Julia Szulecka

• Nesheim, Ingrid; Szulecka, Julia; Phoo, May Thazin; Nøklebye, Emmy & San, Kyaw Min (2024). Complex waste management in Myanmar: role of the actors, relationships, and social capital. Environment, Development and Sustainability. ISSN 1387-585X. doi: 10.1007/s10668-024-04546-0.
• Forsberg, Ellen-Marie; Corceolani, Matteo; Szulecka, Julia & Strøm-Andersen, Nhat (2023). Widening the scope of responsible innovation: food waste and the role of consumers. Journal of Responsible Innovation. ISSN 2329-9460. 10(1). doi: 10.1080/23299460.2023.2243080.
• Szulecka, Julia; Strøm-Andersen, Nhat & Capodistrias, Paula (2022). Food (in)security in a Nordic Welfare State: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Activities of Oslo’s Food Bank. . In Calabro, Francesco; Spina, Lucia Della & Mantinan, Maria Jose Pineira (Ed.), New Metropolitan Perspectives. Post COVID Dynamics: Green and Digital Transition, between Metropolitan and Return to Villages Perspectives. Springer Nature. ISSN 978-3-031-06824-9. p. 1448–1461. doi: https:/doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06825-6_140. Show summary

  This chapter explores the impact of COVID-19 on metropolitan food redistribution chains in a Nordic welfare state by analyzing the case of Oslo’s Food Bank. It assesses how alternative redistribution schemes can support the welfare state or reach out to vulnerable groups without sufficient assistance. The study finds that Oslo’s Food Bank - Matsentralen Oslo - experienced an increase in food demand and new types of recipients. However, despite the COVID-related social challenges, it was able to redistribute more food in 2020 and 2021 compared to 2019 thanks to the combination of new strategies, new administrative and control systems, new internal structures, as well as the establishment of new partnerships. The increased food demand and the availability of surplus food combined with the food bank's capacity to adapt to sudden changes suggest that the provision of food security requires the presence of dedicated institutions with the flexibility to make quick adjustments and connect supply and demand. The study shows that food banks complement the welfare state in bringing social services and additionally reduce food waste. They thus combine socio-economic and environmental services, which are beyond the scope of public financial transfers.

• Capodistrias, Paula; Szulecka, Julia; Corciolani, Matteo & Strøm-Andersen, Nhat (2021). European food banks and COVID-19: Resilience and innovation in times of crisis. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences. ISSN 0038-0121. doi: 10.1016/j.seps.2021.101187. Full text in Research Archive
• Szulecka, Julia & Strøm-Andersen, Nhat (2021). Norway's Food Waste Reduction Governance: From Industry Self-Regulation to Governmental Regulation? Scandinavian Political Studies. ISSN 0080-6757. p. 1–24. doi: 10.1111/1467-9477.12219. Full text in Research Archive
• Szulecka, Julia & Szulecki, Kacper (2019). Between domestic politics and ecological crises: (De)legitimization of Polish environmentalism. Environmental Politics. ISSN 0964-4016. p. 1–30. doi: 10.1080/09644016.2019.1674541. Full text in Research Archive
• Brekke, Andreas; Lyng, Kari-Anne Kallerud; Olofsson, Johanna & Szulecka, Julia (2019). Life cycle assessment: A governance tool for transition towards a circular bioeconomy? In Klitkou, Antje; Fevolden, Arne Martin & Capasso, Marco (Ed.), From Waste to Value: Valorisation Pathways for Organic Waste Streams in Circular Bioeconomies. Routledge. ISSN 978-0-429-46028-9. p. 272–292. Show summary

  From Waste to Value investigates how streams of organic waste and residues can be transformed into valuable products, to foster a transition towards a sustainable and circular bioeconomy. The studies are carried out within a cross-disciplinary framework, drawing on a diverse set of theoretical approaches and defining different valorisation pathways. Organic waste streams from households and industry are becoming a valuable resource in today’s economies. Substances that have long represented a cost to companies and a burden for society are now becoming an asset. Waste products, such as leftover food, forest residues and animal carcasses, can be turned into valuable products such as biomaterials, biochemicals and biopharmaceuticals. Exploiting these waste resources is challenging, however. It requires that companies develop new technologies and that public authorities introduce new regulation and governance models. This book helps policy-makers govern and regulate bio-based industries, and helps industry actors to identify and exploit new opportunities in the circular bioeconomy. Moreover, it provides important insights for all students and scholars concerned with renewable energy, sustainable development and climate change.

