The role of ferrous metallurgy in ancient communities of the Circumpolar North is poorly understood due, in part, to the widespread assumption that iron technology was a late introduction, passively received by local populations. Analyses of two recently excavated sites in northernmost Sweden, however, show that iron technology already formed an integral part of the hunter-gatherer subsistence economy in Northern Fennoscandia during the Iron Age (c. 200-50 BC). Such developed knowledge of steel production and complex smithing techniques finds parallels in contemporaneous continental Europe and Western Eurasia. The evidence presented raises broader questions concerning the presence of intricate metallurgical processes in societies considered less complex or highly mobile. 

The article critically examines interpretations of Old World ferrous metallurgical developments with reference to their consequences for Arctic Fennoscandian iron research. The traditional paradigm of technological innovations recurrently links the emergence of iron technology to increasing social complexity and a sedentary agricultural lifestyle, typically downplaying ‘peripheral’ areas such as Arctic Fennoscandia and its hunter-gatherer communities. Even in postcolonial research of recent years, the archaeometallurgical record of Arctic Fennoscandia is interpreted and organized within the traditional frameworks on the time, course, and cultural context of the introduction of iron technology in Europe, where Arctic Fennoscandia is not considered to have any noteworthy role. However, current archaeological research with new data in Arctic Fennoscandia disputes prevailing ideas in European iron research and shows substantial evidence that iron technology was an integrated part of hunter-gatherer subsistence already during the Early Iron Age (c. 200 BC). Archaeometallurgical analyses reveal advanced knowledge in all the operational sequences of iron technology, including bloomery steel production and the mastering of advanced smithing techniques. Therefore, we urge dispensing with traditional ideas and call for an increased interest in the underlying mechanisms for the transfer of iron.

This article presents results that seriously challenge conventional frameworks regarding the time, course, and cultural context of the introduction of iron and steel in Europe, in turn central metals in the narrative of civilization development. From focusing on 2,000-year-old finds from 42 different sites across the national borders of present-day northernmost Norway, Finland, and Sweden, our study reveals advanced iron and steel production contemporaneous with Roman steel production within the hitherto unthinkable cultural context of hunter-gatherers. By employing archaeometric analyses alongside a lens that considers the Arctic climate and landscape, long-standing inadequate interpretative frameworks are challenged and we manage to shed novel light on the metallurgical practices and skills of the ancient Arctic hunter-gatherers. By examining local conditions, the research specifically reveals adaptation strategies and previously underexplored social and organizational aspects of early ironmaking. The implications of these findings are profound, urging historians and archaeologists to adopt similar methods and perspectives to potentially uncover additional “unthinkable” locations/regions or contexts with advanced and early metalworking.

The article presents results seriously challenging conventional frameworks on the time, course, and cultural context for the introduction of iron and steel in Europe, these for the major narrative of the development of civilizations indeed important metals. It concerns 2000-year-old finds from as many as 42 different sites across the national borders of present-day northernmost Norway, Finland, and Sweden in Arctic Europe, of advanced iron and steel production (i.e., contemporary with Roman steel production) within the hitherto unthinkable cultural context of hunter-gatherers. Due to insufficient frameworks for the undersigned as historian and archaeologist to interpret these findings through, we used archeometric analyses in combination with an arctic climate- and landscape/taskscape lens to reach new insights into the ancient arctic iron- and steel-making hunter-gatherers. These turned out to be particularly fruitful perspectives for gaining insights into the previously overall weakly explored social/organizational aspects of early ironmaking, as well as for the overall inadequately explored ancient arctic hunter-gatherers. We urge other historians and archaeologists to use similar methods to possibly uncover additional (“unthinkable”) locations/regions with advanced and early metalworking.

