Review
Environmental Studies
Mac Osazuwa-Peters, Margot Hurlbert, Kathleen McNutt, Jeremy Rayner, Samuel Gamtessa
Summary: The study highlights the unclear role of risk in socio-technical transitions and suggests further research and discussion are needed to clarify this issue.
ENERGY RESEARCH & SOCIAL SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Joel A. Gordon, Nazmiye Balta-Ozkan, Seyed Ali Nabavi
Summary: The feasibility of global energy transition depends on the utilization of hydrogen's potential for cross-sector decarbonization. The UK, historically reliant on natural gas, sees hydrogen as critical to meeting net-zero targets and enhancing energy security. However, there are multiple barriers to domestic hydrogen transition, which require a deep understanding of socio-technical factors. This paper proposes a socio-technical systems framework to overcome these barriers and emphasizes the need for integrated strategies considering political, techno-economic, technical, market, and social dimensions.
Article
Economics
Alessandro Marra, Emiliano Colantonio
Summary: The study investigates the role of social, technical, political, and cultural factors in stimulating the export of renewable technologies. The findings show that countries' capability in environment-related technologies, public concern and awareness of climate change, and understanding of its damaging effects are relevant drivers for the export of renewable technologies.
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Liliane Manny
Summary: Data-driven and integrated management is proposed to reduce surface water pollution, which requires information exchange and technological innovation. By studying socio-technical networks, this article investigates the influence of socio-technical dependencies on information exchange. Analyzing empirical data from three Swiss case studies, potential challenges such as organizational fragmentation, data access, and diverging perceptions are identified, and the findings show that actors' relatedness to infrastructure elements affects their information exchange.
SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND SOCIETY
(2023)
Review
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Farshid Norouzi, Thomas Hoppe, Laura Ramirez Elizondo, Pavol Bauer
Summary: This study takes a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to examine the barriers hindering the development of Smart MicroGrids and considers how these barriers interact. The research maps out technical, regulatory, market, social, and institutional barriers for different actors and makes recommendations for future research.
RENEWABLE & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY REVIEWS
(2022)
Review
Environmental Studies
Parth Bhatia
Summary: India's electricity sector is undergoing a state-led transition driven by pro-renewables policies and control over energy resources. However, the country's weak national innovation systems hinder manufacturing and a complete shift away from coal will take time due to various challenges. The study identifies research gaps regarding the role of the state, non-state actors, green industrial policy, political constituencies, economic diversification, and India's development pathway.
ENERGY RESEARCH & SOCIAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Hongze Tan, Shengchen Du
Summary: This paper explores the impact of new technologies on existing mobility governance through a comparison of two generations of sharing bicycle programs in Guangzhou, China. The adoption of new technologies such as app-based bicycle locks and micro-GPS equipment liberates private companies from governmental regulations, contributes to the accumulation of cultural capital, links bicycles to economic capital, and leads to both positive and negative consequences on citizens' daily travel and life. The discrepancy between government and private companies' dispositions towards innovations accelerates the negative consequences of profit-driven fast extension of sharing bicycles.
Article
Social Issues
Mohammad Nesari, Mohammad Naghizadeh, Soroush Ghazinoori, Manoochehr Manteghi
Summary: This study addresses the lack of systematic analysis in the field of socio-technical transition studies through scientometric analysis. The results show a growing trend in publication number and a noticeable network of collaborations among scholars. The core themes of the field are identified as energy transition, sustainability, and sustainability transitions.
TECHNOLOGY IN SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Machteld Catharina Simoens, Lea Fuenfschilling, Sina Leipold
Summary: This paper advances sustainability transition research by collecting insights from interpretative environmental discourse literature. It develops a heuristic that identifies and describes core discursive elements and dynamics in a socio-technical system. The paper proposes three discursive lock-ins and explores three pathways of discursive change.
SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Management
Emily Soh, Karel Martens
Summary: This study argues that policymaking guided by public values can lead to more publicly beneficial outcomes in technology implementation. The meaningful link between public interest and policy goals is established through public values. Interviews with professionals on the societal implementation of autonomous vehicles reveal that a limited set of values receive recognition, while two distinct sets are contested or neglected.
