Atle Midttun
Professor Emeritus
Department of Law and Governance
Employee Profile
- Room number B4I-116
- Phone +4746410632
- E-mail atle.midttun@bi.no
Biography
Atle Midttun is a professor at the Norwegian Business School, the Department of Innovation and Economic Organisation. He is a co-director of two of the school's research centres: The Centre for Energy and Environment, and The Centre for Corporate Responsibility. Prior to his work at The Norwegian Business School, Atle Midttun was a researcher at the Resource Studies Group, under the Norwegian Research Council for Technical and Natural Sciences (1982-85), a research assistant at the Institute for Social studies (1981-82) and at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Oslo (1979-81).
Atle Midttun has had visiting professorships at Standford University, Woods Institute for the Environment; Université Paris Sud, Faculté Jean Monet; the University of Michigan, Business School/School of Natural Resources. He has been a visiting Scholar at the Univeristy of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, the Max Planck Institute for Social Science in Köln, and the University of Aalborg.
Atle Midttun is a member of the editorial committees in European Management Review, the Energy & Environment Journal; Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society; and Energy Policy (1995-2014).
Atle Midttun has had visiting professorships at Standford University, Woods Institute for the Environment; Université Paris Sud, Faculté Jean Monet; the University of Michigan, Business School/School of Natural Resources. He has been a visiting Scholar at the Univeristy of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, the Max Planck Institute for Social Science in Köln, and the University of Aalborg.
Atle Midttun is a member of the editorial committees in European Management Review, the Energy & Environment Journal; Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society; and Energy Policy (1995-2014).
Area of Expertise
Publications
Shows
5
of 67 publication(s)
Chapter Atle Midttun (2025)
Chapter 6 Companies squeezed between autocratic and democratic regimes
Book review Atle Midttun (2023)
Dreamworld or Dystopia?: The Nordic Model and Its Influence in the 21st Century
Anthology Atle Midttun (2022)
Governance and business models for sustainable capitalism
Governance and Business Models for Sustainable Capitalism touches upon many of the central themes of today’s debate on business and society. In particular, it brings attention to a recurrent tension between efficiency, innovation, and productivity on the one hand, and fairness, equity, and sustainability on the other. The book argues that we need radical rethinking of business models and economic governance, beyond the classical doctrine, which sees social and ecological responsibility as lying with public-policy regulation of purely profit-seeking firms. In spite of the popular CSR agenda, business – as we know it today – is both too transient and too limited in its motivation to carry the regulatory burden. We need to adopt a much wider concept of 'partnered governance', where advanced states and pioneering companies work together to raise the social and environmental bar. The book suggests that civil engagements based on moral rather than formal rights, and amplified through the media, may provide a healthy challenge both to autocratic planning and to solely profit-centered commercialization. The book also proposes a triple cycle theory of innovation for sustainability: a novel framing of the efficacy of green and prosocial entrepreneurship as intertwined with political visions and supportive institutions. In addition, the book offers reflections on the ways in which further digital robotizaton may enable transition to an ‘Agora Economy’ where productive efficiency is combined with expanded civic freedoms. Aimed primarily at researchers, academics, and students in the fields of political economy, business and society, corporate governance, business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability, the book will additionally be of value to practitioners, supplying them with information regarding the challenges associated with the shaping of sustainable or ‘civilised’ market capitalism for a better world.
Article Atle Midttun, Marina Khanieva, Magne Lia, Eivind Wenner (2022)
The greening of the European petroleum industry
This article analyses the European petroleum industry's climate engagement over the two first decades of this century. It studies strategic visions and business models, alongside revenue streams and investment patterns, in the five largest European petroleum companies. The analysis shows how the European petroleum majors, starting from ‘climate negligence’, gradually moved into ‘clean petroleum’ and ended up with visions of ‘net zero’ transition out of oil and gas, while revenue streams remained almost exclusively petroleum-based. It displays how the gap between economic realities and professed climate strategy responds to contradictory signals from politics and markets. While European politicians stepped up expectations for radical CO 2 reduction, markets supported petroleum. Companies therefore adjusted climate-strategic visions to political pressure for legitimacy, while adapting commercial practice to profits from oil & gas markets. Finally, our study demonstrates how policy and markets could be better realigned. For example, the EU's Green Deal, in tune with declining costs of renewables and rapidly increasing CO 2 prices, presents interesting paths towards profitable greening. Early moves from pioneering petroleum companies demonstrate that it can be done. However, greening European energy production is not enough. Climate effects will only come if consumption follows suit.