This research report examines the driving forces and strategies in the Swedish pulp and paper industry to phase-out of oil and accomplishing energy savings in the 1970s - and '80s. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of development and contribute to a further understanding of the knowledge building that took shape in the Swedish pulp and paper industry on the energy area in the awake of the oil crises. During the investigated period, the use of fossil fuels dropped with more than 70 per cent, and this was mainly achieved by substituting oil by internal biofuels. This transition started as response to the first oil crisis in 1973, but was further reinforced by the energy policy, which expanded from the mid 1970s and onwards. The replacement of oil was achieved trough short-term measures to improve the energy efficiency and to increase the use of biofuels, while the use of external electricity played a minor role. It was soon recognized that also long-term investments in R&D was needed. Collaborations between companies through trade associations and committees came to be a characteristic strategy employed by the industry to advance knowledge and new technology on the energy area. This report demonstrates the central role that the changing prices of oil had on the pulp and paper industry to explore the possibilities of a more efficient use of internal biofuels, which previously not had been utilised. In this sense, the oil crisis forced the industry sector into a more sustainable path. It also demonstrates the central role that the government played, and can play, to support and enhance the development of new technological development paths. As for the oil crises, a big part of the energy policy objectives i.e. to phase out oil from the Swedish energy system, coincided with the industry’s needs to lower the costs and risks from being dependent on oil.

Organizational networks had a strong influence on the diffusion of green knowledge within the Swedish pulp-and-paper industry from the mid-1960s to the 1980s. The environmental adaptations made by this industrial sector were not merely the result of a corporate initiative or of the response by firms or industries to environmental regulation. An examination of the innovation-system approach that was used to further the industry’s environmental goals reveals that the knowledge and technology development underpinning the project depended on a network of diverse actors. Within this network, the semi-governmental Institute for Water and Air Protection, working with a consulting company, was a critical generator and intermediary of knowledge. Thus, the success of the project was largely due to the Institute’s balanced relations with government and industry.

This paper explores industry strategies to accomplish energy transition in the wake of the Oil Crisis in 1973 with the Swedish pulp and paper sector in the 1970s and the 1980s as case study. Over this period the use of fossil fuels was reduced by 70 percent within the sector. The lion’s share of this reduction was achieved by the substitution of oil by biofuels. Besides cutting the costs of energy this substitution also resulted in significant environmental improvements. Substituting oil by biofuels proved to be the overall most reasonable way to decrease the use of oil, even though alternatives such as coal were considered. Initially, oil reductions and energy conservation were accomplished by relatively small measures, but there was a great need for long-term R&D to push the technology development further. Inter-firm and state-firm collaborations therefore became strategically important. The strategies for substitution further interacted strongly with institutional changes in the energy policy field, the on-going greening of the industry as well as an urgent need to enhance international competitiveness. Our study concludes that the oil crises enforced a more sustainable production in a dynamic way, where government strategies to support and push technology development further played a central role.

Development and diffusion of "Clean Technologies" (CT) are generally acknowledged as particularly important to stabilise climate change and promoting industrial growth that are more sustainable. This paper deals with the development and diffusion of CT within Swedish forest industry during a period when pioneering steps were taken towards cleaner production processes. We will focus on the 1960s and 70s and address the role of business cooperation and state-industry cooperation in targeting pollution problems which for the most part were common for all plants in the pulp and paper sector. The role of cooperation and joint financed research institutes will be especially discussed. The Swedish forest industry embarked on pollution abatement long before this became a general concern. Already in 1954 the Water laboratory of the Forest Industry was set up to develop methods for reduction of pollution. During the sixties, initial environmental care was taken in close cooperation with the government. In 1966 the water laboratory was reorganised and enlarged to become the "Institute of Water and Air Protection (IVL)". In this new form, IVL was financed jointly by the Swedish government and the industry. When a more rigid anti pollution legislation was taken in 1969, the forest industry responded to the challenge by setting up numerous ambitious collective pollution abatement projects. Those R&D project were coordinated by the board of the Forest Industry Research Foundation for Air and Water Protection (SSVL), to organise development projects. In this paper, we focus on the novel activities of IVL and SSVL and explore its achievements on CT development and diffusion in Swedish pulp and paper industries, which became pioneering the development of important CT during the 1970s.

