The thesis analyses the role of public participation and energy justice perceptions of local stakeholders on policy-making in the heating transition in the district Mariahoeve in The Hague. The thesis shows that the municipality of The Hague approaches public participation both top-down and bottom-up. Participants mainly expressed justice concerns in relation to communication, outcome fairness, outcome favourability, and distribution of responsibilities. In reaction to the preferred scenario of the municipality, participants proposed to include a low temperature district heating system in the assessment for the most suitable heating solution. Analysis of the interactions between policymakers and stakeholders indicates a willingness of policymakers to hear the concerns of participants. However, the municipality can be more clear in its communication about how the heating transition will be organized in Mariahoeve.

Over the past few decades, sustainable development has become one of society's most important challenges. In an effort to become sustainable, many companies experience an increasing need to measure, manage and improve the negative economic, environmental and social impacts caused by their organizational behavior along corporate supply chains and product life cycles. Sustainability performance assessment methods are a means for business decision-makers to meet such needs. While sustainability performance assessment methods for economic and environmental dimensions are well-developed, the social dimension of sustainability is lacking in that regard. Social sustainability entails issues such as equity and human rights of company stakeholders such as employees, customers, local community members, value chain actors and society. There is an increasing concern to incorporate social sustainability by businesses so as to become sustainable in all three dimensions; however, an empirical tool is needed to for measuring the social impacts of the company operations and making improvements. The Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) tool was developed for the assessment of the social dimension of sustainability in a meaningful way for application in the business world. United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Society for Environmental Toxicologists and Chemists (SETAC) developed S-LCA Guidelines and Methodological Sheets in 2009 and 2013, respectively, for assessing the social impacts of products and services across the life cycle. The UNEP/SETAC S-LCA methodological framework has been considered the “landmark in the field” of social sustainability assessment because it provides a view of the value chain, an aspect lacking in other social sustainability assessment tools. Even with recent increasing publications by S-LCA practitioners, however, S-LCA is still at an early stage of research and the UNEP/SETAC Guidelines leave a lot of room for interpretation. Thus, it is urged to conduct more research in the field of S-LCA, and a main way to contribute to its further development is through case studies. This research aims to contribute in this way by developing and applying a S-LCA methodology to a case study of the ZERO BRINE project in the Netherlands. The ZERO BRINE project is a European Union-funded partnership that works on zero liquid discharge technology for water, salt and magnesium recovery from brine effluents in the chemical process industry. The main objective of this thesis is to assess the social sustainability performances of the organizations in the ZERO BRINE system in the Netherlands using the UNEP/SETAC S-LCA framework as a reference, so as to determine the social impacts associated with the project as well as to contribute to the further development of the S-LCA methodology. Despite some limitations, in general, the approach proposed in this thesis succeeds in providing a profile of social sustainability which highlights the social hotspot areas that need improvements along the value chain. The results of the case study show the potential social hotspots in the ZERO BRINE chain, which should be considered when implementing the ZERO BRINE project. Personalized recommendations are offered per organization on how those hotspots can be improved. In this way, the advice may be valuable for members of management of the organizations wishing to increase the social sustainability of the business. In particular, the ZERO BRINE system may show a more positive social sustainability outcome if the recommendations of this thesis are implemented strategically.

Entrepreneurship is often seen as one of the main measures to combat poverty in SSA. Yet, efforts still have not led to sustainable economic development. Scholars are arguing that new policies should be developed that build forth on existing values and institutions, instead of working against it. For this reason, this research is developed a qualitative research project that investigates the behaviours and strategies exercised by local entrepreneurs in Tanzania in light of the socio-cultural and economic context. It will therefore answer the research question: How are SMEs operating in the technology industries dealing with the socio-cultural and economic demands originating from the Tanzanian business environment? Tanzania is transforming from a traditional system that includes traditional socio-cultural and economic values and institutions, towards a modern system including more modern values and institutions. A clear distinction between the two systems has thus been proposed, where practices that are value- and institutional laden are identified and classified over these systems and the levels of the company, the civil society and the state. A total of 16 cases were developed of SMEs operating in the tech-industries by interviewing managing directors and senior managers, as well as making observations, which were consequently cross-analysed. This led to the development of a model that contain the values and institutions across the aforementioned levels and systems. The main findings include that Tanzanian businesses tend to be hierarchical, are socio-culturally connected to informal ties including reciprocities, have a fatalistic attitude to production controls and rules, and have a synchronic time management. Supply chains are compartmentalised with little cooperation, coordination, information sharing and suggestions for innovations. In addition, due to the prevailing copying behaviour of many entrepreneurs, markets are characterised as either being very competitive with little to no product differentiation, or as being severely underdeveloped. The institutional environment remains unfavourable, where regulatory compliance is often time-consuming and expensive due to the bureaucratic systems. In addition, a combination of bureaucracy, weak law enforcement and a lack of transparency generates an unequal playing field, with unfair competition, privileges and corruption. Entrepreneurs often face a dilemma, where not participating in these practices leads to losing business opportunities. Nonetheless, the ICT sector seems to struggles less with these issues and the companies tend to be more successful. The amount of the developments happening in Tanzania are tremendous and four of these stood out from the rest. These include a shift towards egalitarian management, a reduction of the social ties, a decrease in corruption and strong market developments. Drivers for these changes include improvements in the institutional surrounding, urbanisation, developments in infrastructure and technologies, and education. Companies will benefit from implementing teamwork and remuneration policies, balancing social ties, rotate employees over station, implement basic SCM principles, occasionally pay allowance fees, apply to support organisations and have an open debate on more controversial practices.

