The rapid expansion of the public discussion and research on just transition implies the risk of watering down either justice or the (eco-)socio-technical transition itself. We create a theoretical notion of just transition boundaries and propose it to help consider non-negotiable limits to just transition discourse and make sense of negotiations within such limits. Just transition boundaries are comprised

The mobility sector is undergoing a transformation towards a multimodal, sustainable, and user-centric system, driven by technological advancements and evolving business models. Super apps, which have already matured in Eastern markets, are now entering Western markets through the mobility sector, where they are poised to play a pivotal role in the mobility transition. We argue that the expected uptake

Policymaking communities across a wide breadth of contexts are increasingly turning to the field of sustainability transitions to help inform the societal response to critical sustainability crises. Building on a legacy of science-policy affinity and after nearly a decade of rising policy engagement, the field is now poised to build momentum for a ‘policy turn’. However, to make more rapid progress

This article explores the usefulness of the notion of alterity in waste management through a case study of Traperos de Emaús-Navarra, a bulky waste collection and recovery initiative in Spain. Guided by the principle of distributing work among more people, the initiative pursues shorter working hours and wage equality among its >300 employees. Drawing on this experience, the article explores alterity

The policy brief discusses how a challenge-oriented approach to place-based innovation policies can bring added value to EU Cohesion Policy. In so doing, it looks at the potential implications of a challenge-led logic on three dimensions: the rationale of Cohesion Policy, its operational aspects as well as its challenges in terms of governance and coordination. Three areas are explored: how a challenge-driven

Regional studies show that regions develop new technologies related to their existing knowledge base. R&D expenditure targeting sectors related to this knowledge base is, therefore, more promising to create innovative output. Using global patent data, we investigate whether path-dependency of innovation in climate-change mitigation and adaptation technologies (CCMTs) holds at the country level and

This study contributes to the understanding of the spatiality of energy transitions in the East African Community (EAC) and to cross-regional conceptual learning. It is situated at the intersection of Sustainability Transitions and Energy Geography. Building on a conceptual framework developed by energy geographers, we conduct a conceptual review and examine the production of locations, landscapes

High shares of renewable energy generation, digitalisation, and increased electrification are putting energy systems in flux. In this article we examine the ways households actively re-configure energy system relations at the local level and become agents in the ongoing energy transition. Drawing on assemblage theory, we foreground processes of emergence, the multiplicity of current configurations

Transitions to a circular economy in Europe have not accelerated despite being a priority of the Green Deal. One reason behind the slow uptake is the active resistance by incumbent actors. This article explores the case of Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation to uncover resistance and capture strategies of incumbent single-use and takeaway industry actors that succeeded in reducing the ambition

The role of gender relations in shaping technological transitions is widely acknowledged but remains understudied. This study uses historical data to analyze the gendering of early 20th century American cars and its consequences. Previous research has argued that early electric vehicles were construed as a women’s car, contributing to its demise. Other work has questioned to what extent automotive

As primary sites of everyday consumption households play a key role in sustainability transitions. Yet neither everyday consumption nor what goes on within households have received much attention within the sustainability transitions literature. This paper contributes to this research gap by exploring how everyday practices of mothering intersect with aspects of the sustainability of everyday food

This paper reviews the literature on technological innovation systems (TIS) to explore how TIS studies have contributed to building the understanding of innovation processes driving sustainability transitions. We summarise the conceptual and methodological advancements in the TIS studies at three levels: (1) meso-level focused on TIS functions and structures; (2) macro-level explaining the TIS-context

Cross-sector collaborations—partnerships between organizations from multiple sectors (e.g., the public and nonprofit and voluntary sectors)—are key to sustainability transitions yet remain understudied. In this study, we assess the readiness of nonprofit organizations for engaging in collaborative sustainability efforts. We develop and empirically validate a theoretical framework focusing on three

The paper examines local sustainable transition processes related to the introduction of large-scale sustainable energy infrastructure projects in peripheralized areas, with a specific focus on understanding their role and complex development considerations, potentials, and dilemmas. Experiences are reported from the Danish `Energy Island Bornholm´, where a 3,8 GW offshore wind farm field is planned

This paper examines the role of transition factors in the emergence, upscaling, and diffusion of niche innovations in developing countries and juxtaposes them with the case study of a Waste-to-Energy socio-technical niche in the ongoing green transition of Ghana's waste management and energy systems. A systematic literature review of the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) and the Technological Innovation

