How to build future sustainable offshore logistics. Shipping technology, fleet renewal, energy-efficient operations will become crucial in the path towards zero-emission logistics along the Norwegian continental shelf. This topics is part of a large project in collaboration with main Norwegian stakeholders.

Supervisor: Mario Guajardo.

This project studies several topics on optimization models and methods for decision support in production of dairy and meat products. The aim is to improve profitability while reducing greenhouse gas emissions of the farming sector in Norway. It is part of a large project in collaboration with the main Norwegian stakeholders in this sector.

Supervisor: Mario Guajardo.

Background:

The climate change is evident in the Arctic in the way of increased temperatures, decreasing ice and consequently increased accessibility. Maritime transport, fisheries and resource exploitation (mineral oil in particular) are industries that already are pushing the frontiers further north. Since the Arctic Ocean is surrounded by several national states (Canada, the United States, Russia, Norway and Denmark / Greenland), the political tension in the region has increased in a classic ‘race for property rights’ that has historic parallels. Other non-Arctic nations, China in particular, shows increased interest in the region.

There are many potential issues and questions that could be analyzed in an economic framework. What have been the recent trends, and how do businesses and stakeholders view the future? How does the government-business interaction play out in different countries involved? The climate change involves changes in both costs and benefits. How could this be modelled and analyzed?

Key references:

A.S. Crépin et.al., ‘Arctic Climate Change, Economy and Society (ACCESS): Integrated Perspectives’, Ambio, Dec. (46) 2017, 341-354 and G. Eskeland and L.S. Flottorp, ‘Climate Change in the Arctic: A Discussion of the Impact on Economic Activity’, in Glomsrød et.al. (eds.), The Economy of the North, SSB, 2006.

Data:Climate change reports, government papers and statistics, business prospects.

Suitable for profiles: ECN, STR, INB, BUS.

Supervisor: Bjørn L. Basberg

Background:

The Antarctic region has a long history of resource exploitation (sealing, whaling). Today, human activity in the region is dominated by science, but there are also industries like fisheries, tourism and bio-prospecting. Such industries have to a small extent been analyzed in an economic context and several questions are interesting to pursue. What is the economic scale of these operations? What is the economic and financial importance for the companies involved? Are management and regulatory systems sufficient?

Key reference:

B.L. Basberg, ‘Perspectives on the Economic History of the Antarctic Region’, International Journal of Maritime History, VO. XVIII (2), 2006,

Data: Economics and business statistics on tourism from the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) and on fisheries from the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).

Suitable for profiles: ECO, ECN, STR, INB, BUS

Supervisor: Bjørn L. Basberg

Background:

Polar tourism, especially ship born cruise tourism both in the Arctic and in the Antarctic has increased for many years. Business prospects and plans seem to indicate that this will continue.

There are, however, serious challenges ahead. The climate change involves increased accessibility, but also alters the unique experience that constitutes the rationale for the industry. Concerns about long travels is also a factor that creates uncertainties about future demand for such travels.

Several questions could be analyzed about this industry in an economic context. Is it possible, within a traditional business model, to create an environmental and social sustainable industry? There seems to be large future uncertainties connected both to the supply and the demand side in this market. How could that be modelled and analyzed?

Key reference:

M. Lamers and B. Amelung, ‘Climate Change and its Impact for Cruise Tourism’ in M. Lück et. al. (eds), Cruise Tourism in Polar Regions. Promoting Environmental and Social Sustainability? London 2010, p. 147-165.

Data: Climate change reports, statistics and reports from the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO), tour operator plans and annual reports.

Suitable for profiles: ECN, STR, INB, BUS

Supervisor: Bjørn L. Basberg

Background:

With increasing consumption and production of many goods and services, the humanmade effects on climate change are getting bigger and bigger. For some activities the potential effects are well-known, such as plastic taking at least 400 years to dissolve completely in the nature. For some other activities the effects can be ambiguous and unknown to the consumers, such as the impact of an e-mail box size on the environment. When there is ambiguity about the consequences of their actions, people may suffer from both the direct effects of climate change and the regret from contributing this. The master thesis project should investigate regret and regret aversion when making decisions have potential consequences for the climate. Treatment variation could be driven by using manipulated regret lotteries for consumption (or digital) decisions.