In 2018, the European Union laid the foundation for a large-scale energy transition: away from fossil-based energy and towards renewable, sustainable energy solutions. The need for a transition is mainly accepted, but it is questioned whether all European Union citizens benefit from such a change. In fact, the greenhouse gas reduction will lead to a costly restructuring of carbon-intensive regions. Consequently, the European Union and its critics expect extreme job destruction and decreased economic activity in such areas. To cope with the ills that an energy transition brings, the Just Transition Fund is proposed. It serves as a financial buffer and provides strategic support for the successful energy transition to decrease injustices. Support for the most affected regions is undoubtedly necessary but is the Just Transition Fund increasing justice for these regions? The European Commission provided a similar strategic support program earlier with the Initiative for Coal Regions in Transition, which included providing support to apply for funding. As such, the question arises whether the Just Transition Fund increases justice when comparing to the predecessor programs. This master thesis serves as a first insight into the justness of the European Union’s proposed Just Transition Fund. To do so, several projects of the Initiative for Coal Regions in Transition are compared to the current setup of the fund. The data for the Just Transition Fund has been gathered in previous research while information on the Initiative for Coal Regions in Transition was acquired with an exploratory desk research approach. The gathered data was structured coherently by the creation of two main categories, the project and contextual factors. Each was complemented with subcategories allowing allowed the comparison of the projects. Ultimately, these findings could be evaluated with a transition justice framework that has been adapted to the research needs. It becomes clear that many injustice issues were present and often left unresolved in the assessed projects. Compared with the Just Transition Funds current criticism, many of these issues can be detected again. The most prominent justice issues found were of distributive nature due to scarce funding and a lack of stakeholder participation. The interplay of both problems leads to the desire to reach one goal: receiving as many funds as possible. As a result, the eligibility criteria seem to be seen as obstacles to overcome or boxes to tick leading to window dressing to meet imposed requirements. Implementing the same process kind for both programs is thus an inadequate path to take as the most critical justice issues stem from precisely this process. The inadequacy of some criteria leads to the conclusion that the Just Transition Fund merges indicators of funding needs with requiring solutions to grand societal problems. The European Union needs to reassess the posed criteria on their ends and make the said challenges a priority to be addressed during the energy transition. Furthermore, it becomes evident that the application process can lead to injustice due to a lack of capacities and political capabilities of the regions in need. With the current setup of the fund, transition justice can only increase to some extent. Still, there is potential for this program the first step is made towards a more holistic approach to coping with justice issues. The monetary aid, although insufficient now, can help the most affected if distributed and spend adequately. Besides, the fund serves as a symbol of solidarity with the most affected regions currently left behind. Policymaking is always a trial and error. Now, the identified shortcomings must be addressed to increase the fund’s impact.

This thesis sets out to support decision-making processes throughout the Dutch urban heat transition. Over the last few years, calls from both academic literature and practise have emerged stating that participation throughout these processes is of utmost importance. Not only to gain acceptance for implementation plans in the making, but also to create a deeper comprehension of household’s values, stances and their role within their transition. As locals have been deemed key decision-makers, once’s that should be supported by policymakers. Inherently the qualities of participation should thus ensure a more optimal decision-making process towards a smooth roll-out of neighbourhood heat transitions. The problem identified however is that policymakers lack a comprehensive set of tools to engage in participation, better understand their stakeholders and thus better enable their decision-making within the local context of a neighbourhood transition. To address this problem a novel iteration of the IAD framework is designed, enhanced through value theories and a nested structure. To research whether this toolkit is fit-for-purpose, the design is operationalized on a case study. Namely, the neighbourhood heat transition of the KNSM-eiland in Amsterdam. It was found that the designed framework provides a structured lens through which the complex and dynamic heat transition can be dissected, unfolding insights that lead way towards more optimal processes. The IAD framework, nested and value enhanced, has served this research as a toolkit to guide decision-making across a neighbourhood heat transition. The design allowed the researcher to work beyond pitfalls of traditional participation and alongside novel standards. Leading to a tailor-made approach for engagement and decision-making, uncovering tension fields and misalignment in the process.

