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In the transition to electric mobility (EM), business model innovation plays a crucial role in expanding the use of electric vehicles and increasing acceptance of this technology. The transition pathways differ between countries in the largest economies and those in Latin America. Brazil presents a unique scenario, benefiting from an early start with biofuels, the production of flex-fuel vehicles, predominantly renewable electric energy generation (>80%), and the absence of a structured national policy aligned with local governments. This study introduces a framework that surveys and categorizes businesses in EM, relating them to sustainable development aspects and regulatory maturity. It builds a solid conceptual foundation, incorporating data from technical and commercial events, as well as interviews with Brazilian specialists for validation. The proposed framework aids in understanding the Brazilian context, identifying regulatory gaps, and developing a common language to advance studies on business model innovation, contributing to electromobility studies in Latin America. Additionally, it can guide the construction of regional and local public policies and help identify more sustainable projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In recent years, agroecology has gained prominence as one of the innovative approaches to agriculture that could positively contribute to achieving sustainable food systems. As a transdisciplinary science, agroecology could benefit from the contribution of socio-economic sciences. This study aims to give an overview of how scholars have approached socio-economic issues in the field of agroecology. A scoping review was conducted by using the PRISMA-ScR method, searching both Scopus and Web of Sciences databases. The selected body of literature (183 articles) provides an overview of the key socio-economic dimensions analysed in the literature on agroecology and the results achieved by scholars. The findings allowed drawing the research gaps and the future research directions in this domain.

Today's energy transition is marked by two key processes: the maturation of the renewable electricity system, and the declining fit between the new and incumbent electricity systems. Given these processes, how do governments change their policy priorities as the transition progresses? Our comparative analysis of six EU member states shows that governments dynamically adapt their policy priorities based on changes in their socio-technical systems. Our initial findings suggest that governments follow a specific sequence of policy priorities in the energy transition. Results stress how important it is that governments strategically sequence policy instruments for a smooth transition amid changing priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, agroecology has gained prominence as one of the innovative approaches to agriculture that could positively contribute to achieving sustainable food systems. As a transdisciplinary science, agroecology could benefit from the contribution of socio-economic sciences. This study aims to give an overview of how scholars have approached socio-economic issues in the field of agroecology. A scoping review was conducted by using the PRISMA-ScR method, searching both Scopus and Web of Sciences databases. The selected body of literature (183 articles) provides an overview of the key socio-economic dimensions analysed in the literature on agroecology and the results achieved by scholars. The findings allowed drawing the research gaps and the future research directions in this domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The laundry process is energy-intensive and an important target for reducing residential environmental impacts. Category life-cycle analysis (LCA) studies show the primary environmental impact is due to the energy consumed during the use phase, mainly for heating water. However, doing the laundry is a complex socio-technical system, where addressing sustainability requires not only technical levers but also an understanding of users' habits, practices, and belief systems. This study investigates if and how consumers change their laundry habits and product satisfaction when using a technically lower-performing eco-brand detergent compared to a heavy duty high-performance detergent. These represent two distinct sustainable innovation strategies within the detergent industry, i) high-performance detergents formulated to provide excellent cleaning performance at lower wash temperatures and ii) eco-brand detergents optimized for a lower ingredient footprint but reducing cleaning performance. It is hypothesized that consumers may compensate in ways detrimental to the overall sustainability of the laundry lifecycle. The results showed significantly lower consumer satisfaction with the eco-brand performance which led to compensatory behavior including increased detergent dosing and higher wash temperatures. This study confirms the importance of detergent cleaning performance for sustainable consumer habit changes regarding lower wash temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Shared electric automated vehicles (AVs) are advertised as the silver bullet for the sustainable transition of private internal combustion engine-based automobility by private and public entities. We explore the extent to which private automobility will be reconfigured into a private electric automated mobility regime or substituted by a shared electric automated mobility regime that could effectively address societal sustainability challenges. We draw from the multi-level perspective of technological transition, develop a conceptual model outlining possible transition advancements towards private and shared electric automated mobility and review pertinent literature supporting such developments. Our analysis reveals that shared, particularly pooled, mobility emerges slowly (niche level). Key actors resist a shift from private to shared electric automated mobility for economic (vehicle manufacturers), instrumental, affective, symbolic (users and societal groups), tax-revenue, governance and administrative (public authorities) reasons (regime level). The private automobility regime receives only moderate pressure from the socio-technical landscape pertaining to safety, congestion and environmental issues and effectively reacts by electrifying and automating vehicles (landscape level). We conclude that the most likely transition will primarily entail privately-owned electric AVs as opposed to shared (especially pooled) AVs, unless a landscape “shock” such as a climate breakdown, energy crisis or a significant political shift towards collective mobility exerts substantial pressure on the regime. Hence, the socioeconomic benefits of the so-called “three revolutions of automobility” could be diminished.