• Szulecka, Julia; Strøm-Andersen, Nhat; Scordato, Lisa & Skrivervik, Eili (2019). Multi-level governance of food waste: Comparing Norway, Denmark and Sweden. In Klitkou, Antje; Fevolden, Arne Martin & Capasso, Marco (Ed.), From Waste to Value: Valorisation Pathways for Organic Waste Streams in Circular Bioeconomies. Routledge. ISSN 978-0-429-46028-9. p. 253–271. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  From Waste to Value investigates how streams of organic waste and residues can be transformed into valuable products, to foster a transition towards a sustainable and circular bioeconomy. The studies are carried out within a cross-disciplinary framework, drawing on a diverse set of theoretical approaches and defining different valorisation pathways. Organic waste streams from households and industry are becoming a valuable resource in today’s economies. Substances that have long represented a cost to companies and a burden for society are now becoming an asset. Waste products, such as leftover food, forest residues and animal carcasses, can be turned into valuable products such as biomaterials, biochemicals and biopharmaceuticals. Exploiting these waste resources is challenging, however. It requires that companies develop new technologies and that public authorities introduce new regulation and governance models. This book helps policy-makers govern and regulate bio-based industries, and helps industry actors to identify and exploit new opportunities in the circular bioeconomy. Moreover, it provides important insights for all students and scholars concerned with renewable energy, sustainable development and climate change.

• Klitkou, Antje; Capasso, Marco; Hansen, Teis & Szulecka, Julia (2019). New path development for forest-based value creation in Norway. In Klitkou, Antje; Fevolden, Arne Martin & Capasso, Marco (Ed.), From Waste to Value: Valorisation Pathways for Organic Waste Streams in Circular Bioeconomies. Routledge. ISSN 978-0-429-46028-9. p. 73–90. doi: 10.4324/9780429460289-4. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  From Waste to Value investigates how streams of organic waste and residues can be transformed into valuable products, to foster a transition towards a sustainable and circular bioeconomy. The studies are carried out within a cross-disciplinary framework, drawing on a diverse set of theoretical approaches and defining different valorisation pathways. Organic waste streams from households and industry are becoming a valuable resource in today’s economies. Substances that have long represented a cost to companies and a burden for society are now becoming an asset. Waste products, such as leftover food, forest residues and animal carcasses, can be turned into valuable products such as biomaterials, biochemicals and biopharmaceuticals. Exploiting these waste resources is challenging, however. It requires that companies develop new technologies and that public authorities introduce new regulation and governance models. This book helps policy-makers govern and regulate bio-based industries, and helps industry actors to identify and exploit new opportunities in the circular bioeconomy. Moreover, it provides important insights for all students and scholars concerned with renewable energy, sustainable development and climate change.

• Szulecka, Julia (2019). Towards Sustainable Wood-Based Energy: Evaluation and Strategies for Mainstreaming Sustainability in the Sector. Sustainability. ISSN 2071-1050. 11(2). doi: 10.3390/su11020493. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Bioenergy, mostly from wood biomass, is now widely seen as an important element in the efforts to tame dangerous climate change. At the same time, foresters and development specialists note that wood-based energy production can contribute to rural development. However, to deliver on these two goals without generating negative side effects, wood-based energy has to be sustainable, while currently, the sector is developing rapidly in ways that are technologically advanced, with questionable sustainability. How can sustainability be achieved in bioenergy production, to make it a viable element of climate change mitigation, adaptation, and rural development? Arguing for the need to mainstream sustainability thinking into wood-based energy production, the article draws on a critical literature review to identify four different levels of sustainability in the existing research on bioenergy from wood. It shows two possible strategies for integrating sustainability in wood bioenergy production. A top-down approach draws on global forestry governance instruments, while a bottom-up approach uses best-practices in forest plantations for bioenergy purposes, as illustrated by a case study from rural Paraguay. Using aggregated and visualized sustainability indicators, the article exemplifies what sustainable bioenergy production means in more tangible terms.

