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nor comprehensive. Applied researchers and analytically oriented practitioners can apply the practices of legitimation to fit situated needs, mobilising the four registers within strategic dimensions of their choice. This
analytical approach to accountability is based in abductive reasoning to
settle upon the likeliest possible explanation in any given case of energy
transition and pragmatically inform decision-making despite uncertainty.
Such analysis can characterise disaggregated components of any energy
transition case as accountable to concerns of sustainability or not.
Scientifically evidencing both the formal and informal practices of legitimation that are at work during energy transitions can aid decision-making
towards outcomes that decarbonise and enhance social equity. This
approach can thus combine analytical rigour with practical applicability
and real-world relevance.
The five cases in this book show that energy transitions are many things
and involve not only changing energy sectors but also cognate sectors such
as land, forest, transport, biodiversity, markets and political economies of
multi-scalar contexts. Our practically oriented vision of enabling accountable governance for sustainable energy transitions represents a programmatic task across many sectors. To inform practical decision-making of
various energy transitions and their constituent parts in contextually
informed and responsive ways, applied researchers can operationalise an
accountability-based approach in their respective fields within broader
environmental governance scholarship. Their domain knowledge and disciplinary sensibilities will help them customise this approach to suit
their purposes.
The illustrations in this book aim to aid such intellectual uptake and
cross-fertilisation, and thus pave the path for situated efforts to study practices of legitimation. To demonstrate the generative potential of an
accountability-based analytical approach to energy transitions governance,
we offer closing reflections by working sequentially outward from the
five cases.
In the Berlin case, Timothy Moss shows the relevance of historical
accounts focused on accountability analysis to inform our understanding
of energy transitions today by deconstructing assumptions along spatial
and temporal axes. His overarching point is that histories of energy provision and use can be instructive sources of inspiration. The issue of accountability is not the preserve of present-day energy governance. It has been
invoked in myriad ways in the past to justify energy solutions in certain
places at certain times. History helps us understand accountability,
10 CONCLUSION: LEGITIMATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN ENERGY…
nor comprehensive. Applied researchers and analytically oriented practitioners can apply the practices of legitimation to fit situated needs, mobilising the four registers within strategic dimensions of their choice. This
analytical approach to accountability is based in abductive reasoning to
settle upon the likeliest possible explanation in any given case of energy
transition and pragmatically inform decision-making despite uncertainty.
Such analysis can characterise disaggregated components of any energy
transition case as accountable to concerns of sustainability or not.
Scientifically evidencing both the formal and informal practices of legitimation that are at work during energy transitions can aid decision-making
towards outcomes that decarbonise and enhance social equity. This
approach can thus combine analytical rigour with practical applicability
and real-world relevance.
The five cases in this book show that energy transitions are many things
and involve not only changing energy sectors but also cognate sectors such
as land, forest, transport, biodiversity, markets and political economies of
multi-scalar contexts. Our practically oriented vision of enabling accountable governance for sustainable energy transitions represents a programmatic task across many sectors. To inform practical decision-making of
various energy transitions and their constituent parts in contextually
informed and responsive ways, applied researchers can operationalise an
accountability-based approach in their respective fields within broader
environmental governance scholarship. Their domain knowledge and disciplinary sensibilities will help them customise this approach to suit
their purposes.
The illustrations in this book aim to aid such intellectual uptake and
cross-fertilisation, and thus pave the path for situated efforts to study practices of legitimation. To demonstrate the generative potential of an
accountability-based analytical approach to energy transitions governance,
we offer closing reflections by working sequentially outward from the
five cases.
In the Berlin case, Timothy Moss shows the relevance of historical
accounts focused on accountability analysis to inform our understanding
of energy transitions today by deconstructing assumptions along spatial
and temporal axes. His overarching point is that histories of energy provision and use can be instructive sources of inspiration. The issue of accountability is not the preserve of present-day energy governance. It has been
invoked in myriad ways in the past to justify energy solutions in certain
places at certain times. History helps us understand accountability,
10 CONCLUSION: LEGITIMATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN ENERGY…