1. Sustainability: a long-term journey
René Kemp
MERIT & TNO-STB

2. On sustainability Sustainability is about protection and creation
Requirements of sustainability are multiple and interconnected
Pursuit of sustainability hinges on integration
Core requirements and general rules must be accompanied by context-specific elaborations:
Diversity is necessary
Surprise is inevitable
Transparency and public engagement are key characteristics of decision making for sustainability
Explicit rules and processes are needed for decisions about trade-offs and compromises
The end is open

3. Key elements of SD strategy
policy integration
common objectives, criteria, trade-off rules and indicators
information and incentives for practical implementation
programmes for system innovation
(Kemp, Gibson and Parto, 2004)

4. To sustain means to innovate

5. This is accepted by the Commission
The Commission emphasises the role of policy at the EU scale, to generate major public and private investments in crucial sustainability-related areas – including the development and application of new, “environmentally-friendly” technologies – and more broadly to be catalyst for “institutional reform”, changes in corporate and consumer behaviour, and “innovative solutions” that create new, high-quality jobs (EC 2001b:2-3).

6. And by the OECD in its 4 policy priorities
Making markets work for SD
Strenghtening the decision-making processes for SD
Fostering SD through science and technology
Making their policies more coherent andmutually supportive, and opening markets in ways that ensure that the benefits from globalisation and technological advance are widely shared

7. But innovation is different things
Policy innovation
Technological innovation
New sociotechnical systems
that are interrelated

9. Example of system innovation
Coal
 Natural gas
 Hydrogen?

10. SD is a non-ending process of adaptive change
But:
It is useful to view it as a transition process--to something more sustainable

11. A transition is the result of many changes and not a deterministic process (source: Butter et al., 2002)

13. Transition management
…. is a deliberate effort to work towards a transition in a stepwise, adaptive manner, utilising dynamics and visions
… in which different visions and routes are explored: system innovation and optimisation

14. Transition Management: bifocal instead of myopic
Political margins for change
State of development of solutions
Societal goals
Sustainability visions
Transition management: oriented towards long-term sustainability goals and visions, iterative and reflexive (bifocal)
Existing policy process: short-term goals (myopic)

15. The cyclical, iterative nature of transition management
Evaluating, monitoring and learning
Developing sustainability visions and transition-agendas
Organizing a multi-
actor network
Mobilizing actors and executing projects and experiments

16. Mathematically transition management = current policies + long-term vision + vertical and horizontal coordination of policies + portfolio-management + process management.
... is bottom-up and top-down, using strategic experiments and control policies

17. Transition management in the Netherlands
The energy transition

18. Sustainable energy economy:
economically efficient (‘profit’)
reliable (‘people’)
minimal negative environmental and social impacts (‘planet’)
Long term goals, combined with
Concrete short term steps
…and successes...

19. Areas of interest in the Energy transition
Policy Renewal
Biomass
Sustainable Rijnmond
New Gas
Eff. Energy Chains

20. Biomass 20-40% of primary energy supply
2050
Biomass 20-40% of primary energy supply
‘Vision’
2020
‘Strategic goals’
10-15% in power prod.
15-20% in traffic
‘Transition Paths’
C. Biofuels
B. Pyrolysis
A. Gasification
Expv
EOS
Exp
: experiments
: R&D
2003
2 à 3 %

21. No definitive choice is made as to technological means
Different routes are investigated
Decisions are made in an interative way
Support is temporary
Each option has to proof its worth
Technology choices are made at the decentralized level

22. What’s new about transition management?
The orientation to transition goals (less short-termism)
The orientation to learning and innovation (helps to overcome the preference for quick results, and policy reliance on technical fixes)
Alignment of different policy domains (helps to deal with fragmented policies)
Programmes for system innovation based on visions of sustainability
Less domination by vested interests: opening up of policy process

23. Would this be something for the EU?
The Commission expects much from sustainability assessment and good governance (-)
Innovation is a strategic area for EU policy: Lisbon strategy, Innovation Action plan, ETAP (+)
The Commission has demonstrated a willingness and capacity for engaging in transitions (single market, EMU, economic convergence) (+) ?

24. Transition management and other governance approaches
Planning
Incremental Politics
Adaptive governance
Interactive governance
Multi-level governance

25. Transition policies and institutions
Instruments of transition policy
New institutions
Transition policies and institutions
Transition councils
 Joint-decision making   
Transition goals
Transition agendas
 Transition arenas
Innovation policy
·  Innovation alliances
·  R&D programmes for sustainable technologies
·  User experiments
·  Alignment policies to transition goals
Science police
· Assessment of system innovations
· Knowledge about past transition
·  Policy analysis
Programmes for system innovation
Sector policy
· niche management (procurement)
· infrastructure for system innovation
· longer term goals and visions

26. Conclusion
Transition management is not a “megalomaniac” attempt to control the future
But an attempt at goal-oriented modulation:
It is a “journey to a better world” in which system innovations are explored, gradually (alongside the route of system improvement)

27. Strategies for eco-innovation
Making companies proactive
Improving sustainability assessment by companies and customers
Improving the system of innovation for eco-innovation
Targeted policies for eco-innovations
The use of market-based instruments
Policy integration
Kemp and Munch Andersen (2004)