Key References:

Imas, A., Lam´e, D., Wilson, A. J. (2020). Reversals between one-shot and repeated decisions in incentive design: the case of regret. Mimeo

Robinson, P. J., Botzen, W. J. (2018). The impact of regret and worry on the threshold level of concern for flood insurance demand: Evidence from Dutch homeowners. Judgment and Decision Making, 13(3), 237-245.

Volpp, K. G., John, L. K., Troxel, A. B., Norton, L., Fassbender, J., Loewenstein, G.

(2008). Financial incentive–based approaches for weight loss: a randomized trial. Jama, 300(22), 2631-2637.

Zeelenberg, M., Pieters, R. (2007). A theory of regret regulation 1.0. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17(1), 3-18.

Data:

Collect your own data either through a survey experiment or by conducting an online experiment on a crowdsourcing platform.

Supervisors: Researchers from FAIR and Telenor Research.

(Note: Theses under this topic can be eligible for an Equinor scholarship for master theses.)

Description:

Assessments of potential savings from energy efficiency investments have suggested the existence of an "Energy Efficiency Gap"; that consumers do not undertake energy efficiency investments with even large positive returns. Though the conclusion has been hotly debated in the academic literature, we still lack a solid understanding of drivers and barriers to energy efficiency adoption, which is necessary for designing appropriate policies. Currently, most countries employ some combination of regulation and subsidies to increase energy efficiency, e.g., 100-300 mNOK in yearly Enova subsidies for households in Norway.

Under this topic, you will contribute to our understanding of green technology adoption under the supervision of one or more experienced researchers with competences targeted to different approaches and research questions. Examples of specific projects are "Inattention and green technology: Do temporary shocks to electricity prices spur adoption?", "Does increased electricity demand lead to energy efficiency investment: Evidence from electric vehicle take-up", and "Are green technology subsidies regressive?", "Constrained wallets or constrained minds: The role of mental budgeting and relative thinking in green technology investment", or "Green loans vs investment subsidies: The optimal mix". The examples are far from an exhaustive list, and we encourage you to contact us if you could see yourself writing your master thesis within this topic and want to learn more.

Key references: 

Hunt Allcott and Michael Greenstone (2012) "Is There an Energy Efficiency Gap", Journal of Economic Perspectives 26, pp. 3-28

Hunt Allcott (2016) "Paternalism and Energy Efficiency: An Overview", Annual Review of Economics 8, pp. 145-176

Anna Sahari (2019) "Electricity prices and consumers' long-term technology choices: Evidence from heating investments", European Economic Review 114, pp. 19-53

Data:

Electricity prices and consumption data from Nordpool and Statistics Norway, Enova subsidies, statistics on sales of efficient heating systems. It might be possible to gain access to household data given availability and project needs.

Suitable for profiles: BUS, ECN, ECO, ENE, FIN

(Tentative) supervisor: Samuel D. Hirshman, Harim Kim, Eirik G. Kristiansen, Mateusz Mysliwski and/or Morten Sæthre

Background:

Ship exhaust is a major contributor to air pollution, especially in ports and coastal communities. Despite the well-known health risks of air pollution, the maritime transport sector has historically been one of the least regulated sources of emissions. Only in recent years has the International Maritime Organization introduced limits on the sulfur content of marine fuels to reduce emissions from shipping.

Under this topic, you will evaluate the effectiveness of marine fuel standards in Norway by combining spatial data on sulfur emission control areas and measurements of air pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. The setting also allows for examining environmental justice aspects using data on socio-economic characteristics of municipalities. The results of this thesis will enhance our understanding of the benefits of environmental regulations in the maritime sector.
Possible research question can be the following: Do marine fuel standards improve air quality in coastal regions? Do these air quality effects correlate with socio-economic characteristics?

