CCSS Meeting #81: Thresholds for Accelerating Sustainability Transitions

This lecture will be held in physical format at the CCSS Living Room (Min. 4.16) with lunch and refreshments provided. The overarching topic of the CCSS Lunch Meetings of the academic year 2025/2026 is Tipping behavior in Natural and Societal Systems.

Speaker Overview
Johan Schot is Professor of Global History and Sustainability Transitions at the Utrecht University Centre for Global Challenges and is part of the Economic and Social History group. He is the founder and Academic Director of the Deep Transitions research project and the Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium (TIPC) as well as former Director of the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex Business School. Professor Schot’s interests orientate around impact-driven interdisciplinary research that strives to accelerate long-term system change and a just transition towards sustainability. Schot is a network-builder that brings together interdisciplinary research teams, policy-makers, investors, governments, NGOs, the media and the corporate world. 

Lecture Overview
This presentation will examine how acceleration in sustainability transitions can be conceptualized and measured. Much of the existing literature conceptualizes acceleration as a specific phase of the transition process, typically measured as the rapid scaling of technological products. I will argue, however, that acceleration should go beyond a sequential phase model and should not be conflated with technological diffusion; rather, it should be conceptualized as a modular process and measured through rule (or institutional) changes. To reflect this perspective, I introduce the concept of acceleration thresholds and develop a framework—the double acceleration movement framework—that captures transitions as a set of parallel and modular processes occurring across multiple thresholds. To test the framework, together with Kejia Yang I develop a methodology to measure these thresholds and apply it in the case of China’s energy and mobility transitions acceleration. Our published analysis demonstrates how the framework can trace acceleration patterns, offering a new lens for studying system change beyond technology diffusion. We conclude by highlighting the significance of accelerating thresholds for sustainability transition research and their potential to connect with emerging work on social tipping points. Additionally, we suggest directions for future research, including refining our conceptualization by incorporating spatial perspectives, focusing more on directionality, and developing new AI tools for monitoring acceleration in global low-carbon transitions. 

There will be 45-min lecture from the speaker, followed by a 15-min discussion session.

To attend the lecture, please signup below before 15:00 on Wednesday 8 April.