Mission-oriented innovation policies are increasingly recognized as an effective strategy for initiating and guiding far-reaching transition processes towards sustainability. In this article, we examine a successful early example of a national mission-oriented research and innovation (R&I) programme (Building of Tomorrow) that has had a significant impact on the building sector in Austria. The objective is to identify the factors and dynamics that contributed to the programme's success and helped maintain its momentum over a period of more than 20 years. By successively integrating different groups of researchers and practitioners, organizing programme development as an adaptive process of co-production, and regularly 'reinventing itself' by shifting focus and guiding ideas, the programme sustained its mission momentum. Several insights from this case study can provide valuable guidance for organizing mission-oriented programmes, particularly by avoiding an exclusive emphasis on 'mission orientation by design' at the expense of processes of sense-making, emergence, and reinvention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Circular Economy (CE) transition toward sustainable business needs a fundamental change in business culture, production process and resource management. The business sector must understand their own capacity to overcome business challenges and put the CE concept as a long-term investment that requires continuous commitment. This research aims to analyze and evaluate the business transition to CE adoption to obtain a sustainable purpose. This qualitative research with narrative analysis method focuses on identifying corporate CE management transition that comprises innovation in business process, strategic integration, and transformation process. The socio-technical transition theory is used as a research framework to identify the technical aspects of CE implementation and further a deeper analysis of social dimension amidst the perspective of people's interaction. The data collection, analysis, and validation approach, which included FGD, semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis, examined the nuances of the actor-related strategies and institutional enabling processes of CE transition in the study case company. The research also gained valuable insight into seeing the internal dynamics of company management utilize their influence in managing resources aligned with CE principles through open innovation and people interaction. The outcome of this study showed that company's shift towards the circular business could be achieved through an organizational learning process, with particular attention to strengthening internal transformation by actively involving employees. The open innovation approach is an excellent way to utilize a collaborative culture by combining existing technologies that could drive innovation in the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the transition to electric mobility (EM), business model innovation plays a crucial role in expanding the use of electric vehicles and increasing acceptance of this technology. The transition pathways differ between countries in the largest economies and those in Latin America. Brazil presents a unique scenario, benefiting from an early start with biofuels, the production of flex-fuel vehicles, predominantly renewable electric energy generation (>80%), and the absence of a structured national policy aligned with local governments. This study introduces a framework that surveys and categorizes businesses in EM, relating them to sustainable development aspects and regulatory maturity. It builds a solid conceptual foundation, incorporating data from technical and commercial events, as well as interviews with Brazilian specialists for validation. The proposed framework aids in understanding the Brazilian context, identifying regulatory gaps, and developing a common language to advance studies on business model innovation, contributing to electromobility studies in Latin America. Additionally, it can guide the construction of regional and local public policies and help identify more sustainable projects.

Abstract Changes in the interactions between agents involved in the value chain of the palm oil sector in the municipality of Tibú (Colombia) over the period 1985-2020 have resulted in a reduction in the indices of poverty, social inequality, and unemployment for the inhabitants of the region, which can be explained by a process of socio-technical transition. The main objective of this study is to analyze the factors that determined the success of this process from a multilevel perspective. Exploratory research was developed based on a case study analysis using semi-structured interviews of commercial and non-commercial agents in the sector and information collected from secondary sources. The results show that changes in the legal and regulatory framework established by the government, landscape transformation, and the transition from small farmers to medium entrepreneurs of the farms in the region were important factors revolutionizing the system and are encouraging the emergence of new alternative practices in the palm oil sector.

