Assembling national biofuel development in the European Union – a comparison of Finland and Sweden

Abstract

The author analyses the state powers steering biofuel development in two European Union (EU) Member States: Finland and Sweden. The different biofuel developments of these countries are approached through the concept of assemblages, which allows analysis of how the spatiality of national development is constituted in relation to the increasingly global development of biofuels. The approach illustrates how national policies implemented by Finland and Sweden are multiscaled in their origins and mediated by the agents of these assemblages. Materials in the study consist of EU and national policy documents, and 16 interviews from the key biofuel agents in Finland and Sweden. The author explains the differentiation of national biofuel assemblages through their distinguishing topologies, advocacy groups, and the properties of national policy instruments. The results demonstrate how Finnish and Swedish policies have influenced national biofuel developments. The EU's biofuel policies have diverging impacts nationally as they are translated into the specific patterns of biofuel production, consumption, and trade. Consequently, the agents of biofuel assemblages affect the transference of biofuel policies that originate from multiple scales into the national policy frameworks of the Member States.

Keywords:

• assemblage
• bioenergy policy
• biofuel governance
• EU Member States

Acknowledgements

I thank the Finnish Cultural Foundation for its financial assistance, which made this research possible. Moreover, I acknowledge Mikko Joronen, Jussi Jauhiainen, and Timo Vuorisalo for their valuable comments. Editor Michael Jones deserves credit for his considerable efforts to enhance the clarity of this article. Most importantly, I express my gratitude for all the interviewed persons for their eagerness to contribute in preparing this research.

Notes

1 In 2008, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (Kauppa- ja teollisuusministeriö (KTM)) was assimilated into the Ministry of Employment and the Economy (Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriö (TEM)).

2 All quotations from Finnish interviews have been translated by the author.