Policy mixes for sustainability transitions must embrace system dynamics

Increasing the policy impact of sustainability transitions research requires a focus on the interactions and feedbacks within and between systems. More specifically, it requires insights into how dynamics can accelerate sustainability transitions and make them self-reinforcing. Existing approaches that focus on dynamics lack a social-science perspective, often leading to an overestimation of policy leverage. Sustainability transitions scholars are uniquely positioned to address this research gap. This requires the following steps: (1) The identification of those intervention points that set in motion reinforcing feedbacks or reduce negative interactions, (2) Using a systems perspective to understand how trade-offs between different processes can be reduced and co-benefits stimulated, and (3) Gathering empirical insights from the sustainability transitions research on how policy can trigger self-reinforcing dynamics.