Article Eirik Ogner Jåstad, Torjus Folsland Bolkesjø, Per Kr. Rørstad, Atle Midttun, Judit Sandquist, Erik Trømborg (2021)
The future role of forest-based biofuels: Industrial impacts in the Nordic countries
This study applies a partial equilibrium forest sector model to analyse the impacts of biofuel deployment for road transport in the Nordic countries, when alternative use of the biomass resources and transport sector electrification are considered. We foresee a strong electrification of the transport sector, resulting in a demand for biofuels of approximately 2.5 billion L in 2035 and 1 billion L in 2050 in a 100% fossil-free base scenario. The simultaneous increase in demand from pulping industries and biofuel will cause an overall increase in wood use, of which the biofuels share will constitute approximately 20–25%. The utilization of harvest residues will increase more than 300% compared to the current level, since biofuel production will reallocate some of the current raw material used in district heating. Biofuel consumption in road transport will likely reduce after 2040 due to increasing electrification, but it is plausible that the declining domestic demand will be replaced by increasing demand from international biofuel markets in aviation and shipping. The main uncertainties in the scenarios are the future costs and profitability of forest-based biofuel technologies and the public acceptance of the close to 100 TWh of new renewable electricity production needed for the electrification of Nordic road transport
Article Atle Midttun, Nina Witoszek (2019)
The Competitive Advantage of Collaboration – Throwing New Light on The Nordic Model
In one of the most influential contributions to modern political economy, Hall and Soskice have launched a distinction between ‘liberal’ and ‘coordinated’ market economies, placing the Nordic countries firmly in the latter category. We argue that, while the H&S distinction may serve classificatory purposes, seeing the Nordic model in terms of ‘coordinated capitalism’ blurs the distinctive features of the Nordic countries’ success as productive and fair economies. We contend that the central formula behind this success lies in what we call the Nordic model’s ambidexterity – the capacity to combine collaborative and competitive elements and skilfully navigate between them. Using an interdisciplinary perspective (inspired by organisation theory, cultural semiotics and evolutionary analysis), we provide a conceptual basis for reinterpreting the Nordic Model as an ambidextrous combination of culturally rooted, collaborative strategies that are subsequently competitively exposed. The article illustrates the workings of this ambidexterity in three societal domains: work life (including female participation), resource management – illustrated by the Norwegian petro-economy – and international business management and regulation with a focus on CSR. In each case we will show how collaboration is intertwined with pragmatic competitive exposure, yielding high productivity, high welfare, as well as fair income and wealth distribution.
Article Atle Midttun, Knut Myrum Næss, Proadpran Boonprasurd Piccini (2019)
Biofuel policy and industrial transition? A Nordic perspective
The article explores the interplay between policy, technological innovation and market dynamics. It highlights the challenges of combining biofuel policies for ‘greening’ transport with reviving the Nordic forestry industry. We find that strong policy initiatives have triggered a transition to biofuel in the three Nordic countries but have so far given little stimulus to forest-industrial revival. Instead, biofuel has created dynamic change in the petroleum sector, where retailers and refineries have adopted cheap imported biofuel to diversify out of an exclusive reliance on petroleum, leaving forest-based biofuel unable to compete. However, this does not mean that the forestry industry has remained stagnant. We find that parts of the Nordic forestry industry have staged an impressive revival, though one based predominantly on high value products, such as hygiene products and labels, and not on biofuel. We conclude that, while public policy may influence commercial conditions, it does not—in a market economy—dictate the industrial strategy, which is hard to predict, especially when it moves beyond existing sector-boundaries. However, the recent adjustment in biofuel policy, in part a response to ecological critique, may represent a more promising opportunity for forest-industrial participation in the future.
Article Peter Turchin, Nina Witoszek, Stefan Thurner, David Garcia, Roger Griffin, Daniel Hoyer, Atle Midttun, James Bennett, Knut Myrum Næss, Sergey Gavrilets (2018)
A history of possible futures: Multipath forecasting of social breakdown, recovery, and resilience
Recent years have seen major political crises throughout the world, and foreign policy analysts nearly universally expect to see rising tensions within (and between) countries in the next 5–20 years. Being able to predict future crises and to assess the resilience of different countries to various shocks is of foremost importance in averting the potentially huge human costs of state collapse and civil war. The premise of this paper is that a transdisciplinary approach to forecasting social breakdown, recovery, and resilience is entirely feasible, as a result of recent breakthroughs in statistical analysis of large-scale historical data, the qualitative insights of historical and semiotic investigations, and agent-based models that translate between micro-dynamics of interacting individuals and the collective macro-level events emerging from these interactions. Our goal is to construct a series of probabilistic scenarios of social breakdown and recovery, based on historical crises and outcomes, which can aid the analysis of potential outcomes of future crises. We call this approach—similar in spirit to ensemble forecasting in weather prediction—multipath forecasting (MPF). This paper aims to set out the methodological premises and basic stages envisaged to realize this goal within a transdisciplinary research collaboration: first, the statistical analysis of a massive database of past instances of crisis to determine how actual outcomes (the severity of disruption and violence, the speed of resolution) depend on inputs (economic, political, and cultural factors); second, the encoding of these analytical insights into probabilistic, empirically informed computational models of societal breakdown and recovery—the MPF engine; third, testing the MPF engine to “predict” the trajectories and outcomes of another set of past social upheavals, which were not used in building the model. This “historical retrodiction” is an innovation that will allow us to further refine the MPF technology. Ultimately our vision is to use MPF to help write what we call “a history of possible futures,” in which the near- and medium-term paths of societies are probabilistically forecast.
