Max Åhman

• Tekn Dr
• Professor (Associate) at Lund University

Dokumenttitel och undertitel/Title and subtitle Decarbonising industry in Sweden -an assessment of possibilities and policy needs Abstrakt/Abstract Technical opportunities for a complete decarbonisation of the basic material industry in Sweden by 2050 are analysed. From this assessment, the report discusses policy implications for the industry sect...

This study considers the technical potential concerning the energy efficiency attainable for vehicles with alternative powertrains within 10–20 years. The potential for electric vehicles (BEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) is assessed and compared with the potential improvement in conventional vehicles wi...

The aim of this paper is to analyse the role that the Japanese Government has played in the development of alternatives to conventional vehicles, the effect of government programmes, and the importance of technical flexibility in government support schemes. The focus is on battery-powered electric vehicles (BPEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs),...

The nexus of climate policy and "competitiveness"-how to transition to clean energy while ensuring a competitive economy-is a concern on both sides of the Atlantic. In the United States and the European Union, there has been an attempt to resolve the issue by turning towards green industrial policy and subsidies for low-carbon production, sparking...

Introduktion Industripolitikens vara eller inte vara har under senare tid diskuterats intensivt i akademiska så väl som politiska kretsar. Intresset för industripolitik har återväckts genom klimatomställningen, en intensifierad global konkurrens om marknadsandelar inom grön teknik, samt det allt sämre säkerhetsläget. Alla stora ekonomier har i någo...

The main options for deep decarbonisation of primary steel production are to continue using coal and employ carbon capture and storage (CCS) or to change the production process to direct reduction by utilizing hydrogen produced from renewable energy resources. In India, the world's second-largest steel producer, a shift to renewables is inhibited b...

Ethylene is one of the most important products in the emissions-intensive petrochemical industry. Decarbonizing the ethylene industry is thus important for achieving global carbon neutrality. This study is the first to explore future long-term zero-emissions production pathways for the ethylene industry in China, the world's biggest ethylene produc...

A guide to the most effective ways to cut emissions in steelmaking

To reach the goals of the Paris Agreement, global emissions should be reduced to net zero by mid-century. The steel sector is an emission-intensive industrial subsector where low-carbon production routes are emerging, and recent studies have shown that rapid decarbonization of the sector is technically possible. However, several barriers block the...

Meeting the goals set out in the Paris Agreement will require rapid and deep reductions of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) across all sectors of the global economy. Like all major societal transformations, this climate transition will impact both social and technical aspects of society and, depending on how it evolves, will real-locate social and ec...

• Decarbonisation will have major implications for global excess steel capacity. The steel industry today is dominated by carbon intensive capacities, but to reach net-zero – as set out in the Paris agreement – we need zero-emission capacities. We need to phase-out all current carbon-intensive capacities to meet Paris commitments. To meet future st...

The steel industry is a major contributor to emissions of CO2 and key air pollutants. Reducing air pollution has since long been a policy priority in China. Reducing CO2 emissions has more recently also become a key priority partially manifested through the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015. Although there are often synergies between reducing...

Economic analysis has produced ample insights on how international trade and climate policy interact (1). Trade presents both opportunities and obstacles, and invites the question of how domestic climate policies can be effective in a global economy integrated through international trade. Particularly problematic is the potential relocation of prod...

Author Correction to the article: A climate club to decarbonize the global steel industry

Decarbonizing global steel production requires a fundamental transformation. A sectoral climate club, which goes beyond tariffs and involves deep transnational cooperation, can facilitate this transformation by addressing technical, economic and political uncertainties.

Basic materials are traded globally and responsible for roughly 22 % of global carbon emissions. It is technically possible for the energy intensive industries (EIIs) that produce these materials to reach zero emission, but at a cost. So far, the fear of carbon leakage has been a barrier for implementing ambitious domestic climate policies that tar...

The paper aims to identify and analyse potential legal avenues for phasing out fossil fuel subsidies (FFS) in the European Union (EU) using State aid rules. Our analysis reveals that the EU State aid rules would allow the European Commission to effectively target and monitor a vast number of FFS. From a policy perspective, the requirements for noti...