Key references:

Hansen-Lewis, J. and Marcus, M. (2024): Uncharted Waters: Effects of Maritime Emission Regulation. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy (Forthcoming)

Lindgren, S. (2021). The coast is clear: Shipping emission standards, air quality and infant health. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 100, 103067.

Data:

Shapefiles of Emission Control Areas from the International Maritime Organization.
Air quality data from different sources (e.g., Norwegian Institute for Air Research and satellite-based data).
Socio-economic data from Kommunedatabasen and SSB.

Suitable for profiles: ECO, ECN, ENE, BAN, BUS

Supervisor: Nicole Wägner

Background:

Policies that incentivize electric vehicle (EV) adoption aim to mitigate climate change by reducing CO2 emissions. In addition to reducing CO2 emissions, replacing gasoline and diesel vehicles with EVs will also reduce air pollution associated with the combustion of fossil fuels. Since exposure to air pollution is harmful for human health, EV adoption may provide health benefits, particularly in densely populated urban areas. Accounting for these air quality-related health benefits is a prerequisite for a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of climate change mitigation policies.

In this master’s thesis, you will quantify the impact of EV adoption on air pollutants related to tailpipe and non-tailpipe emissions, such as nitrogen oxides and fine particulate matter. The empirical analysis will focus on Norway and combine different data sets to obtain estimates of the air quality effects. These estimates will be used to approximate the human health effects of EV adoption. Possible research question can be the following: Does the adoption of electric vehicles affect air quality? 

Key references:

Holland, S. P., Mansur, E. T., Muller, N. Z., & Yates, A. J. (2019). Distributional effects of air pollution from electric vehicle adoption. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 6(S1), S65-S94.

Alexander, D., & Schwandt, H. (2022). The impact of car pollution on infant and child health: Evidence from emissions cheating. The Review of Economic Studies, 89(6), 2872-2910.

Data:

Air quality data from different sources (e.g., Norwegian Institute for Air Research and satellite-based data).
Vehicle registration data from SSB, data on toll stations and charging infrastructure.
Socio-economic data from Kommunedatabasen and SSB. 

Suitable for profiles: ECO, ECN, ENE, BAN, BUS

Supervisor: Nicole Wägner

Some highlights of the company:

• Developer of equipment to the fish farming industry
• Our mission is to provide equipment to protect fish from lice infection
• Our products are for example protection shields, upwelling system, filtration of surface water and monitoring environmental conditions by the use of sensors
• We are constantly seeking new developments to improve our solutions
• We are also in a progress of making new partners to have the option to supply complementary products which will supplement our existing products
• Main office is located in Nordfjordeid
• Contact person: Arild Heggland

Some aspects that could be the foundation of a master thesis:

• Market knowledge of Fjord Miljø and our products
• Market rating of Fjord Miljø
• How to improve knowledge and rating?
• Estimate willingness to pay for protection against lice infection
• Valuation of our products
• How do fish farmers consider new products to be useful in the future, these products will be specified later
• Where do fish farmers expect the industry to move on, landbased, closed containers in sea, continue as their producing today?
• Other relevant topics.

Supervisor: Stein Ivar Steinshamn.

This study complements the many that have asked whether ESG (environment, sustainability and governance) is associated with higher or lower return on investment: Finance also creates real assets. Is there evidence, in our time, that preferences or policies, regulation, raises resource flows and asset creation (builds windmills, for instance).

Supervisor: Gunnar S. Eskeland.

Contact Eskeland for Study design, as many approaches are on the table. One is the role of taxes (incl the new 'grunnrenteskatt'), another is new concessions and the role and shape of auctions, including contracts of difference; a third is offshore installations and how they are placed in terms of access to markets, etc.

Supervisor: Gunnar S. Eskeland.

NHH works with technically oriented partners (industry, ntnu, ife) on scenarios for the transition to a low-carbon economy. This thesis will combine such scenarios for the transition with perspectives from political economy (as with: who pays, and industry interests, and rich vs poor) and social acceptance.

Supervisor: Gunnar S. Eskeland.

