Accelerating transition toward district heating-system decarbonization by policy co-design with key investors: opportunities and challenges
AbstractDistrict heating in European, Chinese, and Russian cities is still mainly produced with fossil fuels. Energy-system reconfiguration is essential to achieve full decarbonization, which calls for a greater understanding of how to engage key investors in market transformation and how to formula...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2023-12-01
|
| Series: | Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15487733.2023.2256622 |
| _version_ | 1827591734336421888 |
|---|---|
| author | Karoliina Auvinen Teemu Meriläinen Laura Saikku Sampsa Hyysalo Jouni K. Juntunen |
| author_facet | Karoliina Auvinen Teemu Meriläinen Laura Saikku Sampsa Hyysalo Jouni K. Juntunen |
| author_sort | Karoliina Auvinen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | AbstractDistrict heating in European, Chinese, and Russian cities is still mainly produced with fossil fuels. Energy-system reconfiguration is essential to achieve full decarbonization, which calls for a greater understanding of how to engage key investors in market transformation and how to formulate effective policy mixes. This article reports on how decarbonization could be accelerated in district-heating systems in Finland with stakeholder orientation especially on key investors consisting of companies focused on district-heating, data-center management, real estate development, and sewage operations. The technological attention is on the excess and ambient heat systems. Drawing from surveys, interviews, and workshops we identified investment barriers and collected policy and strategy proposals to overcome them. The results demonstrate that diversifying and strengthening the policy and strategy mix is needed to overcome barriers related to profitability, political uncertainties, and underdeveloped cooperation and profit-sharing models. Policy co-design with key investors holds potential to improve the effectiveness and acceptability of policies, but with certain limitations as regime actors tend to oppose the types of destabilization needed to achieve full decarbonization of energy systems. Thus, effective policy co-design processes need further development as collaboration is a success factor to achieve climate change-mitigation targets, but simultaneously tensions and conflicts cannot be avoided when accelerating energy-system transformation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T01:35:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1dad99c62cdf4f40be0016e3547261be |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1548-7733 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T01:35:55Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy |
| spelling | doaj.art-1dad99c62cdf4f40be0016e3547261be2023-12-09T05:55:10ZengTaylor & Francis GroupSustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy1548-77332023-12-0119110.1080/15487733.2023.2256622Accelerating transition toward district heating-system decarbonization by policy co-design with key investors: opportunities and challengesKaroliina Auvinen0Teemu Meriläinen1Laura Saikku2Sampsa Hyysalo3Jouni K. Juntunen4Finnish Environment Institute SYKE, Helsinki, FinlandFinnish Environment Institute SYKE, Helsinki, FinlandFinnish Environment Institute SYKE, Helsinki, FinlandDesign and Architecture, Department of Design, Aalto University School of Arts, Aalto, FinlandSchool of Technology and Innovations, University of Vaasa, Vaasa, FinlandAbstractDistrict heating in European, Chinese, and Russian cities is still mainly produced with fossil fuels. Energy-system reconfiguration is essential to achieve full decarbonization, which calls for a greater understanding of how to engage key investors in market transformation and how to formulate effective policy mixes. This article reports on how decarbonization could be accelerated in district-heating systems in Finland with stakeholder orientation especially on key investors consisting of companies focused on district-heating, data-center management, real estate development, and sewage operations. The technological attention is on the excess and ambient heat systems. Drawing from surveys, interviews, and workshops we identified investment barriers and collected policy and strategy proposals to overcome them. The results demonstrate that diversifying and strengthening the policy and strategy mix is needed to overcome barriers related to profitability, political uncertainties, and underdeveloped cooperation and profit-sharing models. Policy co-design with key investors holds potential to improve the effectiveness and acceptability of policies, but with certain limitations as regime actors tend to oppose the types of destabilization needed to achieve full decarbonization of energy systems. Thus, effective policy co-design processes need further development as collaboration is a success factor to achieve climate change-mitigation targets, but simultaneously tensions and conflicts cannot be avoided when accelerating energy-system transformation.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15487733.2023.2256622District heatingenergy transitiondecarbonizationheat pumpspolicy mixco-design |
| spellingShingle | Karoliina Auvinen Teemu Meriläinen Laura Saikku Sampsa Hyysalo Jouni K. Juntunen Accelerating transition toward district heating-system decarbonization by policy co-design with key investors: opportunities and challenges Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy District heating energy transition decarbonization heat pumps policy mix co-design |
| title | Accelerating transition toward district heating-system decarbonization by policy co-design with key investors: opportunities and challenges |
| title_full | Accelerating transition toward district heating-system decarbonization by policy co-design with key investors: opportunities and challenges |
| title_fullStr | Accelerating transition toward district heating-system decarbonization by policy co-design with key investors: opportunities and challenges |
| title_full_unstemmed | Accelerating transition toward district heating-system decarbonization by policy co-design with key investors: opportunities and challenges |
| title_short | Accelerating transition toward district heating-system decarbonization by policy co-design with key investors: opportunities and challenges |
| title_sort | accelerating transition toward district heating system decarbonization by policy co design with key investors opportunities and challenges |
| topic | District heating energy transition decarbonization heat pumps policy mix co-design |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15487733.2023.2256622 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT karoliinaauvinen acceleratingtransitiontowarddistrictheatingsystemdecarbonizationbypolicycodesignwithkeyinvestorsopportunitiesandchallenges AT teemumerilainen acceleratingtransitiontowarddistrictheatingsystemdecarbonizationbypolicycodesignwithkeyinvestorsopportunitiesandchallenges AT laurasaikku acceleratingtransitiontowarddistrictheatingsystemdecarbonizationbypolicycodesignwithkeyinvestorsopportunitiesandchallenges AT sampsahyysalo acceleratingtransitiontowarddistrictheatingsystemdecarbonizationbypolicycodesignwithkeyinvestorsopportunitiesandchallenges AT jounikjuntunen acceleratingtransitiontowarddistrictheatingsystemdecarbonizationbypolicycodesignwithkeyinvestorsopportunitiesandchallenges |