• Szulecka, Julia (2017). Paraguay’s Dramatic Land-Use Change in the 20th Century: Concerning Massive Deforestation and Crawling Reforestation. In Satiago, Karla (Eds.), Paraguay and Peru: Political, Social and Environmental Issues. Nova Science Publishers. ISSN 978-1-53612-233-6. p. 97–122. Full text in Research Archive
• Szulecka, Julia & Monges Zalazar, Elizabeth (2017). Forest plantations in Paraguay: Historical developments and a critical diagnosis in a SWOT-APH framework. Land Use Policy. ISSN 0264-8377. 60, p. 384–394. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.11.001.
• Szulecka, Julia; Obidzinski, Krystof & Dermawan, Ahmad (2016). Corporate–society engagement in plantation forestry in Indonesia: Evolving approaches and their implications. Forest Policy and Economics. ISSN 1389-9341. doi: 10.1016/j.forpol.2015.10.016.
• Szulecka, Julia; Pretzsch, Jürgen & Secco, Laura (2014). Paradigms in Tropical Forest Plantations: A Critical Reflection on Historical Shifts in Plantation Approaches. International forestry review. ISSN 1465-5489.
• Szulecka, Julia & Secco, Laura (2014). Local Institutions, Social Capital and Their Role in Forest Plantation Governance: Lessons from Two Case Studies of Smallholder Plantations in Paraguay. International forestry review. ISSN 1465-5489.
• Szulecki, Kacper & Szulecka, Julia (2013). Analysing the Rospuda River Controversy in Poland: Rhetoric, Environmental Activism and the Influence of the European Union. East European Politics. ISSN 2159-9165. 29(4), p. 397–419. doi: 10.1080/21599165.2013.836701.

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• Szulecka, Julia (2015). Changing Paradigms in a Changing Climate: Analyzing the Political Economy of Tropical Forest Plantations. TU Dresden. ISBN 978-3-942934-08-4.

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• Szulecki, Kacper; Szulecka, Julia & Maltby, Tomas (2024). Climate obstruction in Poland.
• Szulecki, Kacper; Szulecka, Julia & Maltby, Tomas (2023). Climate Obstruction in Poland: A Climate Imposter Clings to Coal. Show summary

  Poland is known for its history of climate skepticism and denial throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Despite its recent rapid deployment of renewable energy sources, Poland remains Europe’s most coal-dependent economy. Since the country’s accession to the EU in 2004, consecutive governments in Warsaw have been “pulling the brake” on the EU’s more ambitious climate policy initiatives and decarbonization targets. However, there are signs of changing societal attitudes, especially since 2018. Despite this trend, the country is alone among EU nations in not committing to a net-zero emissions target or a coal power phase-out date. As this chapter will describe, this situation has been created and perpetuated by a dominant coalition of governmental institutions, agencies, state-owned energy companies, and utilities that constitute a “governmental-industrial complex” (GIC). While there has been a shift in discourse and policy emanating from the GIC, it continues to promote “silver bullets” in the form of promising future technologies such as “clean” coal and unrealistic plans for new nuclear power plants. Poland’s stated commitment to a just (and gradual) energy transition is another of these “climate imposter” tactics, which the chapter will show are part of an overarching strategy of delay.

• Szulecka, Julia (2021). European food banks and COVID-19.
• Strøm-Andersen, Nhat; Szulecka, Julia & Bugge, Markus Michaelsen (2021). A systemic negligence? The transition toward food sustainability and the case of food waste.
• Szulecka, Julia (2020). Status of the BREAD project after the first year.
• Szulecka, Julia; Scordato, Lisa & Koch, Per M. (2020). Developing Future Scenarios for Food Waste.
• Scordato, Lisa; Koch, Per M. & Szulecka, Julia (2020). Futures Literacy Lab on Food Waste. Summary Report. Show summary

  This policy brief summarises the main reflections and images which emerged from a Futures Literacy Laboratory (FLL) on food waste conducted on October 22nd, 2020, in Oslo. The aim of the FLL was to mobilise the collective intelligence of a diverse group of experts and people with an interest in food waste problems and to explore their different stories about the future. The FLL made use of these stories to reflect on preconceptions, social, economic, environmental and technological drivers, paying attention to food waste problems in Norway.