Chapter Atle Midttun, Lennart Olsson (2018)
Eco-modernity Nordic style: the challenge of aligning ecological and socioednomid sustainability
Chapter Atle Midttun (2018)
Challenges to the Nordic work model in the age of globalied digitaliation
Chapter Atle Midttun (2018)
Civilising global capitalism: aligning CSR and the welfare state
Academic book Nina Witoszek, Atle Midttun (2018)
Sustainable Modernity: The Nordic Model and Beyond
Chapter Nina Witoszek, Atle Midttun (2018)
Sustainable modernity and the architecture of the 'well-being society': interdisciplinary perspectives
Chapter Atle Midttun (2018)
Staging Pathways Towards Ecomodernity
Article Atle Midttun, Proadpran Boonprasurd Piccini (2017)
Facing the climate and digital challenge: European energy industry from boom to crisis and transformation
This article contributes to the understanding of the current transformation of the energy industry in Europe and the interplay between greening policies and digital technological innovation. It shows how, since the financial crisis, core players in the European energy industry ended up in a dualist limbo, between conventional and emerging business models. It documents how strategies and business models that delivered extraordinary financial performance in the first decade of the 21st century often failed dramatically after the 2008 financial crisis. Yet it finds that incumbents with 1) a greener energy mix, 2) smaller scale and, quite naturally, 3) better financial performance fared better than others The study explores the emergence of new business models and finds that most of the emerging business models circle around the customer interface where digital solutions allow more flexible interplay between consumption and production of energy, and/or between several service alternatives to fulfill basic needs for customer home comfort. The article also discusses important policy implications: For competition policy, it indicates a shift from challenges of scale and scope towards challenges of regulating networks and dominant platforms. Furthermore, it highlights new policy dilemmas concerning balancing and energy storage to accommodate intermittent supply from renewables.
Chapter Atle Midttun (2016)
Green energy transition in the EU and the United States
Academic book Atle Midttun, Nina Witoszek (2016)
Energy and Transport in Green Transition: Perspectives on Ecomodernity
Chapter Jan-Olaf Willums, Atle Midttun, Elin Jeannette Staurem (2016)
The Automotive Industry: Meandering towards green transition in the European Union and the United States
Chapter Atle Midttun, Nina Witoszek (2016)
A Battle of Modernities
Chapter Atle Midttun, Nina Witoszek (2016)
Towards Ecomodernity
Article Atle Midttun, Maria Gjølberg, Arno Kourula, Susanne Sweet, Steen Vallentin (2015)
Public Policies for Corporate Social Responsibility in Four Nordic Countries: Harmony of Goals and Conflict of Means
Article Atle Midttun, Paddy Coulter, Audrey Gadzekpo, Jin Wang (2015)
Comparing media framings of climate change in developed, rapid growth and developing countries: Findings from Norway, China and Ghana
Chapter Atle Midttun, Elzbieta Toporowska (2014)
Sequencing Lead Markets for Photovoltaics
Chapter Atle Midttun (2013)
Civil Society as a Driver of Governance Innovation: A Montesquieu Perspective
Academic book Atle Midttun (2013)
CSR and beyond: A Nordic perspective
Chapter Atle Midttun (2013)
Civilising Capitalism - Introduction
Chapter Atle Midttun, Atle Blomgren, Annik Fet, Tatiana Iakovleva, Fred Erling Wenstøp, Elin Jeannette Staurem, Elizbieta Toporowska (2013)
CSR, Innovation and Value Creation in Rapidly Growing SMEs
Editorial Atle Midttun, Alberto Martinelli (2012)
Towards green growth and multilevel governance
Over the last four or five years the world has seen a dramatic change in the international climate negotiations, from an upbeat vision of an agreement on emission reduction targets and burden sharing launched on Bali in 2007, followed by a search for new strategies to ensure more success in Rio in 2012. One of the emerging outcomes has been a 'green growth' strategy which seems more likely to succeed as a central climate mitigation approach, insofar as it can more easily be aligned with aspirations across national divides. Against the backdrop of the financial and sovereign debt crises, there are great hopes that green innovation and industrial engagement, triggered by innovative policies, can save the climate at the same time as boosting sluggish economies. A separate and parallel development is a move from international climate negotiations towards multilevel engagements by national governments. In spite of failures in reaching international climate consensus, both informal and formalized networks and coalitions have been formed between cities, regions and states take climate action nevertheless. And there is a growing awareness that environmental governance, in order to be effective, not only needs a multi-level but also multi-actor through the engagement of civil society alongside the state and market.
Article Atle Midttun (2012)
The greening of European electricity industry: A battle of modernities
Europe has played the role of a green hegemon on the global arena for several decades. By exploring its green transition in the electricity industry, the article discusses whether Europe is on track with regard to delivering sustainable development in a core sector at home. The article finds that the greening of European electricity industry has been highly dynamic and can best be represented in terms of competing modernities; where carbon, nuclear, renewables and demand side management challenge each other in the race for sustainable energy solutions. The article describes the Greening European electricity industry as a complex institutional game which resembles a relay race where various factors have driven innovation at different stages. Change may be initially have been politically driven, while the baton is later taken by markets, technology or civic mobilization. The article shows how strong greening policies may lead to blockage, whereas softer and less confrontational policies with triggering effects may have a better chance of success. The article also argues that a central factor in the apparent European success in greening electricity has been an advantageous blend of technology push and market pull approaches, which has merged out of national rivalry rather than coordinated planning.