By employing historical case study methodology, this paper examines the transition towards renewable energy and increased energy efficiency in the Swedish pulp and paper industry (PPI) during the 1970s and 1980s. Between 1973 and 1990, CO2 emissions were cut by 80 % in this sector, and this was mainly achieved by substituting away from oil to biofuels in the form of by-products from the pulp manufacturing process. The CO2 reduction was also a result of energy efficiency improvements and increased internal production of electricity through back-pressure turbine power generation. Sweden was highly dependent on oil at the advent of the first Oil Crisis in 1973, and the increased oil prices put pressure on the Swedish government and the energy-intensive PPI to reduce this oil dependency. Of central importance for the energy transition was the highly collaborative strategy of the PPI, both internally among pulp mills as well as between the sector as a whole and the corporatist Swedish state administration. The Swedish government chose a proactive strategy by emphasizing knowledge management and collaboration with the industry along with the substitution of internal biofuels for oil. The transition was also characterized by a strong focus on unutilized potentials in the PPI; a previous waste problem now could be transformed into energy savings and improved energy efficiency. Energy taxes and fees also played an important role in Swedish energy policy during the 1970s and the 1980s. All in all, the study illustrates the central role of governments and their ability to push industrial sectors into new technological pathways through a wide palette of mutually reinforcing policy instruments. The results further point at the importance of a more holistic understanding of the interplay between different policies and their impacts in the longer run.

In this paper, we address the issue of organizational networks and the diffusion of green knowledge within the Swedish pulp and paper industry (P&P) from the mid-1960s to the 1980s. During this period, the Swedish P&P underwent a period of rapid environmental improvements. Our case demonstrates that the environmental adaptation of this line of business cannot be understood from merely a corporate focus—that is, as something accomplished by single firms or industries simply as a response to environmental regulation. By employing an innovation system approach, we find that the knowledge and technology development underpinning environmental adaptation within the Swedish P&P has involved a network of diverse actors. In this context, the semi-governmental Institute for Water and Air Protection (IVL) and its service company held important roles as intermediaries of knowledge within the network, not the least because of IVL's position "in between" government and industry. We suggest that one of the many important challenges for future research should be to compare how different national institutional settings have shaped the formation of "green" innovation systems. This would beneficially include national features of corporate stakeholder relations, as these influence firms' interplay with other firms as well as with other actors in the innovation system.

The pulp and paper industry (PPI) has historically caused serious water pollution and offensive fumes and therefore peak the environmental agenda in virtually every nation with such production. Serious pressure on the pulp and paper industry to reduce emissions started in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, and was driven by new regulatory frameworks, public debates and changing market preferences, such as a new demand for chlorine free paper products on the European market in the 1990s. For any polluting industry technology is at the very core of the challenge of reducing the environmental impact, and this has been the case also for the PPI. Technological strategies and timing for investments have differed between countries and regions depending on the different institutional environments, organizational solutions and market demand characteristics. In the chapter we will focus on the Swedish PPI from the late 1960s until today, and discuss how the interplay between regulatory- and market/opinion pressure, technology development and environmental performance has evolved. We will also include the development of energy technology in our analysis, which before the 1990s was not distinctly connected to environmental concerns. The Swedish development will be partly contrasted to the parallel Finnish and North American development, mainly from an institutional and technology development perspective, and we will focus on explanations to the differing development paths. The chapter constitutes a synthesis of a longstanding research collaboration of Bergquist and Söderholm with focus on the environmental and energy technology strategies of the Swedish PPI. The comparative analyses of the Swedish and North American, respectively Finnish development is however previously partly unpublished. When it comes to the source materials used for these earlier publications concerning the Swedish case, we have primarily used board minutes (from individual companies as well as from industry organizations on the environment and energy), annual reports, trade journals, environmental licensing documents and interviews with representatives of the industry as well as government agencies. Concerning the comparative analyzes, including with North America and Finland, those have so far mainly been based on literature studies. The Swedish-Finnish comparison will however be supplemented by interviews.

