How technology characteristics influence the emergence of advocacy coalitions in sustainability transitions - evidence from the German domestic heat system

This paper aims to explain cooperation and division of actors in sustainability transitions in their efforts to shape their institutional environment. Empirically we focus on the networks between industry associations in the German heat transition. We show that actors whose visions on the future of socio-technical system developments overlap are more likely to cooperate. These visions play a crucial role in the decision of actors to cooperate and are substantially influenced by the characteristics of technologies that industry associations promote. The case of domestic heating in Germany shows that visions related to the future technological design of the German heat system are fragmented. This is hampering the formation of a strong and coherent coalition. In addition, we show that shared technological interests can outweigh beliefs and normative perspectives since industry associations that promote low carbon solutions also show to cooperate with incumbent high-carbon technology industry associations when they mutually share infrastructure interests. This behavior is also hindering the formation of a powerful low-carbon heat coalition. This paper contributes to a better understanding of how actors related to niches in sustainability transitions strategize to bring about institutional change in sustainability transitions.