Net-zero district heating systems are considered a feasible heating alternative to replace individual natural gas boilers to mitigate emissions in European cities. However, achieving carbon-neutral cities in Europe is a complex affair due to interdependencies in energy transitions. Energy transitions are discussed as products of interdependencies between socio-technical elements within each context, including but not limited to institutions, society, culture, markets, policies, regulations, and technological disruptions/changes. These interdependencies have the potential to transcend beyond the boundaries of technologies, sectors, markets, policies, cities, and even countries which may result in feedback effects. The presence of feedback effects implies co-evolution: policy-making shapes energy system developments which, in turn, influences policy-making through a range of feedback effects. The objective of this study is to increase knowledge on the implications of feedback effects in energy systems and transition policies by highlighting how they can lead to unexpected systemic consequences, thereby causing inertia or acceleration during the switch out of individual natural gas boilers towards net-zero district heating systems. Understanding the root causes and mechanisms behind district heating transitions could support European policymakers in developing policies that can stimulate the transition toward carbon-neutral cities. Our results implicate that energy transition governance seldom consists of “simple” fixes as often claimed by popular policymakers or influential actors because each decision impacts the whole system. Different policy sub-goals are indispensable for achieving carbon-neutral cities but they are often indirectly in conflict with each other due to feedback effects. Unless feedback effects in transitions are acknowledged by policymakers, they could work against carbon-neutrality targets due to wrong assumptions and prioritizations of inconsistent policy sub-goals. Therefore, it is essential for policymakers to recognize and comprehend how feedback effects between energy systems and policies are formed and operate.

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District heating systems are considered a feasible heating alternative to replace natural gas to mitigate emissions in cities. However, urban transitions are very complex because energy systems often operate in densely populated areas, which gives rise to all kinds of interdependencies in cities. These interdependencies can result in unintended consequences which can indirectly help or hinder urban energy transitions. Understanding these influences the transition to climate neutrality. This research investigates the lessons learned from a project conducted in Rotterdam: a high-density city in the Netherlands which is expanding its district heating systems. We use qualitative system dynamics models to explore the underlying complexity and to recognize indirect consequences of policies. Our results cover both technologically oriented and policy-oriented insights, contributing to the literature on transition governance in cities. On the one hand, the national and urban strategies in the Netherlands activate mechanisms that support cities with district heating systems such as Rotterdam. On the other hand, the same strategies could also lead to a potential rivalry between energy efficiency and energy security, which are both crucial goals in urban transition governance. Participative modeling provides policy-makers with an analytical tool to detect systemic dependencies which can be used to identify synergies and barriers among different energy policy objectives. This helps avoiding potential unintended consequences including the use of carbon-heavy systems and displacing investments from energy efficiency and renewable heating systems.

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The UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations as a “universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.” These goals prove to have a strong appeal to managers in both public and private sectors. Despite the popularity of the goals, little is known about the consequences (intended and unintended, desired and undesired) of organisations adopting SDGs in their management practices. Therefore, our research question is: “What is the potential role of SDGs as an accountability mechanism?” The following article will study how organisations responsible for technological infrastructures in the Netherlands use the SDGs as an accountability mechanism. To do this, the authors will first provide an overview of the SDGs and how we conceptualize accountability. We will then present our case study methodology before looking at a single case study based on interviews with employees from three organizations running infrastructure in the Netherlands. Based on this case study, we will provide a broader analysis of the key tensions that are becoming apparent when using the SDGs as an accountability mechanism. In conclusion, we will argue that the SDGs may provide a valuable tool to make organizations more accountable to societal needs, however further shifts are needed in the way the accountability mechanisms are designed in order to ensure meaningful accountability.@en

Cities are increasingly recognized as potential motors of sustainability transitions. These transitions build on existing as well as new infrastructures, and these infrastructures mutually influence each other in many ways, a phenomenon known as infrastructure interdependencies. These infrastructure interdependencies have significant implications for both enabling or restricting urban sustainability transitions but their implications remain understudied. We elaborate the role of interdependent infrastructure systems from a socio-technical perspective and explore recent examples of how socio-technical interdependencies in infrastructure systems influence urban sustainability efforts. We analyze infrastructure interdependencies in the Netherlands which is relevant because of its high urbanization rate, dense urban areas, and innovative developments. We distinguish seven socio-technical infrastructure interdependency types that can influence urban sustainability transitions: functional, evolutionary, spatial, life-cycle, policy/procedural, market, and culture/norm interdependencies. We identify and discuss contrasting multi-mode relationships of each interdependency example. Our results offer an interdisciplinary framework and examples of potential influential infrastructure interdependencies to explore, understand, and discuss the implications of infrastructure interdependencies for urban sustainability transitions.@en

Gigatonne scale geological storage of carbon dioxide and energy (such as hydrogen) will be central aspects of a sustainable energy future, both for mitigating CO₂ emissions and providing seasonal-based green energy provisions. In this Review, we evaluate the feasibility and challenges of expanding subsurface carbon dioxide storage into a global-scale business, and explore how this experience can be exploited to accelerate the development of underground hydrogen storage. Carbon storage is technically and commercially successful at the megatonne scale, with current projects mitigating approximately 30 Mt of CO₂ per year. However, limiting anthropogenic warming to 1.5°C could require gigatonnes of storage per year by 2050, and a scaleup from 2025 approaching rates of deployment that would be historic for energy technology. Scale-up is not limited by geology or engineering. Advances in understanding storage complex geology, subsurface fluid dynamics, and seismic risk underpin new engineering strategies including the development of multi-site, basin scale, storage resource management. Instead economic and societal contraints pose barriers to project development. Underground hydrogen storage, still in development, will face similar issues. Overcoming these barriers with strengthened financial incentives, and programs to address concerns inhibiting public acceptance, will enable the storage of CO₂ at climate relevant scales.

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