The report is a collaboration between the projects "One hundred percent renewable - how many percent sustainable?" and Mistra Carbon Exit (MCE). This initial analysis is a first step in identifying the most critical sustainability aspects (economic, ecological and social) that the further sustainability analysis in the project "One hundred percent renewable - how many percent sustainable" should focus on.
The focus of the report is the development of an analysis of the preliminary scenario “Strong sector connections” as a way to reach one hundred percent renewable electricity system. “Strong sector connections” refers to electricity production and the transport and industrial sectors in the form of heat storage, hydrogen storage, heating systems and flexible charging of electric vehicles.
Three case studies (heat storage, hydrogen storage and flexible charging of electric vehicles) have been selected and studied in a workshop. At the workshop, the expert groups for the three case studies discussed the impact on the 17 global sustainability goals with the digital tool SDG Impact Assessment Tool. Conclusions from the workshop, both based on co-contribution to the forthcoming in-depth sustainability analysis and experiences of the methodology, have since been compiled. The SDG Impact Assessment Tool provides the opportunity to systematically go through all 17 sustainability goals for a case study and thereby avoid hand-picking the SDGs that at first glance could be seen as most relevant.
The method provides a deep understanding of the motives and arguments for the analysis performed, where the results reflect the composition of the participating experts. The results are strategic in guiding the continued work to quantify the sustainability impact. It is necessary to clearly define the case study in advance in order to give the group a consensus on what is to be analyzed, and to enable the group on site to further specify the definition if necessary.In general, the expert groups have assessed that the goals that focus more on sustainability linked to social aspects are not affected to the same extent as those that are more clearly focused on environmental and economic sustainability. Sustainability goals, which in their description are more directly linked to the adjustment of the energy system (such as energy, climate, infrastructure and societal aspects) have also largely been assessed to have a more direct impact. Together, the groups' assessments show that the positive effects generally outweighed the negative and in two of the case studies no weighted assessment was made of the negative impact for any of the 17 SDGs. However, it is not said that there are no negative effects in the groups.
However, it is not said that there are no negative effects in the case studies. For example, it was discussed that material consumption and interventions in the construction of the various techniques can have a negative effect on sustainability goals. In addition, for example, a nationally positive impact on a target can also have a locally negative impact.Through the performed workshop, a first indication and identification has been made of which SDGs are affected for each case study. Although the case studies are of a different nature, in most cases similar tendencies and directions appear in the SDG assessments.
This initial analysis provides a valuable basis for the project's next step, where indicators and analytical framework are defined, as a basis for the sustainability analysis, where goal conflicts are also to be analyzed.