The societal need for sustainability transformation is crucial in light of climate change, and the role of individual action and behavioural changes is considered critical in meeting the Paris agreement. Radical shifts in social norms are required, which could be achieved through reaching social tipping points. These tipping points could be reached earlier by focusing on ‘greening’ communities rather than individuals. Any type of social change however, needs initiation in one way or another. Knowing what makes people advocate for pro-environmental behaviour within their community or communities, could help initiate the needed sustainability transformation. A knowledge gap was found as the literature only partly covered this topic. Sports clubs in the Netherlands are popular and relevant community settings that are increasingly stimulated towards more sustainable practices, therefore this was the setting that was focused on in the study. An exploratory approach was taken to pinpointing which helping or facilitating conditions in sports clubs are experienced by individuals who make efforts in the sustainability transformation at their club. To do this, a conceptual model was created, taking a multi-level approach and combining the capability-opportunity-motivation-behaviour (COM-B) model with environmental citizenship. A total of 17 participants who considered themselves an initiative taker or achiever for sustainability at their sports club were consulted through semi-structured interviews. Elements of grounded theory were used to shape the analysis of the acquired data. The interview transcripts were coded and analysed using the COM-components of the conceptual model. The analysis shows that there is a multitude of factors that stimulate partaking in sustainability transformation at sports clubs, with community feel or communication, and (resulting) availability of skills and knowledge standing out. Limitations of the study included taking a rather broad approach, advising future studies to further deepening more self-contained dimensions. Recommendations for supporting organisations, policy makers and sports club members with environmental concerns, included communicating about concerns and providing support regarding sustainability transformations, among others.

In the Netherlands the cities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam are coping with problems of air quality and congestion caused by inner-city transport. The continued demand for cleaner air, especially in the inner-city, has produced multiple experiments in sustainable transport.Some of these solutions can be seen as radical innovations; however a guideline on implementing radical innovations does not exist. Innovation in the transport sector has predominantly been incremental. Radical steps in the transport regime have also been met with resistance of incumbent stakeholders. As such, the current regime needs a radical change if future goals of improving air quality should be achieved within the desired timeframe. A method to introduce radical innovation in a regime is to set-up a strategic niche, a niche that has the ultimate goal of changing the current regime. This thesis has reviewed experiments done with large electric trucks in the cities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. These experiments both originate from the FREVUE project that strives to introduce electric freight transport in urban Europe. The main approach of this thesis has been conducting desk research on grey literature, open data from the FREVUE project, and by conducting interviews among prime stakeholders of the projects. This study finds that stakeholders possess little knowledge on Strategic Niche Management, however the three main elements in setting-up a strategic niche occur in more than one occasion in the experiments that were predominantly of a technical nature. All elements are endorsed by actions, or experiences of the stakeholders in the experiments. In addition several stakeholders stated that the enrolment of OEMs and Banks could have been helpful in building a business case and propose the use of a champion or agent of change to aid the stakeholders in their efforts.Learning can be subdivided in first order and second order learning. First order learning comprised of pure technical learning elements, such as reliability and operating range, was the main goal of the FREVUE project. Second order learning, interaction and policies, also occurred for both experiments.Even though second order learning was not the main purpose of the experiments, stakeholders verified that second order learning occurred. The contributions this study makes are practical, scientific and managerial.The building of social networks and the enrolment of more actors, led to the addition of champion theory as a method to gain access to the necessary network and to convince stakeholders to participate in the project. It also became clear that the stakeholders that were currently participating did not do so out of purely monetary reasons.

In light of recent failures in policy dossiers with regard to the identification of need claims of citizens, participatory procedures have been made mandatory for municipalities in the constitution of a carbon-neutral energy system. However, the legitimacy of mainstream participatory procedures is limited because guidelines for public deliberation function in practice as barriers to the expression of the desires, need claims, and values of citizens. This research aims to develop a methodology that can detect and translate moral emotions to imbue participatory procedures with responsive and reflexive intent. A mixed-method research strategy is conducted to design a Q methodology that includes a moral foundation framework. The resulting research design is made to be accessible by including a Q set with a limited number of statements and having limited supervision during the sorting while having rigor with the results by using innovative analyzing methods on basis of the categories of the sorting grid. The research design is roughly validated by a participatory procedure in Wijchen, where it has detected moralities that have remained unarticulated during participatory events. In conclusion, the research design has the potential to be applied and iterated at a broad range of participatory procedures. The incorporation of works of art for moral-emotional reflection can further strengthen the research design.