Editorial Atle Midttun, Nils-Otto Ørjasæter (2012)
Innovasjon som balansegang
Article Atle Midttun, Nils-Otto Ørjasæter (2012)
Multiplikasjonseffekter ved innovasjon i leverandørnettverk: Norsk offshorepetroleumssektor som innovasjonsarena
Norsk petroleumssektor har vært en storstilt arena for innovasjon. Næringen har gått løs på en kontinuerlig strøm av utfordringer; fra utvikling av felt i grunne farvann med lett tilgjengelig olje og gass, til kompliserte reservoarer, langt fra land i dype havområder, og med store klimatiske utfordringer. Utfordringene har vært løst gjennom et omfattende samarbeid mellom operatørselskap (store petroleumsselskap), deres leverandører og underleverandører. Keynes påviste i sin tid muligheter for å utnytte positive ringvirkninger av offentlige investeringer og forbruk for å få fart på økonomien (Keynes 1936). Effekten var langt større enn den offentlige innsatsen skulle tilsi, takket være omfattende ringvirkninger eller den såkalte 'multiplikatoreffekten'. Vi argumenterer for at det kan skapes en tilsvarende multiplikatoreffekt for innovasjon som ikke bare utløser leverandørbedriftenes kreativitet, men også høster erfaringer fra nyskapning i egne utallige øvrige nettverk og kunderelasjoner. Denne effekten er illustrert gjennom tre case, nemlig utviklingen av den ubemannede og tråløse undervannsfarkosten, HUGIN, havbunnsgravemaskinen SPIDER og et havbunns-gasskomperasjonsanlegg. Casene illustrerer også operatørselskapenes evne til å mobilisere og koordinere sitt leverandørnettverk. Med deres sterke ressursbase og betydelige insentiver, klarer de å forene behovet for samarbeid, mot behovet for konkurranse. Petroleumselskapene konkurrerer med hverandre om å få operatøransvaret for nye felt (lisenser). Straks lisensen er utdelt, samarbeider de om utbygging og drift av det samme feltet. De mobiliserer så sitt leverandørnettverk i en åpen invasjonsarena. Premien for leverandørene er kompetanseoppbygging og utvikling av nye immaterielle verdier, som igjen kan brukes for å erobre nye prosjekter og kunder.
Article Caroline Dale Ditlev-Simonsen, Atle Midttun (2011)
What Motivates Managers to Pursue Corporate Responsibility? A Survey among Key Stakeholders
Article Atle Midttun, Riedel Rafael (2011)
Wewnętrzna różnorodność Unii Europejskiej a prawo Ashby’ego – wymiar klimatyczno-energetyczny
Article Alberto Martinelli, Atle Midttun (2010)
Globalization and governance for sustainability
Chapter Atle Midttun, Nils-Otto Ørjasæter (2010)
The Firm as a Nexus of Product Cycles: Organizing Entrepreneurship in the Innovative Firm
Article Atle Midttun (2010)
Montesquieu for the twenty-first century: factoring civil society and business into global governance
Article Atle Midttun (2008)
Samfunnsansvar som innovasjonsstrategi
Article Atle Midttun (2008)
Partnered governance: aligning corporate responsibility and public policy in the global economy
Article Atle Midttun, Atle Midttun, Tore Dirdal, Kristian Gautesen, Terje Omland, Søren Wenstøp (2007)
Integrating corporate social responsibility and other strategic foci in a distributed production system: a transaction cost perspective on the North Sea offshore petroleum industry
Article Atle Midttun, Kristian Gautesen (2007)
Feed in or certificates, competition or complementarity? Combining a static efficiency and a dynamic innovation perspective on the greening of the energy industry
Chapter Mari Hegg Gundersen, Anne Louise Koefoed, Atle Midttun (2007)
Greening of European Electricity Industry: The Challenges of Policy Integration Across Cognitive and Administrative Specialisation
Chapter Atle Midttun, Nils-Otto Ørjasæter (2007)
Selskapet som et knippe produktsykluser: organisering av intraprenørskap i det innovative foretak
Article Atle Midttun (2007)
CSR eller bedriftens samfunnsansvar en megatrend vokser fram
Chapter Atle Midttun (2006)
Deregulation: Design, Learning and Legitimacy
Article Atle Midttun, Kristian Gautesen (2006)
Innmatingsretter eller sertifikater, konkurranse eller komplementaritet i energinæringen?