• Szulecka, Julia (2020). BREAD nettside.
• Szulecka, Julia (2020). BREAD project website.
• Szulecka, Julia (2020). Ongoing research and progress in BREAD.
• Szulecka, Julia (2020). Ongoing research in BREAD: Working with the Norwegian food sector.
• Szulecka, Julia (2020). TIK4040 Project presentations.
• Szulecka, Julia (2020). BREAD – Building REsponsibility And Developing Innovative Strategies for Tackling Food Waste.
• Szulecka, Julia (2020). Will the European Green Deal push for more food waste reductions? AFINO Blog. Show summary

  Recent months brought important, forward-looking sustainability strategies for the European Union. Both the European Green Deal and the Farm-to-Fork strategy identify food waste as a significant problem to deal with. Why is it important and how is it addressed on the EU agenda?

• Szulecka, Julia (2020). Food waste in the COVID-19 era: Can the state coerce consumer responsibility? AFINO Blog. Show summary

  There are strong tensions between seeing food as a right and as a commodity. Taking into account that this is a limited resource, it seems obvious that we cannot rely on the food markets alone. But how far can regulation and pressure to reduce waste go without impeding civic liberties – and without backfiring?

• Szulecka, Julia (2019). Building REsponsibility And Developing Innovative Strategies for Tackling Food Waste.
• Szulecka, Julia (2019). Tackling Food Waste .
• Szulecka, Julia; Bugge, Markus & Scordato, Lisa (2019). Bioøkonomi - men hvordan? Koordineringsutfordringer.
• Szulecka, Julia (2019). Local innovation networks as drivers of the bioeconomy transition.
• Scordato, Lisa; Bugge, Markus & Szulecka, Julia (2019). Koordineringsutfordringer i politikken for bioøkonomien.
• Szulecka, Julia (2018). Strengthening the Nordic Bioeconomy.
• Bugge, Markus; Dybdahl, Linn Meidell & Szulecka, Julia (2018). Recycling or prevention of waste?Addressing the food waste challenge in the right end (SusValueWaste Policy Brief no. 2).
• Szulecka, Julia & Szulecki, Kacper (2018). Rike Norge og fattige Paraguay, en oppskrift på lykke? Aftenposten (morgenutg. : trykt utg.). ISSN 0804-3116.
• Szulecka, Julia (2018). Forest bioeconomy - multiple use of forest land: the craftmanship of working together.
• Klitkou, Antje; Capasso, Marco; Hansen, Teis & Szulecka, Julia (2018). New path development for forest-based value creation in Norway.
• Szulecka, Julia & Szulecki, Kacper (2017). Spółdzielnia. Znak. ISSN 0044-488X. 741(2), p. 40–47.
• Szulecka, Julia & Szulecki, Kacper (2017). [Polska] Jana Szyszki bajki o klimacie. Kultura Liberalna. ISSN 2081-027X. 440(24).
• Szulecka, Julia (2017). Sustainable Energy from Wood: Global Sustainability Standards and Local Corporate-Societal Partnerships in Bioenergy Production.
• Szulecka, Julia (2017). Uprooted: How Parliamentarism, Professionalization, and a Conservative Backlash De-legitimized Polish Environmentalism.
• Szulecki, Kacper & Szulecka, Julia (2016). Pocztówki z antropocenu. Znak. ISSN 0044-488X. 70(738).
• Nesheim, Ingrid; Szulecka, Julia; Baann, Cecilie; Hurley, Rachel; Nøklebye, Emmy & Phoo, May Thazin [Show all 11 contributors for this article] (2023). Towards sustainable waste management in Myanmar – key results from the project ‘Capacity building on waste management in the Bago Region’. Norsk institutt for vannforskning. ISSN 978-82-577-7659-6. Show summary

  This report presents key results from the project ‘Capacity building on waste management in the Bago Region’. It synthesizes primary and secondary data on various aspects of waste management in the Bago Township, including a study of the formal and informal waste management systems and their key actors, and a study of microplastic pollution of the Bago River. Building on Action Research it further presents four pilot cases promoting sustainable waste management practices and behavioural change through a cleanup of a river side waste dump, waste management at the local market, new waste management systems and composting at selected monasteries.

• Szulecka, Julia & Szulecki, Kacper (2017). Polish Environmental Movement 1980-2017. (De)legitimization, Politics & Ecological Crises. Environmental Studies and Policy Research Institute.

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