An analysis of electrical vehicles in  Norway where reduced emissions are measured against  reduced tax revenue.

Supervisor: Stein Ivar Steinshamn.

• What branding effect will the use of green/emission-free logistics chains have for the fish farming industry?
• What is the willingness to pay on the part of cargo owners for the use of low- and zero-emission vessels in their logistics operations?
• Economic valuation of Maritime Cleantech as a cluster organisation.
• Hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels - how big a role can the production and distribution of these play for Norwegian value creation in 2050?
• Joint Norwegian investment for the maritime industry: how to position ourselves for increased exports of green technology? (Strategic/Marketing)
• Analysis of the market for green maritime technology in Southern Europe (can be built on research done by Innovation Norway in France, Spain and Italy)
• Size, scope and framework of incentive schemes for contracts for difference.
• Are end consumers willing to pay for green (maritime) transport? If so, how much?
• Profitability analyzes and CO2 reduction for conversion of existing vessels vs. new construction.
• Life cycle analyzes for ships - case speedboats and/or cargo ships - Lifetime of vessels - co2 emissions - conversion or measures that can reduce emissions during the ship's lifetime.
• Return scheme/ circular economy model for ships.
• Is there an update of the policy apparatus to support wider and more retrofit solutions for ships, to make them more energy efficient?

Supervisor: Stein Ivar Steinshamn.

• Shipping aims to halve its emissions by 2050. How should a shipping company approach this goal in terms of investment and redevelopment programmes? (Shipping company)
• How to market/sell green fuels and technologies that have not yet been demonstrated in the market? For example hydrogen, fuel cells etc. (fuel producers, FC producers and the like.)
• Strategy for marketing hydrogen/ammonia as a safe and secure green fuel (producers).
• Green innovation: How to change from traditional offshore to deliveries in new value chains (supplier industry, shipyards, shipping companies).
• Efficient/appropriate incentive/public/industrial structure for the production and supply of new energy carriers from wind farms and other offshore locations.

Supervisor: Stein Ivar Steinshamn.

The objective is to compare various ways Norway can fulfill the Paris-agreement with respect to consequences for the Norwegian economy and for global emissions among other things.

Supervisor: Stein Ivar Steinshamn.

ESA’s Earth Online portal offers European research institutes direct and simple access to Earth Observation data coming from satellite missions operated directly by the European Space Agency and Third Party Missions. These data can be combined with ghgsat estimates to answer the following question: "How much carbon dioxide equivalent was released during the mining/extraction of a particular mine/oil & gas field?"

Supervisor: Giacomo Benini.

The risk of accepting Airbnb guests is that they might run up all of your utilities. Are renters sensitive to this concern? Estimate the relationship between listings and electricity prices.

Scrape the Data from http://insideairbnb.com/get-the-data/ and determine whether Airbnb listings in the last 2 years respond to electricity prices.

Supervisor: Evelina Gavrilova-Zoutman.

Supervisor: Gunnar S. Eskeland.

Supervisor: Gunnar S. Eskeland.

Supervisor: Gunnar S. Eskeland.

Supervisor: Gunnar S. Eskeland.

A study of the efficiency and suitability of batteries in order to solve the intermittency problem associated with new renewable energy such as solar and wind power.

Supervisor: Stein Ivar Steinshamn.

Supervisor: Gunnar S. Eskeland.

Supervisor: Gunnar S. Eskeland.

Supervisor: Gunnar S. Eskeland.

What’s the cost-benefit for using an integrated climate and environment surveillance on seafood production? The student will assess the impact and values associated with using a detailed monitoring tool called Clarify, which currently is employed by many seafood producers. The student will be given access to unpublished data afforded by Clarify that can be directly compared to other chains of the seafood production, including feeding, fish welfare, loss to sickness and slaughter. Additional climate data can also be made available to the student depending on emerging needs. This Master opens for a relevant exploration of how monitoring can strengthen seafood sustainability and resilience to the changing climate conditions that remain the key premise for seafood production. The industry partner for this thesis is Clarify.

