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In this article, we investigate public support for eco-social policies combining goals of social justice and ecological sustainability. Eco-social policies contribute both to providing a social floor or redistributing resources to where they are needed and to respecting an ecological ceiling by keeping human activities within ecological limits. We discuss five such policies and highlight arguments for and against defining them as eco-social policies: a maximum income, a wealth tax, a basic income, a working time reduction and a meat tax. Asking what the social and individual determinants of supporting these policies are, we use 2020 data from a representative survey in Sweden containing information about how respondents evaluate the policies. We run regression analyses to estimate the effects on these evaluations and test for socio-economic, knowledge-based and value-based factors. Results show that (1) in Sweden a working time reduction is the most supported eco-social policy; (2) political left orientation increases support for all five eco-social policies; (3) socio-economic factors have effects on wealth tax, maximum income and working time reduction; and (4) knowledge-based factors are more associated with the meat tax. Thus, socio-economic and knowledge-based models have the most significance for policies that could be understood as being either social or environmental, while value-based models have significance across potentially perceived policy divides and hence to a greater extent explain support for policies targeting an ecological ceiling and a social floor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green economy is a concept frequently used by governments and international institutions to promote sustainable transformations of the economy. In this study, we explore how the transition towards a green economy is being conceptualised in policy terms in the three Nordic countries Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Comparing these cases, we analyse strategic policy documents on green growth, circular economy, bioeconomy, low‐carbon transitions, and sustainable development. While comprehensive national policy strategies on the green economy are lacking, the studied documents display policy approaches that reflect different aspects of a green economic transformations, such as low‐carbon developments, promotion of environmental technology sectors, and enhanced circularity. Our findings indicate the presence of a transformative Nordic model for greening the economy, in which the state plays an active role in supporting innovation and technology development, facilitating cooperation among societal actors, and securing social welfare and human wellbeing. It is underpinned by optimism about the opportunity to reconcile economic growth with sustainable development, while more radical beyond growth approaches are strikingly absent, reflecting their marginal roles in the established policy discourse of these countries. Rather, concepts such as circular economy, sharing economy, and sustainable production and consumption are highlighted as central for greening the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore peoples' dispositions and practices with regard to social–ecological transformations based on a sustainable welfare policy strategy in Sweden. We draw on Bourdieu's concept of habitus to highlight the relations between social positions, dispositions, and position‐takings. Using data from an own survey, we identify habitus types and place these in the space of social positions. We apply principal component analysis to a large set of questions about social, ecological, and climate change related topics and identify eight underlying eco–social dispositions. These are used for cluster analyses that find typical constellations of eco–social dispositions within the Swedish population: variants of eco–social habitus. We find seven habitus types and describe their social characteristics, political preferences, and practices. Finally, the seven habitus are plotted onto the map of social positions, the Bourdieusian social space, highlighting their relations—proximities, tensions, and contestations—to each other. We find evidence that political struggles around social–ecological transformations reproduce existing social structures but are also connected to new "eco–social" divisions that appear between groups in similar positions. In the conclusion we discuss the implications for social–ecological transformations based on sustainable welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the role of actor relations in advancing climate policymaking and argues that attempts to understand decisions to decarbonise in a green state should explore the institutional conditions for policymaking. The article explores the climate policy model in Sweden in terms of the societal actors included in the policy process, the nature of this inclusion, and its relevance for the prospects of decarbonisation. It uses three perspectives in the analysis: corporatism, sustainable transition studies, and ecological democracy. The findings largely support existing research that states characterised by corporatist policymaking are suited for environmental governance and for climate policymaking. However, as a model of governance of actor relations, the Swedish climate policymaking model has both its merits and demerits. Although it has potential to reach decarbonisation objectives, it does this in the context of including mainly established economic interests, that is, incumbents. This stands in contrast with what is argued in sustainable transition studies that incumbents obstruct change, in the Swedish case they are viewed as potential change agents. Finally, although the character of the actor relations is deliberative, it is a top–down exclusive kind of deliberation that remains far from ideals of ecological democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green public procurement is believed to have the potential to contribute to environmental improvement and diffusion of green technologies. The aim of this