The ideas that experts share and draw on shape policies across various spatial and temporal contexts. In this study, we use document analysis and expert interviews to examine the views and beliefs of one important group of experts, economists, on mission-oriented innovation policy and sustainability transition in Finland. As a result, we outline the epistemic landscape that for its part conditions

Off-grid solar devices enables a transition to green energy. With this transition however, there is generation of electronic waste and concerns about its management. Currently most solar e-waste ends up 'hibernating' or stored at home, while only a minor share is recycled. Through a mixed method approach, this paper addresses underlying causes of hibernation. It develops a new framework to shed light

The daunting task of swiftly transitioning to sustainable modes of living presents a formidable challenge, particularly at individual and household levels, where entrenched consumption and disposal systems exhibit strong path dependency. This research investigates how individuals and households can contribute to sustainability transitions through grassroots innovations. Specifically, we ask: How do

As energy transitions progress from formative to growth or acceleration phases, issues related to resource formation increase in importance. In this paper we address a type of resource formation that has received scant attention in the sustainability transitions literature to date: developing the industrial capacity to manufacture and deliver key complementary assets (i.e. components and services)

While there is growing research about the roles of organisations in the transition to a post-growth society, activities in the market economy and the roles of businesses have received little attention so far. In this study, we address this gap by exploring the extent to which post-growth aspects have been considered by sustainability-oriented SMEs in the German speaking fashion industry. By drawing

Much of the research on technological innovation, especially in the context of sustainability transitions, has focused on the early stages of innovation. Much less work has been done on successful acceleration of technological change after pre-development and take-off. Filling this gap is important for improving the chances of successful deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs). Recent work on sustainability

The aim of the paper is to investigate the role of hybrid entrepreneurship in developing justice and diversity responses to sustainability transitions that are complicated by contexts of ambiguous socio-technological shifts and manifested in material and ethical dilemmas for ‘the other’, i.e., those deemed different. Based on analysis of two original case studies featuring the other—the Nisichawayasihk

Transforming critical infrastructure systems, such as water and energy, is crucial to achieving global sustainability and climate change targets in many cities. Whilst experimentation has been studied extensively in urban sustainability scholarships, there have been no large-N cross-sector comparative studies. Existing research is potentially blind to different patterns of urban experiments across

Household energy use relates to our socio-cultural identity, our socio-economic status and the socio-cultural and material contexts in which we live. Around the world, households experienced dramatic changes in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the drastic increase of energy prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Habits and routines were disrupted, reinterpreted, reorganized and renegotiated

This paper suggest that we need to better understand the relationship between policy rationales and their scalar orientation. The former refers to the underlying motivations for proposing policies. The latter refers to two dimensions: the geography of challenges that policy seek to address, and the geography of effects that policy seek to instigate. Such variations in the scalar orientation of national

Although stakeholder engagement is a well-discussed topic within sustainability transitions research, it is underexplored in the context of supranational actors, such as the EU, despite the apparent relevance. Through the case study of the European citizen and stakeholder consultations around European Green Deal (EGD), this paper investigates the implications of stakeholder engagement conducted on

The narrative of 'just transition' has gained significant traction in arenas of transition research and policymaking. Social innovation can play a central role in delivering a just transition, fostering social change and providing social arrangements that enable adjustment to change. Engaging with the ‘shapeshifting’ nature of social innovation, this research conceptualizes social innovation at the

As local authorities and providers of services and infrastructures, cities can advance sustainability transformations through instruments like public procurement. However, a disconnect exists between broad (supra)national sustainability challenges and public procurers’ local needs. We examine innovation contests as a tool for articulating societal challenges as local demands for innovation. We study

We present the concept of “transition imaginary”, defined as a discursive effect of the relational work of the state to strategically select and reconfigure landscape pressures through national sociotechnical imaginaries for the sake of legitimizing particular transition projects. Using the case study of the Polish project of an electric vehicle (EV) IZERA, we illustrate a model that helps understand

In this paper we enrich the concept of place-based leadership. Building on social movement theory, our analysis of the clean growth mission development in Greater Manchester (UK) reveals the role of place-based leadership in mobilising and coordinating framing processes that linked the global climate change problem with local challenges, articulated local benefits of its resolution, and provided justification

