I regleringsbrevet för 2023 fick Energimyndigheten i uppdrag av regeringen att utreda hur solcellspaneler och vindturbinblad till vindkraftverk i högre utsträckning ska kunna tas om hand på ett giftfritt och cirkulärt sätt i enlighet med avfallshierarkin. Redovisningen av detta regeringsuppdrag, rapporten Från avfall till resurs – Förslag för en mer cirkulär hantering av solcellspaneler och vindturbinblad, ER 2024:11, baseras på denna underlagsrapport som har tagits fram av forskningsinstitutet RISE på uppdrag av Energimyndigheten. Analyser, slutsatser och förslag/rekommendationer som framförs i rapporten är författarnas egna.En fortsatt utbyggnad av fossilfri elproduktion är av stor vikt för att vi ska kunna nå Sveriges energi- och klimatmål. För att utbyggnaden i sig ska vara hållbar är det viktigt att vi redan nu planerar för hur avfallet från dessa elproduktionsanläggningar ska förebyggas, minimeras och sedan hanteras.Det finns redan i dagsläget aktörer som har utvecklat och håller på att utveckla ett flertal olika lösningar för ökad cirkularitet. Dessa möjligheter kan tas tillvara och främjas genom regelbunden kartläggning och genom att arbeta gemensamt inom EU. Genom ett sådant arbete finns det också större möjligheter att etablera industriella värdekedjor i Sverige för hanteringen av avfallet från solcellspaneler och vindturbinblad.En cirkulär hantering av avfall ger ett betydligt mindre avtryck på miljön än det som en linjär hantering ger upphov till. Det är viktigt att de aktörer som tillhandahåller fossilfri elproduktion tar ansvar under hela livscykeln och att det finns goda förutsättningar för aktörerna att göra det.

In 2021, heavy rainfall in the Swedish city of Gävle caused severe flooding, affecting many properties in the area. To date, insurance companies have paid more than one billion Swedish kronor in compensation to affected property owners. The distribution of damage was uneven, making it clear that the individual preconditions of each affected property had a substantial impact on the degree of damage suffered. This sparked a discussion about the risk of natural disasters on mortgages and insurance policies in light of climate change, and whether more consideration should be given to the individual conditions of a property rather than relying on general area-based risk maps where all properties in one area are assessed similarly. In many cases, small measures can have a substantial effect on the degree of climate-related hazards tied to natural disasters. In Sweden, the responsibility to undertake measures to decrease such risk today lies with the property owner. However, many owners lack relevant information on how to assess their property’s risks to natural disasters as well as hands-on recommendations on how to mitigate those risks. At the same time, financial institutions, insurance companies and many other actors face new European and national legislation that requires them to understand, measure, remedy and account for their risks related to this area. In the case of lenders assessing the risks to their collateral at an individual property level, the ability to get an overview is limited. At best, risks can be described on an area level only, meaning that the individual conditions of the property are being not considered. In this report, we have explored whether a standardised classification system, a so-called climate resilience certificate (CRC), that outlines the individual risk exposure of a property could offer a potential solution to this problem – and if it could be both easy to use by private homeowners and meet the needs of industry stakeholders. To test our idea, we conducted a case study by applying the system to the events that took place in Gävle in 2021. We suggest further work on the feasibility of a preferably European-wide, threestep model of a CRC taking into consideration all acute and chronic physical climaterelated hazards described in EU law. The first step of the classification is based on a databased screening tool resulting in a preliminary assessment, ranging from green to yellow to red. The second step is an in-depth assessment conducted by a certified climate expert who collects data through an on-site inspection of the property and/or an examination of documentation, resulting in a classification ranging from A to G, together with suggestions on climate adaptation measures that could be taken to decrease risk. In the third step, the data is made available to the property owner and, to a limited extent, other relevant stakeholders. A CRC could facilitate and improve climate adaptation efforts made by property owners by (i) making it clear, on an individual property level, which owners should take measures (and in certain cases get support) to decrease risk and (ii) creating an incentive to take these measures from lenders, insurance companies and investors.

