Digital solutions to minimize food waste

Food waste is a major challenge for society. In Sweden alone, we throw away 1.2 million tons of food every year, most of which is unnecessary. What can we do to reduce it? What is the role of packaging? Can digitalization contribute to reducing food waste? What trends do researchers...

The challenge of sharing sustainably

Opinion by Matthias Lehner, postdoc at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Lund University. Airbnb is a hugely successful American company that has managed to make us invite strangers into our own private homes. I visited New Zealand last winter and stayed with an old lady in her...

A justice perspective on energy

As many countries around the world have started an energy transition from fossil fuel to more sustainable renewable energy sources, a group of researchers at the Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies are exploring the justice dimensions of energy systems and transitions. The group – which brings together researchers from fields...

Informal and marginalised areas can no longer be ignored

Due to rapid urbanisation, the slum population in India is expected to increase to 104 million by 2017, around 10 percent of the projected population. The term ”slums” refers to settlements unfit for human habitation, which often develop in areas prone to hazards such as floods and landslides. At the...

Is it too cheap to fly?

The distance between Lund and Bangkok is roughly 8 593 kilometres. Quite far, in other words. This does not stop Thailand being one of the most popular international holiday destinations for Swedes, along with the USA and Mediterranean countries. Air travel to destinations both near and far has become increasingly...

Cooperation is key to better integration of asylum-seeking children

How can we improve the chances of integration for young people who are illiterate? This question has become topical with the major rise in the number of children seeking asylum in Sweden. According to researchers, innovative approaches in the public sector are now needed to deal with the challenges. A...

Who wants to live in smart cities?

Chronicle by Jamil Khan Associate Professor of Environmental and Energy Systems, Lund University “A smart city is a city with open senses. With its sensors it can see, hear, feel, smell and taste digital information that contributes to a more considerate, efficient, safe and sustainable society.” This may sound as...

Back to school to conduct research on sustainability

“Sustainability is a long-term issue. A journey, rather than a goal. You can always take steps along the way – but the work is never done. It is about continuous improvement”, says Erik Lindroth, Environment Director at Tetra Pak and now also new doctoral student at the School of Economics...

The consumer of the future in a sustainable food culture

Opinion by Marcus Klasson, consumer researcher at School of Economics and Management. Food fuels humanity, but in today’s Western society, food is so much more. Food and the culture associated with food, is about lifestyle and status, economy and livelihood, individuals’ origins and, of course, about health. What we eat...