The geo-economization of sustainability transitions : spatial dynamics and trade-offs between sovereignty and sustainability
Friedrich, Jonathan LU ; van Oers, Laura LU
; Miorner, Johan
LU
and Fuenfschilling, Lea
LU
(2026)
In Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions
60.
- Abstract
This perspective article explores how sustainability transitions experience a geo-economization based on rising concerns about sovereignty. We argue that sovereignty has yet again become an active force structuring socio-technical trajectories. In this case, socio-technical systems tend to be reconfigured in ways that first and foremost ensure the continued provision of their core societal functions. While these functions can in principle be fulfilled through a variety of technological and institutional options, spatial pathways that simultaneously reinforce states’ sovereignty models are likely to be preferentially selected. In this process, organizations and industries that spatially align with these sovereignty models gain heightened... (More)
This perspective article explores how sustainability transitions experience a geo-economization based on rising concerns about sovereignty. We argue that sovereignty has yet again become an active force structuring socio-technical trajectories. In this case, socio-technical systems tend to be reconfigured in ways that first and foremost ensure the continued provision of their core societal functions. While these functions can in principle be fulfilled through a variety of technological and institutional options, spatial pathways that simultaneously reinforce states’ sovereignty models are likely to be preferentially selected. In this process, organizations and industries that spatially align with these sovereignty models gain heightened significance and spatially flexible, potentially more complex, configurations may be strategically deprioritized. Using the European fertilizer industry as an illustrative case, we show how energy-intensive ammonia production, once problematized for its carbon emissions, has regained legitimacy through EU’s sovereignty concerns. This shift highlights emerging tensions between the spatial logics of sovereignty and sustainability goals and their possible effects on socio-technical developments, questioning whether innovations must satisfy both to diffuse and how altered sovereignty models shape the spatial dynamics of resource mobilization in innovation processes. To better understand the implications for the sustainability transitions community, we outline research avenues on de/stabilization dynamics, governance, and the geography of socio-technical stability.
(Less)
- author
- Friedrich, Jonathan
LU
; van Oers, Laura
LU
; Miorner, Johan
LU
and Fuenfschilling, Lea
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-02-28
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Energy decoupling, Geo-economy, Geopolitics, Socio-technical change, Sustainability transition
- in
- Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions
- volume
- 60
- article number
- 101118
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105034419626
- ISSN
- 2210-4224
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.eist.2026.101118
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 8f9579f7-7990-4527-ac79-09d2887b567f
- date added to LUP
- 2026-04-13 08:52:10
- date last changed
- 2026-06-10 09:09:26
@article{8f9579f7-7990-4527-ac79-09d2887b567f,
abstract = {{<p>This perspective article explores how sustainability transitions experience a geo-economization based on rising concerns about sovereignty. We argue that sovereignty has yet again become an active force structuring socio-technical trajectories. In this case, socio-technical systems tend to be reconfigured in ways that first and foremost ensure the continued provision of their core societal functions. While these functions can in principle be fulfilled through a variety of technological and institutional options, spatial pathways that simultaneously reinforce states’ sovereignty models are likely to be preferentially selected. In this process, organizations and industries that spatially align with these sovereignty models gain heightened significance and spatially flexible, potentially more complex, configurations may be strategically deprioritized. Using the European fertilizer industry as an illustrative case, we show how energy-intensive ammonia production, once problematized for its carbon emissions, has regained legitimacy through EU’s sovereignty concerns. This shift highlights emerging tensions between the spatial logics of sovereignty and sustainability goals and their possible effects on socio-technical developments, questioning whether innovations must satisfy both to diffuse and how altered sovereignty models shape the spatial dynamics of resource mobilization in innovation processes. To better understand the implications for the sustainability transitions community, we outline research avenues on de/stabilization dynamics, governance, and the geography of socio-technical stability.</p>}},
author = {{Friedrich, Jonathan and van Oers, Laura and Miorner, Johan and Fuenfschilling, Lea}},
issn = {{2210-4224}},
keywords = {{Energy decoupling; Geo-economy; Geopolitics; Socio-technical change; Sustainability transition}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{02}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions}},
title = {{The geo-economization of sustainability transitions : spatial dynamics and trade-offs between sovereignty and sustainability}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2026.101118}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.eist.2026.101118}},
volume = {{60}},
year = {{2026}},
}