Paper Production Technology and Environmental Performance in Sweden and Finland: Policy, Science, and Market Share

Abstract

Pulp production in Sweden and Finland changed when Sweden adopted a chlorine-free policy. The information that drove policy changes in Sweden, and ultimately across the OECD, had different causal inferences linking pulp mill discharges and environmental impacts that were related to mill siting. Furthermore, Sweden and Finland had differing perception of risks over knowledge gaps linking bleached pulp mill effluent and downstream environmental effects. There was a collective learning process in which a measure of reconciliation between science and legislative actions was reached through a complex dynamic of knowledge authentication tied to the political economy of pulp production. Knowledge-based analyses are a necessary counterpoise to conflict-related theories in understanding the problematic link between policy and technological change.