, it could be said first and foremost that specifically for energy transitions, "resource availability and geostrategic factors influence energy systems pathways" (Millot 2020). The overall aim of the policy makers has not been really to impact CO2 emissions if not ...

Even though the line of energy development is often considered a linear conventional transition towards an increasingly more technological future, this worldview omits the factors of uncertainty , human behaviour, cultural differences and diverse societal norms all together which sometimes lead to a more complex relationship between prosperity and sustainability (Jasanoff 2018). Moreover, the identification of self bias by academic communities with regard to dynamic or uncertain scientific aspects in nowadays model making, such as diverse background, values and beliefs, would allow a more perceptive and aware utilization and/or development of new and/or existing technologies (Jasanoff 2018). "That reflexivity could become the doorway to a Second Enlightenment, a stage of self-awareness in which we deploy both our knowledge and our doubts more wisely" (Jasanoff 2018). The disparity of local scales of governance along with the development efforts needed for downscaling national...

Research related to adaptation and mitigation pathways leading to the fulfilment of the 1.5 degrees C goal of the Paris Agreement has always been focused on the managerial and technical challenges to be faced. These carbon roadmaps represent plausible storylines which private or public entities and policy makers can adopt in order to achieve the well needed shift in the carbon emission curve and to reach net zero by 2050 (O’Brien 2018). However, O'Brien argues that in order for such a long-term and broad scale of transformation to happen, there must be a focus on the social transition as well, which is fundamental in creating a synergetic shift in all sectors (O’Brien 2018). It is important to analyse the social factor into the equation of sustainable adaptation in order to recognize unconscious past dependencies or beliefs which might cloud or bias the technical results of mathematical models (Wright 2010). Given the influence that paradigms and mindsets might have on a social tra...

Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) are described by the UNFCCC as "to provide policy-relevant insights into global environmental change and sustainable development issues by providing a quantitative description of key processes in the human and earth systems and their interactions." IAMs couple together energy system technologies along with socio-economic and climate science models in order to provide valuable predictions in terms of technological and economic feasibility to achieve for example the Paris Agreement goals (Hare 2018). To this regard, they represent a valuable tool to be adopted in providing relevant data towards a low-carbon transition (Geels 2016). However, considering the requirement for IAMs of simplifications in mathematical representations as well as the rational choice econometric model assumptions, there is a need for integration with diverse approaches: the socio-technical transition theory, and practice-based action research (Geels 2016). With such me...

With the increasingly popular race for countries globally to sustain the goals aligned in the Paris Agreement and reach Net Zero (or Negative Emissions) by 20100, it is important to analyse with the currently available data those regions which are successfully adopting a winning strategy towards a lower carbon footprint. Drawing on information and data from the Electricity Map we can analyse countries' carbon intensity based on their production and consumption: Key Findings: All energy mixes for low carbon footprint countries are driven predominantly by hydroelectricity both in production and emission The second group of energy sources are usually still renewable such as wind power, hydrogen (disclaimer as it is not detailed if it's green hydrogen) or bioenergy, however there is as well the presence of nuclear energy in certain countries This is all in line to the global increase in renewable source energy production since the 1985, especially in hydropower The first country in...