Dutch agriculture is among the most productive in the world, but this comes at high social and environmental costs. The Zuid-Hollandse (ZH) Delta, home to the largest agricultural area in the Netherlands, is both a highly fertile and vulnerable landscape: low-lying, heavily dependent on hydraulic engineering, and increasingly exposed to the pressures of climate change. The region has set itself the ambition of transitioning towards a future-proof and climate-neutral food system, and regenerative agriculture (RA) offers a promising pathway for that transition. However, RA lacks institutional recognition in Dutch policy and social research on the topic is mostly absent. This thesis addresses that gap by examining RA in the Zuid-Hollandse Delta through a moral value lens. By conceptualising regenerative agriculture as a compound moral value with interacting sub-values, it asks:

How is the value landscape, including internal conflicts, of regenerative agriculture in the Zuid-Hollandse Delta constituted, and how is this landscape mediated by technological and institutional conditions?

To explore this question, I examined what values are associated with RA in the Zuid-Hollandse Delta. A discourse analysis of practitioner and scientific texts revealed a broad and plural value landscape. Care for nature emerged as the most prominent value, alongside collective responsibility and knowledge values such as collaboration, learning, and innovation, and justice-oriented values such as intergenerational justice. Economic viability appeared as a recurring concern. Participatory observations at four farms and interviews with farmers contextualised these findings within the Zuid-Hollandse Delta. Each farm expressed the value landscape differently, shaped by the scale, worldview, and business model of the farmer. Despite these differences, two values were shared across all four farms: learning and care for the soil, which farmers consistently described as the core of their regenerative practice.

The values within this broad value landscape of RA, and the norms and practices they prescribe, can also conflict with each other. Two major value conflicts were identified. The first concerns economic viability: within the current agricultural system, financial survival often requires high productivity, which can conflict with other RA values such as care for nature, human wellbeing, and learning. This conflict suggests a structural problem in the agricultural system, requiring systemic change. The second conflict arises between intergenerational and intragenerational justice. Practices that best serve future generations, such as planting food forests, can make regenerative food less accessible to lower-income groups today. This is a normative dilemma that calls for policy instruments to help farmers and society navigate it more fairly.

The values of RA do not exist in a vacuum. Using discourse analysis of agricultural policy documents and interviews with policymakers and a waterboard member, I examined how institutional and hydraulic conditions mediate this value landscape. At the institutional level, policy shares some values with RA, such as care for nature, collaboration, and intergenerational justice, but the full plural value landscape remains unrecognised. A one-size-fits-all policy logic burdens farmers, while a structural distance between policymakers and farmers means regenerative farmers almost never shape policy directly. Moreover, the findings suggest that the economic system, built around productivity and scale and influenced by Big Agro, is misaligned with the plural value landscape that regenerative farmers embody.

At the technological level, hydraulic infrastructure operates according to a technofix logic and centralised control, which can conflict with autonomy and soil care. As climate change intensifies pressure on the Delta's water system, these conflicts could grow. At the same time, the waterboard and regenerative farmers share an instrumental care for the soil, yet this shared value has not been translated into shared practice: the waterboard benefits from regenerative practices without a mechanism to compensate farmers for delivering these public goods.

This research contributes by conceptualising RA as a compound value, enabling the analysis of value conflicts and advancing social literature on RA within a delta context. Practically, it makes the plural value landscape of RA explicit, surfaces structural barriers, and identifies possible conflicts between hydraulic infrastructure and regenerative practice.

Five policy recommendations follow: recognise the plural value landscape anchored in soil care through a co-created working definition; recognise regenerative farmers as a marginalised group that creates broad public value; engage with value conflicts as barriers; relieve productivity pressure on farmers; and open a critical discussion on the technofix logic of hydraulic infrastructure and its compatibility with RA.

Through its findings and recommendations, this thesis takes a step towards the structural, procedural, and recognitional changes that a regenerative transition requires, helping the Netherlands and the Zuid-Hollandse Delta move towards a future-proof and climate-neutral agricultural system. ... Read more

The aviation sector is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for 2% of global CO2 emissions in 2022, with emissions potentially tripling by 2050 without intervention. In light of these events, the most promising avenue to cut emissions is through the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), although their impact remains limited due to numerous barriers that do not allow SAF blend ratios above 50%. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to systematically investigate the current barriers to blending limits of SAF specified under existing regulations and develop a comprehensive strategy which mobilises stakeholders. While existing literature addresses future uptake of SAF blends, identified barriers and coupled strategies are unclear, underdeveloped and dispersed, with regulatory mechanisms at times inefficacious. Furthermore, although collaboration among stakeholders is encouraged, it is unclear what roles individual stakeholders should take on to approach certain problems.

The research was conducted using a qualitative approach. The sample was composed of 14 specialists ranging from different key stakeholder groups. These key stakeholder groups were largely located in the higher rungs of the participation continuum, a model used in the stakeholder analysis which placed stakeholders along the continuum based on their level of participation in the SAF ecosystem. Semi-structured interviews then collected data, which were translated into codes. Using the Technological Innovation System (TIS) and its seven building blocks as a framework, all identified codes were grouped under one of the TIS building blocks. Based on this, three analyses were performed in parallel: barriers of SAF blending were identified, SAF production methods were compared against one another based on method-specific barriers, and strategic measures were formulated to overcome identified barriers alongside the actors who are responsible for enacting them. This, however, deviated from the TIS framework in the sense that it formulated a strategy for an entire industry and how stakeholders can collaborate as opposed to the formulation of a strategy for a single firm.