The target of zero emissions sets a new standard for industry and industrial policy. Industrial policy in the twenty-first century must aim to achieve zero emissions in the energy and emissions intensive industries. Sectors such as steel, cement, and chemicals have so far largely been sheltered from the effects of climate policy. A major shift is n...

Petrostates face an unprecedented crisis as oil and gas revenues, on which their economies and states are built upon, are set to diminish rapidly the coming 20 years. The decline in revenues is an effect of the adopted climate policies in the major oil consuming countries that, together with a strong development of renewable energy, reduces the fut...

Global steel production is currently dependent on coal and capital-intensive production facilities with long economic lifetimes. While the Paris Agreement means carbon neutrality must be reached globally by 2050–2070, with negative emissions thereafter, coal-based steel production today accounts for around 8% of global energy-related CO2 emissions....

The paper aims to identify and analyse potential legal avenues for phasing out fossil fuels in the European Union using EU State aid rules. Our analysis of the EU's legal framework reveals that the EU State aid rules would allow the European Commission to effectively target and monitor fossil fuel subsidies. In particular, the requirements for noti...

The objective of this paper is to outline and discuss the key elements of an EU industrial development policy consistent with the Paris Agreement. We also assess the current EU Industrial Strategy proposal against these elements. The “well below 2 °C” target sets a clear limit for future global greenhouse gas emissions and thus strict boundaries fo...

In the attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from steel production, several large industry decarbonization projects have emerged in Europe. The commercialization of low-emission steel technology, however, faces systemic barriers such as a lack of infrastructure and unclear demand for greener steel. As part of its new commitment to climate-neut...

The electrification of industry is driven by the rapidly decreasing price of renewable electricity, together with the need for deep decarbonisation. Electricity can replace fossil fuels in most industrial processes. An important aspect of making electricity attractive to industry is the price, and several of the recently formulated industrial road...

The energy intensive industry, producing basic materials, is responsible for 25 to 30% of today's global greenhouse gas emissions. The future supply of GHG neutral basic materials (e.g. steel, cement, aluminium, plastics, etc.) is a necessity for building a sustainable modern society. Deep decarbonisation of the energy intensive industries is techn...

The energy intensive industry, producing basic materials, is responsible for 25 to 30% of today's global greenhouse gas emissions. The future supply of GHG neutral basic materials (e.g. steel, cement, aluminium, plastics, etc.) is a necessity for building a sustainable modern society. Deep decarbonisation of the energy intensive industries is techn...

End-use efficiency, demand response and coupling of different energy vectors are important aspects of future renewable energy systems. Growth in the number of data centres is leading to an increase in electricity demand and the emergence of a new electricity intensive industry. Studies on data centres and energy use have so far focused mainly on en...

The paper aims to identify and analyze potential legal avenues for phasing out fossil fuels in the European Union using EU State aid rules. Our analysis of the EU’s legal framework reveals that the EU State aid rules would allow the European Commission to effectively target and monitor fossil fuel subsidies. In particular, the requirements for noti...

The Swedish steel industry stands before a potential transition to drastically lower its CO2 emissions using direct hydrogen reduction instead of continuing with coke-based blast furnaces. Previous studies have identified hydrogen direct reduction as a promising option. We build upon earlier efforts by performing a technological innovation system s...

The climate debate has sparked an interest for alternative steelmaking processes within the European steel industry. For the steel industry the Paris Agreement means it must undergo large-scale technological change. Public funding for research and demonstration projects has been successful in nurturing a variety of technology innovation projects, s...

The climate debate has sparked an interest for alternative steelmaking processes within the European steel industry. For the steel industry the Paris Agreement means it must undergo large-scale technological change. Public funding for research and demonstration projects has been successful in nurturing a variety of technology innovation projects, s...

The climate debate has sparked an interest for alternative steelmaking processes within the European steel industry. For the steel industry the Paris Agreement means it must undergo large-scale technological change. Public funding for research and demonstration projects has been successful in nurturing a variety of technology innovation projects, s...