Supervisor: Geir Drage Berentsen.

In this thesis, the students will use historical weather data to investigate the potential of Norwegian wind power in a scenario where all the current offshore locations suggested by the NVE are in full production. Alternative locations derived from optimizing production output are available and can be compared to the sites suggested by NVE. A secondary goal is to use the results to investigate the impact on the European energy market. The industry partner for this thesis is Statkraft.

Supervisor: Geir Drage Berentsen.

Extreme weather events such as floods, heatwaves, droughts, and storms cause major economic losses to private and public sector alike. The latest IPCC report shows that the frequency, and to some extent the magnitude, of such events will continue to increase although there are exceptions. The probability of so-called ‘compound events’ – that two or more extreme events happen simultaneously or successively – will increase due to this ongoing trend.

Such events carry even more extreme economic losses and play a crucial role in evaluating climate risk, but they are not well constrained nor understood. In 2018, there was elevated risk for snow-driven flooding in central Norway, which was followed by one of the warmest and driest summers on record, which coincided with several climatically induced forest fires. Based on both historical data and climate predictions, the students will evaluate the probability and potential economic consequences of compound events today and in the future and provide insights and advice for the insurance industry. The industry partner for this thesis is Tryg.

Supervisor: Geir Drage Berentsen.

Wind conditions, sea currents, -temperature and -salinity are all important factors when considering new locations for ocean-based aquaculture facilities. Moreover, locations that are considered optimal today may not be suitable locations in the future due to climate change. In this thesis, the students will investigate the current optimal placements of aquaculture based on detailed historical data. By considering state of the art climate predictions, it can be investigated how these placements will change on different time horizons. The students should also discuss placement conflicts with fisheries and coastal shipping routes. The industry partner for this thesis is Clarify.

Supervisor: Geir Drage Berentsen.

Many social and economic activities are heavily affected by weather variables such as temperatures and precipitation. In this master thesis, the students will explore the relationship between weather variables and economic decisions made by Norwegian households and/or businesses. In addition, the students will explore how climate change, through its effect on temperatures and precipitation, will affect these economic decisions into the future.

Examples of relationships to explore are the effects of heatwaves on human mortality rates, extreme precipitation on agricultural production, or drought on hydropower production. The exploration can be either on the macro or micro level and can be in the form of either a statistical analysis or modelling exercise. For the prediction exercise, the students will have access to novel climate forecasts from the Climate Futures project. An interesting question to explore is how access to improved seasonal weather forecasts can mitigate the harmful economic impacts of climate change.

Supervisor: Geir Drage Berentsen.

Organizing and analyzing data from the Norwegian directorate of fisheries.

Supervisor: Arnt Ove Hopland.

Supervisor: Øyvind Thomassen.

Contact: oyvind.thomassen@nhh.no.

I have three data sets that you can use for the thesis: 1) price lists with car model variant and some technical characteristics, 2) new registrations of car model engine variants, by age and sex of the registered owner, 3) the annual rules for calculating the registration tax (engangsavgift). 

For most uses, you will want to merge data sets 1) and 2). This will entail some tedious data work (probably using Stata or R), because of a lack of exact common identifiers. 

The data go up to 2015, but it may be possible to obtain more recent data. 

There are many questions that could be answered with the data, including saying something about the effect of the favorable tax treatment given to electric vehicles, which probably explains their large market share in Norway. 

To choose this topic you must have taken a course in econometrics.

Supervisor: Øyvind Thomassen.

Contact: oyvind.thomassen@nhh.no.

Like my topic ‘Econometric analysis of the sales of new cars in Norway’, this topic is based on data on cars in Norway. However, for this topic, I currently do not have the data, but I believe they can be obtained from Statens Vegvesen (Norwegian Public Roads Administration). See information here: https://www.vegvesen.no/om-oss/om-organisasjonen/apne-data/api-for-kjoretoyopplysninger/utvidet-utlevering-av-kjoretoyopplysninger/

My other topic uses data on the flow of new cars. This topic uses data on the stock of cars. The two data sources could conceivably be combined.

