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We explore aquaponics in the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden and Denmark) through policy analysis, semi‐structured case study interviews with industry actors, and a review of the historical context. We find the regulatory landscape for aquaponics in respective countries has emerged in reaction to historical precedents in aquaculture and agriculture, and specific legislation on aquaponics is slow to develop. Aquaponics operations typically must meet two disparate sets of regulations. As such, it creates a complex barrier to commercial scaling up and the transition to a more sustainable circular economy. We conclude with specific policy suggestionsfor aquaponics, but also note larger lessonsfor the regulatory challengesthat occur when the circular economy application attempt to bridge two or more different areas of policies.

This article contributes to discussions of the social acceptance of renewable energy (RE) by developing an analytical framework that considers three dimensions (community, market, and political-regulator) at three different scales (macro, meso, and micro). This framework is conceived in order to identify those dynamics that are potentially counterproductive to the energy transition and need further policy emphasis, as well as supporting those that demonstrate a positive impact. Using this framework, we critically reflect on the 2010 National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) policies of three European countries with high wind resources: Denmark, Ireland, and the UK. Within the RE policy landscapes of these three countries lies the contentious issue of social acceptance of wind power. The framework analysis reveals similar policy profiles for each country, characterized by a heavy focus on the market dimension at all scales, an effort to allow private business to steer the transition, and a low focus on the community dimension. In doing so, our research reveals how policy-making processes have privileged the voice of actors who are able to communicate quantifiable data and evidence to support their position, and these actors thereby have greater influence to shape national energy policies.

We explore aquaponics in the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden and Denmark) through policy analysis, a review of the historical context, and semi‐structured case study interviews. The semi‐structured case study interviews are conducted with relevant actors that have a stake in the future development of aquaponics. These actorsinclude: (1) large scale commercial salmon producers, who are currently moving a larger proportion of the smolt production on land to counter problems with sea lice; (2) small‐scale aquaculture farms; (3) small‐scale hydroponic vegetable growers; (4) hobby‐scale aquaponics enthusiasts, (5) demonstration‐scale aquaponic producers; (6) aquaponics support organizations and (7) relevant policy makers. All of these actors have the potential to be key players in the transition to where aquaponics production systems contribute a substantial share of food to regional markets. We analyze the incentive structures and roles of the various actors and potentials for synergies. We also explore possible pathways for the expansion of aquaponics in the near future from a global value chain perspective (Gereffi, 2005). We find that there remain geographic co‐location barriers, as well as barriers related to an unequal production scale by the current regime actors. These issues, along with the dominant institutional legacies from fisheries and agriculture, result in a regulatory landscape in Scandinavian countries that hinder the development and transition to a more sustainably produced food source. We also find the regulatory landscape for aquaponics in respective countries has emerged in reaction to historical precedentsin aquaculture and agriculture, and specific legislation on aquaponics has been slow to develop. Aquaponics operations typically must meet disparate sets of regulations. As such, it creates a complex barrier to commercial scaling up and the transition to a more sustainable circular economy. We conclude with specific policy suggestions for aquaponics, but also note larger lessons for the regulatory challenges that occur when the circular economy application attempt to bridge two or more different areas of policies.

Introduction & outline. Historic and current energy cooperatives have a role to play in driving the energy transition. Historic energy cooperatives often started by seeing a need to organize local access to the central electricity grid (1900-1940) or to enable non-nuclear alternatives to the provision of energy (since 1980s). Today's energy cooperatives seek a variety of goals ranging from realizing business opportunities to fostering a more democratic organization of the energy system. Renewable energy cooperatives are often seen as a promising form of social innovation that is able to drive the low carbon energy transition. First, by analyzing long-term data on European energy initiatives, we look for evidence that supports this view. We utilize the transition theory framework of Geels et al. (2018) as well as technology innovation theory (TIS) of Suurs et al. (2009) and apply it to a statistical analysis of the dominant socio-technical regime (e. g. the role of renewable energy policy support, the role of mega-trends and sudden events). Secondly, we aim at identifying drivers and obstacles that distinguish successful energy cooperatives from those that have been closed down by their members. Our main research questions are: What explains the temporal and thematic clustering of energy cooperatives? Do we observe a spatial clustering? For example, is the sphere of activity of energy cooperatives dominantly local/regional or national/international? How are these clusterings linked to chosen regulatory systems and potential business models? Preliminary results reveal European-wide but also country-specific findings, such as a trend towards larger cooperatives (by number of registered members & complexity of organizational statutes). While the overall shift to renewable energies is stimulated by the policy framework, the renewable mix chosen by the energy cooperatives aligns with the profile of the country. Source of data & method. The main sources for our statistical analysis are the database of the European Federation of Renewable Energy Cooperatives (RESCOOP) as well as the British, German and Danish Business Registers, in addition to our own mining of data from various gray and peer reviewed literature. The RESCOOP database, for example, provides information on more than 650 different energy cooperatives from various European countries (in particular GBR, DEU, DNK, SWE, and BEL), detailing the year of foundation, location, the cooperatives thematic foci, their legal status etc. We also utilize google analytics and other search engines that provide information on access statistics, web content etc. This is the input for the statistical and network analysis (incl. multi-variant time-series analysis, time dependent principal component analysis, clustering, geo-referenced network analysis).