Machine learning can be used for social good. The employment of artificial intelligence in smart agriculture has many benefits for the environment: it helps small farmers (at a local scale) and policymakers and cooperatives (at regional scale) to take valid and coordinated countermeasures to combat climate change. This article discusses how artificial intelligence in agriculture can help to reduce costs, especially in developing countries such as Côte d'Ivoire, employing only low-cost or open-source tools, from hardware to software and open data. We developed machine learning models for two tasks: the first is improving agricultural farming cultivation, and the second is water management. For the first task, we used deep neural networks (YOLOv5m) to detect healthy plants and pods of cocoa and damaged ones only using mobile phone images. The results confirm it is possible to distinguish well the healthy from damaged ones. For actions at a larger scale, the second task proposes the analysis of remote sensors, coming from the GRACE NASA Mission and ERA5, produced by the Copernicus climate change service. A new deep neural network architecture (CIWA-net) is proposed with a U-Net-like architecture, aiming to forecast the total water storage anomalies. The model quality is compared to a vanilla convolutional neural network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Standards play a crucial role in the transition to more sustainable production and consumption models by promoting the development of new markets for innovative products. In the case of the bioeconomy, standards are particularly relevant to ensure the sustainability of products and processes. Hence, standards represent an essential strategic tool to foster sustainable development. Furthermore, the standard-setting process brings together different stakeholders, which encourages research and the transfer of knowledge to industrial practice. In particular, scientific publications assist the standardisation process by providing scientific evidence. This study investigates the role of science and regulation in the bioeconomy standardisation process. It first provides a general analysis of bioeconomy-related standards, followed by an analysis of the regulations and publications referenced in the standards. Our analysis discloses a strong use of scientific knowledge in the bioeconomy standardisation process and demonstrates the readiness to integrate novel academic findings into revised versions of the standards. In addition, it reveals that the interaction between science and regulation is an important driver for standardisation activities around the bioeconomy, needed to support sustainable transitions. • In general, the relevance of scientific knowledge in standardisation processes increases. • Use of scientific knowledge tends to be more vital in polarized areas. • The role of regulations and scientific knowledge is context-specific. • Standards fulfil multiple roles in supporting the transition towards a sustainable bioeconomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenge of this century is without a doubt to counter global warming. Land management, agriculture, and forests are responsible for 23% of total greenhouse gases (GHGs). In developing countries, such as those in African territories, where economic capacities are sometimes small and socio-cultural and linguistic perceptions are different, this requires a transition that is just and respectful of local culture and language, while at the same time helping to create labor conditions that respect gender and minors. This article describes a socio-technical ecological transition in the cocoa chain production in Côte d'Ivoire, which is not only the world's leading producer of cocoa beans (45%) but also one of the African countries most prone to deforestation. Linguistic and multicultural aspects come together in Côte d'Ivoire, where more than 70 local languages are spoken. Intelligent digital approaches, agroecological issues, new methods, and sociocultural questions are embedded in a context of collaboration and co-creation, a living lab approach, to ensures sharing and co-creation among NGOs, farmers, companies, and researchers. A framework of socio-technical transition is presented, and this research aims to not only achieve the goals of a just ecological transition and reduce carbon footprint and deforestations but also to create diverse labour conditions, gender respect and inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This critical review lays down the fundamentals for rethinking just energy transition. It reviews the theoretical perspectives of energy justice, socio‐technical transitions (STTs), and political ecology and presents a plausible and useful way to approach a just low‐carbon transition using Political Ecology as a broad framework. This Political Ecology framework for Sustainable Energy Transition (PESET) addresses power issues associated with low‐carbon transition, while also identifying the role of inclusivity and justice in low‐carbon transition. As energy transition studies have primarily focused on the Global North and the extraction and production of large technologies, this framework provides a more radical means to achieve just transition objectives with particular relevance for application in the Global South—a region largely overlooked in transitions scholarship and where mundane/simple technologies (e.g. Solar Home Systems and clean cookstoves) typify transitions processes to date. The PESET framework presents a novel contribution, linking the concepts of energy justice, STTs, and political ecology to provide a more comprehensive means of framing and analysing just energy transitions. It thus provides a novel overarching framework linking energy studies, sustainability transitions, development studies and innovation studies especially in an era where the globe is moving toward a clean and affordable energy for all (Sustainable Development Goal 7). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote community initiatives for renewable energy are rapidly emerging across Canada but with varying numbers, success rates, and strategies. To meet low-carbon transition goals, the need to coordinate technology deployment and long-term policy to guide the adoption is critical. Renewable resources such as wind, solar, hydro, and biomass can provide energy at a subsidized cost, create sustainable infrastructure, and provide new economic viability in social value integration. The renewable energy transition is crucial to Canada in sustaining remote and indigenous communities by providing local, clean, and low-carbon-emission energy for heat, power, and possibly transportation. This paper identified 635 renewable resources projects deployed to improve and increase electricity supply. To an extent, balancing demand within the remote and indigenous communities of Canada and highlighting sustainable renewable energy development through ownership participation within the communities is achievable before 2050 and beyond through energy efficiency and the social value of energy. The article identifies clean energy targets as mandated by the different provinces in Canada to reach net-zero GHG emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-carbon energy districts are considered to play important roles for achieving the ambitious climate targets set by the Paris Agreement. While such districts are expected to integrate all dimensions of sustainability, assessing their sustainability performance remains challenging. Against this background, we take multi-criteria mapping (MCM), a deliberative and stakeholder-driven multi-criteria decision-making approach, to evaluate Graz University of Technology's current efforts to turn its largest campus into a low-carbon energy district. Based on scoping interviews, a focus group, and eleven mapping sessions with key stakeholders, nine core options were identified and assessed. By analyzing quantitative assessments and the specific criteria and argumentation patterns that underlie these assessments, our study "opens up" different perspectives on potential implementation options and highlights the complex and contradictory nature of sustainable (energy) transformations at the district level. The study concludes with the suggestion of using future workshops to align diverging perspectives and expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper introduces and motivates the Radical Technology Inquirer (RTI) methodology for anticipation of technological breakthroughs and their combined cross-sectoral and social impacts. The primary use of the methodology is long-term policy evaluation and design. The first version of the methodology was published in 2013. This paper reports the current RTI 2018 version, which is based on systematic collection of scientific and technological news and grounded on theory. It combines societal functions with technological opportunities by conceptualising 20 “global value-producing networks” GVNs and 100 “anticipated radical technologies” ARTs. The RTI methodology is participatory, using continuous crowdsourcing and stakeholder evaluations. Each GVN is characterised by a need and an existing and a novel way of satisfying that need and organising the societal function. The methodology combines existing and new foresight methods and concepts to achieve a holistic and transparent approach for anticipating technology-enabled transformative socio-technical developments of the next 20 years. In this anticipation effort, the focus is more on recent weak signals of emerging technological capabilities than on past strong signals, e.g. the diffusion of various technologies.

