Steel Beyond Coal : Socio-Technical Change and the Emergent Politics of Steel Decarbonisation
Författare
Summary, in English
In this thesis, I study the transition from coal to renewable energy in steel production. I show how the Paris Agreement and its imperative to decarbonise the economy is pushing the blast furnace to its technical and economic limits. What is more, renewable energy is becoming cheaper and more technologically mature, which allows steel producers to resurrect the century-old idea of electrifying steel production. In the four papers included in this thesis I study both the steel industry’s lock-in into fossil fuels and different ways to escape this lock-in through policy measures, phase-out politics and innovation. In the thesis summary, I connect the findings in the papers theoretically through a socio-technical transitions perspective. Such a transition, I argue, is already in the making today in diverse instances of an emerging politics of steel decarbonisation, from confrontations around coal mine projects, blast furnace relinings, hydrogen production and trade projects, and green industrial policy. The findings of this thesis are part of a larger conversation on transformations towards sustainability, in which the engagement of civil society is a crucial factor that can make decarbonising primary steel production become a force for sustainability.
Avdelning/ar
Publiceringsår
2023-01-10
Språk
Engelska
Fulltext
Dokumenttyp
Doktorsavhandling
Förlag
Lund University, Environmental and Energy Systems Studies
Ämne
- Energy Systems
Nyckelord
- Steel
- coal
- climate change
- decarbonisation
- socio-technical transitions
- sustainability
Status
Published
Projekt
- Pathways for HDR steel making (HYBRIT RP1 -WP6)
Handledare
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISBN: 978-91-8039-469-7
- ISBN: 978-91-8039-470-3
Försvarsdatum
3 februari 2023
Försvarstid
09:00
Försvarsplats
Lecture Hall V:A, building V, John Ericssons väg 1, Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University, Lund.
Opponent
- Matthew Lockwood (Dr)