The traffic regulations of tomorrow

Traffic regulations are traditionally analogue and paper-oriented. In the future, they need to be able to be interpreted by machines. How can we ensure exchange of reliable data on traffic regulations to support technological innovation such as advanced driver assist and autonomous driving technologies? In this report, we share our knowledge on digital traffic rules – what it is, why it matters and how we get there. The transport sector is becoming increasingly connected, digitalized, and automated. The development is taking place at a rapid pace and has the potential to improve the transport system in several areas (safety, efficiency, environmental impact and accessibility). To meet this development, we need to move towards a more digitalized road infrastructure. A digital representation of the road network is becoming increasingly important. One part of this is digital and machine-readable traffic rules. In a digital world we need data on traffic rules (what applies where). Road users, citizens, companies, and other actors in our society would benefit from such data (they get access to more and clearer regulations). Data on traffic rules also provides completely new opportunities, for example more dynamic traffic regulations, which can further contribute to positive effects for the transport system and for society. It is also a necessity for the implementa-tion of autonomous driving on public roads, since automated vehicles will need a reliable digital infrastructure. Drive Sweden Policy Lab (DSPL) targets specific cases in projects of the strategic innovation program Drive Sweden. The purpose is to explore how technology and service development relate to existing laws and regulations for new mobility services that are being developed, and to identify and overcome bottlenecks. DSPL was initiated in 2019 to support technology development projects within Drive Sweden’s portfolio that had encountered regulatory challenges. New cases (subprojects) have been added since. Project partners vary by case. The independent, state-owned research institute RISE is the coordinator. In this case (or subproject), we investigate the need for improved processes and possibly new regulations on how traffic rules are prepared, decided and published. We consider possible solutions and the consequences of different solutions. Many partners have participated in this work, and a large reference group with both private and public actors.

Climate resilience certificates – a standardized assessment of climate-related hazards in real estate

In 2021, heavy rainfall in the Swedish city of Gävle caused severe flooding, affecting many of the real estates in the area. As to date, insurance companies have paid more than one billion SEK in compensation to the affected property owners. The distribution of damage was uneven, making it clear that the individual preconditions of each affected property had a substantial impact on the degree of experienced damage. This sparked a discussion about the risk of natural disasters in the light of climate change on mortgages and insurances and whether more consideration should be given to the individual conditions of a property, rather than relying on general area-based risk maps where all properties in one area are assessed similarly. In many cases, small measures can have a substantial effect on the degree of climate-related hazards tied to natural disasters. In Sweden, the responsibility to undertake measures to decrease such risk today lies with the real estate owner. However, many real estate owners lack relevant information on how to assess their property’s risks to natural disasters as well as hands-on recommendations on how to mitigate that risk. At the same time financial institutions, insurance companies, and many other actors face new European and national legislation that requires them to understand, measure, remedy, and give an account for their risks tied to this area. In the case of lenders assessing the risks to their collateral at an individual property level, the ability to get an overview is limited. At best, risks can be described on an area level only, meaning that the individual conditions of the property are being not considered. In this report, we have explored whether a standardized classification system, a so-called climate resilience certificate (CRC), that outlines the individual risk exposure of a real estate, could be a potential solution to this problem – if it would be both easy to use by private homeowners and meet the needs from professional actors. To test the idea, we have performed a case study applying the system to the events in Gävle 2021. We suggest further work on the feasibility of a, preferably European-wide, three-step model of a CRC taking into consideration all acute and chronic physical climate-related hazards described in EU-law. The first step of the classification is based on a data-based screening tool resulting in preliminary assessment, ranging from green to yellow and red. The second step is an in-depth assessment conducted by a certified climate expert who collects data through an on-site inspection of the property and/or an examination of documentation, resulting in a classification ranging from A to G, together with suggestions on climate adaptation measures that could be taken to decrease risk. In the third step, the data is made available to the real estate owner and, to a limited extent, other relevant actors. A CRC could facilitate and improve climate adaptation efforts made by real estate owners by (i) making it clear, on an individual property level, which real estate owners ought to take measures (and in certain cases get support thereto) to decrease risk and (ii) creating an incentive to take these measures from lenders, insurance companies and investors.

Climate change and associated risks create high costs and must be considered in both city planning and construction. The increasing recognition of threats influences how investments are made both in future projects and in the valuations of existing assets. A feasibility study was performed on how a climate resilience certificate (CRC) can create a tool for better valuation for contractors, and property owners to increase efforts regarding climate change adaptation, easy-to-understand benchmarks for climate resilience of properties for comparability, and to reduce uncertainty if insurance coverage can be guaranteed. This study focuses on a risk classification, tested, and evaluated in a Swedish case study on a property level, with emphasis on heavy rain, as a base for a potential CRC. The study discusses the benefits and drawbacks of on-site assessments versus what is digitally available. Furthermore, this study also highlights vulnerabilities of the evaluated buildings, and where the focus should be placed concerning climate adaptive measures. 

