Positive Tipping Points Towards Sustainability
When one more modest alteration, action, or event triggers a self-propelling process of substantial qualitative change in a system, we say that the system has crossed a “tipping point.” It is important to note that tipping points are never the result of a single event, individual action, or policy intervention, but rather the result of several smaller events, trends, and shifting conditions that add up to something larger. Because these qualitative shifts can happen on a variety of scales and in a wide range of systems, identifying and characterizing tipping points requires taking into account the researcher’s or practitioner’s perspectives when deciding on a frame of reference, analytic approach, or normative criterion. To better understand and explore policy consequences of deliberate rapid decarbonization processes in Carbon & Coal Intensive Regions (CCIRs), the European Commission-funded TIPPING+ project has investigated the crucial notion of tipping points. Using the insights of over 20 case studies in Europe and elsewhere, the project team has identified the types of dynamics, enabling conditions, and narratives leading to just regional transitions and systemic transformations across different sectors and scales. TIPPING+’s overarching understanding is that rapid just energy transitions in CCIRs face obstacles beyond those specific to making the switch. To create the kind of just societies we envision (e.g., more socially just, open, and climate resilience- oriented), it is crucial to have a firm grasp on how to steer full-scale societal transformations involving multiple socio-economic and cultural dimensions and profound changes in governance mechanisms, individual capacities, economic arrangements, and collective visions. This Special Edition explores and brings to the fore the discrepancies between narratives and policies that focus on transition points within certain industries and those that focus on cross-sectoral and systemic changes.
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