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Anders Hansson

Professor, Head of Unit

Plan B as a climate measure – carbon dioxide removal and solar geoengineering

The Paris Agreement's goal requires not only radical emission reductions but also the generation of large amounts of negative greenhouse gas emissions. This goal has been criticised in part because the methods for negative emissions (NETs) have only been tested on a small scale, while there are many uncertainties.

I am an social scientist leading an interdisciplinary research group called Linköping University Negative Emission Technologies (LUNETs) that studies the technical, social and economic possibilities of using NETs and primarily the methods bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and biochar. The projects also include critical analyses of the methods’ political, local and scientific contexts. BECCS means that carbon dioxide is separated from biomass that is processed at large scale facilities, for example at pulp and paper mills and combined heat and power plants. The carbon dioxide is then transported to suitable geological formations where it is deposited. A net negative effect could be achieved as the corresponding amount of processed biomass is regrown. Biochar is produced through slow pyrolysis of biomass and can then be placed on farmland to simultaneously bind carbon and improve soil quality. There are major knowledge gaps and lack of experience regarding both methods, but as the climate goals have become more ambitious, these methods have become more relevant in both political and scientific contexts.

LUNETs funds about 10-15 researchers and comprises several projects funded by the Wallenberg foundation (MAW), the Swedish Research Council, Formas, the Swedish Energy Agency, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and SIDA and includes Linköping University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Leibniz institute of vegetable and ornamental crops in Berlin. The projects take different perspectives to jointly investigate the conditions for developing and implementing NETs in different geographical, regulatory, institutional and national contexts. Currently, Sweden, the Nordic countries, Europe and Tanzania are being investigated as cases. We are also studying how knowledge of different methods, including solar geoengineering, is constructed through scientific models, Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs), and the scientific debate on BECCS. LUNETs contributes with an understanding of how current structures and policies promote or limit the development of the methods, how this development could be supported in a constructive way and with critical perspectives on the global, national and local potential of the techniques, not the least perspectives on deployment in least developed countries. In addition, the projects engage various societal actors through ongoing dialogues to raise important issues and to include many perspectives on the methods at an early stage.

Approved major external grants in open competition

1. 2023-2028. Negotiating climate emergency: understandings of temporality in science, public debates, and politics. Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation. Call: Focus on the Humanities. (2022-0070) (~6MSEK)

2. 2023-2026. Regrettable Necessity or Fungible Climate Action (ReFLECT)? Bringing Transparency to Interactions Between Science and Society on Solar Geoengineering. The Swedish Energy Agency. Call: (MESAM/Humans, Society, Energy Systems). (2022-P01045) (5MSEK)

3. 2022-2026. Below zero – Responsible and adaptive realization of sociotechnical bioenergy systems with carbon capture and storage. The Swedish Energy Agency (Graduate School Energy Systems): “An integrative systems approach to a carbon neutral industry”. (2022-200296) (11,2MSEK).

4. 2019-2025. Opening the portfolio of negative emissions technologies: A comprehensive study of social, techno-economic and ethical dimensions of biomass-based NETs in Sweden and Tanzania. Formas - A Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development. Call: Visions and Conditions for a Fossil-Free Welfare Society. (2019-01973) (7,5MSEK)

5. 2018-2024. An integrative systems approach to a carbon neutral industry. The Swedish Energy Agency (Graduate School Energy Systems): (2018-022018) (9,2MSEK).

6. 2018-2023. Carbon capture and storage in Sweden: Historical lessons, current perceptions, and policy instruments. The Swedish Energy Agency. Call: (MESAM/Humans, Society, Energy systems): (2018-002546) (~3MSEK) (concluded)

7. 2016-2020. Conflicting ambitions concerning the use of biomass – Sweden, Tanzania and the World. (2016-06359). The Swedish Research Council (VR):~5.2MSEK. (concluded).

8. 2016-2020. Negative carbon dioxide emissions as a feasible transition pathway to sustainability? The uncertainties, barriers, challenges and possibilities of large-scale BECCS implementation in Sweden. Formas - A Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development). Call: Future Research Leaders. (2016-00958). ~3MSEK.