Climate change is and will have a severe impact on urban areas. Dutch cities are actively searching ways for successful climate adaptation. One way to do this is by experimenting with sustainable innovations in urban living labs (ULLs). This is a place where different urban actors, such as governments, businesses, knowledge institutes and citizens, collectively experiment with innovative ways to solve urban problems in a sustainable matter. This collective experimenting is also known as co-creation. From the beginning of the COVID-19 measures in 2020, ULLs are facing difficulties regarding co-creation as a result of the measures that are taken for social distancing. Furthermore, these social distancing measures affect the social cohesion in communities, and therefore most likely also in ULLs. The relationship between social cohesion and ULLs has not yet been studied extensively, and the COVID-19 measures give an opportunity to understand ULLs in a new way. Therefore, this thesis aims to answer the following research question: What is the relationship between social cohesion and urban living labs in times of COVID-19? The research methodology consists of expert interviews and a single case study research in ULL Reyeroord+ in the neighbourhood Reyeroord in Rotterdam. The expert interviews are conducted with five experts that are active in five different ULLs in the Netherlands. The case study research consists of document analysis to understand the aim and activities of ULL Reyeroord+, as well as interviews with citizens of Reyeroord. The research data is analysed using a social cohesion framework that subdivides social cohesion into the quality of social relations, identification with the social entity, and orientation towards the common good. Overall, the experts believe that regular physical contact, a long-term relationship, having an equal mindset, involving citizens in decision-making and experimenting, and taking a qualitative approach are perceived as being the most important for a successful ULL. From the citizen interviews became clear that problems of violence, waste and parking are experienced as priority problems in the neighbourhood and that they are, together with the experienced deterioration of the social situation, seen as ‘pauperisation’ or ‘degradation’. It appears that most citizens have other priorities than climate adaptation, for example in terms of income. This could impact the social cohesion, as it can affect people’s willingness to take part in civic engagement and social networking. The communication between actors in Reyeroord+ were impacted by the COVID-19 measures, as meetings were organised online. Furthermore, the COVID-19 measures have impacted citizens’ involvement in the neighbourhood, mainly by increasing the awareness of people’s surroundings. This has most likely affected the community attachment of citizens. It is possible that this increased awareness will have a positive impact in the future. Furthermore, social cohesion and ULL Reyeroord+ are connected through the development of a new way of communicating that deviates from the current top-down approach, and through the development of a sense of ownership among citizens. ULL experiments are therefore not only sustainability experiments, but also an opportunity for actors to learn how to approach citizen engagement and to develop a new way of communicating with citizens that could ultimately be beneficial for climate adaptation in urban areas. The results are debated on the basis of several discussion questions. The main limitations for this research lie with the research methods, which are not as ethnographic as was anticipated due to the COVID-19 restrictions, and the social cohesion framework, which is susceptible for subjectivity. The scientific contribution is the social science approach in the field of ULLs, which builds on existing literature. Implications and recommendations are given for the municipality and the citizens as actor groups. Finally, it is suggested that further research on citizens’ role in co-creation processes would be valuable for future research.

Twenty years ago, American-style shareholder capitalism, with its focus on maximising shareholders’ value (MSV), was widening its lead (in terms of economic growth) over European-style stakeholder capitalism. Nevertheless, the U.S. economy runs large trade deficits, inequality in income and wealth has risen, and there is a growing disappointment in the ability of American capitalism to deliver on its economic promise of prosperity. Evidence of superior long-run performance of enterprises operating in economies (such as Germany) where the MSV hypothesis is not the norm guiding corporate governance (but co-determination), suggests (at the minimum) that there are approaches to corporate governance which may be superior to MSV. In this thesis, the longer-run impacts of two alternative systems of corporate governance are explored with the aid of two business case studies—performed on General Motors (GM), from the U.S., and Volkswagen (VW), from Germany—with an aim to find the extent to which their diverse systems of corporate governance have contributed to (dis)investments in innovation. It has been found that, unlike the conditions at VW, the lack of a stable decision-making structure; inability to identify and confront competition; high profit-orientation, short-termism, yearly stock buybacks and regulations which permits it, and stock-based remuneration rationalised by the MSV hypothesis; flexible labour markets and downsizing; focus on the development of “general” skills; and aggressive debt financing, have shaped the corporate governance of GM and have affected its innovative capabilities. Moreover, VW—with its strong long-term competence development motive, technocratic managers, and better debt ratios—can be expected to identify and sustain its new (radical) innovation projects and if successful, can aid VW to emerge from any cost-disadvantage. GM can be expected to possess superior proprietary technologies and radical innovations or could be in a path of acquiring them. But, it is likely that with its current low cash margins and riskier credit-risk exposure—as a result of MSV perspective in corporate governance—GM may be placed at a cost disadvantage if the innovations fail or fail to appropriate gains.