As research on socio-technical transitions has repeatedly shown, positive or negative narratives can play a key role in galvanizing public support for or resistance against socio-technical transitions. In the mobility sector, many countries have recently seen some indications of beginning socio-technical change dynamics. In the case of Germany, key practices of a low-carbon transport system – such as cycling, substitution of travel through home office or 'shared mobility services' – are moving from niches to mainstream, while grassroots initiatives are successfully demanding improvements for cycling and walking. In this dynamic situation competing narratives of change begin to emerge, which claim to define what a transition towards 'sustainable' mobility should look like and how it could be accomplished. Against the backdrop of these recent discursive shifts the article highlights three key conflictual dimensions, along which competing narratives of a mobility transition in Germany, but also in other European countries, are likely going to diverge. The article suggests that research into mobility transitions should focus on the intensifying discursive struggles, in which different social groups with highly differing power will attempt to shape the broader socio-technical vision of a 'sustainable' mobility future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To foster sustainable development, transition to circular economy should happen globally. Lately, however, the implementation of circular solutions has been particularly slow in the developing countries where these solutions could bring about particularly positive changes. A successful circular solution couples technical functionality with business model relevance. In developing countries, the implementation of circular solutions reveals sustainability tensions that originate in resource scarcity, institutional voids, and market affordability. We have studied implementation of circular solutions that small companies operating in these conditions have developed. The systematic analysis of 79 cases shows how sustainability tensions influence on companies' everyday business conduct and their long‐term strategic orientation toward circular economy. We have also identified commonly applied business model features that allow companies to cope with the sustainability tensions. These features include: (1) locally tailored value proposition, (2) collective action approach in value creation, and (3) creativity in value capture. Ultimately, locally functional, embedded, and widely accepted circular solutions have potential to facilitate wider socio‐technical transitions toward more sustainable business practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transitioning to a sustainable future involves a comprehensive shift into a new technical configuration and set of institutional arrangements. Despite global efforts to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs), many energy projects have failed due to technical and institutional problems and misunderstandings. Failure leads to uncertainty at the end of long-term transformative change, but discussion of failure in socio-technical transitions has been limited as the current body of knowledge focuses primarily on highlighting 'winning' innovations and their historical path. Exploring project failure can potentially reveal the misalignments in socio-technological configurations that lead to stagnation in progression of transition trajectories. Failures have discursive implications as they can result in a period of instability and so trigger actors to revisit their commitment towards transition visions and effectiveness of trajectories. This article contributes to debates around project failures by tracing their impact on overarching ideas of transition. The case of Sumba Iconic Island (SII), as one of the strategic efforts of Indonesia's energy transition, is selected for an in-depth exploration. Our analysis found that the ideational power of SII, which is embedded in the overarching discourse of Indonesia's energy transition, is relatively stable despite numerous technical and managerial failures. However, people's trust in renewable energy ambition has been diminished as centralised diesel-generated electricity offers better reliability. • Research on sustainable transitions primarily highlighting winning innovation and their historical path • This research explores project failures and their impact on the overarching ideational power of sustainable energy transition • We utilised qualitative information to investigate the ideational impact of failed projects in Sumba, Indonesia • We found that the ideational power of Sumba renewable initiative is stable despite numerous technical and managerial failures • There is a growing grassroot scepticism toward renewable systems as the diesel-generated grid offers better reliability [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding technological evolution and its implications is increasingly important as the public and private sectors harness next generation technologies to address society's major challenges. Current roadmapping methods for these enabling innovations suffer from several limitations and often shed more light on technology viability than adoptability, leading many to frame related pursuits as unpredictable high-risk, high-reward activities. However, recent research highlights that the risk associated with developing enabling innovations depends more on the approach to pursuit than the technology itself. Drawing on this perspective, we put forward a strategic roadmapping approach that overcomes historical limitations by: 1.) framing technological advance as a complex socio-technical transition and 2.) drawing upon related patterns of high-impact innovation to inform unique roadmapping analyses. The result – the Enabling Innovation Strategic Roadmapping method – examines technical, economic, and socio-cultural barriers to progress to define windows of opportunity in which viable technological capabilities can be matched to adoption-ready needs within and beyond the motivating sector, fostering advance toward a long-term vision, technology convergence, valley of death avoidance, and means to influence ecosystem evolution. To illustrate the methodology, we develop a strategic roadmap for marine hydrokinetic energy technologies that could support the advent of a marine renewable energy economy. [Display omitted] • The Enabling Innovation Strategic Roadmapping method is introduced. • The method frames technological advance as a complex socio-technical transition. • Analysis links viable technological capabilities to adoption-ready needs over time. • Resulting opportunities (lily-pads) aid and risk-mitigate progress and adoption. • The case of marine energy is explored, as an analog to broader enabling innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emissions of peatlands drained for agriculture and forestry contribute more than 7 % to total GHG emissions in various countries worldwide. Hence, reducing these emissions by ending peatland drainage is a significant contribution to a transition towards carbon neutrality and being in line with the Paris Agreement. To achieve this goal, swift action is needed. Using Germany as a case study, we scrutinize whether the German coal phase-out can serve as a 'blueprint' to end drainage on agriculturally used peatlands, using six categories (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal). We also calculate a politically justified budget for a peatland drainage phase-out comparable to the coal phase-out in terms of the socially acceptable mitigation of CO 2 emissions. Our results suggest that the current pace of rewetting is too slow in comparison to a rewetting path following the Paris Agreement and would create an area gap of about 560,000 ha and a resulting CO 2 emission gap of 84.6–148 Mt CO 2 by 2029. We show that both, peatland drainage phase-out and coal phase-out, are socio-technical transitions which require governmental intervention and a guided-level perspective. For a governed peatland drainage phase-out in Germany which is 1.5°C compatible, we determine a politically justified total budget between 13.8 and 16 billion €. • The phase-out approach could be well suited to end peatland drainage as it has been for the coal phase-out. • The PESTLE approach underlines the far-reaching changes of peatland rewetting along six dimensions. • Phasing out drainage-based agriculture on peatlands is a socio-technical transition. • We determine a politically justified total budget of 14 and 16 billion € for the peatland drainage phase-out in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief research report focuses on the effects of artificial intelligence (AI) on the environment, by analyzing the latest documents issued by major standard organizations such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Internet Society of China (ISC). By outlining the latest developments into a platform canvas for carbon neutrality management and services, this report identifies the potential of “AI of the environment” (i.e., the material composition and environmental impact of AI itself) and “AI for the environment” (i.e., the purposeful use of smart applications to benefit the environment). The role of AI is contextualized in the digital platform design for the provision of services on carbon emission data, which serves as the material foundation for smart services facing both the producers and the consumers of such information. Contributing to the design of business models that enable open innovations, this report discusses the emission impact reduction mechanisms that can optimize, substitute, induce, manage, and facilitate processes and services, indicating the potential of AI-enabled smart services such as forecasting, planning, and recommendation systems. Despite the limited disciplinary considerations and detailed discussions on specific AI technologies, this report provides a simple, practical, and flexible technology roadmap that can be used as a guide for researchers and practitioners to refine their operations and designs and to follow best practices. This report succinctly visualizes key elements of digital platforms of/for GHG emission reduction and their enabling mechanisms, serving as an AI technology roadmap for future research and innovation in the field.