Although the dioxin alarm broke at the same time in Sweden and the US in the mid-1980s, Swedish pulp and paper (P&P) firms led the way towards the new market for low-chlorine and chlorine-free P&P products. This study explores the transition in the Swedish P&P industry and contrasts the Swedish case to the US experience. We highlight the importance of already established technological paths to deal with pollution, paths which were strongly formed by the different national environmental policies since the 1970s. Thus while US P&P firms were technologically locked-in when the dioxin alarm broke, the strategy of Swedish P&P firms to proactively collaborate in environmental research and development (R&D) together with a national policy that favoured process integrated abatement technology, helped Swedish firms take technological leadership. This article particularly stresses the implications of technological path-dependency and different national regulatory styles in understanding the evolution of different modes of corporate environmental strategies.

This paper addresses the issue of environmental policy instrument choice for achieving deep emissions reductions in the industrial sector. Specifically, it provides: (a) a theoretical review of the conditions under which performance standards can provide efficient incentives for environmental compliance and innovation ; and (b) an analysis of the design and the outcomes of the standards-based regulation of industrial pollutants in Sweden during the period 1970 - 1990. The empirical findings suggest that the Swedish regulatory approach comprised many key elements of an efficient policy-induced transition towards radically lower emissions in the metal smelting and pulp and paper industries. The regulation relied heavily on performance standards, thus granting flexibility to firms in terms of selecting the appropriate compliance measures, and the standards were implemented in combination with extended probation periods. R&D projects and the new knowledge that was advanced incrementally in interaction between the company, the environmental authorities and the research institutions provided a direct catalyst to the regulatory process. As such the Swedish regulatory approach provided scope for creative solutions, environmental innovation, and permitted the affected firms to coordinate pollution prevention measures with productive investments.

This paper addresses the issue of environmental policy instrument choice for achieving deep emission reductions in the industrial sector. Specifically, it provides: (a) a theoretical and empirical review of the conditions under which performance standards can provide efficient incentives for deep emission reductions and technology adoption; and (b) an analysis of the design and the outcomes of the standards-based regulation of industrial pollutants in Sweden during the period 1970–1990. Our empirical findings suggest that the Swedish regulatory approach comprised many key elements of an efficient policy-induced transition towards radically lower emissions in the metal smelting and pulp and paper industries. The regulation relied solely on performance standards, thus granting flexibility to firms in terms of selecting the appropriate compliance measures. These standards were implemented in combination with extended compliance periods. R&D projects and the new knowledge that was advanced incrementally in interaction between the company, the environmental authorities and research institutions provided a direct catalyst to the regulatory process. In these ways the Swedish regulatory approach provided scope for creative solutions, environmental innovation, and permitted the affected companies to coordinate pollution abatement measures with productive investments.

The purpose of the article is to analyze a number of historical explanations behind the slow process of change in stormwater management in Swedish urban planning and practice. We achieve this by studying three different periods of the long-term establishment of the Swedish urban water system over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, developments which were strongly linked to stormwater. The article recognizes the social construction of the system, i.e., how it grew out of human desires and how it grew extensively during the twentieth century due to an expansive growth of system-supporting public initiatives. These included funding opportunities as well as the establishment of different institutions and organizations. The analysis indicates that in their current efforts to transform urban stormwater management in a more sustainable direction, policymakers and implementers ought to be encouraged by an increased awareness of this social construction; what humans by their desires once built up, they should also be able to transform. Still, an important implication is also the need for such transforming efforts to determinately break away, both physically and mentally, from the traditional pipe-bound system and system culture.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and compare some important institutional and legal preconditions for wind power development in three Nordic countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. In the paper a number of historical, institutional and policy-related differences across these countries are highlighted, but most attention is paid to the various territorial planning procedures. The analysis suggests that although public economic support to wind power is necessary to promote its diffusion in the electricity system, similar policy instruments - in terms of both size and design - can induce significantly different developments depending on the legal preconditions for the location and environmental assessment of windmills. The success and failure stories of technology support policies can thus not easily be transferred across country borders. An important conclusion is that in comparison to Sweden the physical planning systems in both Denmark and Norway provide greater scope for implementing a national wind power policy at the local level. For instance, the Danish planning system is vertically integrated, and involves a designation of areas for wind power purposes in the local plans, while the municipalities in Sweden must in some way assent to (i.e., plan for) the establishment of windmills at a certain location in order for the installation to actually take place. Compared to its competitors, wind power is one of the power-generating technologies that tend to have the most to lose from the uncertainties created by planning regulations that leave much discretion to local authorities.

