{"title":"Unpacking normativity in transformative change: A comparative analysis of directionality in Norwegian and Dutch agri-food policy (1945–2023)","authors":"Sabine de Graaff, Iris Wanzenböck, Koen Frenken","doi":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101076","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101076","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Normative values such as ‘justice’ or ‘sustainability’ are envisaged to guide transformative change. However, transition research that explicitly studies normativity remains limited. We study policy problem frames, policy solutions and their underlying values to compare directionality in the history of Dutch and Norwegian agri-food policy. While Norwegian policies emphasize protectionism and national food security, Dutch policies promote a liberal, market-oriented approach. Our analysis uncovers a persistent dominance of economic values over social and ecological considerations in both policy contexts, highlighting the entrenchment of economic growth ideals within Western European agri-food systems and revealing relevant value tensions. Overall, the paper argues that directionality is an inherently normative and political process, shaped by competing values embedded in historical trajectories. Recognizing this complexity calls for increased reflexivity and active engagement with just transition perspectives to navigate value tensions and advance sustainable and just transition pathways for future agri-food systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54294,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions","volume":"59 ","pages":"Article 101076"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Upscaling niche innovations by circular start-ups for sustainability transitions","authors":"Sabrina Tabares , Wisdom Kanda","doi":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101067","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101067","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While research acknowledges the role of start-ups in introducing niche innovations, the way these firms contribute to sustainability transitions through upscaling circular business models remains under-theorized. To advance this understanding, we analyze how circular start-ups (CSUs) upscale niche innovations within regimes to foster sustainability transitions. By combining the literature on circular economy and sustainability transitions, we draw on the frameworks of niche empowerment, the Business Model Design Space (BMDS), and the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) to analyze upscaling strategies through a multiple-case study of 30 CSUs in Latin America. Our study offers a nuanced interpretation of how circular business model innovation (CBMI) diffuses via empowerment strategies: (a) fit-and-conform, which manifests through the upscaling practices of adapt-and-comply and adjust-and-refine; and (b) stretch-and-transform, which unfolds through renew-and-reconfigure and alter and-replace upscaling practices. By positioning this phenomenon within the MLP, we interpret CBMI upscaling by examining the interplay between stabilizing and disruptive forces that drive sustainability transitions. In particular, we examine how these transition dynamics are linked to the specific business model typologies adopted by CSUs. Finally, we offer insights for sustainability transitions from a Global South perspective, acknowledge the study’s limitations, and propose avenues for future research</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54294,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 101067"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145382580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Per Erik Eriksson, Johan Larsson, Erika Hedgren, Cecilia Christopher
{"title":"Public clients creating lead markets for innovation towards sustainability transitions: Market-shaping in the Swedish construction sector","authors":"Per Erik Eriksson, Johan Larsson, Erika Hedgren, Cecilia Christopher","doi":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101046","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101046","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Public demand is emphasized as a major driving force for environmental innovation addressing societal transitions. In 2007, the European Commission adopted the ‘lead market initiative’ to tackle grand societal challenges across several industrial sectors, of which construction has the greatest sustainability impact. To study how public clients can create lead markets for environmental innovation in construction, we build on recent advancements emphasizing market-shaping strategies as critical for societal transitions. The paper investigates how public construction clients proactively use and combine market-shaping strategies to create lead markets for environmental innovations. Our empirical findings, from a multiple-case study of three public construction clients in Sweden, illustrate how the clients use and combine a broad range of market-shaping strategies related to seven groups of lead market advantages. We contribute to theory by cross-fertilizing market-shaping and lead market literatures and showing how market-shaping strategies interplay in achieving combinatory effects, which incentivize creation of lead markets for environmental innovation towards sustainability transitions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54294,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 101046"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145004973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bård Torvetjønn Haugland , Susanne Jørgensen , Kristin Ystmark Bjerkan , Lillian Hansen , Marianne Ryghaug , Simen Rostad Sæther , Timo von Wirth , Mari Wardeberg
{"title":"Towards multi-scalar transition management? Insights from four transition arenas in Norway’s port sector","authors":"Bård Torvetjønn Haugland , Susanne Jørgensen , Kristin Ystmark Bjerkan , Lillian Hansen , Marianne Ryghaug , Simen Rostad Sæther , Timo von Wirth , Mari Wardeberg","doi":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101061","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101061","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Transition management has been applied at organisational, local, regional, and national scales. However, transition management methodology only treats scale in passing. Drawing upon experiences from four transition arenas in Norway’s port sector – three local, one national – the article describes how arena outputs differed between local and national arenas. Outputs from the national arena were significantly less specific than in the local arenas. The article provides three partial, interlinked explanations for this disparity: arena composition, arena sequencing, and process facilitation. Proceeding from the challenges