MEE100 2022 Autumn:

Societal transition and transformation -

Energy and climate change

Preliminary schedule – any changes will be announced on Canvas

Place/time: AR Ø-130, Fridays, 8:15 to 12:00.

Available seminar rooms Fridays, 10:15-12:00 AR V-206, 207, 213,
214, 215, 216, 218, 219.
Course coordinator: Liv Sunnercrantz (LS)
Lecturers: Liv Sunnercrantz (LS), Oluf Langhelle (OL), Morten Ryen Loe (ML),
Siddharth Sareen (SS), Thomas Sattich (TS).

26. Aug. 08:15-10:00 Introduction to the course. LS

Readings: Learning outcomes, https://www.uis.no/en/course/MEE100_1
10:00- 12:00 Sustainable Development, The Paris Agreement, the SDGs
and the (urgent) need for transition(s). OL & ML
Readings:
Meadowcroft, J., Banister, D., Holden, E., Langhelle, O., Linnerud, K.
and Gilpin, G. (2019). What Next for Sustainable Development?
“Introduction”, in What Next for Sustainable Development? Our
Common Future at Thirty. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Stoddard et al. (2021). “Three Decades of Climate Mitigation: Why
Haven't We Bent the Global Emissions Curve?” Annual Review of
Environment and Resources, 46:653-689.
Steffen, W. et al. (2018). “Trajectories of the Earth System in the
Anthropocene.” PNAS, Perspective, 1-8.
Background readings:
(Streck, C., P. Keenlyside, M.von Unger (2016). “The Paris Agreement: A new
beginning.” Journal for environmental policy & planning law, 13: 3-29. )
 SEI & CEEW (2022). Summary for policymakers in Stockholm+50: Unlocking a
Better Future. Stockholm Environment Institute. DOI: 10.51414/sei2022.011
IEA (2021). Net Zero by 2050. A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector .
IEA Special report.
REN21 (2022). KEY MESSAGES FOR DECISION MAKERS. Takeaways
from the RENEWABLES 2022 GLOBAL STATUS REPORT.
United Nations (2022). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022.
New York: United Nations.
IPBES (2019). Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on
biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy
Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.
IPCC (2018). Summary for Policymakers. In: Global Warming of 1.5°C.
An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C
above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas
emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global
response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development,
and efforts to eradicate poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, H.-O.
Pörtner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P.R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia,
C. Péan, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J.B.R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M.I.
Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, and T. Waterfield (eds.).

2. Sep. 08:15-12:00 Reading and working with academic literature

LS, ML
Readings:
“Chapter 2: Towards Sustainable Development» in World Commission
on Environment and Development (1987) Our Common Future: Report
of the World Commission on Environment and Development.
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/5987our-
common-future.pdf
Beckerman W. (1994). "Sustainable development": Is it a useful concept?
Environmental Values 3: 191-209
Shove, E. and G. Walker (2007), ‘Caution! Transitions Ahead: Politics,
Practice, and Sustainable Transition Management’, Environment and
Planning A: Economy and Space, 39 (4), 763–70.
 Markard, J., R. Raven and B. Truffer (2012), ‘Sustainability transitions: An
emerging field of research and its prospects’, Research Policy, 41 (6), 955–
67.
Scoones et al. (2020) “Transformations to sustainability: combining
structural, systemic and enabling approaches.” Current Opinion in
Environmental Sustainability 2020, 42:65–75.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2019.12.004

9. Sep. 08:15-12. Introduction to transition theory. Purpose, scope,

applications. ML
Readings:
Geels, F. W. and Kemp (2007). “Dynamics in socio-technical systems:
Typology of change processes and contrasting case studies.”
Technology in Society, 29: 441-455.
Geels, F.W. (2011). “The multi-level perspective on sustainability
transitions: Responses to seven criticisms.” Environmental Innovation
and Societal Transitions, 1(1), 24-40.
Genus, A., & Coles, A.-M. (2008). Rethinking the multi-level perspective of
technological transitions. Research Policy, 37(9), 1436–1445.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2008.05.006
Background readings:
Geels, F.W. (2002). “Technological transitions as evolutionary
reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case-
study.” Research Policy, 31: 1257–1274.
Köhler et al. (2019). “An agenda for sustainability transitions research:
State of the art and future directions.” Environmental Innovation and
Societal Transitions, 31: 1-32.

