Institutional Forces as Barriers to Sustainability Transitions: The Case of Ethiopia

Abstract

This study aims to answer questions as to what the key barriers to biogas adoption are in developing countries and how social enterprise organizations are addressing those barriers. This empirical study focuses on Ethiopia as a case. In this study, qualitative analysis of primary and secondary data was conducted. The results highlight additional barriers to the adoption of biogas technology (cognitive, normative, regulative) in rural communities as Ethiopia has ambitious goals to reduce carbon emissions 64% by the year 2030, faces its worst drought in over 50 years and more than 50,000 women and children die per year all attributed to indoor air pollution. The analysis of the case also advances our understanding in the role of social enterprise in cleantech innovation and barriers to socio-technical transitions. As stakeholders, such as the Ethiopian government, and NGOs are urged to address socio- technical landscape level barriers, and socio-technical regime level barriers, as identified in previous studies, through the application of technical solutions there will also a need for initiatives that aim to better address cognitive, normative and regulative forces and to understand how those factors influence decisions to adopt new technologies in order to effectively address them. Social enterprise organizations aim to address issues around environmental issues, education and economic development. Studies of social enterprises have examined their drive to address underlying social issues, etc. which holds the promise of a broader perspective and potential to address underlying socio-cultural issues rather than focusing solely on technological solutions. Addressing niche level barriers, then includes more focus on issues in terms of end-user expectations with consideration for cultural norms, tradition and issues in relation to infrastructure. This may even include the development of more pragmatic approaches to clean-energy technology development and rural community accessibility.