Steel production accounts for approximately 7 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. To meet the targets set by the 2015 Paris Agreement, the steel sector must go through a systemic change that involves the full value chain, from production to recycling. The largest share of emissions in this chain comes from the production of virgin steel fro...

Climate policy objectives require zero emissions across all sectors including steelmaking. The fundamental process changes needed for reaching this target are yet relatively unexplored. In this paper, we propose and assess a potential design for a fossil-free steelmaking process based on direct reduction of iron ore with hydrogen. We show that hydr...

Industrial processes currently account for a significant share (25-35 %) of the world's total energy demand and related emissions. During recent years, the amount of low-carbon electricity from renewable energy sources (such as wind and solar) has increased continuously. There is therefore an increasing interest in electrification of industrial pro...

Energy intensive industries (EIIs), producing the basic materials and products needed in society, contribute significantly to global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Motivated by the fear of carbon leakage, climate policy has so far treated the EIIs leniently with e.g. low carbon prices and/or free allocation of emission allowances. This has n...

This article takes stock of the world's largest low-carbon technology demonstration programme-the EU's NER 300. The programme has been marked by delays and many withdrawn projects since becoming operational in 2010: CCS projects have failed and not reached final investment decisions; wind and solar projects have succeeded , whereas bioenergy projec...

The production of commodities by energy-intensive industry is responsible for 1/3 of annual global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The climate goal of the Paris Agreement, to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C, requires...

The well below 2 degree Celsius target sets a clear limit to future greenhouse gas emissions and thus strict boundaries for the development of future industrial pro-cesses and sourcing of feedstock. This includes the primary production of steel, ce-ment, plastics and other basic materials that currently account for more than 20 % of global CO2 emis...

The well below 2 degree Celsius target sets a clear limit to future greenhouse gas emissions and thus strict boundaries for the development of future industrial pro-cesses and sourcing of feedstock. This includes the primary production of steel, cement, plastics and other basic materials that currently account for more than 20 % of global carbon di...

Energy-intensive processing industries (EPIs) produce iron and steel, aluminum, chemicals, cement, glass, and paper and pulp and are responsible for a large share of global greenhouse gas emissions. To meet 2050 emission targets, an accelerated transition towards deep decarbonization is required in these industries. Insights from sociotechnical and...

If we are to limit global warming to 2 °C, all sectors in all countries must reduce their emissions of GHGs to zero not later than 2060–2080. Zero-emission options have been less explored and are less developed in the energy-intensive basic materials industries than in other sectors. Current climate policies have not yet motivated major efforts to...

Energy-intensive processing industries (EPIs) such as iron and steel, aluminum, chemicals, cement, glass, and paper and pulp are responsible for a large share of global greenhouse gas emissions. To meet 2050 emission targets, a transition to low carbon, often radical innovations is required, but this process is going slow. Insights from sociotechni...

The need for deep decarbonisation in the energy intensive basic materials industry is increasingly recognised. In light of the vast future potential for renewable electricity the implications of electrifying the production of basic materials in the European Union is explored in a what-if thought-experiment. Production of steel, cement, glass, lime,...

In a future fossil-free circular economy, the petroleum-based plastics industry must be converted to non-fossil feedstock. A known alternative is bio-based plastics, but a relatively unexplored option is deriving the key plastic building blocks, hydrogen and carbon, from electricity through electrolytic processes combined with carbon capture and ut...

Elsystemet står inför en stor förändring som kommer av omställningen till ett utsläppsfritt samhälle. Elsystemet är en central del av vår samhälleliga infrastruktur och dess utveckling har till stor del styrts av politiska beslut även om marknaden fått allt större utrymme sedan 1990-talet. Stora tekniska system utvecklas alltid i samklang med samhä...

Decarbonizing society poses both threats and opportunities for the manufacturing industry. For the industry that manufactures end-user products, decarbonization presents a potential to innovate higher added value clean-tech products and to expand into new ‘green’ markets. For the energy intensive industry (EII), that produces mainly basic materials...