This paper reviews the autonomous vehicle (AV) trials around the world and proposes a socio-technical transition (multi-level perspective) approach for facilitating the adoption of AVs in countries. Built on a comprehensive literature review and a review of ongoing AV trials and tests around the world, this paper utilizes both theoretical and empirical approaches in understanding the dynamics of AV adoption. Three AV transition models (government support, industry push and public transport oriented) are proposed to help countries introduce and adopt AVs as part of their transport systems.

The successful development of shale gas industry in China has a significant impact on China's energy consumption structure and the world energy market. Based on the socio-technical transition theory, this study defines the development of shale gas industry as the socio-technical system transition of natural gas driven by technological innovation and management innovation. From the multi-level perspective, this study systematically analyzes the co-evolution dynamics of multiple factors in the development of shale gas industry, and further proposes the socio-technical scenarios of shale gas industry development by using the socio-technical scenarios method. The results show that the shale gas industry generally has a relatively favorable development environment, but it also faces many challenges, such as lack of internal capacity and government support. And the “Government led development”, “Diversified development”, “Green development” and “High cost development” are the four potential development paths for China's shale gas industry.

The challenge of this century is without a doubt to counter global warming. Land management, agriculture, and forests are responsible for 23% of total greenhouse gases (GHGs). In developing countries, such as those in African territories, where economic capacities are sometimes small and socio-cultural and linguistic perceptions are different, this requires a transition that is just and respectful of local culture and language, while at the same time helping to create labor conditions that respect gender and minors. This article describes a socio-technical ecological transition in the cocoa chain production in Côte d’Ivoire, which is not only the world’s leading producer of cocoa beans (45%) but also one of the African countries most prone to deforestation. Linguistic and multicultural aspects come together in Côte d’Ivoire, where more than 70 local languages are spoken. Intelligent digital approaches, agroecological issues, new methods, and sociocultural questions are embedded in a context of collaboration and co-creation, a living lab approach, to ensures sharing and co-creation among NGOs, farmers, companies, and researchers. A framework of socio-technical transition is presented, and this research aims to not only achieve the goals of a just ecological transition and reduce carbon footprint and deforestations but also to create diverse labour conditions, gender respect and inclusion.