Namn: Vice ordförande

The purpose of this article is to analyse in what way a conflict in the early 20th century (1904-1911) over a Swedish pulp mill's emissions into air and water impacted on the technology choices and strategies of the mill. The article also analyses what characterized the company's other responses to the complaints, in the form of counter-arguments, as well as engagement of experts. The access to information about the deliberations at the mill's board meetings is very rare in historical studies of company behaviour in relation to the environment, and provides us with a unique opportunity to comprehend in what way business strategies were developed during the course of the conflict. Technology choices are often characterized by the search for knowledge that enables a company to employ existing but not yet developed technical potentials, rather than choices between known technical solutions. We emphasize that this is particularly evident in a case where a company is forced to alter its technology in order to solve previously unknown environmental problems. In spite of a persistent search, the mill did not find any ready-made technological solutions to the environmental problems faced and was therefore forced to engage scientific expertise and even initiate basic scientific research. In 1911, the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court ordered the mill to undertake a number of pollution abatement investments. Interestingly - and partly in line with the so-called Porter hypothesis - the long-run economics of these investments turned out to be more favourable than anticipated prior to the verdict

Two historical case studies are examined which address the role of public policy with respect to an important socio-technical transition of the first half of the 20th century from a Swedish perspective, with clear implications for the environment and sustainability: the expansion of centralized public water and sewer systems (WSS). This was carried out in the presence of significant government intervention in terms of both financial, legislative and consultative means, and involved changing norms about health and welfare in the Swedish society. The analysis indicates that the cocktail of diverse governmental initiatives seems to have worked in favour for the socio-technical transition, and that this was in large due to the way government made the transition-related uncertainties and costs move from the local to the regional and national level.

Drawing from literature across various disciplines, this article aims to provide a fuller picture than what is typically outlined by ‘environmental historians’ regarding the important and consolidating decade of Swedish environmental policy and legislation in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and demonstrates how it in line with expressed needs in the current climate policy debate involved green business and knowledge-based policy implementation. Given the urgency of the interaction between humans and the environment today, it is valuable to revisit previous policy-making practices, knowledge developments, technological solutions, and businesses seeking to reform this interaction. This is particularly justified for countries regarded as environmental forerunners, such as Sweden.

The expanded perspective on environmental concern in Sweden during the late 1960s and early 1970s teaches us that policy action primarily focused on reducing industrial pollution emissions into water and air. Additionally, it prompts us to reconsider environmental concern as something that could grow within business, industry, and government authorities in parallel (and sometimes prior) to public opinion and advocacy by environmental opinion makers. Several Swedish government institutions, along with the industry/government co-funded pioneering environmental research institute IVL, demonstrated significant readiness to discover, understand, and address the growing environmental challenges. During this nascent period of environmental concern, addressing environmental issues often involved targeting low-hanging fruit—relatively straightforward and cost-effective solutions, such as developing measurement standards and devices that significantly benefited various industry sectors.