The theory of the Habermasian public sphere is applied to Twitter. To do so, the traditional literature on public opinion is combined with more recent literature on social media. After the literature research the main knowledge gap is identified. This gap is the lacking relation between the philosophical investigation on public opinion on Twitter and an empirical investigation on actual tweets. This thesis combines the fields of philosophy and data science to contribute to the knowledge gap. Palm oil is used as a case study. The main research question is: How can public opinion on Twitter be characterized, on the case study of palm oil? The findings of this research suggest how Twitter, in its current form, does not create the optimal environment for forming something that is approaching public opinion due to five characteristics: the exclusion of more than half the world population (a), the domination by a few users (b1) (often with strategic interest (b2)) , the pollution through spam (c), Twitter’s role (d) and the characteristics of tweets (e). a. The exclusion of more than half the world population from social media is at least based on the lack of internet access, new media literacy and cultural capital. b.1. The dominating key players are users who get the most attention from other users, policymakers and journalists. This can either be on a specific topic, or transcending topics. The findings from this research suggest that organizations like Greenpeace, BBC Earth and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil have an above average role in guiding the thinking of the public and therewith steering public opinion. It is difficult to find a user that is saying something completely different than what the defined influencers are saying. These few key players play an above average role in defining public opinion on Twitter, and the influence of this role is not limited to Twitter. b.2. The tweets analyzed show how the dominant key players often act with a strategic interest in mind. The public sphere should, according to Habermas, be free of power and ideology and the only common interest should be the interest in good opinion formation. c. The pollution through spam is argued to play a serious role in influencing public opinion on Twitter. The exact effects of fake accounts and hyperactive automated users is unclear but it can be argued, as can be seen from the examples, that they cause a stream of misinformation and therewith influence public opinion. d. It cannot be proved what Twitter is doing, and if and how they have influenced the debate on palm oil, since the algorithm is nontransparent. Examples like Morozov’s accusation of censorship in Twitter’s ‘trending algorithm’ shows the influence they can have e. tweets are not just 280 characters. They are often carefully considered combinations of hashtags, calls for action, snippets of information, interpreted data and images or videos. These characteristics all help in convincing the reader of the point the user is trying to make.

The circular economy is becoming an increasingly popular framework, guiding policymakers and practitioners toward sustainable resource management and economic development. While the concept is promising in providing guidelines toward the efficient use of resources and waste minimalization, circular economy implementation is criticized for its focus on technological implementation and economic prosperity, overlooking the social aspects of sustainable change. This research investigates circular economy imaginaries through the analysis of community repair. The study provides insight in the visions and practices of a bottom-up citizen initiative that go beyond economical and technological prosperity. Through the sociotechnical imaginary concept, this research assesses how citizen initiatives engage with the circular economy at a local level. Through an embedded case study of the repair cafe community in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) the research focuses on answering the following research question :"How does the repair cafe community in Amsterdam imagine and engage with product repair in the circular economy?". The study combines multiple data collection methods including: interviews, observation, and document analysis. Analysis of the repair cafe community in Amsterdam revealed that the community currently consists of twenty-eight active repair cafes at the local level, plus the Repair Cafe International Foundation, which operates at a national and international level. Eleven repair cafes and the Repair Cafe International Foundation were visited and representative volunteers were interviewed during data collection between April and June 2023. By exploring the sociotechnical imaginaries in the repair cafe community in Amsterdam, this research shows that the community showcases features of alternative circular imaginaries going beyond the techno-economical focus that currently dominates circular economy thinking and implementation. The results reveal a shared vision of a repair society wherein product repair is normalised and involves a diverse and accessible repairing infrastructure. Additionally, the results show alternative circular performances, such as community-based, socially inspired, and neighbourhood-oriented activities. Besides the features of alternative imaginaries, the results also reveal several tensions between the present-day performances and future aspirations: such as disparities between the goal to collect data and an unwillingness to do so at the local level, a vision for collaboration with other parties, and limited networking at the local level in practise. The study proposes that these tensions point towards the fact that repair cafes provide spaces where future visions are confronted with present realities, leading to a plurality of initiatives at the local level. As such, the repair cafe community’s aspirations and performances reveal aspects of both the dominant techno-economic circular economy imaginary and an alternative imaginary centred around social interactions and local engagement. In conclusion, this research highlights the significance of considering social dimensions within the circular economy framework. While technological and economic aspects are pivotal, they must be balanced with a focus on community engagement, inclusivity, and citizen empowerment. The repair cafe community in Amsterdam serves as a noteworthy example of how bottom-up initiatives can contribute to a more sustainable and resilient future. However, the diversity of motivations and goals among local repair cafes, coupled with the varying degrees of alignment with the Repair Cafe International Foundation, may pose a challenge to the realisation of a unified vision. Stakeholders and policymakers therefore must foster collaboration and facilitate a shared understanding of the repair society’s objectives...