Production of cellulosic ethanol (CE) has not yet reached the scale envisaged by the literature and industry. This study explores CE production in Europe to improve understanding of the motivations and barriers associated with this situation. To do this, we conduct a case study-based analysis of CE production plants across Europe from a global value chain (GVC) perspective. We find that most CE production plants in the EU focus largely on intellectual property and are therefore only at the pilot or demonstration scale. Crescentino, the largest CE production facility in Europe, is also more interested in technology licensing than producing ethanol. Demonstration-scale plants tend to have a larger variety of feedstocks, whereas forestry-based plants have more diversity of outputs. As scale increases, the diversity of feedstocks and outputs diminishes, and firms struggle with feedstock provisioning, global petroleum markets and higher financial risks. We argue that, to increase CE production, policies should consider value chains, promote the wider bio-economy of products and focus on economies of scope. Whereas the EU and its member states have ethanol quotas and blending targets, a more effective policy would be to seek to reduce the risks involved in financing capital projects, secure feedstock provisioning and support a diversity of end products.

Energy communities (ECs), intended as collective action initiatives in the energy field involving citizens' participation, have been gaining relevance for the past decades as an alternative way to organize the energy chain to challenge the incumbent system. With Europe's recently adopted Clean Energy Package, ECs found a formal recognition by the European Union as potential actors of the transition of the energy system towards a wider and more decentralized use of renewable sources. Although the potential role of ECs in the transition is therefore hardly questionable, a thorough comprehension of the enabling factors that might foster their diffusion and scaling up is still lacking. Through a comparative analysis of the evolutionary trajectories in six EU countries regarding their energy systems, their regulatory frameworks and their historical evolution of ECs, namely through the example of cooperative models, this paper aims at providing some preliminary evidence about the factors and dynamics that seem to have played, and may play, a role in hampering or facilitating EC model diffusion. Attention is therefore specifically paid to three dimensions of analysis referring to: the energy mix and market structure; the institutional and policy landscape; the wider social attitudes towards environmental issues and cooperation among citizens. In addition to providing a wide comparison of different EU countries, the paper shows that the historical evolution pathways have to be carefully taken into account to understand what might trigger ECs exploitation in the EU. ; This research has received funding from the H2020 project COMETS—Collective Action Models for Energy Transition and Social Innovation (GA 837722)

Energy communities (ECs), intended as collective action initiatives in the energy field involving citizens' participation, have been gaining relevance for the past decades as an alternative way to organize the energy chain to challenge the incumbent system. With Europe's recently adopted Clean Energy Package, ECs found a formal recognition by the European Union as potential actors of the transition of the energy system towards a wider and more decentralized use of renewable sources. Although the potential role of ECs in the transition is therefore hardly questionable, a thorough comprehension of the enabling factors that might foster their diffusion and scaling up is still lacking. Through a comparative analysis of the evolutionary trajectories in six EU countries regarding their energy systems, their regulatory frameworks and their historical evolution of ECs, namely through the example of cooperative models, this paper aims at providing some preliminary evidence about the factors and dynamics that seem to have played, and may play, a role in hampering or facilitating EC model diffusion. Attention is therefore specifically paid to three dimensions of analysis referring to: the energy mix and market structure; the institutional and policy landscape; the wider social attitudes towards environmental issues and cooperation among citizens. In addition to providing a wide comparison of different EU countries, the paper shows that the historical evolution pathways have to be carefully taken into account to understand what might trigger ECs exploitation in the EU.

One of the emergent trends in the sustainable energy transition is the development of distributed power generation. In Europe, it is estimated that up half of citizens of the European Union (EU) could be energy self-sufficient, potentially supplying 45% of Europe's final energy demand by 2050 (Kampman, et al., 2016). While there are many challenges with a move towards more distributed, citizen-led energy projects, they are nevertheless supported and promoted by the EU in the RED II (EU Renewable Energy Directive as part of the 2016 "Clean Energy of all Europeans" initiative, directive 2018/2001/EU), which secures the right for citizens and communities to produce, store, consume and sell renewable energy, and other rights such as consumer's protection or access to all energy markets directly or through third parties. Socially, this often takes the form of community energy projects in the form of collective action initiatives (CAI). CAIs, which include energy cooperatives, prosumer networks, and other citizen-led energy projects, are examples of social innovation (Gregg, et al., 2020) in how they organize and gain power through a social movement mechanism. Social innovation is the development of activities and services to meet a social need, and social innovations are primarily social in both their ends and their means. Among other things, energy CAIs are typically characterized by a focus on the community, open and voluntary participation, democratic governance, and autonomy and independence (ICA, 2021). The social benefits of energy CAIs include: developing local economies, addressing energy poverty, raising awareness about sustainable energy, promoting energy justice, giving a voice to the community, developing local skills and promoting social cohesion. Current research on CAIs explores how they are defined and the different ownership structures (Gorroño-Albizu, 2019), and how they mobilize and attain power (Gregg et al., 2020). Other research traces the history of their development within specific contexts or geographical areas, and how they influence or are influenced by national energy policies (Wierling et al., 2018). Still other research uses the lens of organizational and institutional theory to understand the historical development of energy CAIs (Mey and Diesendorf, 2018).