Paula Kivimaa

Research professor

PhD, Docent
Academy of Finland Research Fellow

© Kai Widell

Contact information

Finnish Environment Institute (Syke)
Climate solutions
Policies and risks
Email: firstname.lastname@syke.fi
Tel. +358 (0)400 148849
Twitter @paulakivim

I work as a Research Professor in Syke’s Climate Solutions Unit, and its Policies and Risks Group. The theme of the professorship is Climate and Societal Transitions, and I work especially on energy and transport sectors. My aims are to make new research openings, develop novel approaches to research the interaction between climate policy and societal transitions, bring security and social justice perspectives into researching climate and energy transitions, and support the development of SYKE’s research expertise and international networking in this area. I am a sustainability transitions scholar examining systemic change and how public policy and public administration connects to it. I have led many projects related to transport, building energy efficiency and energy transitions. A significant proportion of my working hours is currently spent on an Academy of Finland Fellowship Project IDEALE that explores the connections between energy and national security policies. In addition, I am a member of the Finnish Climate Panel, and an Associate Editor of Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions.

Tasks

• Research and project management focused on decarbonisation of socio-technical systems (sustainability transitions)
• Policy analysis (climate policy, energy policy, innovation policy, transport policy, security policy)
• Innovation studies (low-carbon innovations in energy and mobility)
• Policy advice (interaction with policymakers and civil servants in Finland and internationally)

Research interests

• Low/zero carbon energy and mobility transitions
• Building energy efficiency
• Policy analysis and evaluation linking to sustainability innovation and transitions
• Role of intermediary organisations in transitions
• Climate, energy, transport and innovation policy
• Security and geopolitics in sustainability transitions

Current projects

• IDEALE Interplay between National Defence and Low-Carbon Energy Policies: a Sustainability Transitions Perspective, 2019-2024 (Academy of Finland, fellowship project)
• CAScading Climate risks: towards ADaptive and resilient European Societies (CASCADES), 2019-2023 (EU H2020)

Recent projects

• Intermediaries in the energy transition: The invisible work of creating markets for sustainable energy solutions (TRIPOD), 2015-2019 (Academy of Finland)
• Eating and Energy Use Reconfigured (EE-TRANS), 2018-2019 (Academy of Finland)
• Change in Business Ecosystems for Local Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency - Better Energy Services for Consumers (USE), 2015-2018 (Academy of Finland, New Energy Programme)
   

Publications

My publications in Google Scholar

Recent papers

• Kivimaa, P., Rogge, K. (2022). Interplay of policy experimentation and institutional change in sustainability transitions: The case of mobility as a service in Finland. Research Policy 51(1): 104412.
• Kivimaa, P., Sivonen, M.H. (2021). Interplay between low-carbon energy transitions and national security: An analysis of policy integration and coherence in Estonia, Finland and Scotland. Energy Research & Social Science 75: 102024. 
• Ghosh, B., Kivimaa, P., Ramirez, M., Schot, J.W., Torrens, J. (2021). Transformative outcomes: assessing and reorienting experimentation with transformative innovation policy. Science and Public Policy 45(5): 739-756.
• Kivimaa, P., Laakso, S., Lonkila, A., Kaljonen, M. (2021). Moving beyond disruptive innovation: A review of disruption in sustainability transitions. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 38: 110-126.
• Kanda, W; Kivimaa, P (2020). What opportunities could the COVID-19 outbreak offer for sustainability transitions research on electricity and mobility? Energy Research & Social Science 68, 101666