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Hanna Bach defended thesis on sustainable transition in the Maritime Shipping Sector

hanna bachs dissertation

Congratulations to Hanna Bach who defended her thesis "Navigating Sustainable Shipping - Multi-scalar Transition Dynamics in the Maritime Shipping Sector." We took the opportunity to ask Hanna some questions about her research.

Why did you choose to focus on the maritime shipping sector? What was it about the subject that interested you from the start?
- The sea, boats and ships, and especially sailing have always been a big part of my life, and my main motivation for doing a PhD was the opportunity to combine my interest in shipping with my background in environmental and sustainability science. During my PhD, I also developed a fascination for transition dynamics in sectors that are particularly difficult to transition to fossil-free, such as the shipping sector.
 
What research methods did you use?
- Mainly interviews, document analysis, and observations in different combinations for the three studies included in the thesis.

Was there anything that surprised you during the process?
- The fact that shipping is a sector that is difficult to convert to more sustainable propulsion technologies was obvious from the start, but the more I have delved into various aspects of how a transition could take place, it has become more and more clear how complex and difficult to navigate such a transition is.
 
 

thesis cover


 

hanna bach portrait

This is what Hanna Bach's thesis is all about:

 Hanna Bach's thesis explores the challenges and barriers for the shipping sector replacing fossil fuels with more sustainable alternatives. Hanna Bach has looked at factors at global, national, and local levels that can have an impact on a sustainable transition. The study highlights, among other things, that the maritime sector is tied to strong, global structures and regulatory systems that prevent technological development and innovations at the grassroots level from taking hold. At the same time, several strong states, such as Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, are driving technological development, both through national policy and pressure measures within member organizations such as the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO), which implements global greenhouse gas regulations.
 
The thesis points out that the sector's strong global structure both hinders and enables sustainable change. Institutional barriers make it difficult to introduce new policies while setting limits for innovation and new technologies.
 
Hanna Bach's thesis highlights two important aspects that should be taken into account to better understand sustainability transitions in sectors with strong global regulatory systems: the importance of the combination of top-down incentives (e.g. regulation) and bottom-up initiatives that can drive unconventional innovations, and the need for increased internal transition capacity within well-established structures such as the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Read the thesis at Lund University Research Portal