This article provides an analysis of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and the harmonized benchmark-based allocation procedures by comparing two energy-intensive sectors with activities in three Member States. These sectors include the cement industry (CEI) and the pulp and paper industry (PPI) in the UK, Sweden, and France. Our results show th...

A deep decarbonization of basic materials production fundamentally requires new process technologies. The current climate policy framework tends to preserve industrial structures and reward incremental improvements rather than prepare for a low-carbon transition. G8 countries should develop policies that shift the focus from compensating carbon cos...

Sverige har en vision om ”netto-noll” utsläpp av växthusgaser till 2050 och är på god väg att nå utsatta delmål för utsläppsreduktioner till 2020. Klimatfrågan är dock långsiktig och det under klimatkonventionen antagna 2-gradersmålet innebär utsläppsåtaganden som sträcker sig till år 2050 och bortom. En långsiktigt effektiv klimatpolitik ska där...

The global objective to limit human-induced warming to 2°C requires that global emissions are reduced by 50% by 2050. However, industrialized countries need to do much more. The principle of burden sharing embed-ded in the global climate negotiations implies that indus-trialized countries should be set on a path towards a complete decarbonization u...

The last 20 years efforts to find a long-term and large-scale biofuel alternative to petrol and diesel for the transport sector have been intensified with a focus on liquid biofuels, such as ethanol, methanol and Fischer–Tropsh diesel derived from wood. The large-scale production of biomethane has so far largely been overlooked in comparative studi...

The accumulated experience and path-dependent development of petroleum-based transport fuels and internal combustion engine vehicles has created an apparent technological lock-in. Our analysis of a RApid Future vehicles and Fuels scenario (RAFF) for the EU shows that ambitious carbon emission reductions can be achieved even with projected increases...

The aim of this paper is to review the prospect for large-scale automotive fuel and feedstock options and draw some conclusions regarding short and medium-term policy. We are looking at 10-50 year perspective and a robust/flexible strategy based on carbonaceous feedstock that could act as a bridge supporting the long-term development of zero emitti...

A report of the Sweden new government on the future for bioenergy is presented. The report state that the agriculture sector supplies 1.5 TWh of biomass energy to the Swedish energy system in the form of wheat, rapeseed, and some willows. A report discloses the fact that agriculture can play an important role in the development of Swedish energy sy...

Who can pick a winner? Since 1974, various types of targeted support have at different times been directed at the development of the heat pump market in Sweden - which in the following decades oscillated violently between soaring sales and collapse. Eventually, however, small heat pumps for space heating of residential buildings have in recent year...

Decoupling freight transport growth from the economic de- velopment is necessary for shaping a sustainable transport

The transport sector is facing serious challenges in meeting long-term sustainability criteria. Radical changes in the design of vehicles to attain competitive vehicles with substantially better environmental performance will probably constitute an important part in a future sustainable transport sector. The aim of the study described in this thesi...

Vehicle technology is currently facing a transition period in which vehicles equipped with alternative powertrains, such as battery powered electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles or fuel cell vehicles, are being developed for future markets. An assessment of the competitiveness of vehicles using alternative powertrains has been made here. Previous stud...

In this study, the use of energy carriers based on renewable energy sources in battery-powered electric vehicles (BPEVs), fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) is compared regarding energy efficiency, emission and cost. There is the potential to double the primary energy...

Road transport has become a large source of CO2 emission and accounted in 1998 for about 27% of the CO2 emission in Sweden. Efficient energy use and the use of renewable energy sources are main options for reducing CO2 emission from vehicles in the future. In this study, the use of energy carriers based on renewable energy sources in battery-powere...

Light duty vehicles, i.e. passenger cars and light trucks, account for approximately half of global transportation energy demand and, thus, a major share of carbon dioxide and other emissions from the transport sector. Energy consumption in the transport sector is expected to grow in the future, especially in developing countries. Cars with alterna...

ABSTRACT (Aim, Method, Results) Passenger cars can be more effective and decrease their fuelconsumption,by switching to alternative drivetrains or by improvements,in the conventional drivetrain. The aim of the report is to investigate and compare,new energy efficient drivetrains in order to make a strategic assessment on which alternative have the...