16. Sep. 08:15-12 The Politics of Transition Studies. OL

Readings:
Avelino, F. et al. (2016). “The politics of sustainability transitions.”
Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 18: 557-567.
Figenbaum, E. (2017). “Perspectives on Norway’s supercharged electric
vehicle policy.” Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 25: 14-
34.
 Meadowcroft, J. (2011). “Engaging with the politics of sustainability
transitions.” Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 1: 70–
75.
Background readings:
Langhelle, O., Meadowcroft, J. and Rosenbloom, D. (2019). “Politics
and technology: deploying the state to accelerate socio-technical
transitions for sustainability”, in J. Meadowcroft, D. Banister, E.
Holden, O. Langhelle, K. Linnerud and G. S. Gilpin (eds.), What next
for sustainable development? Our Common Future at thirty.
Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 239-259.
Geels, F. W. (2014). “Regime Resistance against Low-Carbon
Transitions: Introducing Politics and Power into the Multi-Level
Perspective.” Theory, Culture & Society, 31: 21-40.

23. Sep. 08:15-12. Transformation LS

Hölscher, K. Wittmayer, J. M. and Loorbach, D. (2018). “Transition
versus transformation: What’s the difference?” in Environmental
Innovation and Societal Transitions, 27:1-3.
Newell, P. (2019) “Trasformismo or transformation? The global political
economy of energy transitions.” Review of International Political Economy,
26:1, 25-48, DOI: 10.1080/09692290.2018.1511448
Polanyi, K. (1944) The Great Transformation. Boston: Beacon Press –
excerpts.
Eckersley, R. (2021), Greening States and Societies: From Transitions to Great
Transformations, Environmental Politics, 30:22.

30. Sep. 08:15-12 Energy Transitions – How fast can it go? OL

Readings:
IEA (2021). Net Zero by 2050. A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector .
IEA Special report.
Smil, V. (2016). “Examining energy transitions: A dozen insights based
on performance.” Energy Research & Social Science, 22: 194-197.
Sovacool, B. K. (2016). “How long will it take? Conceptualizing the
temporal dynamics of energy transitions.” Energy Research & Social
Science, 13: 202-215.
 Background readings:
Sovacool, B. K. and Geels, F. W. (2016). “Further reflections on the
temporality of energy transitions: A response to critics.” Energy
Research & Social Science, 22: 232–237.
Bromley, P. S. (2016). “Extraordinary interventions: Toward a
framework for rapid transition and deep emission reductions in the
energy space.” Energy Research & Social Science, 22: 165-171.
Kern, F. and Rogge, K. S. (2016). “The pace of governed energy
transitions: Agency, international dynamics and the global Paris
agreement accelerating decarbonisation processes?” Energy Research
& Social Science, 22: 13-17.

7. Oct. 08:15-12. Just urban mobility transitions SS

Readings:
Sareen, S. et al. (2021). “A matter of time: Explicating temporality in science
and technology studies and Bergen’s car-free zone development.” Energy
Research & Social Science, 78: 102128.
Sareen, S. (2021). “Digitalisation and social inclusion in multi-scalar smart
energy transitions.” Energy Research & Social Science, 81: 102251.
Sareen, S., Remme, D. and Haarstad, H. (2021). “E-scooter regulation: The
micro-politics of market-making for micro-mobility in Bergen.”
Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 40: 461-473.

14. Oct. 08:15-12. Science and Technology Studies and Imaginaries.

ML
Hess, D. J., & Sovacool, B. K. (2020). Sociotechnical matters: Reviewing
and integrating science and technology studies with energy social
science. Energy Research & Social Science, 65, 101462.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101462.
Background readings:
Sovacool, B. (2014) “What are we doing here? Analyzing fifteen years
of energy scholarship and proposing a social science research
agenda.” Energy Research & Social Science, 1:1-29
21. Oct. 08:15-12 Discourse, framing, and agenda setting. LS
Readings:
Tafon, R., D. Howarth and S. Griggs (2019), ‘The politics of Estonia’s offshore
wind energy programme: Discourse, power and marine spatial planning’,
Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 37 (1), 157–76.
Hajer, M. (1993), ‘Discourse Coalitions and the Institutionalization of
Practice: The Case of Acid Rain in Britain’, in F. Fischer and J. Forester (eds),
The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning, Durham and
London: Duke University Press, pp. 43–76.
Krange, O., B. P. Kaltenborn and M. Hultman (2019), ‘Cool dudes in Norway:
climate change denial among conservative Norwegian men’, Environmental
Sociology, 5 (1), 1–11.
Background readings:
Rosenbloom, D., Berton, H. and Meadowcroft, J. (2016). “Framing the sun: A
discursive approach to understanding multi-dimensional interactions within
socio-technical transitions through the case of solar electricity in Ontario,
Canada.” Research Policy, 45: 1275–1290.

