The European Environment State and Outlook 2020
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17. Responding to sustainability challenges 2 Responding to sustainability challenges © Catalin Tibuleac, Sustainably Yours /EEA 3 par A PART 2 Summary • Responding to the persistent • Public policies and institutions and emerging challenges facing can promote system innovation, Europe will require transitions in the including by supporting production‑consumption systems experimentation, correcting market driving impacts on the environment failures, facilitating the spread of new and health. ideas and approaches, and helping ensure a just transition. • Sustainability transitions are highly complex and uncertain processes. • Governments can accelerate Governments cannot simply plan and systemic change by helping cities to implement them. Yet, public policies innovate and network, by reorienting and institutions are essential to financial flows towards sustainable catalyse and orient systemic changes investments and by developing in cooperation with businesses and relevant knowledge systems and skills. civil society. • Achieving sustainability transitions • Transitions involve the emergence requires public engagement in and upscaling of diverse innovations. defining visions and pathways, There is a need for more emphasis on coherence across policy domains social innovation, behavioural change and scales, and use of foresight and and nature‑based solutions. adaptive approaches to navigate risks. Ecosystem‑based approaches can help manage cross‑system interactions within environmental boundaries. 4 par A SOER 2020/Responding to sustainability challenges PART 3 17. Responding to sustainability challenges 17.1 to produce synergies or trade‑offs with From challenges to responses other sustainability objectives. During the last two decades, the Europe is not alone in needing to achieve concepts of ‘sustainability transitions’ systemic change. Indeed, Europe cannot and ‘transformations’ have become Systemic change is necessary achieve its sustainability objectives increasingly prominent in the academic for the EU to achieve in isolation. The interconnection of literature (Köhler et al., 2019). Since the world’s environmental, social and 2015, this trend has been matched its sustainability objectives. economic systems implies the need by a growing uptake of the language for concerted international efforts. and logic of sustainability transitions These are global problems, requiring in European policy frameworks. As global responses. noted in Chapter 15, the EU’s long‑term strategy for a climate‑neutral Europe In responding to these challenges, and the European Commission’s societal actors and creating stakeholder the EU’s economic scale, diplomatic reflection paper on the 2030 agenda for platforms; and increasing adoption of and trade links, and leadership in sustainable development (EC, 2018b, system transitions approaches, including environmental governance confer 2019d) adopt the language of transitions particular emphasis on innovation. significant influence. Beyond systematically. Similarly, EU strategies intergovernmental processes, the such as the circular economy action As discussed in Chapter 16, the many globalisation of supply chains mean plan, the Energy Union strategy and interlinkages in societal systems create that European product standards and the ‘Europe on the move’ agenda a profoundly complex challenge for business practices can have effects well embrace a systemic rather than a governance. Lock‑ins, barriers and beyond Europe’s borders. Similarly, the sectoral focus, emphasising economic feedbacks mean that interventions consumption choices of Europeans also transformation towards long‑term may encounter resistance or produce have implications for environmental and targets (EC, 2015a, 2015b, 2017a). They unexpected outcomes, such as social outcomes across the world. are characterised by multidimensional shifting problems to other locations, goals, addressing themes such as jobs, rather than tackling them. These Nevertheless, there are clear competitiveness, fair access to resources interdependencies also mean that constraints on Europe’s ability to shape and sustainability; a focus on diverse pursuing environmental goals is likely environmental outcomes in other par A SOER 2020/Responding to sustainability challenges 379 PART 3 ecology, evolutionary economics, developments include long‑term By embracing transitions, innovation theory and political economy megatrends (e.g. social, economic, each focus on different kinds of change environmental) as described in demonstrating solutions and processes and scales of activity. Yet, Chapter 1, or more sudden shocks seizing related opportunities this diversity is increasingly coalescing (e.g. a nuclear accident), which disrupt Europe can lead the global into a broadly shared understanding the regime. Cracks in existing regimes effort for change. of sustainability challenges, which may arise from internal problems, emphasises the barriers to transforming external landscape pressures or complex systems and the role of drivers bottom‑up pressure from niche of change at the macro and micro levels innovations (Turnheim and Geels, 2012). in enabling the emergence of new Collectively, this implies that transitions regions. Decision‑making processes ways of living, working and thinking occur through dynamic, multi‑level at the global level are frequently slow (EEA, 2018). interactions between diverse actors, and produce disappointing outcomes, including businesses, users, researchers, and enforcement mechanisms are The ‘multi‑level perspective’ on transitions policymakers, social movements and often lacking (EEA, 2015b). With this (Figure 17.1) is a useful model for interest groups. in mind, Europe’s greatest potential understanding how these interactions influence may come from global shape the dynamics of change in Figure 17.1 distinguishes three leadership in embracing the need for production‑consumption systems phases within transitions processes: transformation — demonstrating that (Smith et al., 2010; Markard et al., 2012; the emergence of novel practices or there are solutions to the problems Geels et al., 2017). It describes transition technologies; their diffusion and uptake facing countries and regions across the processes as arising from the interplay across society; and the disruption and world and seizing associated social and of developments at three levels: regime, reconfiguration of established systems. economic opportunities. niche and landscape. At each phase, innovations face major barriers, including inadequate funding, The EU’s emerging strategic policy The regime comprises the diverse uncertainty about technical viability and frameworks provide an essential factors that structure existing modes consumer responses, incompatibility foundation but in practice they are just of producing and consuming. As with established regulations or cultural a start. Major questions remain to be discussed in Section 16.5, these norms, and active resistance from answered. How, for example, can the EU include technologies, regulations, incumbent businesses. and its Members States translate their infrastructures, behaviours and cultural long‑term ambitions into coherent and norms, which have co‑evolved in ways Transitions are thus fundamentally relevant actions? How can society‑wide that hinder the emergence of alternative uncertain processes, typified by systemic change be catalysed and technologies, business models and setbacks and accelerations, surprises steered towards long‑term goals? social practices. In terms of price and unintended consequences. This And what role do public policies and and performance, for example, novel makes it impossible to know in advance institutions at different levels have in innovations are likely to struggle against precisely what innovations will emerge, such processes? This chapter begins to established approaches that have whether or how they will be integrated respond to those questions. benefited from decades of incremental into lifestyles, and how they will affect improvements and investments. sustainable outcomes. 17.2 For innovations to alter the dominant Figure 17.2 presents an application Understanding sustainability system, three things are needed: niches, of the multi‑level perspective to the transitions landscape developments, and cracks food system, including illustrative in existing regimes (Kemp et al., 1998). examples of landscape trends and 17.2.1 Niches are protected spaces, such important technological, social and The multi-level perspective as R&D (research and development) organisational innovations. The on transitions labs or demonstration projects, where multi‑level perspective also provides a entrepreneurs can experiment and framework for integrating ideas from The growing body of research develop radical innovations without a range of transitions perspectives into sustainability transitions and direct exposure to market forces, (e.g. Smith, 2012; Göpel, 2016). transformations has its roots in diverse consumer preferences, and so on These include insights into how research fields. Disciplines such as (Smith and Raven, 2012). Landscape social practices change; the role of 380 SOER 2020/Responding to sustainability challenges PART 3 FIGURE 17.1 The multilevel perspective on sustainability transitions Landscape Landscape developments put pressure on existing regime Consumer preferences Science Regime Skills Culture Policy Investments The regime is initially stable Tensions occur in the regime, Multiple adjustments