• We model policy options to accelerate passenger Battery EV diffusion in Australia. • Meeting recharger deployment targets as fleet grows is crucial to reach 100% uptake. • Subsidising BEV purchase brings forward price-parity tipping point. • Recharger and vehicle rebate policies costing AUD37.4 billion speed up transition. • Emissions reduction is best when policy introduced at earliest possible date. Transitioning to passenger battery electric vehicles (BEV) can mitigate climate change impacts of road transportation. We develop a novel BEV policy model, nesting it within a national-scale macroeconomic system dynamics model (iSDG-Australia) to simulate a suite of policy pathways. We model combinations of infrastructure support and subsidies, which bring forward the price-parity tipping point, thus rapidly accelerating BEVs' share of new car sales. However, ongoing complementary charging infrastructure investment is critical to reach 100% new BEV car sales by 2050 in Australia. Even with a rapid transition, the modelled fleet would not achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 due to vehicle longevity; and suddenly ceasing financial incentives could retard BEV sales by a decade. Based on our assumptions, results suggest emissions reductions are maximised by the fastest transition of the passenger vehicle fleet to BEVs, entailing government policy support from 2020 to 2050, for both adequate infrastructure deployment (AUD17.9b) and vehicle rebates (AUD19.5b), which achieves earlier BEV price-parity with fossil-fuelled vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces and motivates the Radical Technology Inquirer (RTI) methodology for anticipation of technological breakthroughs and their combined cross-sectoral and social impacts. The primary use of the methodology is long-term policy evaluation and design. The first version of the methodology was published in 2013. This paper reports the current RTI 2018 version, which is based on systematic collection of scientific and technological news and grounded on theory. It combines societal functions with technological opportunities by conceptualising 20 "global value-producing networks" GVNs and 100 "anticipated radical technologies" ARTs. The RTI methodology is participatory, using continuous crowdsourcing and stakeholder evaluations. Each GVN is characterised by a need and an existing and a novel way of satisfying that need and organising the societal function. The methodology combines existing and new foresight methods and concepts to achieve a holistic and transparent approach for anticipating technology-enabled transformative socio-technical developments of the next 20 years. In this anticipation effort, the focus is more on recent weak signals of emerging technological capabilities than on past strong signals, e.g. the diffusion of various technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the socio-technical transition pathways related to innovation niches formation merging the theoretical framework of Strategic Niche Management (SNM) with the Social Network Analysis (SNA) technique. Specifically, focusing on the niche of the virtual and augmented reality, this work tries to shed light on the understanding of the niche development and the related transition towards sustainability. Combining SNM with SNA and utilizing a specific taxonomy, the study allows appreciating the actual cognitive interaction among niche members that determine the transition to succeed. Results show that the investigated niche is characterized by an embryonic stage of development which needs a better support to advance technological shift in order to reinforce the link between Industry 4.0 paradigm and Circular Economy (CE).

Remote community initiatives for renewable energy are rapidly emerging across Canada but with varying numbers, success rates, and strategies. To meet low-carbon transition goals, the need to coordinate technology deployment and long-term policy to guide the adoption is critical. Renewable resources such as wind, solar, hydro, and biomass can provide energy at a subsidized cost, create sustainable infrastructure, and provide new economic viability in social value integration. The renewable energy transition is crucial to Canada in sustaining remote and indigenous communities by providing local, clean, and low-carbon-emission energy for heat, power, and possibly transportation. This paper identified 635 renewable resources projects deployed to improve and increase electricity supply. To an extent, balancing demand within the remote and indigenous communities of Canada and highlighting sustainable renewable energy development through ownership participation within the communities is achievable before 2050 and beyond through energy efficiency and the social value of energy. The article identifies clean energy targets as mandated by the different provinces in Canada to reach net-zero GHG emissions.