Authors such as Clough (1955) and Rostow (1960) believed that countries endowed with natural resources could achieve sustainable economic growth. This belief was based on the role coal and oil had during the 19th and 20th century in the industrial development of countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States of America. However, this perspective started to change in the early 1980´s and has prevailed throughout the years, economists have observed that developing countries rich in non-renewable natural resources such as minerals and fossil fuels, have had a slower economic growth compared to developing resource-poor countries. The economist Auty (1993) denominated this phenomenon as a Natural Resource Curse, in which there is a negative correlation between natural resource dependence and economic growth. The South American country, Colombia, is the case study of the thesis in which an analysis is provided on how the growth and development of the extractive sector during the commodity price boom of the period 2004-2013 has affected the overall economy of the country. Additionally, the Colombian constitution states, the exploitation of a non-renewable natural resource will cause, in favour of the National Government, an economic consideration as a royalty (Const., 1991 Art. 360). Thus, for the present thesis, an emphasis is placed on the royalties the government received during the years 2012-2016 through the General Royalty System, (i) how these were used in the aspects of Science, Technology and Innovation, and Regional Development, (ii) to provide an understanding of to what extent these investments have contributed to regional growth, (iii) the correlation these investments have in a strategic economic sector such as the agroindustry.

The number of wind energy projects in Europe has increased rapidly in the last decade and this growth is expected to continue. In the Netherlands there is a similar increase in the amount of wind energy projects. Wind energy projects, as large-scale infrastructural works and building projects, have numerous effects on the surrounding communities. The most prominent challenge in onshore wind energy realisation in the Netherlands was identified as a lack of acceptance by the local community and the potential for this lack of acceptance to result in resistance. This research focusses on acceptance of wind energy on a local level. However, acceptance can be a complex issue. There are multiple actors, technical characteristics, economic factors and institutional boundaries involved. To analyse this complexity, this research explores which impacts are perceived by local residents of a wind park; impacts as noise nuisance and shadow flicker. Literature suggests links between perceived impacts and the local context of a wind energy project. Local factors, like the height of the turbines, could influence local residents experience on for example noise nuisance. This research extends on these possible relations and aims to research how characteristics of a wind project and perceived impacts of local residents could relate. A case study of 18 Dutch wind energy projects was executed. For each project one or two interviews with a stakeholder were conducted on the perceived impacts of local residents. The data was combined with desk research on the characteristics of the wind parks. For each case study was further analysed how project characteristics and perceived impacts of residents could relate. Multiple possible relations were identified between characteristics and perceived impacts. Examples of these are turbine characteristics as distance to residents, height of turbines, the presence of other wind parks nearby and obstruction lighting. Additionally, regional characteristics as accumulation of existing regional impacts, regional property prices, regional stress and the if the wind park is located in a silent area were indicated as influential in some case studies. Institutional factors have been attributed to influence the process. These included the administrative division, decision making power and legal guidelines. Furthermore, measures to reduce or compensate impacts were also named as influential. These include the extent of financial participation and a standstill provision. Two general characteristics influencing wind energy acceptance in general were identified. These were if the wind park was located on an industrial site and if the wind park was a repowering project. In some cases, the characteristics could relate to other characteristics or perceived impacts relate to other perceived impacts. For example, interviewees stated the concerns for housing value decrease were directly related to concerns for shadow flicker, noise nuisance and visual impact. Even on a case level, multiple relations were mentioned and could have both negative as positive effects. On a broader level, a cross-case examination was done to discover the importance of the perceived impacts and what possible relations were frequent in Dutch wind energy project. While the exploratory research has its limitations, it discovered that acceptance is complex and depended on multiple factors. Relations as for example height turbines resulting in more visual impact that were mentioned in literature did not occur in every project. Some relations can be negative or positive depending on the project context. Furthermore, perceived impacts could be related to other perceived impacts and multiple characteristic might influence one perceived impact. This creates a complex web of interrelations where some relations appeared in the case studies but others are still unknown. This research show that further research is needed generate profitable knowledge on this complex topic. With the results of the thesis, a number of limited recommendations are done for local residents, policy makers and project executors. One of these recommendations is to implement a local approach to a case project and take the unique characteristics of the project into account. This includes integrating existing regional impacts to estimate which impacts could cause the most concerns. Additionally, consulting with local residents is an important step to fathom local wishes and preferences. Local residents might be willing to trade in time for extra benefits or need a technical implementation as a standstill provision. More insight in the perceived impacts of local residents can help in providing participation measures or structure the process.

