The role of inter-sectoral dynamics in sustainability transitions: A comment on the transitions research agenda

In this paper, Allan Dahl Andersen, Markus Steen, Tuukka Mäkitie, Jens Hanson, Taran M. Thune and Birthe Soppe look at how economic and environmental goals can be aligned to enhance the political legitimacy of transitions.

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This requires, they suggest, a more integrated understanding of the relationship between industrial transformation and sustainability transitions. The authors provide a tentative articulation of such a perspective by recombining insights from the fields of Industrial Dynamics and Transition Studies. They point to three issues that can serve as starting points for developing such a perspective and argue why those merit more attention in transition studies. These include: (a) attention to the diversity of sectors and firms involved in, and affected by, transitions through inter-sectoral linkages, (b) how existing knowledge bases influence the direction and scope of transitions, and (c) policy challenges associated with parallel transitions in multiple sectors that constitute economy-wide processes of structural change.

The full paper can be accessed here

Published Aug. 28, 2020 9:42 AM - Last modified Sep. 6, 2021 12:58 PM