New research project to provide solution for managing the green transition
真人线上娱乐 can develop plenty of technical solutions to reduce CO2 emissions and the negative environmental impact. But if municipalities, private companies and citizens fail to work together on the green agenda, we will never get there.
This is the point made by Professor of Politics and Institutions Jacob Torfing, who has just received DKK 11 million from Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF) for a new research project. In the project, he and a strong team of international researchers will investigate the factors that are crucial for the success of green initiatives.
"The world is crying out for a green transition. But we will not achieve our goals through technical solutions alone. In our research project, we are looking at something that has been somewhat overlooked, namely the governance, management and organisation of cooperation between different actors, which is crucial if we are to succeed in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals," says Jacob Torfing.
As an example, Jacob Torfing mentions a large green transition project in Norway on the electrification of ferries. The project is highly dependent on the cooperation between local actors, the shipyard, etc. functioning optimally, as the transition to electric ferries is complex and involves a multitude of actors and stakeholders.
Global pilot projects
The research project is based on case studies of a number of co-created sustainability projects in Denmark, Italy, USA, Canada, Australia, Russia, Brazil, Vietnam, China, Zambia and Ghana. 真人线上娱乐s will collect large amounts of data and make comparisons across countries to see what different combinations of factors determine whether projects achieve one or more of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. These may be factors such as the funding model, the organisational framework or the practical management of the projects.
"The project is ground-breaking because it has not previously been possible to make global, comparative analyses in this field. Only with the UN Sustainable Development Goals do we have a common global framework that allows us to compare data from across countries, and offers us unique new knowledge in the field of sustainability," says Jacob Torfing.
In the research project, the researchers will test and further develop a new governance model for green transition.
Obstacles and new opportunities
According to Jacob Torfing's research, one of the current obstacles to successful innovation and collaboration on the green transition is that there is very hierarchical governance and management of many of the green projects. “One of the theses is therefore that green projects are more successful if, for example, the management of a municipality takes on a more facilitating role and thus achieves better common ground with citizens and companies etc.,” says Jacob Torfing. But researchers now need to investigate all of this more closely.
"真人线上娱乐 will use research strategies and methodological techniques to determine what leads to success in these projects. This will allow us to create fundamental changes in our agriculture, urban areas, transport systems, manufacturing sector, etc.," says Jacob Torfing.
He looks forward to presenting the results to the world, not least the UN:
"This research project is extremely significant for both us as researchers and for everyone else concerned about the green agenda. 真人线上娱乐 look forward to sharing the results with policy-makers and especially with important “change-makers” in the UN and globally," says Jacob Torfing.
New book on the way
Together with Professor Eva S?rensen from RUC and Professor Chris Ansell from UC Berkeley, Jacob Torfing is publishing a new book: “Co-creation for Sustainability: The UN SDGs and the Power of Local Partnerships”.
The book is about how local “change-makers” can successfully co-create solutions that contribute to achieving one or more of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. The book will be published in early 2022 by Emerald and will contain the model that the new research project will expand upon and test in practice. The model is a further development of the so-called Kiser-Ostrom model, which economist Larry Kiser and American political scientist and Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom are behind. In short, the model identifies the interdependence between actors in a cross-disciplinary collaboration that seeks to find common solutions to common problems.
Jacob Torfing is looking forward to presenting the results to the outside world, not least to the UN:
"This research project is extremely significant for both us as researchers and for everyone else concerned about the green agenda. 真人线上娱乐 look forward to sharing the results with policy-makers and especially with important “change-makers” in the UN and globally," says Jacob Torfing.
Further details:
For further information, contact:
- Professor Jacob Torfing, Department of Social Sciences and Business, jtor@ruc.dk, tel.: +45 4674 2185
- Press officer Camilla Buchardt, camilbu@ruc.dk, mobile: +45 2238 8282
Facts about grants for green research projects
DFF has recently granted support for 55 new green research projects. Two of the projects are from 真人线上娱乐 University. The intention is to give talented researchers a financial boost to make new research breakthroughs in areas such as the environment and climate
- The project “Governing Green Transitions” (GOGREEN), led by Professor Jacob Torfing, has received a grant of DKK 11,027,542.
- The project “Producing alternative green futures: Exploring interconnections between green transitions and socio-economic and political organization”, led by Associate Professor Lone Risgaard, has received a grant of DKK 5,607,390.