One of the primary ways we encounter animals is as a food source. The dominant system of animal agriculture is “factory farming,” which is designed to produce the greatest amount of meat at the lowest possible cost. Factory farming is grossly inefficient from an ecological point of view, imposes enormous suffering on animals, and damages both humans and the environment. “Conscientious omnivores” reject factory farming but defend painlessly killing animals for food. Some defend hunting because they think it promotes other important values as well. These arguments are rejected by vegetarians and vegans, but they remind us that concerns about animals exist against the background of other values, including those that relate to the broader value of nature.

Collaborative climate governance has emerged as a promising approach to address the urgent need for decarbonization. Here, we summarize the book’s findings on the complex interplay between states and non-state actors in the pursuit of climate goals, using Sweden as a case study. Collaborative governance can effectively engage industry, cities, and other stakeholders in climate politics, yet it falls short in achieving transformative change. The success of collaborative climate governance is influenced by broader political, economic, and social context and calls for a critical examination of its applicability in diverse settings. Looking beyond Sweden, we identify three main research avenues. Firstly, we emphasize the need to engage with the challenge to institutionalize and sustain climate commitments. Secondly, we encourage scholars to explore democratic innovations to address contestation within collaborative governance. Finally, we call for a deeper exploration of how external shocks and crises serve as catalysts or barriers to decarbonization.

This chapter examines Sweden’s emissions trends and the evolution of climate policy in an international perspective by focusing on its role and interdependent relationship with climate action in the EU and with international climate coalitions. The chapter examines the assumption that Sweden is a front-runner and role model in setting and implementing ambitious climate policy. The emission trends across sectors suggest that Sweden has been able to swiftly reduce its emissions, in particular from industry and energy conversion, but that current reduction rates are insufficient to reach its decarbonization target. Reducing emissions in agriculture and transport poses perhaps the greatest challenges for the Swedish state. The chapter also discusses the limits and possibilities for the State to implement its decarbonization target while being dependent on the climate policies in the EU, notably the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). It also looks at Sweden’s role in international climate governance by zooming in on its role in international climate collaborations and clubs. Finally, the chapter provides three reasons for caution when it comes to Sweden’s reputation as a role model. First, that the rate of GHG reduction has declined significantly. Second, that consumption-based approaches to counting GHG emissions demonstrates that Sweden remains a high-emitting country. Third, that Sweden’s consumption-levels are far above the global average and its current consumption patterns should not be emulated by other countries.

This chapter examines the legal framework pertaining to the offshore development of green hydrogen and seeks to identify legal barriers to its deployment. Offshore production of green hydrogen facilitates the integration of power-to-hydrogen applications with offshore wind energy generation. By converting surplus electricity generated by offshore wind farms into hydrogen and transporting it to shore via pipelines, additional investment in expensive offshore grid infrastructure and the already congested onshore electricity grid can be reduced. Furthermore, by using existing offshore hydrocarbon infrastructure to produce and transport hydrogen, there is an opportunity to extend the (economic) lifetime of that infrastructure. This synergy with existing offshore hydrocarbon infrastructure is particularly attractive for two reasons. First, it avoids the need for further infrastructure investment, as the offshore hydrocarbon infrastructure is already in place and integrated with the onshore gas infrastructure. Secondly, it helps hydrocarbon companies to capitalise on past investments, providing an incentive to move towards a carbon-neutral business model.

The chapter presents a case study on Denmark and the Netherlands. This is because they are actively pursuing large-scale development of offshore wind energy and green hydrogen production as promising strategies to meet their climate change targets. Given that these countries are embedded in a wider international and European Union (EU) context, the focus is on international, EU and national legislation applicable to offshore energy activities in general and offshore hydrogen activities in particular. First, it examines the relevant provisions of the international law of the sea (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), which establishes the competence of coastal states to regulate offshore energy activities and their rights and obligations at sea. Secondly, it explores the applicable EU legislation and compares the existing legislation (or lack thereof) in Denmark and the Netherlands that applies to the offshore development of green hydrogen production. A robust and enabling legal framework is needed to facilitate the development of offshore hydrogen infrastructure. Without such a framework, investments will not be made and new developments, such as offshore electrolysers, will not be deployed. By assessing the applicability of existing EU and national legislation to the offshore development of hydrogen infrastructure, legal barriers can be identified. One such barrier is the lack of legislation specifically addressing the permitting procedure for offshore hydrogen production.