Chapter Atle Midttun, Anne Louise Koefoed (2005)
Green Innovation in Nordic Energy Industry: Institutional Pluralism under Competitive Rivalry
Article Atle Midttun (2005)
CSR: Realigning Roles and Boundaries between Government, Business and Civil Society
Chapter Atle Midttun (2005)
Deregulation: Design, Learning and Legitimacy
Chapter Atle Midttun, Anne Louise Koefoed (2004)
Green Innovation in Nordic Energy Industry: InstitutionalPluralism under Competitive Rivalry
Article Atle Midttun, Mari Hegg Gundersen, Anne Louise Koefoed (2004)
Greening of Nordic Electricity industry: Policy Convergence and Diversity
Article Dominique Finon, Tor Arnt Johnsen, Atle Midttun (2004)
Challenges when electricity markets face the investment phase
Article Anne Louise Koefoed, Atle Midttun (2003)
Greening of electricity in Europe: challenges and developments
Chapter Atle Midttun, Joar Handeland, Terje Omland (2003)
The Nordic Public Ownership Model Under Transition To Market Economy: The Case Of Electricity
Chapter Atle Midttun, Augusto R. Micola, Terje Omland (2003)
Path dependent national systems or European convergence? The case of European electricity markets
Chapter Atle Midttun, Joar Handeland, Jan Terje Henriksen, Terje Omland (2001)
Nordic business strategies
Article Atle Midttun, Anne Louise Koefoed (2001)
Effectiveness and negotiability of environmental regulation
Article Atle Midttun (2001)
De-regulated energy markets and the environment: the nordic experience
Chapter Anne Louise Koefoed, Atle Midttun (2001)
Grønn innovasjon i nordisk elektrisitetsindustri: mønstre og perspektiver
Article Atle Midttun, Svein Kamfjord (1999)
Energy and Environmental Governance under Ecological Modernization: A Comparative Analysis of Nordic Countries
Article Atle Midttun, J. Summerton (1998)
Loyalty or competition? A comparative analysis of Norwegian and Swedish electricity distributor's adaptation to market reform
Article Atle Midttun, Steve Thomas (1998)
Theoretical Ambiguity and the Weight of Historical Heritage: A Comparative Study of the British and Norwegian Electricity Liberalisation
Article Atle Midttun, I. Chander (1998)
The political economy of energy use and pollution: The environmental effects of East-European transition to market economy
Chapter Atle Midttun, Henrik Glimstedt, Even Lange (1998)
Liberalisering av europeiske elektrisitetsmarkeder: Stiavhengig industriell rekonfigurering
Shows
5
of 18 publication(s)
Feature article Atle Midttun, Nina Witoszek (2021)
Har oljehykleriet sine fordeller
Feature article Atle Midttun, Nina Witoszek (2019)
Er den norske modellen i faresonen?
Feature article Nina Witoszek, Atle Midttun (2018)
Mange varsler et Ragnarok for Nordens møte med digitalisering, migrasjon og ulikhet. Vi er likevel forsiktige optimister
Feature article Atle Midttun (2018)
Hykleri på vei mot en bedre verden
Feature article Atle Midttun, Proadpran Boonprasurd Piccini (2017)
Norske Skog og faren med monokultur
Feature article Nina Witoszek, Atle Midttun (2016)
«Verden er besatt av nordisk velferd,»
Feature article Atle Midttun, Nina Witoszek (2016)
Verden er besatt av nordisk velferd
Feature article Atle Midttun (2015)
Stiftelser bør bruke indeksfond
Feature article Atle Midttun, Nina Witoszek (2015)
En postkarbon sivilasjon
Feature article Atle Midttun (2015)
Nordisk modell må fornyes
Feature article Atle Midttun, Nina Witoszek (2015)
Fra folkestyre til forretningsstyre?
Feature article Atle Midttun (2015)
Oslo foran Norge på klimatiltak
Feature article Nina Witoszek, Atle Midttun (2014)
"Demokratisk underskudd i Norge"
Feature article Atle Midttun (2011)
Nordic values may find chilly welcome in China
Feature article Atle Midttun (2011)
Myte eller virkelighet
Interview Atle Midttun (2011)
Ti år med samfunnsansvar: Høy Sigarføring
Feature article Atle Midttun, Nils-Otto Ørjasæter (2011)
lang vei til nytt næringsliv
Feature article Nina Witoszek, Atle Midttun (2011)
"Et forbilde fro verden i krise"
Shows
5
of 42 publication(s)
Book chapter Atle Midttun, Marie Haraldsen, Torbjørn Standal, Håkon Øyehaug Moe (2024)
Navigating Carbon Neutrality in a Petro-Rich State: Challenges for Norway
Conference lecture Atle Midttun, Martina Mercellova (2021)
The Nordic model and it's neo-liberal shadow
Lecture Atle Midttun (2020)
Biodrivstoff i Norden: Premisser for utvikling av en nordisk verdikjede for biodrivstoff
Report Atle Midttun, Næss Knut Myrum (2019)
Markets for Biofuel: Norway in a Nordic Context
Report Atle Midttun, Elling Enger, Arne Lind, Magne Lia, Julien Meyer, Margrethe Voll Storaas, Jon Lereim, Pål Nygaard (2019)
Carbon capture – from waste to energy: a stylized case from a pioneering initiative at Klemetsrud, Oslo. Report to the CLIMIT – demo project 618215: Potential for financing and pricing Carbon Capture in Waste-to Energy Installations in cities
Oslo has recently been given the European Environmental Capital award for 2019, following its adoption of an ambitious green strategy of reducing CO2 emissions by 50% by 2022, and by 95% by 2030. A core premise for Oslo reaching its goals is, however, that the city’s waste to energy plant installs carbon capture for sequestration (CCS). With 400,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year (Fortum 2019), Oslo’s Klemetsrud waste to energy plant is the largest single point carbon emitter in the city, and with these emissions it will be impossible for Oslo to reach its CO2 targets. However, carbon capture at Klemetsrud also carries significance in a wider global climate perspective. Global climate models are increasingly reverting to CCS in order to arrive at scenarios that are compatible with the Paris Agreement . This has created new pressure for CCS implementation, and Klemetsrud – if successful – could be an important trigger for CCS in Europe. This report is a styilized business case study of the Klemetsrud CCS project in light of four different regulatory scenarios.