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT REVIEW
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Industrial
Benjamin Luther, Indra Gunawan, Nam Nguyen
Summary: The emergence of truly complex systems in the past two decades has rendered traditional risk management frameworks ineffective. A systematic review of contemporary literature identifies the attributes of effective risk management frameworks for complex socio-technical systems, providing a basis for further research.
Article
Computer Science, Hardware & Architecture
Hicham Hammouchi, Narjisse Nejjari, Ghita Mezzour, Mounir Ghogho, Houda Benbrahim
Summary: Data breaches are becoming increasingly important for organizations, and there is a need to predict them. Previous studies have focused on the technical perspective and ignored the role of social media. To address this gap, STRisk is proposed as a predictive system that incorporates the social media dimension. The study includes over 3800 US organizations and uses machine learning models to predict hacking breaches, achieving a high AUC score by considering both technical and social features.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON DEPENDABLE AND SECURE COMPUTING
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Ivenio Teixeira de Souza, Ana Carolina Rosa, Riccardo Patriarca, Assed Haddad
Summary: This study develops an integrated soft computing approach for nonlinear risk assessment in STS, combining FRAM with fuzzy sets to overcome the subjectivity of qualitative analysis.
EXPERT SYSTEMS WITH APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Rik B. Braams, Joeri H. Wesseling, Albert J. Meijer, Marko P. Hekkert
Summary: The study indicates that the normative basis provided by Public Administration traditions is inadequate for legitimizing the transition tasks assigned to government, highlighting the need for a new rationale to support societal transitions. Therefore, the proposal of transformative government as a new Public Administration tradition to legitimize government's transition tasks is presented.
ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION AND SOCIETAL TRANSITIONS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Studies
Sigrid Damman, Markus Steen
Summary: This paper uses the multi-level perspective to study three Norwegian ports, revealing the sociotechnical processes behind their development into zero emission energy hubs. The study shows that ports play an active role in sustainability transition, with individual orientations and organizational capacity influencing their engagement with radical innovation niches.
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH PART D-TRANSPORT AND ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Per Eriksson, Anders Roos, Cecilia Mark-Herbert
Summary: This study analyzes the impact of harvester measurement on the wood procurement process. Harvester measurement has the potential to increase the purchaser's incentive to preserve value and improve control of the supply chain, leading to more efficient resource use. It also simplifies the price list, increasing transparency and improving supplier relationships. Additionally, forest industries may increase profitability levels and competitiveness due to increased supply chain surplus and reduced total costs.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FOREST ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Paper & Wood
Anders Roos, Hans-Fredrik Hoen, Francisco X. Aguilar, Antti Haapala, Elias Hurmekoski, Jaakko Jussila, Katja Lahtinen, Cecilia Mark-Herbert, Tomas Nord, Ritva Toivonen, Anne Toppinen
Summary: This study examines people's requirements and preferences for multi-story housing attributes and the difference between wooden-structure and steel/concrete-structure apartments. The results show that Swedish respondents have higher requirements for environmental and social sustainability factors compared to Finnish respondents. The requirements in both countries can be categorized into three factors: environmental and social sustainability, quality, and design. Socioeconomic sub-groups and urban vs non-urban respondents have different preferences for quality-related attributes. Preferences for apartments in wooden buildings are positively associated with the requirements for environmental and social sustainability, while preferences for apartments in non-wooden structure houses show the opposite relationship in the Swedish sample. Design requirements have no significant association with preferences for a specific material in load-bearing structures in both countries.
WOOD MATERIAL SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Magdalena Pichlerova, Jozef Vybost'ok, Dilek Onkal, Kiki Ekiawan Lamatungga, Dhanalakshmi Tamatam, Lenka Marcinekova, Viliam Pichler
Summary: Public expectations of forests as restorative environments have been increasing, and the COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasized their importance as places for stress relief and well-being. This study aimed to explore the effects of the pandemic on the relationships between forest visits, well-being and stress relief, emotions, perception of nature, pro-environmental behavior, and societal expectations of forests. The results highlighted the need to prioritize forest recreation and raise awareness of conservation requirements among forest visitors.