A new way of thinking about environmental problems has emerged since the 1980s. Environmental problems are increasingly seen as systematically entwined, with human action as their primary cause. We are in a new epoch in Earth’s history, the Anthropocene, and climate change is its most immediate and dramatic manifestation. The drivers of the Anthropocene can be seen through the lens of a simple equation: Environmental impact is the product of population, affluence, and technology. Nations and individuals vary greatly in their impacts, so questions of justice are unavoidable. Questions of justice extend across generations as well as among nations and individuals. Ultimately, we must ask what kind of world we want for ourselves and our children.

The COVID-19 pandemic unquestionably disrupted established norms and procedures. Climate networks in Sweden and the associated actors had to adapt to and navigate this dramatic and unpredictable situation. The chapter provides initial insights into how the pandemic affected a business network, a government-led multi-stakeholder platform and a social movement. Arguing that COVID-19 can constitute both an opportunity and a risk for non-state climate action, we investigate whether or not the pandemic created a window of opportunity for non-state actors to achieve their voluntary pledges or push the state to adopt more ambitious action, and whether or not the state has been able to mobilize non-state actors, or if it has made it harder for them for them to mobilize. Our findings indicate that thus far, the pandemic has not led to deeper changes, either in the climate debate in Sweden or in the climate work of individual actors. The members of climate networks have changed their working procedures and modified their communication strategies when it comes to climate action. However, the pandemic affected the ability of social movements to carry out their main activity, at least in the short term, that is, to go out on the streets and demonstrate.

This chapter concludes the book and provides a discussion of key findings. Two key strategies to reach ‘hydrogen economies’ are identified and summarized. One is to start with the establishment of a legal framework and then looking for investments. The other is to secure investments first, with a legal framework growing thereafter. The chapter clarifies the role of law and regulation in both approaches and epitomizes key challenges and benefits of both by certain examples from the hydrogen value chain. The chapter concludes by recommending legal frameworks that promote transparency, accountability, and stakeholder engagement to foster a just transition towards a hydrogen-based economy. This transition necessitates a holistic approach that transcends siloed thinking and embraces interdisciplinary collaboration.

This chapter focuses on the new gas directive and regulation (the Gas Package) from the perspective of the hydrogen ‘revolution’, and the importance allocated to its future role in the ongoing energy transition and in the achievement of the ambitious net zero target by 2050. Particular attention is given to key regulatory concepts and pillars in the new Gas Package, aimed at creating the conditions for a more cost-effective transition and creating an internal market in hydrogen and low carbon gases: these are unbundling, tariff regulation and third-party access. The chapter first describes these concepts as developed by the new measures and questions whether these concepts, which have been effectively transposed from natural gas regulation to hydrogen regulation, are suitable to achieve a cost-effective transition to a decarbonised gas market. In particular, the chapter will examine whether the proposed terminology, although fundamental, is sufficiently clearly and comprehensively defined in the new measures. Second, the chapter questions whether the new Gas Package establishes the necessary stable regulatory framework for incentivising hydrogen investment, by highlighting where the Gas Package could have been more comprehensive but also flexible in its treatment of concepts such as unbundling, on the tariff regime and third-party access provisions. It also queries whether the challenges of regulatory balancing can be adequately dealt with by way of the ‘regulatory holiday regime’ as proposed in the Gas Package.

The words ‘nature’ and ‘environment’ have different senses and referents. The idea of the environment is keyed to what surrounds us, and we can speak of natural and built environments as well as others. This book is concerned with ethical questions about the environment. Many of these concern problems that occur at different scales and cause harms of various types. Environmental problems can be viewed from technological, economic, religious, and aesthetic perspectives, among others. No single perspective provides the sole correct or exhaustive way of viewing environmental problems. There is an ethical dimension to most environmental problems and that is the focus of this book.