SAF blending above 50% is found to hold little to no priority among the SAF industry, which rather prioritizes upscaling of available capacity. This is because there is currently too little blend component available to achieve high blend percentages, regulatory limits do not instil an urgency to increase blends due to being small in number, and SAF supply methodologies are configured such that all SAF is blended to the bare minimum mandated. Only when such barriers are removed, and more blend component becomes available in the future, an increase in blend ratios and removal of the blend wall will be necessitated to achieve a higher sustainability impact of SAF in flight.

For SAF itself, it is found that the majority of TIS building blocks remain incompatible or partly incompatible. Product performance and quality are sufficient to some degree given that SAF can already be used in existing aircraft, but remain limited to blends of 50%. Product price is largely incompatible, the most cost-efficient SAF still being at least twice as expensive as conventional fuel due to energy-intensive processes and lack of technological maturity. The production system is similarly incompatible, projected to produce insufficient quantities of bio-SAF and e-SAF by 2030 due to long construction times and limited financial resources. Institutions and regulations are partly incompatible as they are widely in place but remain scattered and unclear. Network formation and coordination also remain partly incompatible, with limited participation and coordination concerning sustainability transitions. Uptake among customers remains limited due to their lack of knowledge and trust in SAF combined with the limited means by airlines to communicate. Only complementary infrastructure and services are fully compatible.

In terms of comparison between production methods, hydro-processed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) performs the best concerning product price and production system because it is a more mature technology. On the other hand, alcohol-to-jet (ATJ), catalytic hydrothermolysis jet (CHJ), and Fischer-Tropsch (FT) are still underdeveloped and more expensive, yet fall under the same mandated share of bio-SAF as HEFA, which causes them to be minimally stimulated. However, given HEFA’s limited impact due to its feedstock constraints, FT, ATJ, and CHJ technologies show future promise because they hold more potential with respect to unlocking the blend limit and have a larger pool of feedstock available. The same holds for synthetic SAF (e-SAF), although its energy-intensive processes remain a large bottleneck for future upscaling.

Paired with each identified key challenge comes an array of measures and actors that enables the industry to overcome these challenges. Mandates and regulations alongside incentives and subsidies most commonly contribute to bridging challenges concerning price, production system, and regulations. Meanwhile, product quality, performance, and infrastructure require further developments in technology and designated infrastructure. For network formation, stakeholder coordination, and customers, emphasis is more often placed on knowledge building and sharing, networking, and raising awareness. Depending on the context of the challenges and coupled measures, different levels of participation are required among stakeholders.

From these findings, the research reveals a comprehensive overview of barriers to large-scale SAF adoption. The application of the TIS framework in a multi-actor system broadens the perspective on barriers and strategies beyond the level of individual firms, illustrating that the strategies to help overcome the barriers are not enacted by a single stakeholder. Instead, to achieve the successful introduction of SAF, dynamic collaboration and coordination within the industry are required, with each stakeholder fulfilling different roles when faced with different challenges.
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South Africa has one of the most developed automotive manufacturing sectors in the Global South. Its plants export mainly to Europe, where demand is moving quickly from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs). Global regulation, shifting demand, and the risk of losing export access all push the sector to change. The transition, however, has been slow. This thesis asks why. It examines how lock-in dynamics and the industrial policy regime together shape South Africa's transition from ICE to EV manufacturing.

The study applies the six-domain lock-in framework of Helmrich et al. (2023), which distinguishes technological, economic, social, individual, institutional, and epistemic lock-in. Two sub-questions guide the analysis. The first identifies which lock-in mechanisms constrain the transition and how they interact across domains. The second asks how the current industrial policy regime reinforces or challenges these mechanisms. The research is qualitative and document-based. It draws on a systematic literature search, national policy documents, and sector reports. Five policy instruments were assessed: the APDP, SAAM 2035, the EV White Paper, Section 12V of the Income Tax Act, and SAREM. Each provision was coded as reinforcing, challenging, neutral, or silent on lock-in. The scope is limited to four-wheel passenger vehicles.

The first analysis finds lock-in in all six domains. These barriers are not independent. Conditions in one domain sustain barriers in another, forming three chains: one on the production side, one on the demand side, and one running through the policy response itself. The demand chain is the only fully closed loop. Because the chains renew each other, addressing any single barrier in isolation has limited effect. The domains also differ in weight. The institutional and economic domains act as sources of reinforcement, while the individual and epistemic domains receive it and remain largely unaddressed.

The second analysis finds a policy regime in mid-pivot. Its direction has changed, but its weight has not. The older instruments still carry most of the financial support and continue to favour ICE production. The newer instruments challenge lock-in but reach only a narrow part of the sector. The regime also contradicts itself: the state now subsidises EV production while its tax rules still make EVs more expensive to buy than ICE equivalents. Comparing the two analyses sorts the lock-ins into three groups. Some are addressed by at least one instrument. Some are not addressed at all. Some are addressed on paper but persist in practice, showing that policy on record is not the same as policy in effect.

The thesis concludes that the transition is held back by a self-sustaining structure of lock-in that policy has begun to challenge at the edges but not at its sources. No single instrument can carry the transition alone. What matters is whether the actors involved can be brought to act together. Recommendations follow for policymakers, existing automotive companies, and new EV ventures. Future research should examine actor coordination, the implementation of the newer instruments, and whether the same pattern holds in other developing economies.