Background from a course in econometrics is needed.

How does natural resource extraction such as oil&gas production affect nearby firms in other sectors, such as manufacturing and services? Potential agglomeration effects could benefit firms, but increased competition for labor or more corruption might harm firms. Since firms are the backbone of every modern economy, these considerations are crucial to understand whether natural resources are a blessing or a curse.

Supervisor: Paul Pelzl.

Potential topics are:

• Zero emissions (in shipping/buildings/road veh/airplanes): too much, or just right?
• Certificates of Origin for Electricity; Stepchild or rising star?
• A carbon cap for Norwegian farmers: Let forests do what cows and farmers cannot?
• Carbon footprint and economic analysis for a firm/sector
• Hydrogen: which part is failing: cars, hydrogen or filling and logistics
• A new look at biomass and biofuels: can photosynthesis propel transport
• Oceans in a sustainability strategy
• Solar power: if a leap lies ahead, what can trigger it
• Decentralized power generation in Norway: framework and business analysis
• Renewable power in Norway: shall it expand, and with what instruments
• A role for Norway as a battery for Europe’s intermittent power
• A business analysis of Norway’s three proposed carbon capture and storage projects (cement, fertilizer, waste dump)
• Analysis of emission reduction prospects in Norwegian transport
• Econometric analysis of demand for energy (or carbon) intensive goods, transport
• Forests: More wood and biomass in buildings: Economic analysis of climate prospects
• Financial markets: is there evidence of ‘sin portfolios’ or ‘virtue’ (or green/fossil)? The value of fossil assets / promises in financial markets
• Analysis of CO2 markets
• Modeling energy exchange in Northern Europe

Supervisor: Gunnar S. Eskeland.

In cooperation with ENOVA

Contact: Gunnar Eskeland (NHH) and Børge Nilssen Stafne (ENOVA)

In cooperation with ENOVA

Contact: Gunnar Eskeland (NHH) and Arnt Gunnar Lium (ENOVA)

Supervisor: Stein Ivar Steinshamn.

Supervisors: Endre Bjørndal and Mette Bjørndal.

Supervisors: Endre Bjørndal and Mette Bjørndal.

Supervisors: Endre Bjørndal and Mette Bjørndal.

Supervisors: Endre Bjørndal and Mette Bjørndal.

Supervisors: Endre Bjørndal and Mette Bjørndal.

Supervisors: Endre Bjørndal and Mette Bjørndal.

Around the world, the governments are imple- menting policies to foster the introduction of renewable energy. In that context, there are different research questions to develop in a master thesis that could contribute to develop a sustainable economic system.

1. Which will be the relation between renewable energy and hydrogen?
2. Which are the policies introduced in cities to reduce carbon emissions?
3. Which will be the impact of the adoption of renewable energy in women unemploy- ment? Could the introduction of renewable energy increase the gender gap?
4. Which will be the changes in the design of electricity markets induced by the intro- duction of renewable energy?
5. Which is the relation between hydrogen and lithium batteries? Which is the best way to store electricity in the short-term and in the long-term?
6. Which policies could be implemented to promote energy effciency?
7. How do the electricity grid need to change to accommodate renewable energy?

Supervisor: Mario Blazques de Paz

Electricity markets are moving through the integration around the world. Moreover, the countries are increasing their investments in renewable production capacity to fulfil with the agreements in carbon emission reductions. In that context, the transmission grid plays a crucial role promoting the integration of electricity markets and accommodating the renewable production capacity into the system. In re- lation with this topic, there are different research questions that could be of interest to develop a master thesis.

1. Which should be design of electricity markets in the presence of transmission con- straints.
2. Could the integration of electricity markets in Europe increase competition? Which will be the impact of that integration in the investments in transmission capacity, and in renewable production capacity?
3. Which should be the relation between the spot and the redispatch market when the transmission lines are congested? How we can design those markets to increase com- petition?
4. How should the regulator design transmission tariffs to guarantee investments in trans- mission capacity, and transmission effciency?

Supervisor: Mario Blazques de Paz