From a European perspective, housing-related expenses of Swedish households have increased considerably in real terms since the 1950s. Given that households through these consumption patterns contribute to a major share of the country's emissions of harmful substances and waste, e.g. through energy use, a qualitative analysis of critical explanations over time to the increase in housing-related expenses is motivated. This paper identifies and explores the emergence of a number of socio-technical structures and systems with important explanatory value in this context. It is concluded that the housing-related consumption of the average post-war Swedish household is strongly embedded in physical structures, which, to a considerable extent, can be explained by public intervention and policy traditions in the past. This opens up vital avenues for contemporary policy, aiming for behavioural change; however, a fundamental prerequisite for the government wishing to motivate more sustainable consumption must be to be conscious about its own historically determined role in this context

En vanligt förekommande uppfattning är att den svenska industrin tvingades tillämpa miljövänligare produktionstekniker först i och med den moderna miljölagstiftningen under senare hälften av 1900-talet. Det övergripande syftet med denna uppsats är dock att studera hur en miljökonflikt, dess förlopp och resultat, kom att påverka teknikvalet inom ett svenskt pappers- och massaproducerande företag redan under tidigt 1900-tal. Fallstudien utgörs av en konflikt mellan Örebro Pappersbruk och en lokal opinion i Örebro, som pågick under perioden 1904-1911. Massaindustrin stod för några av de mest debatterade industriella föroreningsproblemen vid sekelskiftet 1900, och Örebro-konflikten fick extra stor uppmärksamhet, inte minst inom den egna branschen. Den lämpar sig således väl för att studera dåtidens föroreningsmotstånd och den relaterade tekniska utvecklingen. Uppsatsen redovisar de klagomål och rättsliga åberopanden som förekom under konfliktens gång, samt analyserar vad som kännetecknade brukets sökande efter tekniska lösningar. Klagomålen fokuserades på brukets förorening av vattnet i Svartån och Hjälmaren, och det därmed hotade fisket, samt på den "hälsovådliga" sulfatlukten. Konflikten upphörde, åtminstone tillfälligt, när Regeringsrättens dom föll 1911. Då ålades pappersbruket bl. a att uppföra en hög skorsten som skulle föra de illaluktande gaserna bort från staden, samt att investera i olika anordningar som bidrog till att minska fibermängden i brukets avfallsvatten. Nathan Rosenbergs analys av teknisk utveckling utgör den centrala teoretiska utgångspunkten i uppsatsen. Enligt Rosenberg kännetecknas teknikval av sökandet efter tekniska kunskaper för att kunna tillämpa ej ännu utvecklade tekniska möjligheter snarare än av ett val mellan färdigställda tekniska lösningar. Uppsatsen visar att detta fenomen blir speciellt tydligt då ett företag tvingas anpassa sin teknik för att lösa miljöproblem som det tidigare inte behövt ta hänsyn till. Örebro Pappersbruk hade, liksom branschen i stort, mycket magra kunskaper om vad som orsakade dess vatten- och luftföroreningar och om hur problemet kunde lösas. Trots ett ihärdigt sökande fann det inga färdiga tekniska lösningar och ej heller någon djupare förståelse för problemets natur. Pappersbruket blev därför nödgat att tillsammans med andra företag söka hjälp av vetenskaplig expertis och initiera ren grundforskning.

Denna rapport bidrar med en översikt över den svenska pappersmassabranschens "miljövårdande" forskningsaktiviteter från sekelskiftet 1900 fram till tidigt 1970-tal. Skogsindustrins kemiska anknytning bidrog redan under sent 1800-tal till att det upprättades kemiska forskningslaboratorier i flera svenska massafabriker. Det är emellertid framförallt ifråga om forskning kring industrins miljöeffekter som den svenska skogsindustrin har en imponerande tradition. Redan 1908 organiserades branschen i syfte att försöka lösa sulfatmassaproduktionens luktproblem, och när Institutet för vatten- och luftvårdsforskning (IVL) startade verksamheten 1965, var skogsindustrin den industri i Sverige som kommit överlägset längst i fråga om forskning kring hanteringen av framförallt det vattenburna avfallet. Den svenska traditionen av samarbete och samförstånd i miljövårdsfrågor, inom pappers- och massaindustri såväl som mellan staten och industrin, har troligtvis fungerat stimulerande på den svenska miljötekniska utvecklingen och spridningen i jämförelse med länder som saknar denna tradition och som tenderat driva en mer inflexibel miljöpolitik från 1960-talet och framåt.

