transition management basics

Transition managementworking towards sustainable

development

Dr. Derk Loorbach Utrecht, 11-12-2007Dr. Derk Loorbach

Utrecht, 11-12-2007

Dutch Research Institute For Transitions

• Decades of economic development– Demoraphic growth– Technological progress– Consumption/production growth– Welfare increase

but; resulting in a number of crises: climate, financial, economic, institutional, energy, resources, …

Sustainable development


Persistent problems

• Crises are the symptoms of these Crises are the symptoms of these persistent problems persistent problems

• many examples: many examples: climate change, energy climate change, energy supply, water problem, mobility problem, supply, water problem, mobility problem, agriculture, health careagriculture, health care

• persistence is due to system failures and persistence is due to system failures and requires a system break and system requires a system break and system shift: transition shift: transition


Transition

fundamental change of structure, culture andfundamental change of structure, culture and

practices in societal (sub)systempractices in societal (sub)system

– structure:structure: institutional settinginstitutional setting– culture: culture: dominant perspectivedominant perspective– practices:practices: routines, rules, habitsroutines, rules, habits

incumbent structure, culture and practices are incumbent structure, culture and practices are broken down, which requires time to broken down, which requires time to overcome resistanceovercome resistance


Societal systems in transition

Societal system

Societal trends

Societal structures (regime)

Laws and regulations

Organisations

Infrastruc-tures

Technology

Routines and behaviour

Innovations and niches


Transition dynamicscomplex, uncertain and long term

Predevelopment

Stabilization

time

Societal development

Acceleration

Take-off

Macro-level

(landscape, trends)

Meso-level (regimes, institutions)

Micro-level (Niches,

individuals)

From: Rotmans et al, 2000 From: Geels and Kemp, 2001


Example: historic waste transition


Mic

ro

Mes

o

Mac

ro

Trends and surprises

National environmental

events

- Oil crisis - Growing environmental

awareness - Economic growth

- Leaking landfills - Chernobyl - Lickebaert (Dioxine

scandal) - Acid rain

- Rio Summit - Johannesburg summit - Liberalisation - Ict (logistics)

- Limits to growth

- DGMH [DGM, after 1982]

- Foundation for Nature & Environment (SNM)

- Landelijk Milieu Overleg - Lansinks ladder

- Ministry of VROM established

- RIVM founded - Our Common Future - Zorgen voor Morgen - First National

Environmental Policy Plan

- National Environmental Policy Plan2, 3, 4 (NMP2-4)

- Environmental Management Act (Wet Milieubeheer)

- waste is waste

- waste is a problem

- Waste is money

- Waste is resource

1. landfilling 2. re-use

1. landfilling 2. re-use 3. prevention 4. incineration

1. Re-use 2. Landfilling 3. incineration 4. prevention

1. Re-use 3. Incineration 4. Prevention 5. Landfilling

- private

transporters

- government

transporters

- Private

transporters - Enforcement

by waste authorities

- Public

transporters

- local

- Surface Water Pollution

Act - Emergency

Memorandum on Environmental Hygiene

- Stichting Verpakking and Milieu (SVM)

- Air Pollution Act - Afvalstoffenwet (1976)

- regional

- Joint Declaration and

Code of Conduct on Drink Containers

- Motie Lansink becomes law

- Code of Conduct on PET bottles

- Prevention and Recycling of Waste Materials Memorandum

- Guidelines for Incineration - national

- Afval Overleg Orgaan (AOO)

- Packaging Covenant1 - Vereniging van

Afvalverwerkers (VVAV)

- Advies comm. toek.org. afvalverw.struct.

- Pack. Covenant II - Removal Contribution - LAP - GIBA/GIHA

- (inter)national

- Recycling initiatives - development of

incineration technology?

- Recycling experiments - Public awareness

campaigns - GIBA/GIHA experiments - Filters for incineration

- Diftar projects -

Multi-level Mapping of the transition in the Dutch Waste sector, Loorbach, D., ‘04

System state 1970 ’70s events System state 1980 ’80s events System state 1990 ’90s events System state ‘00


Verschuiving van stort naar verbranden

Landfill

11801470

2480

22652240

2100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

time

nu

mb

er o

f si

tes

Incineration

1115

12

10

8

12

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

timein

cin

erat

ion

cap

acit

y


Historic waste transition

Indicator for social development

?

Club of Rome/ Oil crisis Waste/toxic scandals

Environmental legislation

Recycling initiatives

Packaging initiatives

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

Waste management institutionalization

Liberalisation European policy

Oil prices

Resource scarcity


Current waste regime


Current regime challenged

• Landscape: External challenges• Niches: New visions and alternatives

– Cradle to Cradle, Industrial ecology, new lifestyles, renewable energy,

societal problem increasingly recognized; new direction emerges, chances for new transition increase, but: current regime biggest barrier


Transition Managementhow to deal with transitions?