28. Oct. 08:15-12. Theories on public policy TS

Readings:
Kern, F., and Rogge, K. S. (2018). “Harnessing theories of the policy process
for analyzing the politics of sustainability transitions: A critical survey.”
Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 27: 102-117.
Background literature:
Byskov Lindberg, M. and Kammermann, L. (2021). “Advocacy coalitions in
the acceleration phase of the European energy transition.” Environmental
Innovation and Societal Transitions, 40: 262-282.
Ystmark Bjerkan, K. and Seter, H. (2021). “Policy and politics in energy
transitions. A case study on shore power in Oslo.” Energy Policy, 153:
112259.
Derwort, P., Jager, N. and Newig, J. (2021). “How to Explain Major Policy
Change Towards Sustainability? Bringing Together the Multiple Streams
Framework and the Multilevel Perspective on Socio-Technical Transitions to
Explore the German ‘Energiewende’.” Policy Studies Journal.
4. Nov 08:15-12 Solar Energy Transitions SS
Readings:
Rateau, M. and Jaglin, S. (2020). “Co-production of access and hybridisation
of configurations: a socio-technical approach to urban electricity in Cotonou
and Ibadan.” International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development, 1-16.
Castán Broto, V. (2017). “Energy landscapes and urban trajectories towards
sustainability.” Energy Policy, 108: 755-764.
Sareen, S. (2021). “Legitimating power: Solar energy rollout, sustainability
metrics and transition politics.” EPE: Nature and Space, 0(0): 1-21.

11. Nov 08:15-12 Energy Policy – Competing Visions of the Future

Energy OL
Readings:
Carbon Tracker Initiative (2015). Lost in Transition: How the energy
sector is missing potential demand destruction. October 2015.
Mohn. K. (2018). “The Gravity of Status Quo: A Review of IEA’s World Energy
Outlook.” Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 1-
19.
IEA (2022). World Energy Outlook. Executive Summary. Paris: OECD/IEA.
Van de Graaf, T. (2013). “Fragmentation in Global Energy Governance:
Explaining the Creation of IRENA.” Global Environmental Politics, 13:3: 14-
33.
DNV (2021). Energy Transition Outlook 2021. Executive Summary. A global
and regional forecast to 2050.

18. Nov 08:15-10:00 Recent debates; 10:00-12:00 Summary, exam,

course evaluation, etc. LS
Readings:
Feola, G. (2020), ‘Capitalism in sustainability transitions research: Time for a
critical turn?’, Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 35, 241–
50.
Lockwood, M. (2018), ‘Right-wing populism and the climate change agenda:
exploring the linkages’, Environmental Politics, 27 (4), 712–32.
Bloomfield, J. and F. Steward (2020), ‘The Politics of the Green New Deal’,
The Political Quarterly, 91 (4), 770–9.
Davis, S.J., Liu, Z., Deng, Z. et al. (2022) Emissions rebound from the COVID-
19 pandemic. Nat. Clim. Chang. 12:412–414.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01332-6
Overland, I. (2019). “The geopolitics of renewable energy: Debunking
four emerging myths”. Energy Research & Social Science, 49: 36–40.
Background Readings:
Dunlap, A., Søyland, L., & Shokrgozar, S. (2021). “Editorial Introduction:
Situating Debates in Postdevelopment and Degrowth”. In Debates in Post-
Development & Degrowth: Volume 1 Tvergastein, 1, 7–31.
Le Quéré, C., Peters, G.P., Friedlingstein, P. et al. (2021) Fossil CO2 emissions
in the post-COVID-19 era. Nat. Clim. Chang. 11:197–199.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01001-0
Normann, H. E. (2015). “The role of politics in sustainable transitions:
The rise and decline of offshore wind in Norway.” Environmental
Innovation and Societal Transitions, 15: 180-193.