The aim of the article is to reach increased understanding of the potential obstacles and opportunities for industry/energy-company collaborations. This is achieved through exploring a pioneering collaboration regarding waste heat from a steelworks to a local district heating system in northern Sweden that was established in the 1970s. With a historical qualitative approach and focus on the long-term and dynamic explanatory factors behind the collaboration, the article complements previous studies typically focusing on barriers/drivers at the end of the process from idea to actual waste heat supplies (e.g., the allocation of costs among parties). From a long-term perspective, concerns over the actual waste heat supplies were found to be protracted and more critical. Hence, although the collaboration from start rested on firm beliefs of sufficient supplies, concerns over actual supplies remained critical throughout the 11-year long process. The article suggests that: a) market fluctuations and the industrial company's continuous strive for profit maximization tend to be underestimated in previous literature on obstacles to waste heat supplies; and b) targeted government subsidies could be an essential policy tool for promoting future waste heat collaborations, in turn resting on a mix of societal rationales (e.g., energy security, climate mitigation, regional development, etc.).

In the contemporary debate on sustainable consumption, private consumption of energy, transportation, housing and food is given special attention, not the least since it constitutes significant share of total expenses but also since the environmental impacts are believed to be particularly negative. The objective of this paper is to broaden our understanding of: (a) the different consumption patterns of various Swedish household groups since the 1950s; and (b) the interrelationship between households' consumption patterns and national policy decisions during the same time period. The focus lies on consumer expenditures with significant negative impacts on the natural environment, and on policy decisions resulting in socio-technological and path-dependent systems introducing major inertia in the consumption patterns of Swedish households. The consumption patterns of over 2000 Swedish households have been examined and documented regularly since 1958 by Statistics Sweden. By studying these data we learn that although private consumption in total has increased extensively in all types of households since the post-war period, consumption patterns have varied substantially across the different groups. The shares of energy, transportation and housing expenses vary over time but also across different groups of households. A more detailed understanding of the different consumption patterns of various household groups since the 1950s may provide important lessons for contemporary environmental policy, for instance by illustrating how income changes, family size and geography affect the propensity to purchase goods and services with negative impacts on the environment. In the paper we pay particular attention to the above consumption patterns in the context of a number of, for the Swedish post-war society central development paths, like those of the ‘car society', the housing policy and the retail trade. A number of post-war policy decisions have influenced Swedish households' consumption of cars and transportation services, and housing areas have increased substantially since the 1950s. Simultaneously, the public room has constantly become more and more commercialized. The post-war housing policy, the far-reaching car-adaptation of Swedish society and the ever-developing retail trade (from counter service towards external shopping-centers) can in combination be looked upon as large socio-technological systems. These are strongly linked as well as path dependent, i.e. self-reinforcing. In this way the paper contributes with a broader understanding of the interrelationship between households' actual consumption expenditures and past policy-decisions resulting in socio-technological and path-dependent systems.

Med sin långa tradition av en stadigt växande andel kvinnor i politiken lämpar sig de nordiska länderna väl att studera vad gäller betydelsen av kvinnors intressen(och antal) för politikens innehåll. I detta sammanhang är det tidiga 1990-talets svenska riksdag särskilt intressant – då sjönk antalet riksdagskvinnor för första gången på många år samtidigt som det bildades ett opinionstryck på de kvarvarande kvinnorna att samarbeta mer i syfte att åstadkomma (genus)politiska förändringar. Artikeln undersöker vad riksdagskvinnorna i detta läge valde att samarbeta om.