paper is to compare and analyse how two Swedish regions use public procurement to promote the introduction of renewable fuels in their public bus transport systems. The method is a qualitative comparative case study, based on interviews and document studies. The paper addresses the questions of what the strategic motivations are for using public procurement to stimulate renewable fuels, and what the practical challenges have been in relation to five important factors identified from previous research: strategies, requirements, costs, size and knowledge. In one region, procurement is used in a strategic way to create a local market for biofuels, which poses higher demands on political backing, information and knowledge, the way requirements are set, and an acceptance of increased costs. In the other region, procurement is used instrumentally to increase the share of biofuels in a cost-effective way that gives room for more flexibility and reduces the demands on the procurers. This paper highlights the importance of context when assessing green public procurement schemes and analyses the case-specific influence of factors on the outcome of green public procurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comparison of the effects of national approaches to encouraging local climate mitigation initiatives in four municipalities in Norway and Sweden suggests that the development of such initiatives depend not only on the comprehensiveness and ambitions of central government efforts, but more crucially on characteristics of the targeted municipalities. We argue that local coalitions of committed individuals forming implementation structures of varying cohesiveness are important for understanding variations in the effects of government programmes on the development of local mitigation initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The planning of facilities to improve the environment is often carried through in the form of locally based construction projects. These projects can be complex, involving a variety of issues and a number of different actors from both the public and private sectors. By drawing on previous research on project planning, an analytical model for analysing the issues connected with the planning and implementation of environmental projects is developed. The main argument of the paper is the importance of considering how context-specific factors affect project design and project management. The empirical material is taken from the planning of two biogas projects in Sweden and it is showed how differences in factors such as the actors involved, the organisational framework and the political setting lead to two markedly distinct planning approaches. The results of the paper, which also highlight the importance of a flexible planning approach, are relevant not only for biogas but also for other projects with similar characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to compare the planning for wind power in three municipalities and analyze how it has influenced three important aspects of the wind power development: the siting of turbines, the ownership of turbines and citizen participation. The paper shows that the planning strategies of the municipalities differed considerably and that this in turn has led to differences in the development of wind power. A general conclusion is that there seems to be a dilemma in municipal planning between, on the one hand, the promotion of wind power and, on the other hand, the organization of a planning that effectively regulates the siting of turbines and allows for citizen participation. The results show that there is a need to support and strengthen municipal planning capacities, and efforts in that direction are being undertaken by state and regional authorities in Sweden. The results, however, also imply the need for stronger policy measures in order to avoid large differences between the way wind power is handled at the municipal level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current freight transport is highly dependent on fossil fuels and there is a need for a transition to alternative fuels and technologies. Biogas is a type of biofuel that has the potential to reduce climate emissions from freight transport, while providing additional benefits such as recycling of nutrients and increased energy security. This paper uses theories on the diffusion of green technologies to analyse the barriers and drivers for the increased use and diffusion of biogas in freight transport. The empirical focus is on the region of Västra Götaland in Sweden, and qualitative interviews have been conducted with demand-side actors such as transport buyers, haulage companies and vehicle manufacturers. The results confirm the important barriers observed in previous research, such as the higher costs of biogas, financial uncertainties and lack of infrastructure, as well as the interplay between barriers. The main drivers are an increased focus on sustainability both within the sector and from wider society, as well as the environmental properties of biogas. Specific barriers have also been identified such as a fragmented freight market structure with a mix of large and small transport companies, tight profit margins and reduced capacity for investments. There is also a division of labour and responsibilities between transport companies and transport buyers, which makes it unclear who will drive the transition to alternative fuels. In general, the study shows that the different types of uncertainty are perceived by the actors as being a significant barrier that needs to be better conceptualised in diffusion theory. [Display omitted] • Barriers and drivers for the diffusion of biogas in freight transport are analysed. • Case study on perceptions of demand-side actors in freight transport in Sweden. • Important barriers are higher costs, financial uncertainties and lack of infrastructure. • Important drivers are increased sustainability focus and environmental properties of biogas. • Uncertainty is a major barrier that should better conceptualised in diffusion theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]