• Transformative innovation policymaking challenges and frameworks are examined. • Nine overarching challenges are identified that cut across the policy cycle stages. • Existing frameworks are only to a limited extent practically useful for policymakers. • Main gaps relate to stakeholder management, policymaker capability and evaluation. This paper reviews the emerging literature on "transformative" innovation policy (TIP) in order to (1) identify unique TIP characteristics and the challenges they imply for policymakers throughout the policy cycle and (2) examine the literature's contribution to practical policymaking. We identify five main distinguishing TIP characteristics and analyse the literature's understanding of how they influence the policymaking process. The analysis shows that the literature discusses TIP-related challenges in all stages of the policy cycle but does not provide much guidance on how to address key cross-cutting policymaking challenges such as how to achieve broad stakeholder involvement, evaluate transformative outcomes, and build up dynamic policymaker capabilities. In order for TIP ideas to be implemented in real-life policymaking, TIP scholars, therefore, need to more explicitly consider the practitioners' perspective and develop concrete models, tools and guidelines that help policymakers address the identified challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Longitudinal process case study on local energy system (LES) creation. • We explore the LES creation process from the multi-level dialectic perspective. • We highlight the effect of institutional contradictions on incumbent actors' agency. • We show how praxis emerges through micro and macro-level triggers. • Our findings aid in predicting and designing future LES creation processes. Local energy systems (LESs), such as energy communities and microgrids, are seen as significant contributors to the energy transition, but their creation requires contested institutional changes to the centralized energy regime. We explore the creation process of a groundbreaking LES project from the multi-level and dialectic perspectives. Our results show a tension-driven institutional change process that includes the dialectic perspective's four principles: institutional contradictions, praxis, social construction, and totality. Based on the learnings of the case study, we highlight the effect of institutional contradictions on incumbent actors' agency, boundary spanners' role in triggering praxis, and tensions in niche–regime interactions. We show with the case study that the dialectic perspective together with the multi-level perspective aid in understanding the creation process and further aid in designing future LES creation processes by providing normative descriptions of contradictions, tensions, and opportune solutions for them beforehand. We also discuss the limitations of the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Values, models and goals of the bioeconomic transition compete with unequal force. • This controversy is interpreted as a 'bioeconomics vs bioeconomy' debate. • Bioeconomics criticizes promises, assumptions and side-effects of the bioeconomy. • Different research fronts need to be explored in order to move beyond criticism. • Adopting a systemic perspective, renewing indicators, governing transition pathways. The case for solving the environmental crisis through a bioeconomic transition is gaining momentum. However, aims and content of such a transition remain unclear, as this could target an economic sector, the analysis of economic activities, or society as a whole, especially in its relationship to the biosphere. This last possible object of transition – society – is where values, models and goals come into conflict. This study examines this controversy through the lens of the 'bioeconomics vs bioeconomy' debate, in which proponents of bioeconomics have raised an arsenal of critiques against what they consider the simplistic promises of public and private promoters of the bioeconomy. We discuss these critiques, which are mainly macro in scale and/or narrative-centred, and argue for a complementary research effort that supports transition initiatives. This research could take place on three fronts: better understanding bioeconomic systems, evaluating bioeconomic transitions, and identifying how to implement these transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition to community-scale renewables is recommended as a panacea for the energy infrastructure challenges encountered by off-grid rural communities. Government and development agencies are encouraging the acceleration of the transition process through pilot community projects. While relative success has been recorded in some of these projects, the transition pace is quite slow in developing countries. This raises several questions on various aspects of such an energy transition. Of relevance to this paper is the governance approach through which community projects are developed. This paper draws on Strategic Niche Management (SNM) to investigate the planning and implementation of such a project in Shape, a rural community in Nigeria. Data was gathered using face-to-face semi-structured interviews from 24 key actors. Results reveal non-involvement of many important actors with potentially negative implications for future investments in community renewables. The findings highlight fragmentation in the efforts of transition actors and raises questions on their knowledge of transition management. The paper also raises questions on the level of awareness of local citizens and their impact on transition projects. Findings reveal passive involvement and limited opportunities for skilled employment. The paper concludes by recommending further research on how poverty-ridden rural communities can get more involved in what is generally termed as a socially inclusive, transparent, and participatory model of energy provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world are mobilizing unprecedented public resources to mitigate economic collapse. However, these new programs run the risk of paying insufficient attention to the multiple sustainability crises we face. Climate change, in particular, threatens the very basis for continued human prosperity and requires an equal, if not greater, societal mobilization. In this policy brief, we argue that the response to the coronavirus outbreak also offers an opportunity to advance the climate agenda. Indeed, given that we have scarce resources at our disposal, it is essential that we synergize such efforts. We propose that this can be accomplished in two primary ways: (1) harnessing the disruptive forces of the COVID-19 pandemic to accelerate the decline of carbon-intensive industries, technologies, and practices, and (2) leveraging responses to drive low-carbon innovation. From these two strategies, we outline five principles of “sustainability transition policy” to serve as a guide during these challenging times.

This Crossing Boundary hosts contributions accounting for experiences and theoretical perspectives which may look distant for how they address the socio-technical transition in the energy field but, we believe, when put in conversation, help common questions and tentative answers come to the fore. Giorgio Osti, Paul Upham, Paula Maria Bögel and Paula Castro have been engaged in reflecting on their respective disciplines in relation to socio-technical transitions. Recalling and valorising the STS basis of MLP and SPT in connection with other disciplinary approaches may contribute to enrich on one side STS debates and on the other empirical research on socio-technical transition in a historical juncture where such an endeavour looks definitely urgent.

Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) are predicted by many analysts to transform the transport system over the coming decades. Which direction and path this transformation will take remains highly uncertain, as do the related environmental effects. In the present study we examine the introduction of CAVs in cities in terms of the indirect or underlying processes (drivers) and the direct expressions of interest that are related to specific actions, events or processes (pressures). The drivers and pressures are identified in interviews with stakeholders from across the quadruple helix (academia, industry, government and civil society). We then use an analytical framework that combines the drivers and pressures of the DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressures, States, Impacts, Responses) model and force field analysis. This framework is used to map survey data on the strength of the driving and restraining forces and pressures behind the introduction of CAVs in cities, and to identify which stakeholders are involved in this socio-technical transition. Results showed that there was a strong belief across stakeholder groups that CAVs should be connected with mobility planning strategies. This need for planning has been discussed at length in other contexts, and now our results show that respondents find this need is also present in the Swedish context. An unexpected finding was that those who are sceptical to CAVs may form unique groups with a broad range of stakeholder types, for example elderly people, cyclists, people who are concerned because of conspiracies related to new technology, and those who are concerned about environmental effects.