experienced in the national arena, the article provides suggestions towards a model of transition management which explicitly links local and national transition arenas. This linkage serves to ground otherwise abstract discussions in local contexts while expanding the type and range of actions that can result from a national-level transition arena, thus enhancing transition management’s ability to influence multi-scalar transition dynamics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54294,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 101061"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145324602","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Towards a lexicon for just sustainability transitions: thinking with capabilities, epistemology, intersectionality, spatiality, and temporality","authors":"Katinka Wijsman , Kristina Bogner , Flor Avelino , Agni Kalfagianni , Clara Uria Weis","doi":"10.1016/j.eist.2026.101104","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eist.2026.101104","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Scholars increasingly call for attention to the justice dimensions of sustainability transitions, recognizing that the burdens and benefits associated with these transitions differ over social groups, and that the goal of environmental protection can stand in tension with the goal of social justice. However, justice is an ambiguous concept and clarity about what justice in sustainability transitions can mean is limited, which is a problem for meaningful discussion and decision-making. In this paper we provide conceptual tools to elucidate what justice in sustainability transitions can mean, building on three justice dimensions developed in political philosophy (distribution, procedure, recognition) with five additional critical concepts: capabilities, epistemology, intersectionality, spatiality, and temporality. Drawing from theoretical and philosophical thinking in the social sciences and humanities, we discuss what each of these concepts entails, how they are relevant for sustainability transitions, and how they relate to distribution (outcomes), procedure (process), and recognition (interaction). We argue that together, the justice dimensions and concepts, and questions at the junctions between them, bring more comprehension to the analysis and articulation of justice in sustainability transitions. This lexicon contributes to a clearer understanding of justice, including the dilemmas undergirding sometimes contradictory demands. As such it brings questions of value and ethical considerations – in analytical as well as normative forms – front and center in sustainability transitions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54294,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions","volume":"59 ","pages":"Article 101104"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146022648","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Earth observation and sustainable development: A systematic literature review and content analysis about the New Space Economy","authors":"Daniele Binci","doi":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101088","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101088","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The New Space Economy (NSE) is an increasingly debated topic due to its novelty and relevance to sustainable industrial practices. However, the overall effectiveness of NSE, particularly Earth Observation activities for sustainable development, is questioned mainly due to fragmented literature. This literature fails to adequately explore how integrating NSE technologies into environmental and technological processes interacts with learning and capacity building for NSE adoption, particularly in non-traditional sectors such as agriculture, health, and renewable energy.</div><div>Therefore, we analyze the state of the art through a systematic review and content analysis of NSE’s impact on sustainability challenges. We identify key concepts from 50 selected papers, organizing content into meaningful categories related to the intersection of NSE and sustainability. Many studies show that space data, ecosystem integration, and sustainable development should be synergistically connected, suggesting a transformation in space-related activities. Accordingly, we address the literature gap by proposing an original conceptual framework that emphasises the technological potential of space data as a powerful information source for businesses and policymakers. The framework highlights how space data, ecosystem integration among NSE stakeholders, and capacity development are essential to achieving sustainability targets.</div><div>Practical implications include using the framework as a blueprint for adopting the NSE, understanding its benefits, and expanding the scope of sustainable development across environmental domains and social and economic metrics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54294,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions","volume":"59 ","pages":"Article 101088"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145738271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Just transition as transition in justice: Really learning from, about and with China","authors":"David Tyfield , Ping Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101060","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101060","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Humanity is undergoing an unprecedented and irreversible transformation, reshaping both the planet and society. The concept of \"just transition\" has become a central narrative in climate and environmental discourses, yet prevailing scholarship often treats justice as a fixed, universal ideal, attaching it to transition without critically examining its contextual and evolving nature. This Perspective challenges such static interpretations, arguing that just transition should be understood as an ongoing process embedded in historically and culturally specific contexts, and so as a question, not a settled standpoint. We delineate what just transition is not: it is neither a predefined endpoint, nor simply the absence of injustice, nor a mechanism that inherently flattens power hierarchies. Drawing on empirical insights from China, we illustrate how local understandings of justice are shaped by place-specific cultural values and historical power structures. By critiquing dominant assumptions and advocating for a more dynamic, context-sensitive approach, this Perspective contributes to a more inclusive and globally relevant discourse on just transition, offering critical insights for scholars and policymakers navigating the complexities of sustainability transformations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54294,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 101060"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145324547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rebeca Roysen , Diego Hernando Florez Ayala , Mónica Ramos-Mejía , Lasse Kos , Nadine Bruehwiler , Jens Koehrsen
