Addressing the Barriers and Bridges to a Transition Away from Peat Energy in Finland's District Heating
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For Peat’s Sake Addressing the barriers and bridges to a transition away from peat energy in Finland’s district heating sector Master’s Thesis John R. B. Black Aalto University School of Business Management and International Business Spring 2021 Aalto University, P.O. BOX 11000, 00076 AALTO www.aalto.fi Abstract of master’s thesis Author John Black Title of thesis For Peat’s Sake: Addressing the Barriers and Bridges to a Transition Away from Peat Energy in Finland’s District Heating Sector Degree Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration Degree programme Management and International Business Thesis advisor(s) Armi Temmes Year of approval 2021 Number of pages 89 Language English Abstract Low carbon energy transitions offer pathways to sustainable futures. In Finland’s district heating sector (DH), the combustion of peat as a fuel source has been a hotly contested debate. While some support peat as a cheap, supply-secure source of domestic energy, others point towards its high level of carbon emissions. In the face of the increasing carbon emissions price under the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme and the Finnish Government’s goal to be carbon neutral by 2035, the DH sector has felt increasing pressure in recent years to switch to non-combustible sources of energy. This thesis is inspired by the continued use of peat energy despite the 2035 target date. By using one of the leading theories on sociotechnical change, this thesis incorporates the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) into the theoretical framework for understanding the barriers that confront a transition away from peat-use in Finland’s district heating sector, and how they can be overcome. The literature review discusses the historical appeal and policy support for peat-use in DH. It then provides an overview of transition theories by describing the fundamental tenets of the MLP. The empirical findings are derived from interviews with Members of The Parliament of Finland from the Centre Party and the Greens League, a policy advisor for the Left Alliance, the CEO of a bioenergy advocacy, a peat energy government working group representative, and an energy production lobbyist. The data was collected from these informants then sorted through a coding analysis, where their insights were bifurcated into either “barriers” or “ways to overcome” the barriers (WTOs). The findings show that there were twelve barriers and seven distinct WTO clusters identified in the interviews. The barriers reflect the embeddedness of peat-use in DH, but the WTO clusters offer both niche-nurturing and regime-destabilizing solutions to these barriers. The prevailing contribution of this thesis is in finding that the scaling speed and diffusion of non-combustible alternative technologies will determine the rate of the transition away from peat, but the existent EU-level and national public policy mechanisms to help in this regard are currently lacking. This means that DH is in a crucial position to quickly diffuse these alternatives through the window of opportunity they currently occupy before the imprudent and impending increased use of biomass and wood-burning takes over. Keywords district heating, peat energy, climate change, sustainability transitions, sociotechnical transitions, energy transitions, low carbon, non-combustible, Multi-Level Perspective, Finland I Aalto University School of Business Table of Contents Abstract...................................................................................................................................... I 1. Introduction........................................................................................................................... 1 2. Literature Review................................................................................................................. 5 2.1. Historical Context and the Case for Peat Energy in Finland................................... 5 2.2. The Contemporary Peat Discourse and Political Perspective on Peat in Finland... 8 2.3. General Description of Transition Theory............................................................. 15 2.4. Processes of Reconfiguration................................................................................. 20 2.5. Transition Policies................................................................................................. 24 2.6. Theoretical Framework.......................................................................................... 27 3. Methodology........................................................................................................................ 28 3.1. Research Design..................................................................................................... 28 3.2. Data Collection Methods....................................................................................... 31 3.3. Data Analysis......................................................................................................... 34 4. Findings................................................................................................................................ 37 4.1. Barriers................................................................................................................... 38 4.2. Ways to Overcome Barriers................................................................................... 39 4.3. ET........................................................................................................................... 40 4.4. Bioenergia ry.......................................................................................................... 42 4.5. The Centre Party.................................................................................................... 43 4.6. TEM Peat Working Group..................................................................................... 45 4.7. The Left Alliance................................................................................................... 47 4.8. The Greens............................................................................................................. 48 4.9. Conclusion of the Findings.................................................................................... 49 5. Analysis of Barriers............................................................................................................ 51 5.1. Analysis of B1........................................................................................................ 51 5.2. Analysis of B2........................................................................................................ 52 5.3. Analysis of B3........................................................................................................ 53 5.4. Analysis of B4........................................................................................................ 53 5.5. Analysis of B5........................................................................................................ 54 5.6. Analysis of B6........................................................................................................ 55 II Aalto University School of Business 5.7. Analysis of B7........................................................................................................ 55 5.8. Analysis of B8........................................................................................................ 56 5.9. Analysis of B9........................................................................................................ 57 5.10. Analysis of B10.................................................................................................... 58 5.11. Analysis of B11.................................................................................................... 59 5.12. Analysis of B12.................................................................................................... 59 5.13. Concluding Remarks on Barriers Analysis.......................................................... 60 6. Analysis of WTOs............................................................................................................... 61 6.1. Analysis of WTO 1................................................................................................ 61 6.2. Analysis of WTO 2................................................................................................ 62 6.3. Analysis of WTO 3................................................................................................ 65 6.4. Analysis of WTO 4................................................................................................ 68 6.5. Analysis of WTO 5................................................................................................ 71 6.6. Analysis of WTO 6................................................................................................ 74 6.7. Analysis of WTO 7................................................................................................ 75 7. Discussions........................................................................................................................... 77 7.1. Answering the Research Question......................................................................... 78 7.2. Applying the MLP................................................................................................. 80 7.3. Concluding Remarks.............................................................................................. 85 7.4. Limitations............................................................................................................