The energy transition is a fundamental shift in the world’s energy landscape, aimed at reducing carbon emissions and transitioning to a more sustainable, low-carbon energy system. This transition is closely aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement, the landmark international treaty adopted in 2015, which seeks to limit global warming, with an aspirational target of limiting it to 1.5 degrees celsius. The European Union has been a key player in both the development of the Paris Agreement and its implementation, demonstrating its commitment to combating climate change. To achieve this target, the European Union is pursuing various strategies, including the decarbonization of its energy sector. In order to stay in line with the goals, drastic actions are being carried out without entirely assessing the long term outcomes. Energy transitions are often accompanied by changes in the distribution of benefits and harms, and if these changes are not managed equitably, they may increase existing inequalities and create new forms of injustice. The government of the Netherlands has taken several measures to achieve climate neutrality, one crucial task being the replacement of natural gas in its heating network. The heating sector so far has been reliant on shale gas for the past few decades, and the government now wants to implement new alternatives that are more sustainable. To anticipate the most favorable options, governmental bodies and local authorities are utilizing tools to assist them in their decision-making processes, especially energy system models. Energy system modelling is a process of developing and analyzing models that represent the components and processes of energy systems. These models help to simulate the operation and behavior of energy systems under different scenarios and conditions, and to evaluate the impacts of policy decisions and technology choices. However, energy system models often neglect the social dimensions which are essential components of energy justice. This study aims to present a critical analysis of the representation of energy justice in energy system models through a case study and identifies the challenges of integrating energy justice considerations into energy system modelling. Thus the following main research question was formulated: To what extent have energy justice principles been represented in Energy modelling employed in the Dutch Heating Transition? To set up the study, it was essential to establish the concept of energy justice and explore what kind of modelling approaches were being deployed. A literature review on this topic helped to understand the concepts, and select an energy justice framework that would serve as the base for this study (Sovacool & Dworkin, 2015). The framework provided a set of justice principles that were selected to assess the modelling use cases. This thesis explores the integration of energy justice principles within energy system modelling through an analysis of two distinct use case approaches in the municipality level, in the districts of Amersfoort and Drechtsteden in the Netherlands. These two use cases were chosen since they both had a large, diverse population, they had implemented a Heat Transition Vision and they made use of an energy model in their decision making process. The study aims to understand how energy justice considerations are manifested in the models and transition visions that were drafted, the challenges and opportunities they present, and their implications for equitable and sustainable energy transitions. The study then included a document analysis to collect information, where a total of eleven reports were scrutinized to find how justice principles were defined in the models and heat visions. This was followed by semi structured interviews with eight participants from varied backgrounds, to gather their perspectives on how justice principles were interpreted and the challenges they faced. The data collected was categorically grouped in themes, focusing on affordability, transparency, resistance and sustainability. The results of this study reveal that both use cases incorporate elements of energy justice in an indirect manner. Affordability is addressed through mechanisms like tax credits and investment allowances. Transparency is facilitated through engagement platforms and collaborative sessions, promoting stakeholder involvement. While resistance in the form of economic barriers is recognized, social aspects of resistance receive less attention. Sustainability is evident through considerations of energy-saving potential and monitoring carbon emissions. While energy justice principles are not explicitly defined in the models, various attributes and mechanisms correspond to these principles. However, challenges and limitations include diverse interpretations of energy justice, tensions between prioritizing technical and social dimensions, and the quantification of ethical concepts. The difficulty in selecting the right modelling approach and the right source of information also leads to uncertainty and complexity. This study contributes to the understanding of energy justice by providing empirical insights into its integration within energy system modeling. The findings highlight the complexities and possibilities of this integration, offering lessons for policymakers, researchers, and model developers. Recommendations for future research include exploring the impacts of energy justice measures in other sectors of the transition and also utilizing other frameworks to assess energy justice.

The irreversible effects of climate change have led to a significant increase in citizen-led and initiated local energy cooperatives. Playing a crucial role in the shift to renewable energy, these cooperatives are evolving from informal community groups to structured organisations. Their success relies on co-creation, a collaborative process in which stakeholders and citizens join forces to improve efficient decision-making, build trust and promote shared responsibility. This leads to creating effective solutions and achieving collective goals across projects and sectors. This thesis examines the role of co-creation in local energy cooperatives and highlights its importance in promoting sustainable energy practices and empowering citizens. It focuses on investigating co-creation within the energy cooperatives of the Metropolitan Region Rotterdam The Hague (MRDH) and connects theoretical concepts with practical applications in energy transition. The central research question is: ”In what ways does co-creation manifest within local energy cooperatives in the Metropolitan Region Rotterdam The Hague?” A literature review was conducted using the PRISMA method and snowball technique to understand the academic perspectives of co-creation, especially in energy transition. This helped identify the scope of the thesis and gaps in current academic knowledge. The thesis contains two theoretical frameworks. The first, from Puerari et al. (2018), examines the dynamics of co-creation in local communities and identifies five key elements: intended purpose, process type, ownership, motivations and incentives, and spaces and places. This research applied these elements to understand co-creation in MRDH’s local energy cooperatives through qualitative case study analysis. The analysis reveals the cooperatives’ commitment to fossil-free energy and their encouragement of citizen participation through a mix of formal and informal methods, addressing different motivations and adopting a shared ownership model to promote community involvement. The second framework consists of six criteria that define co-creation activities. These criteria are developed in this study, and derived from academic literature. These criteria include shared goals, active participation, equality and inclusiveness, iterative processes, value creation and mutual learning. Subsequently, the study used these criteria to evaluate the activities of energy cooperatives and assess their alignment with the concept of co-creation. Through interviews and observations, four key cooperative activities were identified: advisory services, information generation, renewable energy production and stakeholder engagement. While these activities meet the criteria for co-creation, there are opportunities for improvement in almost all areas of co-creation to fully realise the potential of these activities. The findings suggest that cooperatives should organise regular stakeholder discussions, introduce paid functions, make more effective use of physical spaces, promote diversity and develop digital platforms for knowledge sharing. Policymakers can support these cooperatives by recognising their contributions, encouraging professional development and encouraging flexibility and innovation. Future research recommendations address the limitations of this study such as regional focus, time constraints and possible subjectivity of the qualitative method. Suggestions include expanding the geographical scope, involving a wider range of stakeholders, using mixed methods and testing the recommended strategies in different contexts. In summary, this research is an important step in understanding co-creation manifestation within local energy cooperatives. It suggests strategies through which these cooperatives, in collaboration with policymakers, can effectively contribute to environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation.