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Rice is a staple source of food for approximately three billion people worldwide, forming the backbone of food security in many developing nations (Lansing & Kramer, 2011). However, conventional rice production carries substantial environmental costs. Flooded paddies are the world’s largest agricultural source of methane, a greenhouse gas (GHG) roughly 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide (Forster et al., 2007). Moreover, paddy fields frequently suffer from the overuse of fertilisers and pesticides which degrades soils and waterways, and negatively impacts biodiversity (Forster et al., 2007; Lansing & Kramer, 2011). Integrated systems, such as rice-fish or rice-prawn (RP) co-cultures, offer a promising approach to reduce environmental pressures while maintaining productivity. In Cambodia, RP farming is increasingly practiced, but its environmental performance has not been quantified, leaving policymakers and farmers without evidence to guide sustainable expansion. This MSc thesis, conducted under the discipline of Industrial Ecology, investigates the environmental impacts of RP co-culture systems in Cambodia using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. RP co-cultures represent complex socio-ecological systems, where flows of nutrients, energy, and emissions interact across the farm ecosystem. LCA allows for quantification of these interactions across the entire production chain, and scales them to a common unit of reference (functional unit), identifying trade-offs and environmental hotspots while informing strategies for sustainable intensification. While prior LCA studies have explored rice-animal systems, predominantly showing clear improvements in environmental sustainability, there is a significant research gap for RP systems in Cambodia (Wang et al., 2024). This thesis addresses that gap by collecting primary data from local farms; mapping inputs, outputs, and management practices over one agricultural season; and conducting a full LCA to quantify environmental impacts. The results showed that RP co-cultures exhibited higher environmental burden. Field-level farming operations, manure production, and diesel combustion were identified as the primary life cycle hotspots across both systems. However, when assessed per unit of economic or nutritional output, monoculture experienced higher environmental impacts for Climate Change, Land Use, and Water Use. Indeed, despite their lower productivity, RP systems produced substantially less methane per unit of output than monoculture, a meaningful climate advantage obscured by aggregated impact scores. As RP farming continues to develop in Cambodia, if co-cultures want to show genuine potential to simultaneously support smallholder livelihoods, reduce methane emissions from rice cultivation, and contribute to more sustainable food production, targeted improvements to productivity and input management need to occur. Yet, this makes them a worthwhile focus for continued investment, research, and policy support ... Read more

Critical infrastructure in low-resource and crisis-affected settings faces compounding threats from supply chain disruptions, geopolitical conflict, and natural disasters. When essential systems such as healthcare facilities, water networks, and energy grids are damaged or cut off from global supply chains, the absence of spare parts and local manufacturing capacity prolongs service failure and deepens humanitarian impact. Existing scholarship on additive manufacturing (AM) and supply chain resilience has largely examined these issues from a technical standpoint, leaving the socio-technical conditions of implementation in crisis-affected settings underexplored. This study contributes to the intersecting fields of critical infrastructure resilience, humanitarian logistics, and socio-technical systems research by examining AM not as a standalone technology, but as an intervention shaped by the social, institutional, and material conditions in which it operates. The study investigates how additive manufacturing functions as a socio-technical intervention to enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure during supply chain disruption in low-resource and crisis-affected settings, with a focus on Gaza and Syria. A qualitative research design was adopted, combining a literature review with eight semi-structured interviews conducted with practitioners drawn from three distinct stakeholder groups: community-level actors, NGO and humanitarian practitioners, and technology providers. The study examines which infrastructure sectors benefit most from AM, what technical and social factors enable or constrain its deployment, and how it relates to established resilience dimensions, interpreted through the Socio-Technical Systems (STS) framework and the 4Rs resilience lens (Robustness, Redundancy, Resourcefulness, Rapidity). The findings reveal that AM offers its strongest contributions in healthcare and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sectors, where small but essential components can halt entire service systems when unavailable. AM contributes most clearly to rapidity, by shortening response times through local production and digital file transfer, and to resourcefulness, by enabling iterative, context-specific problem-solving. Its contributions to redundancy and robustness are more conditional, depending on material quality, maintenance capacity, and sustained user trust. Across all sectors, implementation depends on the alignment of technical resources with social conditions including skills, coordination, and institutional support. The findings offer practical guidance for humanitarian organizations and policymakers seeking to integrate AM into crisis preparedness and infrastructure recovery ... Read more

Nigeria possesses significant potential to develop a green hydrogen (GH₂) sector, which could contribute to industrial development, economic diversification, employment generation, and enhanced energy security. Despite these opportunities, progress remains limited due to persistent and interconnected socio-technical barriers. This study examines how Nigeria can enable the development of a viable GH₂ sector as part of its broader energy transition.

The research is guided by three questions: (1) what roles actors and institutional structures play in GH₂ development; (2) which barriers and drivers shape this development; and (3) which development pathway is most plausible given these dynamics. To address these questions, the study applies the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP), complemented by actor analysis and a comparative scenario analysis of four hydrogen economy models. This integrated framework enables a systemic assessment of interactions between landscape pressures, regime structures, and niche developments.

The analysis identifies key barriers and drivers across system levels using data from academic literature, policy documents, sector reports, and expert interviews. At the landscape level, global decarbonisation commitments, rising international hydrogen demand, and oil price volatility create incentives for diversification. However, at the regime level, fossil fuel dependence, institutional fragmentation, regulatory gaps, and weak investment incentives reinforce the existing energy system and constrain transformation. At the niche level, high production costs, limited access to finance, infrastructure deficits, and the absence of long-term offtake agreements hinder scaling beyond pilot projects. Although drivers such as abundant renewable resources and energy security concerns exist, their impact is limited by weak alignment across system levels.

The scenario analysis evaluates four hydrogen economy models and identifies a coordinated industrial pathway as the most viable trajectory. In this pathway, exports serve as an entry point but are embedded within a broader industrial development strategy. GH₂ production is linked to downstream sectors such as fertiliser, steel, and chemicals, enabling domestic value creation while leveraging export revenues. Without such coordination, GH₂ risks remaining an enclave export activity with limited structural impact.