In this report, we have compiled our learnings and experiences of working with Policy Lab. Policy Labs have come about as an answer to the question "Can you work with policy and regulatory development in a better way than today?". Our answer to the question is a yes. Our hope with the report is that others will become interested and start their own Policy Lab. Abroad, there are many Policy Labs, but in Sweden there are only a few, which is why we believe there is room for more. There is not a given way to work with Policy Labs once and for all, but each Policy Lab is unique based on its context. Sweden's innovation agency Vinnova defines Policy Labs as follows: "Policy Labs can be explained as a group of actors with different competencies who want to develop a regulatory framework. In the Policy Lab, they use a set of user-centric methods and competencies to test, experiment, and learn in policy development."1 In our Policy Lab, we have worked in various research projects to: 1. analyse challenges/problems that arise between innovations, technology, market, and regulations, 2. develop one or more workable solutions and 3. interact with relevant actors to determine the next steps. What distinguishes our Policy Lab is that we never “own” the issue or solution. We must therefore always work with other actors who can take the results further. Our goal is to enable and skill people. This means that for us it is important to work concretely with real problems and needs owners and preferably test different solutions. We focus on the here and now perspective and not on what the future will look like in 10 years. It is about taking the next step forward towards the future, not creating the best rule, but instead creating the next rule. We also work consistently agile and use design as a method for problem solving. This means that the way we organize our work in the Policy Lab is circular and not linear. When it comes to using design as a method for problem solving, we use the concepts of "design thinking" and "double diamond". For us, it is also important that the members of the Policy Lab have different backgrounds and skills depending on what is needed in the individual project....

Fordonsdata kan i framtiden vara till stor nytta för myndigheter på olika sätt. Än så länge samlar myndigheter in fordonsdata i begränsad omfattning. Det kan t.ex. handla om att genom offentlig upphandling pröva nya sätt för att kontrollera kvaliteten på utförd snöröjning. Trots att det finns ett intresse från både privata och offentliga aktörer att genomföra affärer kring fordonsdata är det ändå svårt för marknaden att ta fart. 

Frågan om hur fordonsdata kan kommersialiseras med offentliga aktörer som köpare har därför undersökts inom Drive Sweden Policy Lab i samarbete med CeViss-projektet (Cloud enhanced cooperative traffic safety using vehicle sensor data). CeViss-projektet har undersökt smarta kameror och hur de bl.a. kan användas för att varna andra förare för vilda djur vid vägen eller informera SOS Alarm om hur det ser ut vid en olycksplats. 

Förutsättningarna för lyckad kommersialisering kan sammanfattas under tre rubriker - affären, tekniken och juridiken. Vi ser att affären ligger i förmåga att erbjuda aggregerade data där olika datamängder korsbefruktas och därmed skapar ett större värde än de ingående datamängderna besitter var för sig. Kommersiella aktörer pekar på att rollen att aggregera data, eller förädla den, är mest intressant, eftersom det innebär en möjlighet att utveckla tjänster. En sådan tjänst förutsätter tillgång till en säker uppkoppling och överföring. Det är också resurskrävande att förädla data och styra rätt överföring, liksom att se över, anpassa och ta fram avtal som gör korsbefruktning av data och överföring av rätt data juridiskt möjlig. Här spelar individens integritet kontra samhällets behov av data en stor roll. Det är inte heller klart vilket behov aktörer inom olika samhällssektorer har av fordonsdata, samt hur dessa kommer att få tag i fordonsdata. 

Utmaningen för industrin ligger i att våga lita på att det finns en hållbar affär med myndigheten i längden, dvs. att det finns en tillräckligt stor betalningsvilja från samhällets sida även när data anses samhällskritisk viktigt. För att främja kommersialisering är det bra att börja med ett specifikt utvalt område för att utarbeta processer, avtal, tekniklösningar, affärs-modeller och så vidare. 

Geofencing hade kunnat vara en möjlighet att skapa de avgränsningar som behövs för en första affär, samtidigt som det skulle skapa tydlighet om var och när data samlas in från fordon. En sådan avgränsning hade också kunnat tjäna som en regulatorisk sandlåda för att utvärdera möjligheten till avtal som är hållbara över tid, det vill säga där det är rimligt att inom vissa gränser använda data på nya sätt eller för nya syften. 

