Magdalena Kuchler

Short presentation

Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (NRHU) at the Department of Earth Sciences. Director of the Master’s Programme in Sustainable Development. Leader of three research projects:

• Disassembling the power of high-carbon imaginaries
• SubCity: Future imaginaries of the city subsurface
• Integration of regional carbon budgets into regional climate policy

More about me and my projects: magdalenakuchler.me

Read my UU Researcher Profile.

Keywords

• climate change
• energy governance
• climate governance
• energy
• fossil fuels
• shale gas
• political science
• politics
• energy security
• energy transition
• mitigation
• international relations
• resource materialities
• geopolitics
• biofuels
• bioenergy
• future
• coal
• future studies
• sociotechnical imaginaries
• oil
• natural gas
• unconventional
• resources
• resource-making

Biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in Global Energy Systems and Associate Professor in the Research Programme Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (NRHU) at the Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University. My research focuses primarily on how energy imaginaries are (re)shaped and (re)produced both discursively and materially, by whom and for whom energy futures are described and prescribed, as well as how energy visions are governed and what makes resources ‘become’. My research also explores questions related to energy and climate governance, particularly with regard to participation and the ways in which temporal considerations shape decision-making. Read more about me and my projects here: magdalenakuchler.me

Research

My research projects

Disassembling the power of high-carbon imaginaries (VR 2020-05363; Principal Investigator; SEK 10,386,000)

The overall purpose of this project is to critically examine and better understand how powerful carbon-intensive imaginaries can be disempowered – either realigned or dismantled - to accelerate low-carbon transition. By analysing and comparing four distinctive carbonscapes – two coalscapes in Poland and two petroscapes in the UK – the project aims to: 1) identify and critically examine impulses of resistance to change, exemplified in the way powerful fossil fuel incumbencies (re)imagine or discursively rework coal and oil as means of stabilising and sustaining their legacy; 2) determine how the material-discursive dynamics and power relations associated with high carbon landscapes constrain and/or enable the power to (re)imagine energy futures; 3) identify openings and opportunities for dismantling and destabilizing incumbent fossil fuel imaginaries in selected carbonscapes. The study contributes to research on energy futures and energy transitions by implementing a novel combination of analytical frameworks that transcends dominant theoretical approaches, namely: socio-technical imaginaries, assemblages, and materialities. The project will be conducted in a collaborative research environment involving Uppsala University and Durham University. The project is funded by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet). Read more about the project here: www.carbonscapes.eu

SubCity: Future imaginaries of the city subsurface (FORMAS 2021-00106; Principal Investigator; SEK 7,995,828)

A rising rate of urbanisation, coupled with climate change impacts and the necessity of low-carbon transition, will put considerable pressure on the increasingly stretched metropolitan areas. To meet these challenges, society will need to significantly and radically enhance its use of the subsurface below the city landscape. The underground is a place that, once transformed, becomes a permanent future. For this reason, underground spatial planning requires strategically driven, holistic, and long-term visions. By taking the case of Stockholm municipality as our analytical point of entry, the overall purpose of this project is twofold: 1) to develop conceptual tools and empirical insights for better understanding socio-technical dynamics of sustainable urban underground planning and use; 2) to provide practical solutions and guidance for long-term planning and envisioning sustainable use of the underground space. The project will be guided by two interrelated objectives: 1) to investigate what currently happens in the city subsurface and identify challenges and opportunities regarding the future transition of the urban underground space; 2) to anticipate future visions of the city subsurface in terms of transportation, storage, energy, and public uses. The project will be conducted in an interdisciplinary environment involving two research units - Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (NRHU) and Geophysics - at the Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University. The project is funded by the Swedish Research Council Formas.

Integration of regional carbon budgets into regional climate policy (Energimyndigheten 51920-1; Principal Investigator; SEK 5,968,391)

The project contributes to increased knowledge about Swedish counties' role in transitioning to a fossil-free society. This is done by the project and three selected counties examining the integration of carbon budget targets into the regional climate policy and broader regional policy goals and strategies. The urgency to accelerate and considerably upscale Sweden’s transition efforts places significant pressure on the regional level of decision-making. Consequently, there has been a growing bottom-up interest in estimating carbon budgets for Swedish counties to better understand what mitigation targets are necessary to meet the Paris Agreement commitments. A set of regional carbon budgets has been developed by the Climate Change Leadership (CCL) node in the research programme Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (NRHU) at the Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University. Such carbon budgets allow Swedish counties to formulate more realistic targets for the rapid, yet sustainable, transition to a carbon-neutral society. They also prompt communication and stimulate discussions on local policies and targets between a wide range of stakeholders. The project’s point of departure consists of regional carbon budgets developed by the CCL team for Västra Götaland, Västerbotten, and Östergötland Counties. These three counties represent different levels of engagement with the carbon budgets, thus enriching the comparative exercise of the study. The overall purpose of this project is two-fold: 1) to assist the selected Swedish counties in the process of integrating ambitious carbon budget targets into the regional climate policy and into broader regional public policy goals and strategies; 2) contribute to a better understanding of the role counties can play in accelerating the transition to a carbon-neutral society. Read more about the project here: mesam.se/projekt/koldioxidbudgetar/