The sustainability transition literature has paid scant attention to incumbent generation equipment manufacturers, constituting a complementary element in electricity systems. To fill this research gap, this study develops the concept of networked sustainable business model innovation (SBMI) as an analytical framework to explore how incumbent manufacturers change business models in response to changes

In the last four years, since Austria enabled the establishment of energy communities (ECs), their numbers have rapidly increased, and their role in Austria's energy transition has been widely discussed. This study explores how storylines of ECs, as social innovations, have changed during their introduction and diffusion. We adopt a dialectic perspective of niche diffusion and discursive struggles

Scholars have yet to devote sufficient attention to the reciprocal relationship between renewable energy (RE) and the dynamics of political borders. This oversight is surprising given the tangible examples demonstrating how RE projects are strategically sited as part of, near, across, and even distant from political borders. This study asserts that the selection of border sites for RE is influenced

Public sector organisations (PSOs) such as municipalities, regulatory bodies, and public utilities are key actors in sustainability transitions. However, the conceptualisation of their transformative capacity is underdeveloped, as several strands of literature pay attention to the topic but remain disjointed. The article takes stock of the literature, reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of the main

Domestic heating systems need to change to meet climate targets. We draw on practice theoretical concepts to understand what is needed to integrate heat pumps in Dutch households. From a design orientation, we view households as creative actors integrating technologies into daily life. We report on an ethnographic study of the disruptions and resulting reconfigurations that occur when heat pumps are

This article contributes to a deeper understanding of the role of capitalism in sustainability transitions by exploring the potential of green entrepreneurs to cultivate alternative economic forms. To this end, we will introduce the classic sociological concept of the spirit of capitalism to sustainability transition research and bring it into dialogue with the concept of economic alterity. Based on

In the transition to a renewable energy system, the European Union champions community-based initiatives like energy communities to promote decarbonization as well as broader societal benefits. Despite these goals, there is a marked underrepresentation of women in energy communities. In 15 qualitative interviews with experts in community-led energy organizations mainly from Germany, our study addresses

This policy brief encourages urban policymakers to embrace a stronger circular economy (CE) ambition by applying discontinuation policies. While discontinuation already plays a major role in sectors such as energy, cities have so far mainly focussed on supporting innovations in the CE transition. Using circular construction as an example, this policy brief demonstrates how to apply informational, economic

Mission-oriented innovation policies (MOIP) do not operate in a vacuum. How missions align with innovation actors, infrastructures and discourses in regional contexts is an ongoing discussion. In this paper, we draw on the case of regional dialogues that aspired to facilitate exchange and learning for the missions of Germany's High-Tech Strategy (HTS). We examine the interactional process of 'regioning'

Reuse is suggested as a strategy to reduce mounting single-use packaging consumption and the related pollution. In this exploratory study, we investigated how governance can create conditions for the uptake of reusable food packaging in Finland when phasing out the existing single use system is not viable. We identified policy instruments addressing packaging reuse and analyzed how key stakeholders

Transformative mission-oriented innovation policy aims to redirect innovation, but evidence of this directional ability is limited. This paper examines whether transformer missions redirect values reflected by mission-oriented projects. We study the EU Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters’ and use probabilistic topic modelling and thematic analyses to identify, conceptualize, and compare latent values

The paper addresses tensions in organizing civil society activities in urban sustainability transitions. It argues that these activities need focus to be impactful while also demanding flexibility to remain adaptive. The latter can hardly be achieved by individual organizations alone but requires closer examination of the of organizations in which civil society actors operate. This paper contributes

In order to reach climate neutrality by 2050 the EU needs to overcome challenges relating to accelerating innovation, creating infrastructure, redirecting investments, and fostering cross-sectoral integration. In this policy brief, we present key policy lessons relating to these four challenges based on seven case studies on transformative policies from the period 2005–2022 in different EU countries

Transformative social innovation policy encompasses more than the idea that policy defines directions about the expected outcomes of innovation. It also promotes new forms of governance and rationales based on more intersectional and decentralized processes of innovation. Such policy has thus to be studied primarily as a perpetual process of redefinition, rather than as an end in itself to achieve

Sustainability transitions research and policy treat households and the home in a narrow way. The paper reviews niche-based experimentation and social-practice theory informed sustainability transitions literature to develop a novel framework for deliberate household experimentation. The usefulness of the framework is explored in an action research project on low-waste living in Melbourne. Data was