• Systems thinking as analytical basis• Long-term envisioning as framework for

short-term • Selective multi-actor approaches• Taking multi-level dynamics into

account• Dealing with uncertainties, keeping

options open• Focus on learning, experiment and

innovation


Sustainability as orientation

Sustainability serves as a guiding orientation for transitions

Sustainable development is a socially and scientificallycontested notion: no unique definition and approach

Approach

Defining evolving sustainability principles that guide short term experiment

Using ambiguity of sustainable development to stimulate and facilitate societal debate and social learning

Regularly re-evaluating progress, context and alternatives, and adjusting vision, agenda and actions


society

TransitionarenaRegular policy arena

- Short term- Peloton - Incremental change- Problem- and goal oriented

- Long term- Innovators - System-innovation- Problem- and goal searching

Transitionarenasspace to experiment with

sustainability


Energytransition

• Cultural shift: from central, import and fossil to flexible, self-production and sustainable

• Structure shift: from large-scale and monotechnology to large- and small-scale and technological diversity

• Practices shift: from regulation and liberalisation to co-production and self-organisation

Energy transition process (EA, www.energytransition.nl)– Over-arching vision and new institutions– 7 platforms, thematic transition images/ambitions – 22 transition pathways and 200 potential transition-experiments


Watertransition• Cultural shift: from fighting and stemming water to

accomodating/living with

• Structure shift: from technology and makeability to integrated and adaptation

• Practices shift: from top-down and engineer-based to participation and ecology based

Watertransition (DG Water)– Over-arching vision and transition agenda– New institutional design– Experiments (Maaswerken, afsluitdijk, Oosterschelde, …)


Waste/resource transition?

• Cultural shift: from consumers as producers of waste to producers as consumers of resources

• Structural shift: from centralized, technology, market to decentralized, processes, common pool

• Practices shift: from regulation and coordination to self-organisation, stimulation and emergence

• C2C: food for transition?– New vision on strategic level creates space (niches) for innovations– Many intiatives emerging:

• Resource transition in Flanders (Plan C, OVAM)• Resource transition in the Netherlands?


Transition and companies:redefining corporate mission

• External societal sustainability challenge– Corporate social responsibility

• New company mission and organisation– Contributing to social sustainability

• New competences, knowledge and skills– Connect inside with outside


Roof transition

• Esha group: market leader bituminous products– Black roofs and tar roads

• Unsustainable by-product– waste, pollution, heat production in

buildings, loss of functionality

• Approach based on achieving transition – Give 350 million m3 roof-surface

sustainable function


Roof transition strategy

• Sector wide sustainability vision

• Cross sector cooperation– Architects, producers, builders, roofers,

(local/national) government, waterboards, …

• Process as niche for innovation and experiment

• Crucial role for entrepreneurs and frontrunners


Philips C2C transition strategy

• External– Initiate and participate

• In transition arenas: create SoU, advocate future visions, create social support

• In transition experiments: concrete projects producing concrete examples/alternatives

• Internal– Reframe and redevelop

• Personal competences, skills and knowledge• Organisational culture and structure• New business development


Philips C2C transition experiment

http://www.bcc.nl/shop/index

http://www.vangansewinkel.eu/nl/default.aspx




New business model?

From:• Producer

• Products

• Short term profit

• Monopoly / competition

• Efficiency

To:• Owners

• Services

• Long-term value

• Co-production

• Effectiveness


Conditions for business transition

• New inspiring challenge + ambition– Integrating economy, ecology and social value

• Space for experiment and innovation– Within company and society– Company frontrunners

• Personal transition– Willingness to learn, co-produce and experiment


Transition managementapproach based on past experience

- Bring together innovative niche- and regime-actors in transitionarenas

- Develop a ‘shadow policy track’ and alternative agendas in transitionarenas

- Become concrete by initiating transition experiments

- Transform arenas and networks into social movement to exert public pressure


Monitoring, evaluating

and adapting

Developing sustainability

images, coalitions and

joint transition-agendas

Problem structuring, envisioning and organizing

transition-arenas

Mobilizing actors and transition-experiments

Governance framework for dealing with transitions

Strategic(emphasis on system, culture)

Tactical(emphasis on subsystem, structures)

Operational(emphasis on niches, practices)


What are results• Increased sense of urgency

– Shared problem definitions

• Shared perspective and orientation– Transition and transition vision

• Space for innovation– Mental, institutional, financial, physical etc.

• Competent individuals with changed perspective– New elan and strong message/narrative

• New coalitions and networks– With shared transition agenda and experiments


‘Transitionizing’

• Through joint implementation of TM regular context can be transitionized– Context specifiek implementation is a craft

• Reframing issues in terms of transitions and transition challenge– Rethinking one’s own role, ambition and strategy

– Government: policy innovation– Companies: CSR+, proactively creating new sustainable

business– Researchers: new forms of science, participation and co-

production


Researchers in transition processes

• Analysis– Integrating disciplinary and lay knowledge

• (re)structuration– Ongoing processes

• Design and facilitation– Of transition management type and process

• Reflection – Upon impact, effect and future steps


Transitionizing research: activist science

History Policy sciences

Complexity researchSociology

Ecology

ActionGrounded

theory

consultancyApplied

Participatory

Sustainability Sciences


Conclusions

• Transition concept is an integrated analytical framework to think about complex societal change

• Transition management is a way to translate this understanding into action

• It requires new ways of thinking, organizing and acting from all actors

• A sustainable future can be achieved by starting to create it today

transition management basics

Technology

transition management

transition pathways

wasteresource transition

new transition increase

ovam resource transition

transition dynamics

system shift

sustainable structure