Reviewing Nordic transport challenges and climate policy priorities: expert perceptions of decarbonisation in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden
Open accessAbstract
The five Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have aggressive climate and energy policies in place and are largely on track in their decarbonisation of electricity, heat, and buildings. Transportation and mobility, however, remains a pressing challenge. This study asks: what are the greatest national and regional transport challenges facing Nordic countries? To provide an answer, the authors conducted 227 semi-structured interviews with participants from 201 institutions across seventeen cities within the Nordic region. Those interviewed represent a diverse array of stakeholders involved with transport technology, policy and practice. Although respondents identified 44 distinct transport challenges, the fossil fuel intensity of transport was by far the most frequently mentioned by more than two-fifths (42%) of the expert sample. Five other challenges were also mentioned the most frequently by respondents: long travel distances (17%), the state of public transport infrastructure (16%), congestion (15%), population density (10%), and electrification of transport (10%). Interestingly, items such as costs and affordability, energy or transport efficiency, consumer knowledge and awareness, and automobile accidents were mentioned by only 3% (or less). The article concludes by what this heterogeneity and prioritization of challenges means for future Nordic research and policy.
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Cold temperatures cause drastic changes in human habits, especially during sub-zero temperatures, as in Canada, Sweden, Norway and Finland, where people prefer to stay indoors.
“This behavior is explained from several domains, for example, cold temperatures cause drastic changes in human being's habits, especially during sub-zero temperatures as the Canada, Sweden, Norway and Finland cases [51] were people prefer to stay indoors.”
From Seasonality Effect Analysis and Recognition of Charging Behaviors of Electric Vehicles: A Data Science Approach (2020) · cites this paper as [51]
Section 3.2 says winter weather can make travel in Finland take longer, and section 3.5 discusses the need for 4x4 vehicles in Icelandic snow. Neither passage addresses sub-zero temperatures causing people in Canada, Sweden, Norway, or Finland to prefer staying indoors. Searches for staying indoors and cold-weather changes in habits found no passage making that point. (LLM, conf=0.75)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAdvanced biofuels are essential for the transition to zero carbon, as planned by the European Green Deal and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“Advanced biofuels are essential for the transition to zero carbon [7][8][9][10][11] as planned by the European Green Deal [12] and the UN Sustainable Development Goals [13,14].”
From Advanced biofuels to decarbonise European transport by 2030: markets, challenges, and policies that impact their successful market uptake (2021) · cites this paper as [14]
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- Authors
- Sovacool, B. K., Noel, L., Kester, J., & Zarazua de Rubens, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Sussex (GB)
- Aarhus University (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Sovacool, Benjamin K.
- Venue
- Energy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-12
- Volume
- 165
- Pages
- 532-542
- ISSN
- 0360-5442 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2890254206
- Cited by
- 65
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 1.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- pure.au.dk
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
- Locations
- Energy (publishedVersion)
- Sussex Research Online (University of Sussex) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- RCUK (EP/K011790/1)
- DFF (4182-00033B)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Energy, Environment, and Transportation Policies
- Social Sciences › Transportation › transportation and logistics systems
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Electric Vehicles and Infrastructure
- Keywords
- transport decarbonization, transport problems, climate policy, expert perceptions, public transport infrastructure, traffic congestion, population density, electric mobility, Nordic countries, stakeholder perspectives
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