• Improved realism in energy modelling from endogenising political and social factors. • A measure typology allows measure diffusion modelling influenced by many factors. • Models feedbacks between energy transition governance, planning and implementation. • Concepts of political capital and public willingness to participate used in model. A system dynamics model of energy transition, TEMPEST, represents political and societal factors along with energy, emissions and mitigation measures, within a system of feedbacks. TEMPEST simulates energy transition from 1980 to 2080, calibrated to UK historical data. An exogenous uncertainty analysis showed most cases would achieve net zero before 2080, but only 20% would stay within the required carbon budget. Low probability, high impact cases have twice the future cumulative emissions than the best cases. High political capital for energy transition early on would likely reduce total mitigation required, but risks public pushback. Endogenous uncertainty about pushback and new measure difficulty could increase total emissions by a quarter. Dealing with unwanted feedbacks between society and government that reduce political capital will require responsive policy making. The socio-political feasibility of achieving the UK's net zero target is likely less than the techno-economic feasibility estimated through standard energy systems models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wullenkord and Hamann ([19]) emphasize that psychology needs to pay more attention to processes and events in system transformations to increase its practical value for transformation research. Discussion To increase its relevance for and impact in transformation research, psychology needs to embrace the complexity and context embeddedness of agency in system transitions. Keywords: transformation research; socio-technical transition; multilevel perspective; agency; environmental psychology EN transformation research socio-technical transition multilevel perspective agency environmental psychology 1 4 4 08/23/21 20210818 NES 210818 Introduction In their opinion article, Wullenkord and Hamann ([19]) propose research avenues for increasing psychology's relevance for and impact in transformation research. My opinion is that this approach can give psychology some general guidance, for example, as to whether existing agency research sufficiently considers different structural levels that characterize socio-technical transitions. [Extracted from the article]

The paper investigates the socio-technical transition pathways related to innovation niches formation merging the theoretical framework of Strategic Niche Management (SNM) with the Social Network Analysis (SNA) technique. Specifically, focusing on the niche of the virtual and augmented reality, this work tries to shed light on the understanding of the niche development and the related transition towards sustainability. Combining SNM with SNA and utilizing a specific taxonomy, the study allows appreciating the actual cognitive interaction among niche members that determine the transition to succeed. Results show that the investigated niche is characterized by an embryonic stage of development which needs a better support to advance technological shift in order to reinforce the link between Industry 4.0 paradigm and Circular Economy (CE). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introductory article to the special section first provides a cursory overview of the history of sustainable consumption and production as a policy issue dating back to the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. While sustainable production has been absorbed over the past three decades into prevailing societal commitments, governance structures, and business models, the companion notion of sustainable consumption has struggled to garner equal attention. The article then reviews the delimited framing that has been adopted to ameliorate the social and environmental effects of contemporary systems of provision. This conception has involved emphasis on consumer education, information dissemination, and behavioral nudging. These “weak” modes are deemed inadequate and need to be supplanted by initiatives that catalyze processes of system innovation as part of efforts to facilitate sustainability transitions of underlying socio-technical systems of consumption and production. This article also provides brief overviews of the four contributions that comprise this special section.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world are mobilizing unprecedented public resources to mitigate economic collapse. However, these new programs run the risk of paying insufficient attention to the multiple sustainability crises we face. Climate change, in particular, threatens the very basis for continued human prosperity and requires an equal, if not greater, societal mobilization. In this policy brief, we argue that the response to the coronavirus outbreak also offers an opportunity to advance the climate agenda. Indeed, given that we have scarce resources at our disposal, it is essential that we synergize such efforts. We propose that this can be accomplished in two primary ways: (1) harnessing the disruptive forces of the COVID-19 pandemic to accelerate the decline of carbon-intensive industries, technologies, and practices, and (2) leveraging responses to drive low-carbon innovation. From these two strategies, we outline five principles of "sustainability transition policy" to serve as a guide during these challenging times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 40 years, implementation of public policy has been developed into a mature but heterogenous field of research. Despite much attention paid to the context in which implementation occurs, studies thus far has only to a limited extent been concerned with how major socio-technological transitions affect the conditions for implementing policy. As societies experience major socio-technological transitions that radically change our ways of living and working, these changes also affect the implementation process. But how? This paper explores how theories of socio-technological changes can be drawn upon to add layers of explanations to a canonized model of integrated implementation. Recent technological developments in the transport sector are applied to this discussion to illustrate the usefulness of the suggested layered approach. The paper concludes by suggesting how the integrated implementation model and implementation theory can be combined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the contribution of legal pluralism scholarship to the field of socio-technical transition studies. Making use of a case study on the changeover to ring seine fishing in India, it pays particular attention to the implications of legal pluralism – or the co-existence of multiple legal systems in a societal field – for the stability of such transitions. Ring seine fishing developed in particular niches in the 1970s to spread swiftly throughout the subcontinent, dividing the fisher population into fervent protagonists and antagonists. Arguing that socio-technical innovations are often contested and that rival parties make use of alternative legal systems to advance their rights, the paper suggests that so-called regimes function as arenas for deliberating and battling alternative futures in fishing. Rather than creating stability for a particular socio-technical transition, such regimes may actually mask deep socio-legal divides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa faces interconnected challenges of developing and diversifying its economy and adapting to and mitigating the impacts of climate change. A green policy tilt is ascendant in the country, manifest in a cascading array of policies and special initiatives. Utilising concepts from the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions, we assess Africa's first designated Green Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Atlantis SEZ (ASEZ) in the Western Cape, a niche innovation aimed at transforming the Province's industrial base. This initiative is very ambitious in four respects: (1) it links green SEZ development in a deprived metropolitan area to the broader regional economy; (2) it utilises an innovative governance structure; (3) it promises localization economies and export potential; and (4) it connects SEZ niche experimentation with emergent renewable energy regimes. While elements are in place which might seed a sociotechnical transition, societal and political forces (i.e. landscape features) continue to limit its realisation, highlighting the immanent, structural realities shaping South Africa's economic futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]