The study concludes that GH₂ can play a meaningful role in Nigeria’s energy transition if supported by targeted and coherent policy measures. Key recommendations include the development of a comprehensive national hydrogen strategy to provide regulatory clarity and institutional alignment; the integration of GH₂ into existing industrial value chains, particularly fertiliser production; and the implementation of industrial upgrading mechanisms, such as local content requirements and technology transfer provisions in export agreements. Furthermore, workforce development through education, training, and regional collaboration is essential to build local capacity. Finally, targeted financial instruments, including blended finance and risk-sharing mechanisms, are necessary to improve project bankability and enable the transition from pilot projects to a commercially viable GH₂ sector.
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Pension funds play an important role in the transition to a more sustainable economy. Many funds report how they consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in their investment strategies. At the same time, ESG has become more politically debated and less predictable. This creates uncertainty about how sustainability commitments will be interpreted. This uncertainty may influence not only investment decisions but also how pension funds communicate about sustainable investing in their public reports.
This thesis studies how ESG-related uncertainty affects sustainable investing disclosure by Dutch pension funds. It focuses on whether higher uncertainty changes how prominently and how broadly funds discuss sustainability in their annual reports. The analysis combines a monthly ESG Uncertainty Index for the Netherlands with a new dataset of annual reports from 124 Dutch pension funds between 2018 and 2024. Using text analysis methods, the reports are translated into indicators that measure how much funds discuss sustainable investing, how many topics and strategies they mention, and how concrete their statements are.
The results show a consistent but modest pattern. When ESG uncertainty increases, pension funds devote slightly less attention to sustainable investing and cover fewer topics, strategies, and asset classes. In other words, sustainability reporting becomes somewhat narrower. However, the remaining statements do not become less concrete. This suggests that funds mainly adjust the breadth of their sustainability narrative rather than the precision of their language.
The effects are somewhat stronger for smaller pension funds and for some funds with higher carbon exposure. Overall, the results relate to communication rather than direct changes in investment behaviour.
The findings show that sustainability disclosure can also function as strategic communication. During periods of uncertainty, pension funds may narrow how they present their sustainability activities. For policymakers and supervisors, this highlights the importance of monitoring how sustainability reporting evolves over time.
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The rapid growth of electric vehicle adoption increases the urgency of developing circular solutions for end-of-life batteries. Repurposing EV batteries for stationary storage can reduce environmental impacts and human rights risks embedded in critical raw material supply chains, as well as Europe’s dependence on critical raw materials. Yet, the development of repurposing markets remains uncertain and differs across countries. Current research provides limited insight into how national contexts shape the diffusion of EV battery repurposing over time, particularly in relation to the dynamic and complex nature of this market. This thesis addresses this gap by analysing how contextual differences for the Netherlands and Sweden influence the diffusion of EV battery repurposing technology by answering the following research question: “How do the national contexts of the Netherlands and Sweden affect the diffusion of EV battery repurposing technology?”

To answer this question, a merged system dynamics model was developed by integrating two system dynamics models. The Circubat model captures the long-term market dynamics of the second-use EV battery sector from a profit-oriented perspective, incorporating country-specific parameters for supply, demand, treatment capacity, and policy interventions tailored to the Netherlands and Sweden. In parallel, a hybrid Technological Innovation Systems model evaluates innovation performance at a more abstract level. By integrating these two approaches, the merged model provides insights not only into the diffusion volumes of repurposed EV batteries, but also into the overall strength and quality of the underlying innovation system.
Although projected end-of-life EV battery streams are similar in both countries, diffusion volumes are substantially higher in the Netherlands. This is primarily driven by stronger structural demand for decentralised flexibility, resulting from high solar PV penetration and increasing grid congestion. From a system-dynamics perspective, demand functions as the central catalyst: stronger demand activates reinforcing feedback loops between scale, cost reductions, learning, and capacity expansion, whereas weaker demand dampens these dynamics and constrains long-term scaling. However, higher diffusion volumes do not necessarily indicate a well-developed innovation system. The Technological Innovation System assessment shows that overall system performance in both countries remains below half of its potential, reflecting persistent structural weaknesses that continue to constrain large-scale diffusion. Policy experiments testing taxation of new batteries, consumer subsidies for repurposed batteries, and demonstration funds reveal that effectiveness depends on the dominant national bottleneck. In demand-constrained Sweden, demand-oriented measures, particularly taxation and subsidies, effectively stimulate both demand and capacity expansion, while in the Netherlands their impact on supply remains limited due to feedstock constraints. Demonstration funds show more context-dependent effects, as higher input costs can raise prices and dampen demand under certain conditions. These findings underscore that policy effectiveness is strongly conditioned by national structural factors and requires alignment with the specific bottlenecks within each innovation system. ... Read more

The accelerating global energy transition has intensified demand for the minerals and agricultural commodities required for so-called “green” technologies, driving a rapid expansion of extractive industries. While these processes are commonly framed as necessary and sustainable, they often generate severe social, environmental, and spiritual harms, disproportionately affecting Indigenous communities in the Global South and women. These harms do not occur in isolation; they compound and reinforce one another through intersecting structures of power related to race, gender, class, and coloniality, producing intersectional experiences of marginalization.

This thesis examines how extractivism for the energy transition is experienced and resisted through intersectional decolonial and gender justice perspectives, asking: "What do intersectional decolonial and gender justice perspectives reveal about the impacts of and resistances to extractive industries, grounded in the case of Iximulew (Guatemala), and how can these inform more inclusive international governance approaches?"

The research is grounded in a qualitative case study in the region around El Estor, Iximulew (an Indigenous name for Guatemala) where Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ communities are affected by nickel mining and palm oil monocultivation. Both activities are closely linked to the global energy transition: nickel is a key input in battery production, while palm oil is widely used for biofuel. The study centers lived experiences and Indigenous knowledge systems that are often underrepresented or actively repressed in academic and policy debates. It combines interviews with community members, human and environmental rights defenders, women leaders, journalists, and activists, alongside participatory research and document analysis. Data are analyzed through reflexive thematic and constructivist approaches grounded in an intersectional decolonial ecofeminist framework.

