Environmental Politics ( IF 5.147 ) Pub Date : 2021-07-08 , DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2021.1951479 Jens Marquardt 1 , Naghmeh Nasiritousi 2
ABSTRACT
Various path dependencies and carbon lock-ins prevent ambitious climate action. In this study, we develop and apply the concept of imaginary lock-ins, or the challenge to envision a decarbonized future beyond the status quo of a fossil-dependent society. We propose a typology of competing imaginaries attached to climate action. Specifically, we distinguish between techno-optimism, ecological modernization, disruptive innovations, and system change. We then explore these competing imaginaries for the case of Sweden. The country plans to become the world’s first fossil-free welfare state by 2045. Based on documents, interviews with stakeholders inside and outside the multi-stakeholder initiative Fossil Free Sweden, and an interview series with all major Swedish party leaders, we illuminate the contested imaginaries of a fossil-free future. While techno-optimism and ecological modernization largely suppress more radical or transformative imaginaries, imaginary lock-ins allow us to assess the potentials and limitations of an initiative to orchestrate climate action.
中文翻译:
气候变化政治中的想象锁定:设想无化石未来的挑战
摘要
各种路径依赖和碳锁定阻止了雄心勃勃的气候行动。在这项研究中,我们开发并应用了想象中的锁定的概念,或设想一个超越依赖化石的社会现状的脱碳未来的挑战。我们提出了一种与气候行动相关的竞争想象的类型学。具体来说,我们区分了技术乐观主义、生态现代化、颠覆性创新和系统变革。然后,我们针对瑞典的案例探索这些相互竞争的想象。该国计划到 2045 年成为世界上第一个无化石福利国家。根据文件、对多利益相关者倡议 Fossil Free Sweden 内外利益相关者的采访,以及对瑞典所有主要政党领导人的系列采访,我们阐明了有争议的问题无化石未来的想象。