TY - JOUR
T1 - Institutional work and social skill
T2 - The formation of strategic action fields for local energy systems in Britain
AU - Britton, Jess
AU - Webb, Janette
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the EPSRC under the 4th phase of the UK Energy Research Centre [Grant number EP/S029575/1 ]
Funding Information:
This paper was supported by the UK Energy Research Centre phase 4 and funded by UKRI (Grant number EP/S029575/1 ). We are grateful to our interview partners for their time and support in exploring this topic. We particularly thank our colleague Faye Wade who led an earlier stage of the project and provided the database of policy documents and instruments. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments, which significantly improved the paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2024/3/1
Y1 - 2024/3/1
N2 - The concept of Strategic Action Fields (SAF) is combined with analysis of institutional work to investigate the tactics actors adopt to support or deter policy for integrated local energy systems. Integrating heat, power, and mobility systems at local or regional scale would entail highly significant changes in energy systems yet is an area of increasing policy interest. We explore how this field is being constituted differently across the devolved jurisdictions of Great Britain, but faces similar challenges. The obduracy of legacy centralised institutions is a powerful force in blocking new sustainable energy SAFs, with Government retaining significant countervailing power. Additionally we demonstrate how overlaps between policy domains can obstruct the formation of new rule structures; notably emerging local energy planning rules are constrained by wider limitations in devolved governance powers. These findings raise questions about whether net zero can happen, and in what form, under current multi-level governance structures.
AB - The concept of Strategic Action Fields (SAF) is combined with analysis of institutional work to investigate the tactics actors adopt to support or deter policy for integrated local energy systems. Integrating heat, power, and mobility systems at local or regional scale would entail highly significant changes in energy systems yet is an area of increasing policy interest. We explore how this field is being constituted differently across the devolved jurisdictions of Great Britain, but faces similar challenges. The obduracy of legacy centralised institutions is a powerful force in blocking new sustainable energy SAFs, with Government retaining significant countervailing power. Additionally we demonstrate how overlaps between policy domains can obstruct the formation of new rule structures; notably emerging local energy planning rules are constrained by wider limitations in devolved governance powers. These findings raise questions about whether net zero can happen, and in what form, under current multi-level governance structures.
KW - strategic action fields
KW - institutional work
KW - local energy systems
KW - distributed energy
KW - devolution
U2 - 10.1016/j.eist.2023.100789
DO - 10.1016/j.eist.2023.100789
M3 - Article
SN - 2210-4224
VL - 50
SP - 1
EP - 14
JO - Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions
JF - Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions
M1 - 100789
ER -