The findings show that understanding extractivism in El Estor requires first engaging the Q’eqchi’ cosmovision, which offers counter-hegemonic conceptions of Territory, justice, and development. Territory is understood as a living, relational entity encompassing humans, nonhuman beings, ancestors, and spirits. Justice and development are grounded in balance, reciprocity, care, intergenerational responsibility, and a collective vision of Buen Vivir (“Living Well”). These perspectives stand in sharp contrast to extractivist logics rooted in colonial and patriarchal hierarchies, accumulation, and short-term profit.

Testimonies from El Estor reveal extractivism as a multidimensional process of dispossession, harm, and resistance. Beyond territorial loss and environmental degradation, extractive industries erode social fabrics, undermine spiritual relationships with Territory, and produce long-term psychological and collective wounds. These impacts are deeply gendered. Indigenous women face intersecting marginalization—including systemic exclusion, intensified care burdens, and heightened exposure to gender-based violence—while also emerging as central agents of resistance.

Through a constructivist analysis, the thesis demonstrates how extractivism, coloniality, and patriarchy intersect across multiple domains: authority, economy, knowledge, subjectivity, and gender. Together, they form an intersectional structure of domination. At the same time, counter-hegemonic resistance and healing emerge from within these structures.

Finally, the thesis connects local struggles in Iximulew to global governance by examining the UN Binding Treaty on Business and Human Rights. While the Treaty presents a historic opportunity to challenge corporate impunity, it remains influenced by colonial, patriarchal, and neoliberal assumptions. The thesis proposes three interlinked recommendations: critically revisiting dominant development definitions, meaningfully centering Indigenous and feminist voices, and adopting the Treaty only in a form that is genuinely representative of pluriversal, intersectional justice. Indigenous women emerge as key agents of change essential for reimagining just governance and equitable energy futures. ... Read more

Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) is a prevalent tool in industrial ecology (IE) for evaluating social impacts across products and systems’ life cycles. Policymakers and industrial actors increasingly use it to guide their decisions in the energy transition. Although the energy transition is widely recognised as generating new and reinforcing existing climate injustices, the intersection of climate justice and S-LCA remains largely unexplored in the literature. In this light, the thesis deals with the following research question: How can Social Life Cycle Assessment be critically evaluated and advanced to better account for climate justice in the energy transition? This research uses an exploratory and prescriptive design with participatory data collection methods (e.g., elicitation interviews) and content analysis. It first identifies and explains the main limitations of current S-LCA practice in addressing climate justice. Specifically, it demonstrates various methodological constraints—for most, already reflected in the literature—as well as epistemic constraints that have thus far remained unexplored within the identified literature. Then, it develops a climate justice-based approach to operationalise climate justice in S-LCA practice through four pillars: decoloniality, inclusivity, reflexivity, and relationality. By rendering S-LCA more responsive to climate justice, this research supports S-LCA practitioners to undertake more critical and reflexive S-LCA assessments of energy systems, thereby preventing S-LCA practice from unintentionally perpetuating injustices in relation to the energy transition. Future work should further advance the climate justice-based approach through empirical applications and spur collaboration among S-LCA experts, climate justice advocates, and affected communities across energy supply chains. ... Read more

The accelerating transition toward electric mobility is a key component of global efforts to decarbonise transport systems and achieve long-term climate goals. As electric vehicle (EV) adoption increases, the demand for accessible, reliable, and efficient public charging station infrastructure (PCSI) grows. Public charging networks enable the practical use of EVs while supporting renewable energy integration, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and improving equitable access to sustainable transport.

In the Netherlands, early policy support and public–private cooperation have resulted in one of the most advanced EV charging ecosystems worldwide. However, as the market matures, local authorities face increasingly complex decisions regarding how to plan and manage charging infrastructure. PCSI deployment involves trade-offs between accessibility, economic viability, and system efficiency, while stakeholders operate under different governance models and local conditions. Despite the availability of planning tools and growing experience, uncertainty remains about how different roll-out strategies perform across diverse urban contexts.

This research evaluates how different PCSI roll-out strategies perform across varying urban-infrastructural contexts in the Netherlands. The objective is not to identify a single optimal strategy but to provide empirical insight into how strategy effectiveness depends on local conditions. The central research question is:

How do different roll-out strategies for public EV charging station infrastructure perform across varying urban-infrastructural profiles, as measured by key performance indicators?

To address this question, the study combines spatial, socio-economic, and operational data in a quantitative multiple-case study framework. Local authorities are first classified into urban profiles using a two-step clustering method based on neighbourhood-level data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), including income, address density, and land area. Next, real-world roll-out strategies are identified from policy documents and categorised according to governance model (concession-based or open market) and planning style (reactive, strategic, or data-driven). Infrastructure performance is then evaluated using three key indicators derived from the NDW LINDA dataset: charging station utilisation rate, energy throughput, and number of unique users. These indicators are combined into a composite performance index and statistically analysed using ANOVA and Tukey tests.

The results show that the effectiveness of roll-out strategies varies significantly across urban-infrastructural contexts. Data-driven and strategic planning approaches consistently outperform purely reactive request-based models in terms of utilisation and delivered energy. In dense urban environments, open-market governance models perform competitively due to increased innovation and network expansion by multiple charging point operators. In suburban and rural contexts, concession-based models provide greater stability and more equitable spatial coverage through coordinated planning.

