Schedule 9th International Degrowth Conference

The transition to a low-carbon society will require extensive industrial change. These changes will have wide-ranging socio-economic implications in the locations where these industries are based. As well as economic dependencies, geographic concentration of industrial activity also creates social and cultural place-based dependencies: industries and industrial work become entwined with workers’ and communities’ social identities.

While the focus has long been on the energy sector, other carbon-intensive industries also have to contribute to reduced emissions. The steel industry is one of these. In Sweden there are various changes on the way to reduce the climate impact of the steel industry. From fossil free steelmaking to a greater use of alternative materials to replace the use of steel in construction.

How can industrial transformations of this kind contribute to thriving communities in the low-carbon economies of the future, and what role can such a transition play in a degrowth economy? Places where the steel industry is based often have close social and economic ties with the industry, so what will happen to these places? Can such changes be channeled into something positive?

This presentation will be partially informed by a project presently being carried out through a collaboration between Lund University, Karlstad University, and Sheffield Hallam University. We seek to understand how low-carbon transitions interact with places and place-based identities in industrial communities, and how these interactions affect possibilities for successful and just low-carbon transitions. We will answer these questions through a combination of historical and contemporary case studies.

Info

Day: 2023-09-01
Start time: 10:00
Duration: 00:15
Room: ZV-8-10
Type: Paper Presentation
Theme: Technology and science for degrowth

Links:

• iCalendar

Files

• Decarbonisation of the Steel Industry and Changing Places of Work