Sustainability transitions and the state

Sustainability transitions is an emerging field of research that has produced both conceptual understandings of the drivers of technological transitions, as well as more prescriptive and policy-engaged analyses of how shifts from unsustainable to sustainable forms of production and consumption can be achieved. Yet attention towards the role of the state is underdeveloped in the field. The significance of this neglect has become more apparent in particular due to the heightened urgency around the need to tackle climate change and energy security, where there are increasing calls for an enhanced role for the state. This paper sets out to advance understandings of the multiple and conflicting roles that states play in transitions. It first addresses key weaknesses in the way the state has been examined thus far. Second, it highlights theoretical resources and conceptualisations of the state that can help scholars of transitions open up new and more productive avenues for understanding drivers and barriers to sustainable transitions drawing on examples from different sectors, regions and issue areas.