Overall, the findings demonstrate that there is no universally optimal roll-out strategy. Instead, infrastructure performance depends on the alignment between governance structure, planning approach, and the spatial and socio-economic characteristics of local authorities. These results provide empirical evidence to support more context-sensitive planning of public EV charging infrastructure and contribute to improved decision-making for policymakers and infrastructure operators. ... Read more

Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies are increasingly becoming a part of climate change mitigation strategies. Considering the Paris Agreement and the goal of limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above the pre-industrial level, CDR can be a helpful complement to emissions reductions, especially during the transition toward net-zero. Nevertheless, CDRs are novel technologies, with few applications and significant uncertainties. Integrating novel technologies into established systems is not a purely technical challenge, but one shaped by socio-technical and political-institutional dynamics. In this context, the Brazilian sugarcane and ethanol (sugar-energy) sector is powerful and influential, raising critical questions about its role in enabling or constraining technological change.
In this thesis, three CDR technologies are studied, namely Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), Biochar Carbon Removal (BCR), and Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW). These technologies have the potential to be integrated into existing agricultural and energy systems, such as sugarcane plantations and ethanol production chains. The research aims to investigate how CDR technologies are developing and diffusing in Brazil’s sugar-energy sector, focusing on the interactions between niche innovations (CDR technologies), the established regime (sugar-energy sector), and broader landscape pressures (long-term, exogenous pressures). The study is guided by the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) framework, which provides a structured framework for analyzing technological transitions in socio-technical systems through a socio-political and technological perspective.
Using a qualitative methodology, the thesis addresses the question: “What role do sugar-energy incumbents play in shaping the diffusion of BECCS, BCR, and ERW in Brazil’s low-carbon transition?” The analysis is based on the MLP framework and on seven semi-structured interviews with industry actors and niche innovators. The findings suggest that CDR development benefits from rising climate concern and emerging policy initiatives in Brazil, but its diffusion is constrained by limited incumbent interest, insufficient economic incentives, and regulatory uncertainty. Incumbent firms can play a crucial role in enabling technological diffusion by providing legitimacy, resources, and access to infrastructure; however, this support tends to materialize only when CDR technologies align with existing regime structures and complement current production processes. As a result, Incumbent firms tend to reinforce gradual transition dynamics rather than transformative change.
The thesis concludes that CDR diffusion in Brazil's sugar-energy sector requires explicit policy recognition, dedicated financial instruments, and deeper integration of CDR technologies by large sugarcane and ethanol incumbents, beyond experimenting and early commercial scale. By examining the socio-technical and political-institutional dimensions of CDR diffusion, this research contributes to deeper debates on negative emissions, sustainable innovations transitions, and climate governance in Brazil. ... Read more

The transition from a linear to a circular economy is essential to confront pressing environmental challenges in Latin American (LATAM) countries, including resource depletion, pollution, deforestation, and biodiversity loss. While circular economy principles have advanced in developed nations, LATAM countries are at an early stage of adoption, facing unique socio-economic and environmental contexts that demand tailored policy approaches. This study focuses on Costa Rica and Uruguay as representative cases, selected for their medium-high income status and their advancement in developing national circular economy strategies. The research evaluates the socio-economic and environmental impacts of nine CIs outlined within these circular strategies, aiming to inform broader regional strategies for sustainable development. This research addresses critical knowledge gaps by evaluating national circular strategies and their broader regional and global implications.
The study applies a mixed-methods approach combining qualitative analysis with a quantitative multi-regional environmentally extended input-output analysis (MR-EEIOA) to evaluate key CIs selected from Costa Rica and Uruguay’s circular national strategies.
This thesis employs a qualitative analysis framed by the DE lens, a conceptual model that defines a "safe and just space" for sustainable development by integrating planetary boundaries ceilings with social foundations. This holistic framework complements circular economy principles by emphasizing the need to reduce environmental impacts and to ensure equitable socio-economic outcomes. This integrated methodology provides a comprehensive evaluation of CIs, capturing environmental benefits, such as decreased Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, and their associated socio-economic trade-offs. To elaborate, the analysis measures the economic dimension of the transition by examining the interplay between job creation in new circular sectors and job displacement in traditional linear industries. It also assesses the social dimension by evaluating how these initiatives generate social value-added through the creation of new skills and enhanced local economic resilience.
Out of all circular interventions qualitatively analysed through the Doughnut Economy lens, two are quantitatively modelled using MR-EEIOA. This is done to demonstrate the modelling process and to explore the strengths and limitations of MR-EEIOA as a tool supporting qualitative analysis.
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This comparison of quantitative results with qualitative insights generates new understandings of the potential impacts of circular economy interventions in the LATAM region.
Key findings reveal that CIs in Costa Rica and Uruguay yield environmental gains, particularly in climate change mitigation and resource efficiency, and promote socio-economic benefits like job creation and social equity. However, these results are constrained by data limitations - especially concerning social impacts - and structural challenges, such as low recycling infrastructure and unclear policy targets. The results of the MR-EEIOA modelling reveal unexpected trade-offs between environmental and socio-economic impacts of the analysed CIs. This analysis highlights a complex reality where an environmental gain (e.g., lower GHG emissions) can coincide with a socio-economic cost (e.g., job displacement). This finding underscores the need for a more holistic assessment of these initiatives by collecting more qualitative data on the micro- and meso-level impacts of CIs on specific sectors, using methods such as semi-structured interviews and surveys.
This research contributes to Industrial Ecology by assessing the impacts of CIs in underrepresented regions and addressing social dimensions that are often neglected in traditional analyses. Specifically, this research highlights the importance of improving mixed-methods data collection by integrating sector-specific qualitative insights and quantitative metrics on key sectors projected to undergo significant change from the analysed CIs.
These insights provide crucial support for national governments and regional institutions like ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) in designing effective, inclusive circular economy transitions. This work helps advance sustainable development across the region by applying the DE model, which seeks to meet social foundations while respecting planetary boundaries. ... Read more

