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Writers: Pia Piroschka Otte, Natalia Mæhle, and Rita Moseng Sivertsvik

This report is based on the testing of local crowdfunding of climate measures in agriculture to validate research findings from a previous research project (COOLCROWD). We have carried out two crowdfunding campaigns in Norway with farmers, which show very different levels of success. In this report, we evaluate the results of the two crowdfunding campaigns by examining the farmers' experiences and the contributors' motivation to contribute financially to the projects.


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Writers: Magnar Forbord, Maja Farstad, Jostein Brobakk, Rob Burton, Lennart Kokemohr, Brit Logstein, Anders M. Melås, Klaus Mittenzwei, Pia Otte

Jordbruket er avhengig av klimaet – og bidrar til klimaet. De senere årene har det vist seg at jordbruket, sammen med de fleste andre sektorer i samfunnet, bidrar til høyere klimagassutslipp (CO2, N20, CH4) enn det som er ønskelig.


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Writers: Sunniva Midthaug Solnør, Katrina Rønningen, Pia Piroschka Otte, Kristian Borch, Karl Sperling, Jørn Thomassen, Bård G. Stokke

Fornybar energi er et av de sterkeste konfliktområdene i den norske klima- og miljødebatten. Ferske studier i vindkraftutbygging peker på manglende transparens i tildeling av konsesjoner, lisenser og prosesser, og demokratiske svakheter. Fordeling av goder og ulemper fra utnytting av naturressurser for fornybar energi har også blitt et sentralt tema.


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Writers: Rob Burton and Pia P. Otte

Family farms go through cyclical stages of development and contraction as a result of the overlapping of business goals and generational changes. This ‘farm family life-cycle’ results in periods within which farm families are highly innovative and farmers willing to invest, and other periods where innovativeness and investment are highly unlikely. Within the climate change mitigation literature, innovativeness and willingness to invest have been identified as key drivers of adoption – yet the possible connection between farm family life-cycle and mitigation has yet to be explored. In this paper we address this issue through a survey of 465 farmers in Norway. We first defined life-cycle stages on the basis of theory and then employed a cluster analysis to deductively sort farmers into stages (‘early-stage developers’, ‘commercial developers’, ‘commercial disengagers’ and ‘semi-retired withdrawers’). Testing these clusters against mitigation intention, and other climate change response data, we found significant differences across a range of measures and a progressive trend of declining mitigation intention throughout the life-cycle stages. We conclude that, while our evidence supports the existence of a relationship, additional research is required and, to facilitate this, suggest how future studies might further these investigations towards the goal of developing life-cycle stage related policies for agriculture.

Journal of Rural Studies, Volume 96, December 2022, Pages 270-281, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.10.006


  • Pia Piroschka Otte
  • Bivek Baral
  • Ananta Aacharya
  • Karma Yangdon
  • Tshewang Lhendup
  • Martin Andersson
  • Elina Andersson
  • Henrik Davidsson
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Writers: Pia Otte, Bivek Baral, Ananta Aacharya, Karma Yangdon, Tshewang Lhendup, Martin Andersson, Elina Andersson, Henrik Davidsson

This report represents a major deliverable of work package (WP) 1 entailing a study of the socio-economic and cultural constraints and possibilities as well as the scope of entrepreneurship in solar drying.


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Writers: Pia Piroschka Otte and Natalia Maehle


Cleantech projects can significantly contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions globally. However, they often lack investments from the conventional finance sector. Crowdfunding represents an alternative for financing cleantech projects. By using a Qualitative Comparative Analysis, this paper explores the combinational effect of the six success factors identified in the general crowdfunding literature for cleantech projects published on Kickstarter platform. The results indicate that crowdfunding success of cleantech projects is highly contextual, and identify a set of core conditions that cleantech entrepreneurs are advised to consider for their crowdfunding campaign design. 
Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 366, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132921


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Climate change presents the largest global challenge in human history. In order to achieve ambitious climate goals, we need a rapid worldwide decarbonization of all sectors enabled by a socio-technical transformation. Previous research argues that the transition is hindered due to researchers’ disciplinary lock-in that only addresses one piece of the complex phenomenon. This article contributes to this discussion by developing an integrated decision-making model for climate change action. The framework builds on climate change literature from multiple disciplines. It identifies key conditions (stages) influencing people’s decisions about climate action. In order to achieve the transition towards a low-carbon society, a variety of climate policies is needed that address different stages of the decision-making model. These consist of a mix of short-term fix policies such as incentives and carbon pricing, and long-term policies fostering social change by addressing our deeper societal values that redefine social well-being and happiness. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2021.10.003