Rapporten avslutas med en sammanställning av geofencing och datadelning ur ett juridiskt perspektiv samt en beskrivning av Drive Sweden Policy Lab. 

In this project, the Swedish Transport Administration wanted to have two different tracks investigated from a legal perspective. We have chosen to call the first track a “matchmaking service for freight” to optimize the utilization of available cargo space. There is an assignment from the government to the Swedish Transport Administration to work with this issue based on horizontal collaborations and open data. The second track is about the development of new technology enabling new ways of collecting railway data based on RFID and the possibility of filming passing trains, which in turn raises legal questions about how the Swedish Transport Administration can use collected data.

After analysing the two tracks based on current regulations, interviewing different actors, arranging workshops with different stakeholders, and meetings with experts in the fields, our conclusions are as follows:

So far, it is unclear who will be appointed to be matchmaker and how the matchmaking service is intended to work as the Swedish Transport Administration´s assignment will last for another ten years. Our assessments at this early stage of the Swedish Transport Administration´s assignment aims more to provide advice on how the matchmaking service can be designed in the future. Above all, we foresee that competition law will be a challenge as it regulates horizontal collaborations. In the future, it needs to be investigated more what benefit consumers get from the matchmaking service and how such service can be designed without distorting competition on the market. The matchmaking service is aimed for product owners. The interviews show that they are prepared to share data provided that they get a benefit from this. The interviews also show that they are not used to sharing data in such a way that is required for a matchmaking service to function properly. We therefore believe that work will have to be put on making the product owners understand the benefit of data sharing to facilitate the introduction of a matchmaking service, e.g. by showing good examples to get product owners to think in new ways and dare to take the step. It is also unclear what is meant by open data and how it is compatible with copyright/trade secrets. That part of the assignment needs to be further elucidated.

In our opinion, the Swedish Transport Administration has the copyright to RFID data, and it is also from a copyright perspective that the Swedish Transport Administration has so far shared RFID data (through contracts) with others. One hope with RFID is that the technology will make an impact on the entire European railway network, which in turn raises the question of how RFID data can legally be shared. Our assessments are that it would be possible to turn RFID data into open data to enable data sharing within the EU, but this is something that needs to be discussed further with all the actors involved.

Data collection by filming passing trains is still at an early trial stage. Above all, we see that more work needs to be done to make data collection compatible with the GDPR and the Swedish Camera Surveillance Act. When trains are filmed, information is also collected about the load on the wagons. We see that this can lead to safety risk, which need to be addressed in the future work.

The tax situation for private (peer-to-peer, P2P) carsharing in Sweden has been identified by platform operators and end-users as one of the key barriers for growth. Given a tax declaration system in Sweden that requires less to no effort on the individual’s side – declarations usually are pre-infilled and only need to be confirmed, via a digital interface – certain additional revenues like the ones from private carsharing, even if small, need to be filled in manually, posing a seemingly insurmountable barrier for the average Swedish taxpayer. Multiple platform operators within P2P carsharing shared their concerns over how this keeps people from starting to share their cars, while at the same time taking up quite some time on the platform operators’ sides for handling customers’ tax-related questions. Another issue is of course the tax burden itself – 30 percent of the revenues, minus a mileage deduction, which feels high, especially for individuals that choose to share their vehicles out of an environmental motivation and not with the main purpose to generate significant incomes. During a time where the car sharing market is growing significantly– many more people needed access to cars during the Covid-19 pandemic to avoid public transportation – and where all kinds of sharing need to be encouraged to achieve climate and environmental goals, this situation seemed inacceptable and prompted a Drive Sweden funded so-called policy lab project led by RISE Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE). Together with key stakeholders, namely platform operators for private carsharing and sharing of other private assets, the main challenges where identified, along with possible solutions. During the project the Swedish government conveniently proposed a tax deduction of SEK 20,000 (appr. EUR 2,000) for individuals’ revenues from the sharing economy, and the EU came with a directive to introduce a common tax reporting system for the sharing (and “gig”) economy throughout Europe (DAC-7). For both proposals, the project group identified improvement areas in order to foster long-term growth of the sharing economy, in line with national and international development goals. The report sheds light on these and other issues that came up in the numerous discussions and exchanges between a very heterogenous group of stakeholders, opening for further discussion and analyses to come.