Article
Forestry
Anders Roos, Elias Hurmekoski, Liina Haeyrinen, Jaakko Jussila, Katja Laehtinen, Cecilia Mark-Herbert, Emil Nagy, Ritva Toivonen, Anne Toppinen
Summary: This study investigates public beliefs in Finland and Sweden about the environmental and climate impacts of using wood as a construction material for multi-story buildings.
SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Business
Moa Nyvall, Thomas Zobel, Cecilia Mark-Herbert
Summary: In a world facing sustainability challenges, using a use-oriented product-service system can encourage resource efficiency. A case study on the rental business models in the outdoors apparel industry in Scandinavia identified the challenges faced by companies introducing use-oriented services and emphasized the importance of overcoming these challenges.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Paeivi Luoma, Esko Penttinen, Petri Tapio, Anne Toppinen
Summary: Increasing utilization of data enabled by digitalization drives circular economy, but can also create paradoxical tensions. A two-round disaggregative Delphi study identified three themes of tension: consumer concurrence, business transparency, and technology relevance. Businesses should address both positive and negative effects and adapt to the changing business environment to successfully utilize data for circular economy promotion.
Article
Economics
Tuomo Takala, Minna Tanskanen, Maria Brockhaus, Teija Kanniainen, Jukka Tikkanen, Ari Lehtinen, Teppo Hujala, Anne Toppinen
Summary: Decision-support service providers in North Europe have been advised to move beyond wood production and focus on fulfilling the diverse needs of forest owners. However, little change has been seen so far in the service sector. This study examines the discourses of Finnish forest owners and consulting professionals to determine if they recognize the need for decision-support services that promote sustainable forest use.
FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Lingyun Tong, Anne Toppinen, Lei Wang, Sami Berghall
Summary: This study investigates the sustainable consumption behavior in the fresh berry sector in China and identifies motivation, opportunity, intentions, and ability as significant factors driving sustainable consumption behavior. The study contributes to the literature on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by providing suggestions and guidelines for policymakers, farmers, and marketers aiming to expand the natural food markets in a sustainable manner.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2023)
Article
Environmental Studies
Karin Beland Lindahl, Charlotta Soderberg, Natalia Lukina, Daria Tebenkova, Mireia Pecurul, Helga Pulzl, Metodi Sotirov, Camilla Widmark
Summary: This paper compares the integration of forest ecosystem service-related policies in different European forest governance contexts. Efforts to achieve policy integration at the EU and national levels have been described as limited success. Through the analysis of different policies, the authors argue that integration outcomes depend on the degree and nature of policy integration, environmental policy integration, and multilevel coherence within the forest governance system. Failures to safeguard biodiversity and other ecosystem services during the integration process can have significant consequences.
Article
Business
Paivi Luoma, Romana Rauter, Esko Penttinen, Anne Toppinen
Summary: Companies require better and more versatile data to successfully manage their ambitious environmental agendas, however, the ways in which businesses and the environment benefit from data is still unclear. A single-case-study setting was used to examine the perceived value of data for environmental sustainability, revealing its multifaceted nature and ability to support decision-making and activities that promote environmental improvements. To fully utilize data for environmental sustainability, there is a need for more detailed product-specific data, transparency in value chains and environmental impacts, and improved data management and sharing. The insights gained from understanding the value of data can help companies support their customers' environmental performance.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Studies
J. Jussila, F. Franzini, L. Hayrinen, K. Lahtinen, E. Nagy, C. Mark-Herbert, A. Roos, A. Toppinen, R. Toivonen
Summary: Buyers of newly built wooden multi-storey apartments mainly base their choices on traditional housing criteria, such as location, floor plan, and affordability. Although wood material is considered environmentally friendly and appealing, residents expressed that the newly developed neighborhoods have limited services, but they trusted that future development would improve service availability.
