Imagining a net-zero Teesside: actors, networks, and expectations in industrial decarbonisation megaprojects
Decarbonising industrial clusters is critical to achieving the UK’s net-zero industrial strategy. This study focuses on Teesside, an industrial cluster in Northeast England, analysing its transition through the framework of the Sociology of Expectations (SoE). The research investigates the role of p...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | Environmental Research Communications |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ad8f99 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1841546485047492608 |
|---|---|
| author | Kyle S Herman Marfuga Iskandarova Benjamin K Sovacool |
| author_facet | Kyle S Herman Marfuga Iskandarova Benjamin K Sovacool |
| author_sort | Kyle S Herman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Decarbonising industrial clusters is critical to achieving the UK’s net-zero industrial strategy. This study focuses on Teesside, an industrial cluster in Northeast England, analysing its transition through the framework of the Sociology of Expectations (SoE). The research investigates the role of public and private stakeholders in driving decarbonisation efforts, concentrating on a limited set of technologies and large-scale megaprojects, especially carbon capture, hydrogen production, CO _2 and hydrogen transport. The study highlights the challenges of deploying these first-of-a-kind technologies, which are not yet commercially viable in the UK. Our analysis identifies both opportunities and significant risks in Teesside’s approach, particularly the potential over-reliance on a narrow range of technologies. The findings raise concerns about the assumed reductions in costs and carbon emissions, questioning the feasibility of scaling these technologies for long-term industrial sustainability. The main implication is that, should the technologies currently favoured by incumbent industry fail to perform, the expectations could play a double and contradictory role in net-zero transitions—by both motivating actors to legitimise decarbonisation technologies, yet blinding others to the significant challenges that lie ahead. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1032d63105b44c519128b1e999c9ef69 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2515-7620 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-1032d63105b44c519128b1e999c9ef692025-01-10T17:09:37ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Communications2515-76202025-01-017101500710.1088/2515-7620/ad8f99Imagining a net-zero Teesside: actors, networks, and expectations in industrial decarbonisation megaprojectsKyle S Herman0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0070-2390Marfuga Iskandarova1Benjamin K Sovacool2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4794-9403Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex Business School , United KingdomScience Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex Business School , United Kingdom; Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University , United States of AmericaScience Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex Business School , United Kingdom; Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University , United States of America; Center for Energy Technologies, Department of Business Development and Technology, Aarhus University , DenmarkDecarbonising industrial clusters is critical to achieving the UK’s net-zero industrial strategy. This study focuses on Teesside, an industrial cluster in Northeast England, analysing its transition through the framework of the Sociology of Expectations (SoE). The research investigates the role of public and private stakeholders in driving decarbonisation efforts, concentrating on a limited set of technologies and large-scale megaprojects, especially carbon capture, hydrogen production, CO _2 and hydrogen transport. The study highlights the challenges of deploying these first-of-a-kind technologies, which are not yet commercially viable in the UK. Our analysis identifies both opportunities and significant risks in Teesside’s approach, particularly the potential over-reliance on a narrow range of technologies. The findings raise concerns about the assumed reductions in costs and carbon emissions, questioning the feasibility of scaling these technologies for long-term industrial sustainability. The main implication is that, should the technologies currently favoured by incumbent industry fail to perform, the expectations could play a double and contradictory role in net-zero transitions—by both motivating actors to legitimise decarbonisation technologies, yet blinding others to the significant challenges that lie ahead.https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ad8f99sociology of expectationsactors and networksindustrial decarbonisationblue hydrogencarbon capture and storage |
| spellingShingle | Kyle S Herman Marfuga Iskandarova Benjamin K Sovacool Imagining a net-zero Teesside: actors, networks, and expectations in industrial decarbonisation megaprojects Environmental Research Communications sociology of expectations actors and networks industrial decarbonisation blue hydrogen carbon capture and storage |
| title | Imagining a net-zero Teesside: actors, networks, and expectations in industrial decarbonisation megaprojects |
| title_full | Imagining a net-zero Teesside: actors, networks, and expectations in industrial decarbonisation megaprojects |
| title_fullStr | Imagining a net-zero Teesside: actors, networks, and expectations in industrial decarbonisation megaprojects |
| title_full_unstemmed | Imagining a net-zero Teesside: actors, networks, and expectations in industrial decarbonisation megaprojects |
| title_short | Imagining a net-zero Teesside: actors, networks, and expectations in industrial decarbonisation megaprojects |
| title_sort | imagining a net zero teesside actors networks and expectations in industrial decarbonisation megaprojects |
| topic | sociology of expectations actors and networks industrial decarbonisation blue hydrogen carbon capture and storage |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ad8f99 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kylesherman imagininganetzeroteessideactorsnetworksandexpectationsinindustrialdecarbonisationmegaprojects AT marfugaiskandarova imagininganetzeroteessideactorsnetworksandexpectationsinindustrialdecarbonisationmegaprojects AT benjaminksovacool imagininganetzeroteessideactorsnetworksandexpectationsinindustrialdecarbonisationmegaprojects |