{"title":"Role of street-level policy entrepreneurs in sustainability transition: Evidence from India's transition to LED lighting","authors":"Shubham Sharma","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2024.103745","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Recent scholarly developments emphasise integrating insights from public policy discipline within the multilevel perspective (MLP) to understand sustainability transitions better. In this context, this article incorporates the concept of street-level policy entrepreneurs, specifically government-affiliated implementation agencies, within MLP to explain technology adoption and market creation when the technology is not cost-competent. The MLP framework is applied to analyse the case of the LED transition in India and highlight how a window of opportunity emerged in India, driven by global niche developments, favourable regime conditions and relevant institutional mechanisms. However, the high upfront cost of LEDs posed a significant challenge in utilising this window for niche-regime linking. This study demonstrates the critical role and activities of a state-affiliated implementation agency—Energy Efficiency Services Limited—in utilising this window of opportunity to accelerate the transition. It examines Energy Efficiency Services Limited's innovative implementation model that helped overcome the high upfront cost of LEDs, resulting in widespread technology adoption and reorientation of firm activities towards domestic manufacturing of LEDs in India. This study contributes to MLP scholarship by exploring the role of government in the later phases of the policy process and transition.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"118 ","pages":"Article 103745"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629624003360/pdfft?md5=af6d99351a5209019fe3bdcbc209e07a&pid=1-s2.0-S2214629624003360-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Energy Research & Social Science","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629624003360","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Recent scholarly developments emphasise integrating insights from public policy discipline within the multilevel perspective (MLP) to understand sustainability transitions better. In this context, this article incorporates the concept of street-level policy entrepreneurs, specifically government-affiliated implementation agencies, within MLP to explain technology adoption and market creation when the technology is not cost-competent. The MLP framework is applied to analyse the case of the LED transition in India and highlight how a window of opportunity emerged in India, driven by global niche developments, favourable regime conditions and relevant institutional mechanisms. However, the high upfront cost of LEDs posed a significant challenge in utilising this window for niche-regime linking. This study demonstrates the critical role and activities of a state-affiliated implementation agency—Energy Efficiency Services Limited—in utilising this window of opportunity to accelerate the transition. It examines Energy Efficiency Services Limited's innovative implementation model that helped overcome the high upfront cost of LEDs, resulting in widespread technology adoption and reorientation of firm activities towards domestic manufacturing of LEDs in India. This study contributes to MLP scholarship by exploring the role of government in the later phases of the policy process and transition.
期刊介绍:
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes original research and review articles examining the relationship between energy systems and society. ERSS covers a range of topics revolving around the intersection of energy technologies, fuels, and resources on one side and social processes and influences - including communities of energy users, people affected by energy production, social institutions, customs, traditions, behaviors, and policies - on the other. Put another way, ERSS investigates the social system surrounding energy technology and hardware. ERSS is relevant for energy practitioners, researchers interested in the social aspects of energy production or use, and policymakers.
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) provides an interdisciplinary forum to discuss how social and technical issues related to energy production and consumption interact. Energy production, distribution, and consumption all have both technical and human components, and the latter involves the human causes and consequences of energy-related activities and processes as well as social structures that shape how people interact with energy systems. Energy analysis, therefore, needs to look beyond the dimensions of technology and economics to include these social and human elements.