  • Pia Piroschka Otte
  • Ricardo Bernardo
  • Henrik Davidsson
  • Peter Samuelsson
  • Gustaf Bengtsson
  • Viktor Döhlen
  • Joakim Olsson
  • Randi Phinney
  • Lucas Tivana
  • Martin Andersson
  • Marilyn Rayner
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This investigation consisted of developing and evaluating solar dryers together with semi-permeable membrane pouches for drying juicy fruits in low-income tropical countries. Two design iterations were carried out including prototype modelling and testing. The latest developed solar dryers were a passive and an active solar dryer. Modelling was initially carried out mathematically using an equation solver software followed by computational fluid dynamics. Preliminary measurements were carried out on a small-scale solar dryer. Thereafter, full-scale models were developed and tested, both in laboratory and in real conditions in Mozambique. Results from modelling were validated against measurements in laboratory in Sweden and field trials in Mozambique. Prototype building and testing in Mozambique was undertaken in collaboration with local farmers and a university. Measurement results show that the dryers help to prevent microbial growth through increased temperatures. The drying flux was increased by 50% for the passive, and by 100% for the active solar dryers compared to the ambient controls that did not use a solar dryer. The total drying time was below four days for all pouches in the dryers. The active solar dryer was shown to have the shortest drying time and the highest capacity (more pouches) but also the highest costs. Mould growth and juice fermentation were observed on control pouches drying in open air. These problems were solved with the use of solar dryer technology. However, some challenges with the membrane pouches require further development including degradation of the membrane when exposed to direct sunlight. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seja.2021.100006


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Agricultural activities and associated land use change are a major contributor to global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making climate change mitigation in the agricultural sector all the more critical. However, farmers' willingness to adopt GHG abatement depends, to a large extent, on the financial implications of new practices. Climate change mitigation is unlikely to be adopted without external (financial, socio-cultural, or other) incentives. The research presented in this paper considers farmers' preferences for financing climate change mitigation practices through public crowdfunding. As a first study of its kind, we investigate farmers' attitudes towards climate change mitigation, knowledge of crowdfunding as a fundraising method, and interest in using public crowdfunding campaigns to finance on-farm mitigation practices. Based on a choice experiment survey with 443 Norwegian farmers, we show that knowledge about crowdfunding as an alternative finance method is generally low. Respondents who are interested in using crowdfunding prefer donation- or reward-based crowdfunding models that cover the full cost of mitigation over a loan-based model or campaigns that only fund a proportion of the costs. A financially secure farming business, previous exposure to crowdfunding, and a strong sense of responsibility to abate climate change are associated with higher farmers’ interest in using crowdfunding. We find that farmers in Norway are hesitant to be publicly presented as recipients of crowdfunding, which suggests that crowdfunding is best set up as joint campaigns (e.g. with other farmers) that are run by intermediary organisations (rather than by individual farmers). Our findings highlight that, while opportunities to use crowdfunding as a fundraising method for agricultural climate change may be limited, properly designed campaigns can provide an effective instrument to engage certain groups of farmers in on-farm climate change mitigation.


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A sustainable bioeconomy based on production and consumption of food, products, and materials within healthy ecosystems is considered a promising response to global challenges like climate change and environmental degradation combined with a growing population. However, ultimately, it is the public as consumers and citizens who provide the market and governance for bioeconomic development. In this paper, we explore lay perspectives on a bioeconomic transition based on eight focus group interviews with lay people in Norway. Overall, we find that the public appears quite positive towards the idea of a bioeconomic transition due not only to expected global gains, but also to individual gains. The findings are relevant for the design of further bioeconomy-related policies aiming to achieve wide public acceptance. International Journal of Sustainable Society (IJSSOC), Vol. 13, No. 2, 2021


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This study investigates which climate change frames environmental entrepreneurs can employ in their project descriptions while seeking crowdfunding on online platforms. An explorative analysis of 58 climate change mitigation projects was conducted in four countries with different degrees of maturity of crowdfunding market. The following climate change frames prevail, and appear particularly in the descriptions of the projects with successful campaigns: promotion goal frame, humans-related impact frame, positive valence frame, and near future and now time frame. Many projects with successful crowdfunding campaigns also mention their location. This study contributes to the sustainable crowdfunding literature by addressing an underexplored topic of framing and following a qualitative in-depth approach. Moreover, it can help environmental entrepreneurs understand the landscape of framing opportunities and therefore make a more informed choice of what kind of frames to employ in their project descriptions. Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 314, 10 September 2021


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Rapporten retter seg mot personer, organisasjoner eller bedrifter, som kan kommersialisere og implementere forskningsfunnene. Målgruppen er bred og omfatter blant annet landbruksorganisasjoner, banker, folkefinansieringplattformer, og reiseselskap. Rapporten inneholder en oppsummering av utvikling og design av konseptet COOLCROWD for implementeringen i det norske samfunnet.  


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This report presents a main deliverable of work package 3 in the Coolcrowd project, an international research project funded by the Research Council of Norway. The aim of the project is to develop a crowdfunding program that would enable travelers to offset their GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions locally by supporting Norwegian farmers who want to adopt more climate friendly practices. The main objective of WP3 is to identify farmers’ interest in participating in a locally crowdfunded climate program. The report analyzes the findings of a national survey investigating farmers’ interest in climate change, particularly mitigation and a local crowdfunding program.