Sustainability transitions research is increasingly engaged with the complexities of justice and equitability. In housing, policy lock-ins and infrastructural inequalities expose people to volatile energy markets, energy poverty and climate impacts. These problems have often been dealt with reactively, without resolving their underlying systemic and structural causes. We examine household energy vulnerabilities

This paper investigates the development of a mission-oriented innovation policy approach at a national level. The empirical case that forms the core of the paper is a policy process towards shaping future research and innovation policies and priorities in Norway. The concept “mission-oriented research and innovation policy” was introduced in the policy process and steps were initiated to develop and

Experimentation is a key theme in the sustainability transition literature, where cities are recognized as key intermediaries in experimentation. Whilst attention has focused on the role of the cities as intermediary actors, the ways in which municipalities engage in and support experimentation is less known. In a collective case study of four Finnish municipalities, we draw on the transformative innovation

Resilience is traditionally seen as the capability to bounce back to normal from undesired change, while sustainability transitions research seeks to understand how a radical change can be promoted. This may be seen as a puzzle, not least considering the increasingly frequent combination of both sets of concepts in policy and scholarly approaches. In this article we systematically review scientific

The Circular Economy (CE) is promoted as a sustainable model of economic growth and a quintessential example of a “sustainability mission.” Despite expected co-benefits in job creation, waste reduction and poverty alleviation, the Global South is largely missing from both missions and CE literature. Employing cross-disciplinary insights from environmental policy and the geography of sustainability

Solar photovoltaic and wind power generation is expanding fast globally, fuelled by technological progress and rapid cost reductions. Other renewable power technologies fare much worse: deployment stagnates despite substantial technological progress. Here, we explore why these technologies fall off political agendas although they are improving, proposing that negative cross-technology feedback from

The growing call for public policy to begin addressing more robustly the challenges posed by sustainability transitions puts the onus on researchers to study how new meta-frameworks of transformative innovation policy and accompanying practices are implemented, applied, and received when they travel across different geographies. We discuss this question by tracing debates with reference to geography

In this paper, we develop a holistic policy evaluation framework that aims to harness a fuller potential of just transitions. Although appeals for broader understanding of just transitions are becoming louder, applicable frameworks supporting consideration of justice in the planning and evaluation of transition policies are still lacking. The evaluation framework developed integrates the multidimensional

Over the last two decades, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners have focused on the innovations in the informal sector, particularly grassroots innovations (GI) from low-income countries. Such innovations' diffusion dynamics, however, are uncharted territory. As a result, this paper explores the diffusion of GI from India's informal sector. We chose ten GI and gathered data in ex-situ and in-situ

The geographical understanding of directionality in the literature on mission-oriented innovation systems is still underdeveloped. Therefore, this article reflects on whether the allocation of funding for R&D activities to different places can direct innovation systems in space. A place-based approach to the allocation of funding and its effects on innovation systems is developed to analyze how the

The social practices of householders are crucial for the realisation of energy policies, but their political aspects have been overlooked in previous research. The aim of this paper is to deepen the understanding of the possibilities of householders for political participation in energy transitions in the home. By analysing the social practices of householders in a low-energy building, the paper demonstrates

Few studies on legitimation of new technologies were able to provide insights into the longitudinal changes in legitimacy outcomes and the social dynamics that underpin such outcomes. Using a novel mixed-methods approach, combining Natural Language Processing with a qualitative text analysis, and drawing on the concept of social cohesion to investigate the social relations among actors, the study offers

Considering that recycling is seldom economically viable, this study analyzes how recycling organizations perceive institutional voids and adapt their business models to propel a transition from waste crisis to establishing waste management services. The analysis is embedded in the sustainability transitions literature and is approached from an institutional void and business model lens. Qualitative

Existing transitions literature often highlights successful experiments for changing practices through multi-actor processes but overlooks the challenges of adjusting incumbent practices and engaging actors in reflexive learning. The current article addresses this gap through two qualitative case studies of water-related co-creation processes in the Netherlands. Each case met inertia and resistance

Local governments are placing greater requirements on households to sort and reduce their waste. The research draws on experimental governance scholarship to explore the transformative capacity of local government in low waste sustainability transitions and how this is given form through engaging households in new waste management initiatives. Australia, a high-income county with one of the highest