This research answers the question “What kind of governance arrangements can be used to safeguard sustainability when dealing with peer-to-peer parcel delivery?” by looking at the actors that are currently active in the field, how these initiatives incorporate sustainability, what kind of risks and chances for sustainability are mentioned by other sources and by looking at what regulations and arrangements are currently in place concerning sustainability and peer-to-peer parcel delivery initiatives. The actors can be divided in Platforms, Governmental actors, Knowledge Institutes and the Transportation sector. The Platforms currently do very little when it comes to sustainability, and multiple sources see potential risks such as a decrease in efficiency, and an increase in emissions. Currently there are very little regulations, rules or governance arrangements in place, especially concerning sustainability, but multiple recommendations like renewing the income cap and including these platforms in specific governance arrangements could be effective ways to safeguard sustainability when dealing with peer-to-peer parcel delivery.

In 2008, the crash of the housing market bubble lead not only to the collapse of the U.S financial system, but also to a Global Financial Crisis. The Eurozone was hurt, and the impact was not uniform. The “sick periphery”, and in particular Greece, still suffer from the consequences of this crisis. After three adjustment programmes and €293 billion in financial assistance, Greece is weakened and left in stagnation. The country is aging, and if this reality does not change in the coming years, we will not be talking about a lost decade, but about a lost generation, and even worse, a lost nation. When we observe stagnation in economic growth, we should examine carefully the slowdown of TFP growth. Consequently, we investigate whether there was a long-run slowdown of TFP growth in the Greek economy and what are the other contributing factors that can explain this decline. On this basis, we will propose policies and strategies to the Greek government and private sector for a new and effective National Innovation System.

Worldwide, material consumption has expanded rapidly. The Netherlands has become wealthier, citizens can afford more products and therefore the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) increased enormously. The distribution of MSW is associated with environmental problems and health risks. MSW consists of everyday items disposed by households, such as furniture, clothing, electronics, food and product packaging. A large share of these products are not only suited for recycling but could also be re-used. The step from recycling towards re-use is desired as re-use is more sustainable and effective in reducing the associated (environmental) problems and risks than recycling. However, current local waste management systems are not equipped for re-use. Facilities to handle re-use already exist. The main problem is, that the MSW products are in most cases not ending up at these facilities because the current local waste management systems are designed to stimulate recycling instead of re-use. Re-use is solely in the hands of the citizens themselves. There is insufficient knowledge of what kind of re-use policies are preferred by different citizens. The policy-makers do not know about the trade-offs citizens make regarding re-use. Therefore, this research aims to find what the preferences of the citizens are regarding re-use measures of MSW, and if these preferences are heterogeneous among the citizens or not. The results of the research showed that citizens were willing to change from the current system towards re-use of MSW. In 80% of the choice situations, a re-use measure was chosen over the base alternative (current situation). This is a positive result as re-use can diminish waste levels and indirectly the negative effects associated with waste. Citizens preferred the “Platform” and “Bringing to the waste disposal centre” alternative the most and preferred these two measures more than the base alternative (current situation). The preferences were related to multiple citizen characteristics such as age, ability to bring (small and big) products to the waste disposal centre, and having a divers’ license

The goal of this thesis was to ‘develop a tool that offers insights in message framing for behaviour change to improve communication towards customers.’ By using an Design Based Research and Double Diamond approach constant iterations were made between theory and practice to develop a support tool that helps sustainable start-ups to design message frames that stimulate pro-environmental consumer behaviour change. Furture recommendations are to further develop the tool, test the effects, and stimulate more integrated research on the psychology of behaviour change, sustainable behaviour barriers, and framing designs.