36
It is imperative that we bear in mind the deep variation in how energy
transitions are experienced by different actors, and that their ability to
exercise their stakes in the outcomes differs by orders of magnitude. Part
I reframed energy transitions as a response to accountability crises, deconstructed accountability into practices of legitimation and presented a
typology of those practices. The cases in Part II surface a number of complex spatiotemporal conjunctures and deconstruct the climate and energy
crises entangled therein.
If even privileged academics at Global North institutions, wellresourced and relatively free to choose our own research themes, were to
shy away from attempts to mobilise knowledge to inform and steer action
and hold power accountable, it would spell little hope for sustainable
futures. These cases, and the collaborative project ensconcing them, constitute an argument that we can in fact make a meaningful difference, that
we have a crucial role to play in making energy transitions accountable and
directed towards sustainable outcomes. This is our contribution to make
in addressing the climate crisis for those at risk today to have livable futures.
Accordingly, this middle section of the book provides short overviews
of cases relevant to energy transitions in a variety of sectors and regions,
with a focus on legitimation and accountability in the governance of environmental change. Each of the five chapters is authored by an accomplished environmental governance scholar working on energy transition
cases and kindred subjects. Each has reframed their work on a particular
case in terms of crises of accountability and practices of legitimation. The
following questions guide their independently composed individual
responses and constitute a general flow of argument:
• What is the case and why is it an energy transitions case?
• What crises of accountability are being maintained or challenged?
• How do environmental governance scholars characterise the case?
• What practices of legitimation appear to be at play in empirical work?
• What interventions could enable sustainable outcomes under
transition?
Timothy Moss draws on the governance of urban energy infrastructure
across time and space to unpack the changing relationship between energy
transitions, accountability and practices of legitimation across the formidable range of contextual variation in Berlin over the past century. His
historical analysis of accountability in the changing contexts that drove
S. SAREEN
It is imperative that we bear in mind the deep variation in how energy
transitions are experienced by different actors, and that their ability to
exercise their stakes in the outcomes differs by orders of magnitude. Part
I reframed energy transitions as a response to accountability crises, deconstructed accountability into practices of legitimation and presented a
typology of those practices. The cases in Part II surface a number of complex spatiotemporal conjunctures and deconstruct the climate and energy
crises entangled therein.
If even privileged academics at Global North institutions, wellresourced and relatively free to choose our own research themes, were to
shy away from attempts to mobilise knowledge to inform and steer action
and hold power accountable, it would spell little hope for sustainable
futures. These cases, and the collaborative project ensconcing them, constitute an argument that we can in fact make a meaningful difference, that
we have a crucial role to play in making energy transitions accountable and
directed towards sustainable outcomes. This is our contribution to make
in addressing the climate crisis for those at risk today to have livable futures.
Accordingly, this middle section of the book provides short overviews
of cases relevant to energy transitions in a variety of sectors and regions,
with a focus on legitimation and accountability in the governance of environmental change. Each of the five chapters is authored by an accomplished environmental governance scholar working on energy transition
cases and kindred subjects. Each has reframed their work on a particular
case in terms of crises of accountability and practices of legitimation. The
following questions guide their independently composed individual
responses and constitute a general flow of argument:
• What is the case and why is it an energy transitions case?
• What crises of accountability are being maintained or challenged?
• How do environmental governance scholars characterise the case?
• What practices of legitimation appear to be at play in empirical work?
• What interventions could enable sustainable outcomes under
transition?
Timothy Moss draws on the governance of urban energy infrastructure
across time and space to unpack the changing relationship between energy
transitions, accountability and practices of legitimation across the formidable range of contextual variation in Berlin over the past century. His
historical analysis of accountability in the changing contexts that drove
S. SAREEN