Article Atle Midttun, Nina Witoszek (2018)
Hvor robust er den nordiske modellen?
Article Atle Midttun (2018)
Hykleri på vei mot en bedre verden
Conference lecture Atle Midttun, Nina Witoszek (2016)
“Fostering Prosociality in a Competitive World”. The "Norwegian Model in the Age of Globalization".
Conference lecture Atle Midttun, Nina Witoszek (2016)
"Staging Pathways towards Ecomodernity"
Commentary Atle Midttun, Chen Wei (2015)
CSR i Kina
Article Atle Midttun (2014)
Bedrifters samfunnsansvar i en global økonomi
Book chapter George Monbiot, Joel Bakan, Torger Reve, Caroline Taylor, Atle Midttun (2013)
Debating CSR, democracy and value creation
Conference lecture Annik Magerholm Fet, Atle Midttun (2012)
Is CSR a Strategic Tool for Innovation and Growth in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises?
Article Caroline Dale Ditlev-Simonsen, Atle Midttun (2012)
Hvorfor tar ledere samfunnsansvar?
Conference lecture Atle Midttun (2011)
Framing Climate Change: Norwegian (and British) Press Under Scrutiny
Conference lecture Atle Midttun (2010)
Towards a Post Carbon Economy
Conference lecture Atle Midttun, Elin Jeannette Staurem (2010)
CSR & Innovation in SMEs
Report Markus Bugge, Helge Lauritz Godø, Atle Midttun, Trond Einar Pedersen, Olav R. Spilling (2010)
FoU for en grønn energisektor: Analyser av innovasjons- og kommersialiseringsstrategier i åtte FMEer - Forskningssentre for Miljøvennlig Energi
Tema for analysen som presenteres i denne rapporten er innovasjons- og kommersialiseringsstrategier og –aktiviteter i åtte Forskningssentre for Miljøvennlig Energi (FME). Rapporten er en samfunnsfaglig analyse, der vi skal belyse ”hvordan FMEenes forskningsresultater skal kunne maksimere sitt potensial for å bli realisert”, slik dette er formulert i oppdragsbeskrivelsen fra Norges forskningsråd. I analysen har vi operasjonaliserte dette som FMEenes innovasjons- og kommersialiseringsstrategier og –aktiviteter. Sentralt i dette oppdraget er å analysere hva som er forutsetningene for at FMEene skal realisere sitt potensial, med vekt på å analysere dette i forhold til relevante markedsforhold og politiske rammebetingelser og virkemidler.
Conference lecture Atle Midttun (2010)
Wisdom in Business and the Economy
Conference lecture Atle Midttun (2010)
Towards a Post-Carbon Economy
Conference lecture Atle Midttun (2010)
Montesquieu for the 21st century: Factoring civil society and business into global governance
Conference lecture Atle Midttun (2010)
The Making of a Green Transition
Conference lecture Atle Midttun (2009)
Partnered Governance: Aligning Corporate Responsibility and Public Policy in the Global Economy
Report Atle Midttun (2009)
Creative Responses to Sustainability Jin Wang report nr. 1
Report Atle Midttun (2009)
Strategic CSR Innovation Serving Societal and Individual Needs
Conference lecture Atle Midttun (2009)
Montesquieu for the 21st Century: Factoring Civil Society and Business into Global Governance
Report Atle Midttun (2009)
Strategic CSR Innovation - Serving Societal and Individual Needs
This report explores the challenges and opportunities of strategic CSR, and is primarily based on three cases of CSR-driven innovation in Norway. The study has been undertaken within the framework of a project on CSR-driven innovation organised and partially financed by the Nordic Innovation Centre and carried out by the business schools in the four Nordic capitals. Copenhagen Business School; BI – Norwegian School of Management, Helsinki School of Economics, Reykjavik Business University, Stockholm School of Economics. Some of the central insights emerging from this explorative study are that CSR-driven innovation entails a number of specific possibilities and constraints: 1) It allows a move beyond defensive and proactive CSR into a more rewarding synthesis between social and commercial concerns. 2) It introduces the paradigm of serving both societal and individual needs, thereby transcending the division between public and private goods. 3) It necessitates an alignment between micro-level business strategy and macro-level societal needs. 4) It creates new opportunities for finance, organisation, marketing and regulation, and allows new dynamic alignments to drive learning investments, niche markets and product differentiation. Chapter 1 discusses the core possibilities and constraints of CR-driven innovation, based on the three Norwegian cases that are presented in the following chapters 2 to 4. Chapter 5 provides some brief concluding remarks.
