Guides or gatekeepers? Incumbent-oriented transition intermediaries in a low-carbon era

Benjamin K Sovacool,Bruno Turnheim,Mari Martiskainen,Donal Brown,Paula Kivimaa

doi:10.1016/j.erss.2020.101490

Abstract

Transitions intermediaries—agents who connect diverse groups of actors involved in transitions processes and their skills, resources and expectations—are becoming more prominent in research on low-carbon transitions. Most work, however, has focused on their ability to push innovations or emerging technologies forward, emphasising their involvement in disrupting incumbent regimes or firms. However, in focusing on new entrants, often at the grassroots level, such literature runs the risk of overlooking the potentially positive role that incumbent transition intermediaries—those oriented to work with or centrally consider the interests of dominant government, market or civic stakeholders—can play in meeting sustainable energy and transport goals. In this paper, we focus specifically on five different incumbent transition intermediaries—Smart Energy GB in the United Kingdom, Energiesprong in the Netherlands, SULPU in Finland, CERTU in France, and the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association —and explain their efforts to meet socially desirable goals of accelerating innovation or decarbonizing energy or transport systems. We ask: Why were these intermediaries created, and what problems do they respond to? How do they function? What are their longer-term strategies and aspirations? In what ways do they reflect, reinforce, or otherwise shape incumbency? In answering these questions via a comparative case study approach, the paper aims to make contributions to the study of incumbency and intermediation in the context of transitions, to identifying different types of incumbent intermediaries (market, governmental, civic), and to informing debates over energy and climate policy and politics.

Highlights

The decarbonisation of energy and transport systems is among the most important international challenges facing society [1,2,3,4], with concomitant calls for purposeful innovation with technologies, institutions, behaviours, and even entire systems
We argue that incumbent-oriented transition intermediaries refer most broadly to those that intermediate—i.e. connect diverse groups of actors [5]—on behalf of or in the interest of incumbents engaged with sustainability transitions
Incumbents do not always stifle low-carbon innovations or socially desirable practices and technologies - when they are enabled by dedicated innovation intermediaries

Summary

Introduction

The decarbonisation of energy and transport systems is among the most important international challenges facing society [1,2,3,4], with concomitant calls for purposeful innovation with technologies, institutions, behaviours, and even entire systems. Transition intermediaries—agents who connect diverse groups of actors involved in transitions processes and their skills, resources and expectations—are becoming increasingly prominent in research on both innovation and low-carbon transitions [5]. This is partly because intermediaries can help overcome important system failures and deficits commonly slowing down the development of innovations (e.g. knowledge codification and circulation, network and alliance formation, demand articulation) [6]. Private and corporate actors are often dependent on start-ups or research institutes for emerging innovation opportunities [7,8]. Others highlight that the inherently purposeful and normativelyoriented character of sustainability transitions and related innovations (i.e. addressing societal challenges) warrants specific kinds of intermediation [5] that are more attuned to experimentation [16], institutional rule-change [17], political advocacy work [18], championing strategies [19], and an explicit focus on disrupting incumbents [10,20]

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