Nordic Energy Research

As one of the funding partners in the research call Green Transition, Nordic Energy Research is pleased to announce that ten projects in the Nordic and Baltic region have now been selected for funding.

Three central topics within the Green Transition initiative are energy efficiency, genus perspectives and citizen involvement. Thus, the funded research projects cover different issues in the area of energy and climate, such as fossil-free energy use in the agricultural sector, green hydrogen, and democratic participation in resource development projects. The projects relating to energy are:

Two central themes within the Green Transition initiative are energy efficiency and citizen involvement. Thus, a majority of the funded research projects put a particular focus on energy-related issues, such as fossil-free energy use in the agricultural sector, green hydrogen, and democratic participation in resource development projects. The projects relating to energy are:

• Energy efficient and resilient food production system: using hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria to convert CO2 to protein (HERO-Protein)
• Cold-adapted biorefinery concept for energy efficient and carbon neutral valorization of waste from food systems (COLDREFINERY)
• Green nitrogen transition: The potential of legumes in control environment agriculture (GreeNTrans)
• Green Hydrogen and Platform Chemicals from Agricultural Residues (AGRI-WASTE2H2)
• Gendered norms and practices in Nordic and Baltic Climate Policy Institutions: implication for the Climate Transition
• Sámi democratic engagement in the energy transition: advancing justice, legitimacy and participatory governance (SAPMIDEM)
• Transformative environmental justice (EnJUSTICE)
• Legitimacy and Acceleration in Green Energy Initiatives and Transitions (LEGIT)
• Land use justice for green transitions (JUSTGREEN)
• Energy Lives! Infrastructural Citizenship in Nordic Energy Transitions (Energy Lives!)

Interconnecting energy in the green transition

Senior Adviser Aiko Nakano Hylander is responsible for the Green Transition initiative at Nordic Energy Research. She finds the way of cooperation promising and efficient, from preparing the call to seeing its objectives being continued through selected project consortia.

“It’s a pleasure to be working in the call committee with NordForsk, our sister institution under the Nordic Council of Ministers, as well as the other funding partners. Our cooperation throughout the call process exemplifies the importance of Nordic-Baltic cooperation and green transition, as it has resulted in a great number of high-quality project proposals and the selected projects in turn will further contribute to the coaction for a green transition.”

Aiko Nakano Hylander, Senior Adviser at Nordic Energy Research. Photo: Ingar Sørensen.

Nakano Hylander is also pleased by the quantity and quality of projects proposals interconnecting energy in the green transition.

“As the green transition is inseparable from a green energy transition, we’re glad to see so many excellent projects set to transform sectors linked to energy, in resilient and inclusive ways. For instance, the projects do not only have explicit aims of providing solutions that put focus on equality and inclusion, but the project leaders themselves have a 50/50 gender balance,” says Nakano Hylander.

The Green Transition call is administered by NordForsk, in close collaboration with Nordic and Baltic funding partners. Nordic Energy Research is proud to be part of this partnership, which strengthens Nordic cooperation between research funders and relevant stakeholders and supports the Nordic Council of Ministers’ strive for sustainability and integration.

The research projects will have a duration of 3–4 years and Nordic Energy Research is looking forward to following their progress on the path towards a green and fair transition across sectors and regions. The call committee is planning to meet again in August and discuss opportunities to create synergies, networks and Nordic-Baltic added values beyond the individual projects alone.

Read more about the Green Transition call on NordForsk’s webpage here.