Article Atle Midttun (2006)
Lønnsomhet og samfunnsansvar i en internasjonal innovasjonsøkonomi
Article Atle Midttun, Kristian Gautesen, Maria Gjølberg (2006)
The Political Economy of CSR in Western Europe
Report Atle Midttun, Tore Dirdal, Kristian Gautesen (2005)
Offentlig-private partnerskap som supplement til det offentlige velferdstilbudet
Bærum kommune /Frivillighetssentralen har gjennom en fireårsperiode gjort forsøk med å engasjere private bedrifter i partnerskap med kommunen. De to første årene var prosjektet underlagt Frivillighetssentralen i Bærum kommune. Fokus var rettet mot næringslivet for å motivere utvalgte bedrifter til samfunnsengasjement i et sosialt eller offentlig-privat partnerskap Sosialt partnerskap ble definert som et samarbeid mellom et offentlig tjenestested og en bedrift som forplikter seg til å utføre et nærmere definert ”frivillig arbeid” utført av bedriften i den betalte arbeidstiden. Vi bruker i det følgende sosiale partnerskap synonymt med offentlige-private partnerskap med offentlig og frivillig sektor. Prosjektet ble etter hvert sterkere forankret på politisk og administrativt nivå i Bærum kommune, som videreførte prosjektet. Bærum kommunes initiativ kommer på en tid da sosiale partnerskap i stigende grad lanseres internasjonalt, både på nasjonalt og overnasjonalt nivå. Særlig har Storbritannia satset sterkt i denne retning, men også FN har engasjert seg i å fremme partnerskap omkring de store utfordringene i den globale utvikling. Denne rapporten presenterer noen refleksjoner omkring prinsipielle sider ved sosiale eller offentlig-private partnerskap og foretar, mot denne bakgrunn, en evaluering av Bærum kommunes forsøk med sosiale partnerskap mellom bedrifter og kommunal forvaltning. Avslutningsvis drøftes generelle fordeler og ulemper ved ”Bærumsmodellen” så langt, og på grunnlag av evalueringen presenteres tiltak for å styrke det sosiale eller offentlig-private partnerskapsarbeidet. Som del av prosjektet har Bærum kommune også utarbeidet en egen manual for sosialt partnerskapsarbeid.
Report Atle Midttun (2005)
Developing Green Markets. Design Challenges and Pioneering Experience in three European Settings ? The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Sweden
This report explores some of the drivers behind this development and describes and analyses experiences in the Dutch, UK and Swedish green electricity markets. The report points out that the recursion to market based greening is demanding, as political authorities thereby engage extensively not only in market regulation, but also in market construction, even to the extent of taking responsibility for creating demand and balancing it with sufficient supply. Because of the design challenge and the goal complexity, green electricity market development therefore appears to involve considerable policy learning and regulation and market construction itself, thus, contains strong elements of innovation. The report, therefore, shows how policy innovation comes to interplay with the technological and commercial innovation of market actors, that it is supposed to bring about.
Report Atle Midttun, Tore Dirdal, Kristian Gautesen, Terje Omland, Søren Wenstøp (2005)
Integrating Corporate Social Responsibility and Other Strategic Foci in a Distributed production system
Report Mari Hegg Gundersen, Anne Louise Koefoed, Atle Midttun (2004)
Greening of European Electricity Industry. The challenge of policy integration across cognitive and administrative specialisation
Focusing on greening of electricity industry (GEI), this report explores the positions and outlook of various units within the EU system with mandates in the greening of electricity industry process. The study takes a knowledge-based perspective on administrative decision-making, where administrative units are seen as carriers of cognitive models and as specialized competency networks. Embedded in the EU’s administrative management of GEI, the study finds positions that can be referred to as four underlying conceptual models: 1) The market efficiency model, which is typically found in units handling internal market policy, competition policy and de-regulation policy of the EU. The core focus of this model is on efficient allocation of economic resources between alternative deployments in an economy where both economic resources and technologies are given and scarce. 2) The innovation/exploration model, which relates to the innovation policy dimension of GEI. Environmental reorientation of the energy system is here seen as a question not only of efficiency, but also of technological change. The core focus of this model is new industrial development and growth as a function of innovation. 3) The eco-efficiency model, which relates specifically to the environmental policy dimension of GEI. The greening challenge is here transformed into economic incentives. The core focus of this model is on internalisation of costs of environmental damage and negative external effects into the business model and into the regulatory market design. 4) As a major input factor in the economy GEI also raises important industrial policy concerns. The core focus of the industrial policy model is on building up and maintaining industrial capabilities within the territorial domain in focus, in this case the EU. The final part of the report develops an outlook on future European GEI policy, drawing on each of the perspectives and relating the policy alternatives also to the interests of the European Parliament and member countries. It is argued that the market efficiency model, with its eco-efficiency extension, is hard to defend politically when seen from the perspective of the EU Parliament or when related to the distributive interests of member countries. In comparison, the innovation/exploration approach has many strong sides as far as EU policy-making is concerned. With a niche market strategy, and/or project based financing, the innovation perspective creates the possibility for partnerships rather than confrontation with existing member state and industrial interests. The flexible tools in the innovation approach also allow for tradeoffs between different fractions in Parliamentary decision-making. A disputed weakness of the innovation model, if applied as a dominant strategy for greening of electricity, however, is its debateable efficiency and high costs. The outlook on greening of electricity industry coming out of the industrial policy model is ambiguous in so far as this model can be applied at different levels - from the individual nation state to the EU level. With a dominant focus on low input energy prices as part of a European industrial competitiveness strategy, this model has a credibility problem as far as GEI is concerned. While in a static perspective the policy outlooks derived from the different cognitive frameworks may conflict, a dynamic perspective could show them to be more complementary. As a final point, the report notes that irrespective of the production side solution to GEI in Europe, European energy policy is conspicuously under-developed when it comes to initiatives to reduce energy consumption.
