There has been a growth in recent research dedicated to questions of how to govern for a cleaner, more sustainable energy future – many of which call for greater innovation not only in technological terms, but also in terms of political practice. This paper will use a novel new framework based on co-evolutionary theory as well as on concepts explaining policy paradigm change to explore questions of how energy governance practices are changing in order to facilitate low carbon transition. Co-evolutionary theory encapsulates the cross cutting nature of low carbon transition by recognising the range of practices that will need to change: technological, behavioural, corporate and political. This theory, however, provides less detail on how political change happens hence the inclusion of sociological institutionalist concepts of policy paradigm change which provide contextual explanations of both resistance and change in governance practices. In combination, this framework should be able to explain not only why much needed innovation in energy governance is often slow to take place, but also why a narrow range of governance models is considered within given socio-political contexts. This framework will be tested against UK and EU energy governance practices showing the complex requirements of energy system change in contrast to the range of political considerations that complicate and constrain change.