The world is facing a water quality crisis in the form of water pollution and scarcity like it has never seen before. Discharges of untreated sewage wastewater flows into the natural watercourses constitute a menace to the environment. Academia and the scientific community have explored and proposed circular economy (CE) concepts aimed at mitigating the human footprint on natural resources and focusing on ensuring sustainable water management initiatives. Under this notion conventional wastewater treatment plants (CWWTP) are turning into water resource recovery facilities, which not only clean its wastewater but also recover the useful organic resources like energy and nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) that otherwise are destroyed or disposed back to the environment. However, research has also indicated that the implementation of these circular economy practices lacks a system’s thinking approach when it comes to understanding the importance of social issues, where the needs and rights of all social actors and local communities are adequately considered. Consequently, this study provides a methodological approach which through qualitative and quantitative methods that integrates the opinions and preferences of stakeholders at various stages of the project, enhances the robustness of its findings. From the empirical input of key stakeholders, relevant criteria were identified to assess the sustainability impact of nutrient recovery technical alternatives from urban wastewater treatment plants.
The evaluation conducted at the Las Esclusas CWWTP in Ecuador (used as a case study) highlights the significance of social considerations, particularly in the context of implementing nutrient recovery technologies in countries from the Global South. A preliminary technical assessment showed that three commercially nutrient recovery technologies could be feasible to be implemented at this plant (precipitation/crystallization of struvite and mono-incineration & AshDEC to recover phosphorus and ammonia stripping to recover nitrogen). However, none of these technologies can be immediately implemented under current conditions. Many aspects will need to change before the plant is ready to recover nutrients like adding a secondary treatment. Yet the input from stakeholders in assessing relevant criteria for the purpose of measuring the sustainability performance per nutrient recovery technology, was instrumental to underline the importance of social aspects and emphasize the essential role of the institutional landscape. Challenges within the institutional domain, characterized by inefficiencies in the legislative and political systems, pose significant obstacles to the implementation of nutrient recovery technologies. In the specific case of Las Esclusas CWWTP, the absence of robust environmental legislation and institutional commitment towards circular economy projects, diminishes the feasibility and perceived value of implementing nutrient recovery systems. Furthermore, cross-cutting issues such as bureaucratic inefficiencies and lack of institutional transparency further complicates the attempt to progress at a faster rate within the context of the application of circular economy initiatives to the sustainable management of wastewater. Without proactive government engagement and inter-institutional collaboration, the transition to circular practices in the wastewater sector remains unlikely in countries from the Global South. This inclusive approach emphasizes the importance of considering social perspectives in wastewater management practices which ultimately contributes to more responsible and socially relevant decision-making processes.
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This thesis investigated the socio-technical and institutional factors that affecting the development of solar PV value chain in two case studies, China and SADC. The study for China is aimed for providing a lesson learned from the best practice in building and dominating solar PV value chain in the world. Moreover, the study in SADC is to understanding the region’s current progress, to propose strategic recommendations in building the regional PV value chain.

Findings show that China’s rise in the global PV industry was shaped by three interlinked strategies: (1) strong government orchestration and long-term planning, (2) capturing the entire value chain step by step, and (3) infrastructure-driven industrialization supported by diversified financing and technology transfer. In contrast, SADC’s PV development remains fragmented. The TIS assessment revealed uneven performance across upstream, midstream, and downstream segments, with most activity concentrated in downstream deployment through auctions and rural electrification. These programs, while reliant on imported components, demonstrate that demand creation can stimulate market growth and
eventually feed back into manufacturing opportunities.

Comparing both cases, the research identifies several lessons for SADC:
• Proactive but flexible orchestration at the regional level is needed to balance diverse national interests.
• Building local capabilities should start with segments that have lower entry barriers (e.g., module assembly, balance-of-system components).
• A stronger and more diversified domestic financial ecosystem is required to reduce dependence on donor funding.
• Integrated infrastructure and logistics are essential to reduce costs and improve competitiveness.
• Rural electrification can serve as an anchor market, driving consistent demand in the downstream segment and supporting upstream and midstream growth.

From these insights, the thesis proposes that SADC’s strategic interventions should involve aligning regional institutions as active orchestrators, encouraging country-level institutions (especially South Africa, DRC, and Zambia) to push higher-tech manufacturing, and leveraging international institutions and FDI not only for capital but also for knowledge transfer and long-term capacity building .

Theoretical contribution lies in the introduction of a multilayer analytical framework that integrates TIS functions, PV design factors, and regional integration theory. This approach highlights how institutional dynamics and socio-technical drivers interact in shaping regional value chains. It adds nuance to the literature on regional industrialization in the Global South by linking demand creation, institutional orchestration, and capability building.

This thesis highly reliance on desk research with limited interviews, constrained access to region-wide data, and exclusion of sustainability aspects such as recycling and labor rights. Those served as a limitation for this thesis. The recommendations are preliminary and require feasibility studies at the country level to assess economic, social, and environmental viability .

In short, the study argues that SADC can transition from a fragmented, import-reliant solar PV market toward a competitive regional value chain by strategically leveraging its mineral resources, fostering coordinated regional action, and adapting lessons from China’s developmental model. ... Read more

Semiconductors are a cornerstone of modern technological development and a strategically vital global industry. Their production is characterized by a fragmented yet geographically concentrated global value chain (GVC), where latecomer economies often remain confined to lower-value segments. This thesis examines how the functional performance of Malaysia’s semiconductor innovation system interacted with GVC governance structures to shape its upgrading trajectory, offering lessons for latecomer economies seeking to advance in knowledge- and capital-intensive industries.

