5. SUSTAINABLE CLIMATE TRANSITION
Climate mitigation and sustainability – a game of whack-a-mole?
ANDERS AHLBÄCK, MARTIN ERIKSSON, AND EDVIN NORDELL
Transforming Swedish industry to achieve net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases entails opportunities and risks for other sustainability objectives, as described by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moving forward, holistic perspectives, transparency and supply chain coalitions will be key factors in avoiding the creation of new problems when solving the climate challenge, like a game of whack-a-mole. As more attention is devoted to limiting global warming, finding cohesion between the Paris Agreement and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will be a major challenge. Reaching net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases in Sweden by Year 2045 will require new practices, policy instruments and technologies. In technology terms, the transformation is heavily dependent upon the expanded use of renewables and electrification, as well as the introduction of new raw materials, production processes and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
Exclusively addressing the climate issue will most likely introduce risks and opportunities for other SDGs in Sweden and elsewhere. Therefore, we have assessed the additional impacts from the transformative key technologies of wind, solar and bio power, electric vehicle batteries (EVB), climate-neutral concrete and CCS, all of which need to be considered at an early stage. Moreover, assessments need to be conducted that consider the implications across the entire supply chain.
Table 1. Identified SDG risks and opportunities expressed as being positive (P) or negative (N) or having no impact (-), as well as the knowledge gaps (?) for key technologies in the Mistra Carbon Exit pathways. Note that there are several cases with more than one impact category for the same SDG from each key technology.
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