With the advent of environmental issues in the public debate, historians world-wide have shown an increased interest in studying environmental issues. In this field of study, phenomena such as industrialisation, as well as economic and technological progress, have often been understood solely as the causes of environmental degradation with few attempts to examine the more complex features of the technology-environment relationship. In the late 1990s, though, scholars in the fields of history of technology, environmental history and business history extended the focus of historical studies on the internal and external dynamic processes that shape industrial production technologies with severe impacts on the natural environment. This study analyzes the technology choices confronting business enterprises, which have been exposed to public concerns and legal claims concerning their polluting activities. The ‘company-focus’ of the study permits an in-depth analysis of the relationship between industrial production technology and the environment. In this study we analyze in particular the underlying motives that induce a company to implement environmentally benign production technologies, as well as the process of technology choice and development at the company level. The technology choice process must however not only be understood as an internal ‘businesshistory’, but also as a process heavily dependent on a large number of economic, social, technological, legal and scientific factors. The analysis in this study builds on Nathan Rosenberg’s conception of technology choice and development. Rosenberg argues that decisions about the design of the production technology are made under incomplete information about technical solutions and their costs. This implies that technology choices are often characterized by the search for knowledge that enables the company to implement existing but not yet developed technical potentials, rather than a choice between ready-made technical solutions. Empirically the study focuses on the technology choices of two Swedish pulp and paper mills, which both were subjects to conflicts concerning their pollution into water and air. These conflicts include the one concerning Örebro paper mill, 1904-1911, and the more recent Värö mill conflict, 1964-1972. A comparison of these conflicts – from two distinctly different time periods – permits an analysis of how technology choice processes are affected by increased knowledge about the pollution problems as well as by advances in the production of technology. We find that given the industry’s collective interest in solving the pollution problems, the pulp and paper industry initiated a large number of cooperative research undertakings aimed at developing cleaner production methods during the 1950s and 1960s. Thus, while the Örebro paper mill was a pioneer in initiating cooperation with its competitors, the Värö mill could benefit from previous advances in knowledge and implement – more or less well established – technological solutions. The result of the study suggests therefore that industrial cooperation within the environmental field does not necessarily have to be initiated by public organizations and institutions, but can also emerge as the result of the initiatives of a single company. The fact that the Örebro and Värö mills both faced a negative public opinion concerning their polluting activities, imply that the respective technology choice processes were influenced by the interests and motives of the opinions. The complainants in the two conflicts legitimized their arguments and complaints by referring (implicitly or explicitly) to existing laws and regulations, and by engaging the relevant scientific expertise. The two companies also engaged scientific experts, largely in order to learn more about potential technical solutions to the pollution problem but also to confront the arguments of the complainants and their respective experts. In both cases this type of setting resulted in what the sociology of science literature calls ‘scienitific controversies’. The analysis in this study provides support for the notion that these types of controversies are characterized by arguments and deliberations that are largely based on values and attitudes rather than on (scientific) facts. The study also illustrates how the controversies motivated the complainants in the respective conflicts to reframe their arguments, and, for instance, express their concerns in more general and definitive terms. The technology choice processes of both mills are clear examples of the floating distinction between technology choice and technological development. The search for technical solutions was not cost-free, especially not for the Örebro mill, which even had to initiate basic scientific research to solve the problem of the sulphate odour. Both mills had in the past invested in a lot of technology-specific human and physical capital, and they therefore faced strong incentives to direct the environmental activities toward technical solutions that could make as much use of this capital as possible. For this reason, the actual measures implemented as a result of the conflicts (and the related legal verdicts) were largely ‘end-of-pipe’-oriented rather than characterized by ‘radical’ changes in the underlying pulp production processes. Interestingly, although 60 years lapsed between the two conflicts, the measures undertaken to combat the emissions at the two mills were remarkably similar.