To achieve its objectives, EMPOCI investigates the sustainable energy-mobility transitions in Germany, the UK, the USA, and China. Its main research team is comprised of 1 principal investigator, 2 postdoctoral fellows, and 2 PhD students.
The team started with a systematic review of the academic literature on the interplay of policy mixes and innovation in multi-system transition processes. Among others, the results have been written up in several book chapters (e.g. on policy mixes, transformative capacity, policies and policy-mixes for accelerating transitions). The team also conducted an in-depth review of the empirical academic and grey literature on the electrification of transport in the four countries of interests, which has formed the basis of the subsequent empirical work (e.g. for mapping governing entities or explaining net-zero technology strategy trajectories).
Based on extensive fieldwork, the country leads for Germany, the US, the UK and China have analysed and started to publish in-depth studies on ongoing transition processes in the four countries. Initial empirical outputs focus on the mapping of system actors associated with policy making processes (for the UK) and outputs (for China) in the context of transformative energy-mobility policy mixes, as well as the interplay between experimentation, institutional and policy mix change (for mobility-as-a-service). In addition, in a comparative analysis we contrast the market configuration around charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in the US (California) and Germany. We also compare the current acceleration challenges perceived by system actors in Germany and the US regarding widespread transport electrification. Further empirical work investigates the strategic reorientation of truck manufacturers towards radical net-zero technologies, only to mention a few examples. These analyses are being used to prepare the upcoming transition surveys among four actor groups.
Methodologically, the EMPOCI team has concentrated on developing a novel quantitative approach for systematically mapping actors and their interactions in transitions, thereby enabling new insights into emerging multi-system transitions. This method is based on Named Entity Recognition and has been trialled with data from the UK. The team is also pushing forward the development of novel survey measurement instruments for actors involved in accelerating net-zero transitions, taking the example of the electrification of transport.
The EMPOCI team has presented its findings at various transition and policy-oriented conferences, workshops, and seminars, and has lead the organisation of conference tracks on accelerating net-zero transitions, for example, thereby contributing to cutting edge academic exchanges pushing the knowledge frontier on acceleration.
The project outputs are open access and can be found on EMPOCI’s website, on the university repository and/or in its EMPOCI community on the Zenodo platform.