9. 2012-2017. A study of sustainable development: the case of geoengineering (2012-1838). Formas - A Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development. Call: Grants for sustainable development research in the social sciences and humanities areas. ~4,1 MSEK. (concluded)

Publications

2024

Anders Hansson, Shinichiro Asayama, Miranda Böttcher, Mathias Fridahl (2024) Editorial: Carbon dioxide removal: Perspectives from the social sciences and humanities Frontiers in Climate, Vol. 6, Article 1509331 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Alexander Olsson, Emily Rodriguez, Anders Hansson, Sigrid Jansson, Mathias Fridahl (2024) Forerunner city or net-zero opportunist?: Carbon dioxide removal in Stockholm, residual emissions and risks of mitigation deterrence Energy Research & Social Science, Vol. 113, Article 103567 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Baraka Ernest, Amna Eltigani, Pius Z. Yanda, Anders Hansson, Mathias Fridahl (2024) Evaluation of selected organic fertilizers on conditioning soil health of smallholder households in Karagwe, Northwestern Tanzania Heliyon, Vol. 10, Article e26059 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Anna Scaini, Joseph Mulligan, Håkan Berg, Albert Brangarí, Vera Bukachi, Sebastian Carenzo, Da Chau Thi, Colin Courtney-Mustaphi, Anneli Ekblom, Hanne Fjelde, Mathias Fridahl, Anders Hansson, Lettice Hicks, Mattias Höjer, Benard Juma, Jaan-Henrik Kain, Rebecca W. Kariuki, Soben Kim, Paul Lane, Ainara Leizeaga, Regina Lindborg, John Livsey, Steve W. Lyon, Rob Marchant, Jennifer R. McConville, Linus Munishi, David Nilsson, Luke Olang, Stefan Olin, Lennart Olsson, Peter Msumali Rogers, Johannes Rousk, Hans Sandén, Nophea Sasaki, Anna Shoemaker, Benjamin Smith, Lan Thai Huynh Phuong, Ana Varela Varela, Manjunatha Venkatappa, Giulia Vico, Nina Von Uexkull, Christine Wamsler, Menale Wondie, Patrick Zapata, María José Zapata Campos, Stefano Manzoni, Anna Tompsett (2024) Pathways from research to sustainable development: Insights from ten research projects in sustainability and resilience Ambio (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Anders Hansson (2024) Making the 1.5°C Aspirational Climate Target Tangible with Carbon Dioxide Removal and Boundary Work Climate, Science and Society: A Primer, p. 268-275 (Chapter in book) Continue to DOI

Research

Negotiating climate emergency: understandings of temporality in science, public debates and politics

The overall question addressed by the project is how a number of key concepts relating to climate emergency have circulated in various contexts, impacting our understanding of action on climate over time.


Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation

Below zero

The project promises to deliver timely and impactful research on how society can build robust and adaptive capacity to respond to BECCS deployment barriers.

Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research, CSPR

CSPR is a platform for knowledge production to trigger and promote societal changes towards safe and just climate futures for all. Our goal is to create knowledge and methodological approaches that can support and advance climate actions.

Linköping University Negative Emission Technologies (LUNETs)

An increasing number of climate targets require net negative emissions of carbon dioxide. Here we study the methods bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and biochar in the Nordic and Tanzania.

STRIPE

STRIPE stands for Socio-technical research of infrastructures, politics and the environment. It gathers researchers with an interest in the political and environmental dimensions of infrastructures such as energy, transport and waste.

The Institute of resource assessment (IRA)

IRA is a multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary research institute dealing with issues related to natural resource assessment and environmental management in general including climate change adaptation and vulnerability assessments.


The Institute of resource assessment (IRA)

News/in Swedish media

CV in short

Roles

  • 2021
    Senior associate professor
  • 2015
    Docent
  • 2013
    Senior lecturer
  • 2008
    PhD Linköping University

 

Supervision and mentorship

  • Supervisor
    Emily Rodriguez, LiU
    Maria Mårtenskog, Dalarna University
  • Co-supervisor
    Adrian Lefvert, KTH
    Alexander Olsson, KTH
    Ernst Baraka, University of Dar Es Salaam
  • Postdoc mentor
    Daniel Andersson, LiU

Researchers in the same area

Organisation