Governing the emerging sociotechnical imaginary of a climate-positive Sweden : an exploration of the political discussion on negative emissions technologies as a climate change solution

Abstract: In recent years, negative emissions technologies (NETs) have gained attention as a strategy to tackle climate change. While the academic debate on NETs has been heated, international and national governance frameworks for regulating and incentivising the technologies largely remain unseen. In this thesis, I add to a growing debate concerning the governance of NETs with an empirical investigation of the development of national-level governance in Sweden. Sweden is an intriguing case, because of its target to become climate-positive after 2045, i.e. remove more carbon from the atmosphere than emitted. Through eleven elite interviews with key actors from the Swedish establishment, I explore what role NETs play in shaping a sociotechnical imaginary of a climate-positive Sweden, what governance regimes may evolve, and how this may impact Sweden’s response to climate change. I find that both material and ideational factors support the role of NETs in the Swedish establishment’s vision of climate-positivity. The authority of the IPCC plays an important legitimising function for developing NETs, and especially bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) plays into a Swedish identity of being an international frontrunner regarding climate change. Simultaneously, a governance regime and incentive structures for NETs can largely develop within the current socioeconomic system in Sweden. However, the funding of NETs may challenge the established ‘polluter pays’-principle by shifting the distribution of rights and responsibilities in society. Hence, the public will have the responsibility to pay private companies to provide negative emissions if they want a clean atmosphere. While choosing to incur those costs collectively is a valid political position, its feasibility relies on public support, which requires an open discussion about NETs. Finally, the issue of funding also points to a more fundamental and international problem: if NETs are to be used to compensate for excessive emissions in the past, the international community must find ways to assign responsibility for those past emissions. Assigning that responsibility may reignite previous discussions of historical responsibility, which may severely jeopardise the effectiveness of NETs as a solution to climate change.