University of Sussex
Browse
2015_36_SWPS_Kivimaa_et_al.pdf (1.28 MB)

Experiments in climate governance – lessons from a systematic review of case studies in transition research

Download (1.28 MB)
report
posted on 2023-06-09, 00:02 authored by Paula Kivimaa, Mikael Hilden, Dave Huitema, Andrew Jordan, Jens Newig
Experimentation has been proposed as one of the ways in which public policy can drive sustainability transitions, notably by creating or delimiting space for experimenting with innovative solutions to sustainability challenges. In this paper we report on a systematic review of articles published between 2009 and 2015 that have addressed experiments aiming either at understanding decarbonisation transitions or enhancing climate resilience. Using the case survey method, we find few empirical descriptions of real-world experiments in climate and energy contexts in the scholarly literature, being observed in only 25 articles containing 29 experiments. We discuss the objectives, outputs and outcomes of these experiments noting that explicit experimenting with climate policies could be identified only in 12 cases. Based on the results we suggest a definition of climate policy experiments and a typology of experiments for sustainability transitions that can be used to better understand the role of and learn more effectively from experiments in sustainability transitions.

Funding

Smart Energy Transition; Academy of Finland

Research Centre on Innovation and Energy Demand; G1020; RCUK-RESEARCH COUNCILS UK; EP/K011790/1

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Publisher

SPRU Working Paper Series

Pages

30.0

Place of publication

Sussex

Department affiliated with

  • SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit Publications

Institution

University of Sussex

Full text available

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2016-01-18

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2016-03-22

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-03-22

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC