“Bigger than government”: Exploring the social construction and contestation of net-zero industrial megaprojects in England

Reconfiguring European industry for net-zero: a qualitative review of hydrogen and carbon capture utilization and storage benefits and implementation challenges

“…I think, understandably, there's a bit of a governmental disconnect at the moment .” Research has noted that barriers to megaprojects are not always under the company's control, 161,162 and other factors, such as politics , could highly influence megaprojects’ development by exacerbating problems and even perpetuating traditional business models that mostly benefit fossil fuels companies and politicians. 4 The literature on megaprojects and politics suggests that these two elements are entangled due to their high visibility, the need for long-term political support and patronage, and the redistribution of economic, social, and political power. The same study notes that political support is of paramount importance for low-carbon industrial megaprojects like hydrogen or CCS.…”

“…Industrial decarbonisation—the pursuit of industries that become zero-emissions or even achieve negative emissions—is an alarmingly urgent but enduring societal challenge. 1–4 While most published decarbonisation scenarios are framed at the wider system level ( e.g. national level), the necessary transformation of industrial processes and institutions for achieving net-zero emissions needs to be shaped by the characteristics and needs of the particular industries present in a particular location, together with a range of well understood local contextual factors encompassing both geographical and resource constraints.…”

Converging old and new carbon frontiers in northern Australia

“…Therefore, we call for a research agenda that analyses old and new carbon economies as a co‐produced and generative assemblage rather than as isolated activities. While we have focused on an Australian case study, similar dynamics are structuring carbon management policies and programmes wherever net zero pledges and high residual emissions collide, including in the UK, Canada, and European Union (e.g., Alexander & Stanley, 2022; Sovacool et al, 2023). Due to the influence of logics of circular carbon – seeking ‘balance’ between emissions sources and sinks – new frontiers have opened in the creation of carbon debts, credits, and derivatives, and also in facilitating their lucrative material and economic interactions.…”

“…Among the 40 per cent reduction attributed to ‘technology investment’ were not just speculative blue and green hydrogen energy but also soil carbon. In short, the plan inscribes a future of growing residual emissions from old carbon sectors largely offset by ‘not yet available’ new carbon technologies (see Buck et al, 2023; Sovacool et al, 2023).…”

“…Third, we turn to actors and projects that now seek to place themselves at the interstices between such old and new carbon economies. Given the high stakes of circular carbon policies (Carton et al, 2020), the widespread pursuit of these policies (e.g., Alexander & Stanley, 2022; Sovacool et al, 2023), and extensive concerns about their feasibility (e.g., Buck et al, 2023; Field & Mach, 2017), we call for a research agenda that analyses old and new carbon economies together as co‐produced frontier assemblages.…”