This chapter delves into evolving policy and regulatory dimensions shaping the emergence of hydrogen in the Latin American energy landscape. With a focus on three regional leaders – Chile, Colombia and Brazil – it explores the distinct strategic paths these countries are charting as they seek to position themselves in the burgeoning hydrogen economy. Chile, Colombia and Brazil, aiming to capitalize on their abundant (renewable) resources, have moved swiftly to outline ambitious hydrogen strategies and legislation. Despite this progress, as the chapter reveals, important regulatory challenges still limit their ability to fully tap the hydrogen well. Even as these obstacles persist, interest in hydrogen projects continues to soar, as exemplified by the numerous developed or in-development pilot projects pragmatically leveraging the existing frameworks. Ultimately, while clean hydrogen promises to usher in an era of sustainable development for Latin America, regulatory efforts matching policy ambitions will continue to be needed to successfully transition from promise to actual production.

The question of how should I live has special resonance in the Anthropocene, which threatens virtually everything we care about. This chapter answers this question by saying that I should live in a way that expresses my values, and that these values should be directed towards making the world better. In practice this means living car-free if possible, avoiding airplane travel, eating a plant-based diet, and having few, if any, children. In addition to living this way, we should try to change law and policy, and support individuals in their efforts to live in this way. Yet, no matter how much we may succeed, we will inevitably live with change and perhaps even disaster. These present threats to living a meaningful life, but they are also the elements from which meaning and joy must be forged.

In June 2020, the German Federal Government adopted its National Hydrogen Strategy (NWS), which was updated in July 2023, viewing green hydrogen as a key to the energy transition. To achieve net greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045, as required by law, the NWS envisages a rapid market ramp-up for hydrogen. This policy is supported by the recent amendment of the Energy Industry Act (EnWG), which introduces provisions for a prompt creation of a so-called hydrogen core network. However, for now, the required infrastructure does not exist. Against that background, this chapter will examine the existing permission regime in Germany for pure hydrogen infrastructure, specifically its transportation via pipelines and its large-scale storage in salt caverns as the best short-term storage option. The analytical focus will be trained on existing legal barriers that stand in the way of accelerating the construction and repurposing of infrastructure to disseminate hydrogen. To secure the planning and approval framework for the rapid expansion of hydrogen infrastructures in Germany, necessary adjustments to the current legal framework are proposed.

This chapter employs narrative analysis to examine how people who live in the shadow of carbon-intensive industries imagine a just transition to net-zero emissions. The analysis rests upon an interview study with local politicians, civil servants, union representatives, and citizen groups in the Swedish west-coast city of Lysekil, home to Scandinavia’s largest oil refinery. By mapping stories of climate (in)justice told in view of Sweden’s efforts to decarbonize, this chapter illustrates the cultural dimensions of carbon lock-ins and why some people resist transformative change. In the city of Lysekil, the refinery is not only an important source of local employment but also deeply entangled with community identity and sense of place. However, the chapter also points to the multiple interpretations of just transitions to climate neutrality and the power of narrative to open-up possibilities for decarbonized futures.

Both the European Union and the Netherlands have recently announced their ambitions on the production and consumption of (renewable) hydrogen. A significant increase in hydrogen production and consumption in the Netherlands will require the development of large-scale hydrogen infrastructure such as hydrogen transport and storage. This chapter examines the development of such infrastructure in the Netherlands. First, it briefly discusses plans of group companies of N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie’s (Gasunie), the operator of the Dutch nationwide natural gas network, and of other natural gas infrastructure in the Netherlands and northern Germany, for the development and operation of hydrogen transport, storage and import infrastructure. Second, it explores the current Dutch legal framework regulating these hydrogen activities. Third, it offers a first appraisal of the European proposals on third-party access to hydrogen infrastructure as well as of their proposals for exempting new hydrogen infrastructure. Together, this provides the reader with a brief overview of the current Dutch legal framework for hydrogen activities, the potential future EU legal framework for access to hydrogen infrastructure in the Netherlands and the resulting challenges for developing such infrastructure.