{"title":"Replicating grassroots innovations in the Global South: A case study of ecovillages for marginalized groups in Colombia","authors":"Rebeca Roysen , Diego Hernando Florez Ayala , Mónica Ramos-Mejía , Lasse Kos , Nadine Bruehwiler , Jens Koehrsen","doi":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101068","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101068","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study analyses a case of replication of ecovillages for marginalized groups in Colombia. Ecovillages are a grassroots innovation aimed at fostering sustainable communities. This paper explores how the institutional and sociocultural context shapes the replication of ecovillages in the Global South. Data was collected through fieldwork at a Colombian ecovillage and interviews with members of organizations engaged in replicating the ecovillage’s model. The results show that the sociocultural context influences replication through reframing dynamics. Reframing dynamics involves two steps: An initial frame alignment followed by shifts in the collective action frames. The interpretative flexibility of the ecovillage concept enables its adaptation to diverse sociocultural contexts. However, in the Global South, limited economic resources, weak state institutions, and uneven access to knowledge can compel marginalized groups to rely on brokers with the knowledge and political leverage to mobilize the necessary resources. Despite these challenges, interviewee accounts suggest that rural ecovillages with social (subsidized) housing may offer a viable solution for marginalized groups in the Global South seeking to integrate economic productivity, ecological sustainability and a strong sense of community.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54294,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 101068"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145416381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Modelling in support of community-empowered energy transitions: Transforming a coal- and carbon-intensive region into a municipality of energy citizens","authors":"Dimitris Papantonis, Vassilis Stavrakas, Alexandros Flamos","doi":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101079","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101079","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As coal- and carbon-intensive regions across Europe undergo structural transformation, ensuring that these energy transitions are just and inclusive requires policies that also address cultural, identity, inequality, and perceptual dimensions. This study evaluates whether the current national strategy in Greece risks locking the municipality of Megalopolis- an illustrative case of historical lignite dependence- into continued reliance on natural gas, thereby missing the opportunity for a fully green and inclusive transition by 2050. To do so, we combine transformative scenario design, informed by publicly available data and expert insights, with high-resolution demand-side management modelling. Three alternative transition pathways are simulated, reflecting varying levels of citizen engagement and policy ambition. Results show that a community-empowered transition based on early electrification, energy efficiency, and behavioural change can accelerate decarbonisation and reduce costs at both municipal and household levels, while aligning with the European Union’s climate objectives. Citizen participation emerges not only as a normative aspiration but as a practical lever for accelerating and democratising the energy transition. Supported by enabling policy frameworks and inclusive governance structures, stronger local engagement could guide post-carbon regions like Megalopolis toward more resilient and equitable energy futures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54294,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions","volume":"59 ","pages":"Article 101079"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145730851","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Daniel Fernández Galeote, Linas Gabrielaitis, Georgina Guillén, Juho Hamari
{"title":"Play, games, and gamification to support sustainability transitions: a scoping review and research agenda","authors":"Daniel Fernández Galeote, Linas Gabrielaitis, Georgina Guillén, Juho Hamari","doi":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101025","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eist.2025.101025","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Transitioning towards more sustainable systems is crucial in an era where carbon emissions continue to rise and planetary boundaries have been exceeded. However, traditional methods for public engagement with institutionally, technically, and ecologically complex issues have shown limited results in motivating change. In response, play, games, and gamification promise to support sustainability transitions by engaging diverse stakeholders and promoting psychological and behavioral changes. Despite these promises, we lack systematic knowledge of whether such techniques, which typically leverage individual motivation and agency, can bring together stakeholders in diverse areas. Thus, we conducted a scoping review of 86 empirical outputs, which revealed untapped potential to transform practices and support large-scale transitions. Based on our findings, we propose three future agendas. First, our contextual agenda encourages clearly anchored and critical sustainability conceptualizations, engaging practitioners for resilient transitions, considering emotions, supporting technical and ecological transitions, and expanding beyond the West and the local scale. Second, for design, we suggest user-centered approaches, customizable interventions, a broader conceptualization of play, combining game and goal types, including more immersive game elements and technologies, and leveraging tools and methods beyond gamification. Third, our empirical agenda calls for larger sample sizes and longer studies, contrasting conditions, employing mixed methods, exploring double and triple loop learning, displaying critical reflexivity, and reporting clearer causal links and experiences. Future research may utilize these points to explore and leverage the potential of playful and gameful interventions in changing transition dynamics, environments, and actors for practice and regime-level system transformations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54294,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions","volume":"57 ","pages":"Article 101025"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144522687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}