Governing societal transitions to sustainability

Frantzeskaki, Niki; Loorbach, Derk; Meadowcroft, James

doi:10.1504/ijsd.2012.044032

Cited by 221 publications

(123 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Even though the term 'energy transitions' implies a shift towards a socially desirable end state, there is no consensus among practitioners or academics as to the exact shape of this future as far as the ongoing process of decarbonization is concerned. While such debates have often taken place under the conceptual umbrella of 'sustainability transitions' (Frantzeskaki, Loorbach, & Meadowcroft, 2012;Lawhon & Murphy, 2012), the multilayered social and technical nature of energy provision means that low-carbon policies inherently involve a complex interplay of political interests, institutional forces and governance practices. The suggestion that the long-term transformation of energy systems will prove 'to be a messy, conflictual, and highly disjointed process' (Meadowcroft, 2009, p. 323) destabilizes the notion that what is at stake is a linear movement towards a predefined environmentally sustainable condition.…”

Section: Energy Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Energy Poverty, Vulnerability and Justice

Bouzarovski

2017

Energy Poverty

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This chapter outlines past and current definitional issues at the nexus of energy poverty, energy vulnerability, energy justice and energy transitions. It traces the historical development of scientific understandings centring on these topics, while exploring their interactions and interdependencies. The chapter starts from the multiple definitional controversies surrounding fuel poverty and energy poverty, to then discuss the different ways in which notions of energy vulnerability and energy justice have enriched traditional understandings. The latter has been achieved, in part, thanks to a fuller appreciation of the services and production chains via which energy circulates across territories.

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Section: Energy Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Energy Poverty, Vulnerability and Justice

Bouzarovski

2017

Energy Poverty

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“…Regarding policy making, we stress two aspects: First, due to the dynamic, multifaceted and uncertain nature of environmental technological change and sustainability transitions, policy adaptation and thus policy learning ought to feature prominently within policy making processes (Allen et al 2011;Bennett, Howlett 1992;Kemp et al 2007;Loorbach 2007). This includes strengthening participatory processes of envisioning, negotiating, learning and experimenting (Frantzeskaki et al 2012) and the systemic capabilities of policy makers (Jacobsson, Bergek 2011). Second, policy making is a highly political process characterized by resistance to change, particularly from actors with vested interests (Unruh 2002), rendering it more difficult to radically adjust the instrument mix even if new policy objectives are in place.…”

Section: Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Going Beyond Instrument Interactions: Towards a More Comprehensive Policy Mix Conceptualization for Environmental Technological Change

Rogge

Reichardt

2015

SSRN Journal

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The works available here are the responsibility of the individual author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of other SPRU researchers. As matters of policy and practice, SPRU does not endorse individual research contributions. Guidelines for authorsPapers shall be submitted in pdf or Word format. They should contain a title, an abstract, and keywords. Papers should be submitted to one of the Editors, who will process them and send them to the appropriate Associate Editor. Two members of SPRU will be asked to provide a short written review within three weeks. The revised versions of the paper, together with a reply to the reviewers, should be sent to the Associate Editor, who will propose to the Editors its publication on the series. When submitting the authors should indicate if the paper has already undergone peer-reviewing, in which case the Associate Editors may decide to skip internal review process. Abstract:Reaching a better understanding of the policies and politics of transitions presents a main agenda item in the emerging field of sustainability transitions. One important requirement for these transitions, such as the move towards a decarbonized energy system, is the redirection and acceleration of technological change, for which policies play a key role. Several studies of policies supporting environmental technological change have argued for the need to combine different policy instruments in so-called policy mixes. However, existing policy mix studies often fall short of reflecting the complexity and dynamics of actual policy mixes and the underlying politics of (re)designing them. In this paper we take a first step towards a more comprehensive, interdisciplinary policy mix concept for environmental technological change based on a review of the bodies of literature on innovation studies, environmental economics and policy analysis. The concept introduces a clear terminology and consists of the three building blocks elements, processes and characteristics, which can be delineated by several dimensions. Throughout the paper, we illustrate the concept using the example of the policy mix for fostering the transition of the German energy system to renewable power generation technologies. We argue that the proposed concept provides an integrating analytical framework for empirical studies analyzing the impact of the policy mix on environmental technological change and sustainability transitions more broadly. Finally, we derive policy implications and suggest avenues for future research.

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“…This approach, however, is increasingly criticised as being insufficient for coping with problems like climate change, biodiversity loss, resource depletion, food security or social inequalities. Consequently, the quest for a "societal transformations towards sustainability" [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] or even for a "Great Transformation" [14] emerged as a guiding theme.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges for Social-Ecological Transformations: Contributions from Social and Political Ecology

et al. 2017

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Transformation has become a major topic of sustainability research. This opens up new perspectives, but at the same time, runs the danger to convert into a new critical orthodoxy which narrows down analytical perspectives. Most research is committed towards a political-strategic approach towards transformation. This focus, however, clashes with ongoing transformation processes towards un-sustainability. The paper presents cornerstones of an integrative approach to social-ecological transformations (SET), which builds upon empirical work and conceptual considerations from Social Ecology and Political Ecology. We argue that a critical understanding of the challenges for societal transformations can be advanced by focusing on the interdependencies between societies and the natural environment. This starting point provides a more realistic understanding of the societal and biophysical constraints of sustainability transformations by emphasising the crisis-driven and contested character of the appropriation of nature and the power relations involved. Moreover, it pursues a transdisciplinary mode of research, decisive for adequately understanding any strategy for transformations towards sustainability. Such a conceptual approach of SET is supposed to better integrate the analytical, normative and political-strategic dimension of transformation research. We use the examples of global land use patterns, neo-extractivism in Latin America and the global water crisis to clarify our approach.

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Governing societal transitions to sustainability

Cited by 221 publications

References 33 publications

Understanding Energy Poverty, Vulnerability and Justice

Understanding Energy Poverty, Vulnerability and Justice

Going Beyond Instrument Interactions: Towards a More Comprehensive Policy Mix Conceptualization for Environmental Technological Change

Challenges for Social-Ecological Transformations: Contributions from Social and Political Ecology

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