Making Sustainability Policy: Discourses, Coalitions, and Policy Change

Abstract

This panel explores the politics of policymaking, focusing on the actors that seek to reconfigure sustainability transitions. The contributions analyze policy change as a dynamic process where transition pathways may be shifted by actors who strategically mobilize narratives and imaginaries, particularly around security and justice. Empirically, the papers show that crises and discursive shifts can open windows for policy change, but that outcomes may vary. Kneebone addresses whether crises actually produce lasting paradigm shifts, or rather temporary adaptation with policymaker interviews on the 2022 energy crisis and hydrogen. Park finds that energy security narratives were able to override social and environmental concerns in the EU’s biomethane policy. Yet, other authors observe limited transformative potential despite the actors’ efforts to legitimize certain technologies and pathways: from the bioeconomy in Colombia (Varanini) to justice around infrastructures (Sivonen). Policy outcomes are therefore linked to how actors interpret problems, frame solutions, and coordinate – or fail to do so.

Title	Details
Legitimacy and Justice in Permitting Nordic Green Energy Initiatives: A Systematic Review	View Paper Details
REPowerEU and the Biomethane Optimism: Towards New Dependencies?	View Paper Details
Does the “Bioeconomy” Enable the Transition Towards a Bio-Based Economy? Insights from the Case of Colombia	View Paper Details
European Energy Policy Reconfiguration Through Policymakers' Eyes	View Paper Details