Ever wondered why there is no accessible book-length introduction to ecological economics and the political economy of transitions in Danish?

I know I have, so I tried to write one. It is out tomorrow, asking how we analytically should approach whether it is too little, too late and who benefits.

On a global scale, the claimed overcapacity does not lead to oil demand for petrochemicals peaking – the IEA expects demand for oil for petrochemicals to continuously increase throughout the decade.

Hvad skal målene for de danske forbrugsbaserede udledninger være?

Klimarådet siger det. Klimabevægelsen siger det. Selv Dansk Industri siger det. Vi skal have pejlemærker for drivhusgasudledninger relateret til forbrug.

Men hvad skal de være? Det har vi i Klima- og Omstillingsrådet nogle bud på.

We know decarbonization, but what about defossilization? To decarbonize, we need to defossilize. But defossilization also risks entrenching existing inequities and perpetuating environmental and climate injustices.

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However, that might very well be a fallacy. Research suggests that we need to defossilize—we need to do away with fossil carbon to begin with and base industrial production on renewables. Otherwise, lock-in ensures that fossil extraction continues at massively problematic scales.

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Around 16% of the oil extracted globally ends up as synthetic materials. With electrification of transportation, this number is set to increase. In fact, in a net-zero world, the International Energy Agency expects that the share of oil for "non-energy purposes" will exceed 50% in 2050.

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Together with @peternewell.bsky.social, I have a new paper out in RIPE.

In this paper, we explore why and how the use of fossil hydrocarbons for non-energy purposes (as raw material for synthetics) changes how we should approach the climate crisis.

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www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

In the final section of the paper, we discuss limitations, assumptions, lessons for practitioners and more, providing a schema for absolute environmental sustainability assessment informed by sufficiency-thinking.

Link to paper: eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

We use the results to inform a sector-level sharing principle prioritising material and energy for fulfilling human needs.

For impact categories where additional ecological space below the boundaries exists, we allocate that space across activities by degree of luxury.

From this model, we find that for some impact categories, we do not stay within planetary boundaries.

For climate impacts, this is partly because the variables for the planetary boundary for climate change are already above their boundary level (419 vs. 350 ppm and +2.79 vs. +1 W/m²).

The question we ask is: How much ecological space can a given activity rightfully claim as a share of Earth's carrying capacity?

Many approaches exist, but we argue that we should start from a premise of sufficiency—prioritising goods and services that enable the satisfaction of human needs.

🍩 How do you figure out if you are inside the doughnut? 🍩

In a new paper with @jonaskromand.bsky.social and Anders Bjørn, we try to answer that question. We suggest allocating carrying capacity to ensure the fulfilment of human needs.

eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

Going to carefully read this new paper on Shell's 2023 petrochemical plant in Pennsylvania:

"The plant might best be understood as a $1.65 billion government subsidy to the fossil fuel industry shrouded behind discourses of economic revitalization and low-carbon futures."

doi.org/10.1080/2469...

Gode pointer! Jeg synes ikke, at de i rapporten rigtig forklarer, hvorfor CCS fylder, som det gør. De skriver til gengæld, det kunne være anderledes ...

Den største multilaterale miljøaftale siden Paris bliver forhandlet denne uge med afgørende konsekvenser for mennesker og økosystemer verden over. Det handler om det vigtigste vækstmarked for olie og gas.

TV2's vinkel: "Har du styr på din affaldssortering"?

The plastics crisis, subject to multilateral negotiation this week, is not a matter of straws, stirrers, plastic cutlery, and carrier bags. They account for 0.04% of use (in the UK).

The crisis, rather, is about maintaining fossil fuel hegemony beyond energy.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

And when I say on display, I mean nailed to a wooden board, of course...

New report on why and how to cap plastic production.

Two major findings to me:

1) There is no way around limits to production (even if considering climate change only)

2) no matter the approach, principles of distributive justice are critically important.

portal.research.lu.se/en/publicati...

I am using my first post on this platform to share that I will defend my PhD on the links between fossil fuels, chemicals and synthetic materials on September 20.

So thrilled that this is happening after four years of research. I cannot wait to share the thesis in full in a week or two.