SEK 6 million goes to research on regional carbon budgets

Magdalena Kuchler from Uppsala University investigates the integration of regional carbon budgets in regional climate policy

The Swedish Energy Agency has granted SEK 5,968,391 for a research project that contributes to increased knowledge about Swedish counties' role in transitioning to a fossil-free society. This is done by the project and three selected counties examining the integration of carbon budget targets in the regional climate policy and broader regional policy goals and strategies.

The project is based on the regional carbon budgets that the CCL-node within the Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (NRHU) has developed for Västra Götaland, Västerbotten and Östergötland counties. These three counties represent different levels of commitment with carbon budgets, which enriches the study's comparative analysis.

The overall aim of the project is to: 1) help the selected counties in the process of integrating an ambitious carbon budget target into regional climate policy as well as broader public policy goals and strategies, and 2) contribute to a better understanding of the role that the counties can play in accelerating the transition to a fossil-free society.

"We know that the Swedish counties face an unprecedented challenge of integrating their carbon budgets into climate and broader policy frameworks in a way that would result in a rapid action aimed at substantially reducing emissions across all sectors. We want to help the Swedish counties understand how this can be achieved. By doing so, we want to contribute to a better understanding of the role that the counties can play in accelerating the transition to a fossil-free society," says Magdalena Kuchler, senior lecturer in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development at the Department of Earth Sciences.

The project includes Martin Wetterstedt, who is a Researcher at NRHU, Department of Earth Sciences. The project was submitted to the Swedish Energy Agency's call within the research program "People, Energy Systems and Society" (MESAM).

For more information contact Magdalena Kuchler.

Previous news articles on carbon budgets (in Swedish):

Klimatmålen blir nu både vetenskapliga och begripliga.

Klimatforskare räknar ut koldioxidbudgetar åt kommuner och regioner.

Facts with information from the project Objective The three objectives will guide the project. Objective 1: we will identify and locate political and institutional agency necessary for the effective integration of ambitious carbon budget targets into the climate policy frameworks; we will investigate: a) how carbon budgets steer current procedures and produce new practices and institutions; b) how the existing agency can be better allocated and what new agencies are required; c) coherence with broader policy frameworks, including national rules and international agreements. Objective 2: we will disclose and examine what type of temporalities are generated by the integration of ambitious carbon budget targets into the climate policy framework; we will analyse: a) different speeds of action (velocities); b) different lengths of action (valance); c) how generated temporalities affect the political and institutional agency. Objective 3: we will investigate what evaluation practices are required for securing effective measures in place and the progress of integration; we will focus on a) what validation measures are required; b) how evaluation practices can be mainstreamed through the development of comparable standards.