Capturing the disruptive nature of green energy transitions: A political economy approach

Abstract

This paper seeks to develop a new analytical framework for understanding the disruptive dynamics of green energy transitions. While the empirical reality of such disruptions is widely recognised, the only literature within which disruption has been explicitly conceptualised is that arising within the socio-technical transitions research tradition through the notion of “disruptive innovation.” We argue that this approach, centred on technological innovations by firms that disrupt existing markets, consumers, and regulatory arrangements, is too narrow to capture the full range of disruptive dynamics associated with green energy transitions and that a framework rooted in critical political economy approaches is needed to do so. After surveying the various literatures that demonstrate this full range of disruptive dynamics, we propose a definition of disruption and an analytical framework that can both capture the existing empirical research on such disruptions and generate future research. Our analysis reveals that the disruptions associated with GETS are not merely by-products of the transition process but are central to the way these transitions unfold.