Article
Economics
A. Viljanen, K. Lahtinen, V. Kanninen, A. Toppinen
Summary: In order to promote sustainable urban development, cities can contribute to the market diffusion of wooden multistory residential construction and wooden retrofits by using policy instruments and collaborating in local business ecosystems. Our study shows that both policy instruments and collaboration in business ecosystems can accelerate the market diffusion of WMC and wooden retrofits. Therefore, cities should take a proactive collaborative role and implement a comprehensive range of policy measures to accelerate the diffusion of WMC and wooden retrofits.
FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS
(2023)
Article
Economics
Raphael Asada, Elias Hurmekoski, Annechien Dirkje Hoeben, Marco Patacca, Tobias Stern, Anne Toppinen
Summary: Climate change is a growing threat to European forests, with increasing storms and insect outbreaks causing disturbances. These disturbances affect the volume and quality of harvested wood, leading to increased salvage loggings and reduced roundwood prices. The study assesses the impact of supply and demand shocks on roundwood prices in five European countries, finding that disturbances tend to increase prices for high-quality wood while decreasing prices for pulpwood. Strategic management and international trade may be resilience predictors, but their potential is limited.
FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS
(2023)
Article
Economics
Sara Lorenzini, Nadia von Jacobi
Summary: This paper fills the gap in the literature on polycentric governance by focusing on the micro-processes of conflict that precede its establishment. Through a comparative analysis of four case studies, the authors find that conflict can lead to negotiations and the eventual establishment of common procedural rules, which can sustain polycentric governance.
FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS
(2024)
Article
Economics
Hubert Palus, Lenka Marcinekova, Jaroslav Salka
Summary: The complexity and comprehensiveness of sustainability issues in forest certification schemes require knowledge based and transparent decision-making processes, which involve open and multi-stakeholder participation. This study examines the latest PEFC national sustainable forest management standard revision process in Slovakia from the viewpoint of stakeholder participation. The results highlight the importance of stakeholder understanding, trust, and satisfaction in the effectiveness of the revision process.
FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS
(2024)
Article
Economics
Nicholas Palaschuk, Jason Gauthier, Ryan Bullock
Summary: Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are important for the spiritual and cultural identity of Indigenous communities, but current forest policies in Canada do not adequately protect these resources. This research used a participatory approach and community interviews to document local criteria, elements, and values related to NTFP development and conservation. The resulting framework can guide decision making and promote socio-economic benefits for the Missanabie Cree First Nation.
FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS
(2024)
Article
Economics
Laila Berning, Metodi Sotirov
Summary: This paper analyzes the coalition politics driven by beliefs and interests in the new European Union Regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR). The study identifies pro-regulation and contra-regulation coalitions and highlights the strategic alliance formed between pro-EUDR business actors and other pro-coalitions. Despite opposition from a weaker contra-regulation coalition, the EUDR was ultimately institutionalized as a compromise solution accommodating different beliefs and interests of state and non-state actors.
FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS
(2024)
Article
Economics
Mehwish Zuberi, Michael Spies, Jonas o. Nielsen
Summary: Smallholder farmers play a crucial role in agrarian value chains in the Global South, but they are often neglected in technology-oriented agricultural interventions. However, they face challenges such as lack of resources, established crop rotation patterns, and market and climatic factors.
FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS
(2024)
Article
Economics
James Chamberlain, Carsten Smith-Hall
Summary: More countries are adopting novel approaches to transition to a forest-based bioeconomy, which can address global challenges such as sustainable forest management, poverty alleviation, and climate change mitigation. Utilizing non-timber forest products is crucial for the realization of a forest-based bioeconomy.
FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS
(2024)
Article
Economics
Keith Barney
Summary: The social impacts of industrial wood plantations in Southeast Asia, specifically in Laos, are debated. This study finds that under certain conditions, these plantations can positively contribute to local livelihoods, but there are still issues of land dispossession and inadequate compensation.
FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS
(2024)