Adopting a longitudinal single-case study design, the research uses Malaysia’s semiconductor sector as the unit of analysis, covering the period from 1970 to the present. The analysis combines the functional Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) framework—assessing seven systemic functions—with an embedded GVC perspective to account for global governance regimes, upgrading pathways, and structural entry barriers. The study draws on secondary literature, policy archives, industry reports, and expert interviews to map the evolution of actors, networks, institutions, and systemic functions, alongside Malaysia’s positioning within the semiconductor GVC.

Findings reveal a dual character in Malaysia’s trajectory. Strong resource mobilization, positive cluster externalities, and foreign-led market formation enabled the country to secure a competitive position in assembly, testing, and packaging (ATP). However, systemic weaknesses in knowledge development, entrepreneurial experimentation, and legitimation, combined with the captive and hierarchical governance structures of upstream segments, limited upgrading into wafer fabrication and integrated circuit (IC) design. These structural dependencies, reinforced by high capital intensity, concentrated intellectual property, and tacit knowledge barriers, have locked Malaysia into a downstream specialisation.

The study concludes that latecomer economies in high-tech sectors must achieve both a balanced performance across systemic functions and strategic engagement with GVC governance dynamics. For policymakers, this implies integrating domestic innovation system strengthening with deliberate positioning in global production networks. The thesis contributes to the literature by integrating functional TIS analysis with GVC and latecomer industrialisation theory, offering a nuanced understanding of innovation system evolution in globally embedded, high-technology contexts. ... Read more

As energy systems transition towards renewable sources, creating challenges for grid stability, household demand-side flexibility has become a cornerstone of modern policy. Dynamic electricity pricing is one of the most prominent tools for activating this flexibility, yet the robustness of its effects and the heterogeneity of responses across socioeconomic groups remain under-explored. The study addresses these gaps by analyzing data from a large-scale randomized controlled trial in Norway, conducted from December 2020 to March 2021, involving 3,746 households. The study replicates the fixed-effects panel-data model used by Hofmann and Lindberg (2024), to verify the average treatment effect of variable hourly pricing and extends it with interaction terms to test whether household income moderates price responsiveness. The replication analysis successfully reproduces the original findings, confirming a statistically significant average peak-hour demand reduction of 2.92% (0.085 kWh/h). The subsequent extension reveals a strong and systematic inverse relationship between household income and price elasticity, with low-income households significantly reducing peak consumption by 12.05% (0.221 kWh/h), compared to negligible responses from high-income households, particularly during high-price events for shorter time periods. These findings confirm that dynamic pricing effectively elicits demand response but is disproportionately driven by financially constrained households. To ensure an effective and equitable energy transition, policymakers must adopt segmented pricing strategies that account for socioeconomic differences. Limitations, including the Norway-specific context, suggest caution in generalizing these results. ... Read more

This research examines how exclusionary dynamics emerge within Mission-Oriented Innovation Systems (MIS), despite Mission-Oriented Innovation Policy’s stated commitment to broad participation. To address this gap, the thesis develops the MIS Ecologies of Exclusion (MIS-EoE) framework, which adapts Chilvers et al.’s Ecologies of Participation by identifying antagonists, subjects, objects, and models of exclusion, and by distinguishing between institutional and socio-material constitutional structures. Integrated into Elzinga et al.’s MIS framework, MIS-EoE enables a systemic diagnosis of how exclusion is structurally embedded and functionally reproduced through normative, epistemic, substantive, and instrumental mechanisms.

The EU Soil Mission serves as a case study, using document analysis, event ethnography, and interviews. The problem–solution diagnosis reveals a depoliticised framing that highlights soil degradation yet avoids confronting industrial agriculture, creating a structural mismatch between problem and solution. The structural analysis shows how Horizon Europe, CAP exceptionalism, and agro-industrial entanglements form a constitutional setting that constrains participation and insulates decision-making. The functional analysis demonstrates how exclusion narrows knowledge, limits agency, and reduces participation to symbolic performance.

The study concludes that exclusion within the EU Soil Mission is not incidental but constitutive, preserving institutional coherence at the expense of transformative potential. For Industrial Ecology, the framework foregrounds how political and institutional dynamics shape transitions, expanding the field’s capacity to analyse justice, inclusion, and the governance conditions that underpin sustainable innovation. ... Read more

Access to electricity in informal settlements such as Mathare, Nairobi, remains a critical challenge that extends beyond infrastructure limitations to include governance and stakeholder coordination issues. This study investigates how enhanced stakeholder collaboration and strategic alignment can support the integration of Mathare’s informal electricity network into a safer, more reliable, and legally regulated system. Motivated by the urgency of improving energy access in marginalised urban areas, the research focuses on aligning the interests of diverse actors, including community members, CBOs, informal electricity suppliers, Kenya Power, and government agencies, which often operate in silos or conflicts.
A mixed methods approach was used, including 38 semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and direct observations, facilitated by collaboration with local CBOs. Thematic analysis was used to identify key barriers to stakeholder alignment and opportunities for participatory governance.
The findings reveal significant misalignments in stakeholder goals and a general absence of trust and dialogue among actors. Two integration approaches were analysed: Community-Based Energy Cooperatives (CBEC) and government-led ”Last Mile” expansion, the CBEC approach emerging as the most contextually viable option due to its emphasis on local ownership, accountability, and flexible governance.
The study concludes with a comprehensive roadmap and actionable policy recommendations aimed at Kenya Power. These include cooperative formation, tariff negotiations, technical training, and infrastructure implementation. By fostering collaborative governance structures and recognising the legitimacy of informal systems, the proposed roadmap contributes to building a safer and more reliable energy future in Mathare and similar urban settlements across Africa. ... Read more