Book Dominique Finon, Atle Midttun (2004)
Reshaping of European Electricity and Gas Industry: Regulation, Markets and Business Strategies
Report Dominique Finon, Atle Midttun (2004)
Reshaping of European Electricity and Gas Industry: Regulation, Markets and Business Strategies
Report Atle Midttun, Mari Hegg Gundersen (2003)
Green electricity trade in the Nordic region: Markets, products and transactions
This report examines the potential for- and institutional framing of green electricity trade in the Nordic region in general and for trade in standardised green products on a commodity exchange in particular. The discussion includes both mandatory, politically initiated trade as well as commercially and idealistically motivated trade. Rather than focusing on equilibrium and price formation within given institutional constraints, institutional analysis focuses on the institutional framework itself and how different institutional elements are constituted and affect market outcomes.
Report Atle Midttun, Mari Hegg Gundersen, Anne Louise Koefoed (2003)
Greening of Nordic electricity industry: policy convergence and diversity
With a comparative focus on policy similarity and diversity, this report comes out of the project named “The Energy- related Environmental Policy Game” financed by Norwegian Research Council , Industry and Energy and the Norwegian Energy Association (EBL). The project gives an overview of the main elements of electricityrelated environmental policy in the Nordic countries, following the launching of a common electricity market in the 1990s. The report points out that the electricity related environmental policy positions of the Nordic countries showed a noticeable lack of coordination in the 1990s. Nordic divergence is observed both in terms of general policy orientations and at the instrument and incentive levels, in spite of the pioneering development of a common integrated electricity market and ambitious environmental policy goals.
Book Atle Midttun, Eirik Svindland (2001)
Approaches to and dilemmas of economic regulation
Book Atle Midttun (2001)
Energy industry business strategies
Article Atle Midttun, Joar Handeland, Terje Omland (2001)
Deregulering og industriell reorganisering i nordisk el- og infrastrukturindustri
Report Atle Midttun, Svein Kamfjord (1998)
Energy and Environmental Governance under Ecological Modernisation and Functional Convergence under Institutional Diversity: A Comparative Analysis of Nordic Regimes
Report Atle Midttun, Svein Kamfjord (1998)
Deregulation and the Environment: Perceptions and Perspectives of National Decision-Makers on Environmental Concersn in the Integrated Nordic Energy Market
| Year | Academic Department | Degree |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | University of Uppsala | Ph.D Dr. Philos. |
| Year | Employer | Job Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 - Present | BI Norwegian Business School | Professor |
| 2010 - 2010 | Stanford University | Visiting Professor |
| 2003 - 2004 | Univeristy of California, Haas School of Business | Visiting Scholar |
| 2002 - 2002 | Université Paris-Sud, Faculté Jean Monet | Visiting Professor |
| 2000 - 2001 | University of Michigan, Business School | Visiting Professor |
| 1987 - 1998 | BI Norwegian Business School | Associate Professor |
| 1995 - 1995 | Aalborg University | Guest Researcher |
| 1988 - 1988 | Max Planck Institut für Gesellschafts¬forscung, Köln | Visiting Scholar |
| 1985 - 1987 | BI Norwegian Business School | Researcher |
| 1982 - 1985 | Group for Resource Studies under the National Research Council | Researcher |
| 1981 - 1982 | Institute for Social Studies | Research Assistant |
| 1979 - 1981 | University of Oslo, Institute of Sociology | Research Assistant |
BI Business Review articles:
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BI Business Review
The benefits of environmental hypocrisy
How hypocrisy can play a constructive role in the ongoing green transformation.
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BI Business Review
Biofuel: Greenwashing or greening?
Was biofuel not the saving grace the politicians hoped it would be? The story is a tank full of paradoxes, according to Atle Midttun and Knut M. Næss.
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BI Business Review
The Competitive Advantage of Collaboration
The Nordic success lies in what we call the model’s ambidextrous nature, combining collaborative and competitive elements and skillfully navigating between them.
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BI Business Review
Towards Ecomodernity
Successful green transition is driven by a mutual interplay between technology, visionary policy, and green institutionalization, argue Atle Midttun and Nina Witoszek.