Using systems thinking and causal loop diagrams to identify cascading climate change impacts on bioenergy supply systems

Increased use of bioenergy, driven by ambitious climate and energy policies, has led to an upsurge in international bioenergy trade. Simultaneously, it is evident that every node of the bioenergy supply chain, from cultivation of energy crops to production of electricity and heat, is vulnerable to c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mitigation and adaptation strategies for global change 2021-10, Vol.26 (7), p.29, Article 29
Main Authors: Groundstroem, Fanny, Juhola, Sirkku
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmospheric Sciences
Cascading
Climate change
Climate Change Management and Policy
Complexity
Crop production
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Economic analysis
Economics
Energy crops
Energy policies
Energy policy
Environmental assessment
Environmental impact
Environmental Management
Imports
Original
Original Article
Pellets
Renewable energy
Supply chains
Wood
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Summary:Increased use of bioenergy, driven by ambitious climate and energy policies, has led to an upsurge in international bioenergy trade. Simultaneously, it is evident that every node of the bioenergy supply chain, from cultivation of energy crops to production of electricity and heat, is vulnerable to climate change impacts. However, climate change assessments of bioenergy supply chains neither account for the global nature of the bioenergy market, nor the complexity and dynamic interconnectivity between and within different sub-systems in which the bioenergy supply chain is embedded, thereby neglecting potential compounding and cascading impacts of climate change. In this paper, systems thinking is utilised to develop an analytical framework to address this gap, and aided by causal loop diagrams, cascading impacts of climate change are identified for a case study concerning imports of wood pellets from the United States to the European Union. The findings illustrate how the complexity and interconnectivity of the wood pellet supply system predispose the supply chain to various cascading climate change impacts stemming from environmental, social, political and economic domains, and highlight the value of using system-based analysis tools for studying such complex and dynamic systems.
ISSN:1381-2386
1573-1596
DOI:10.1007/s11027-021-09967-0