Beyond the Climate Imperative: Governing the sustainability transition by promoting joint action

Behavior and Institutions Symposium

Effective and legitimate governance of societal transitions requires arrangements that facilitate ecosystems of citizens, community initiatives, service organizations, social enterprises and companies in contributing to these transitions. Appreciating the dynamics of these ecosystems calls for insight into human processes of coordination and cooperation that allow people to make autonomous choices and, at the same time, care for each other in fostering engagement with these transitions.

Building on this approach of contextually embedded governance, the symposium addresses the critical issue of how we can create conditions that provide citizens and civil society organizations with opportunities to shape, design, and implement innovative solutions to the pressing case of the transition towards an inclusive and sustainable society.

The symposium will involve an international multidisciplinary group of scholars, policy makers, and stakeholders to discuss this new perspective on citizen engagement with sustainability and a particular focus on coordination and cooperation in accelerating the energy transition with contributions from five renowned speakers. The symposium will be chaired by prof. Denise de Ridder and prof. Lars Tummers.

Speakers are

• Natalie Sebanz, Professor in Cognitive Science at the Central European University Vienna, on The social nature of human minds: Me, us, and them in the context of social transformations
• Johan Schot, Professor of Global History and Sustainability Transitions at Utrecht University, on New transformative principles for collective action by policy makers and investors
• Mark Andor, senior researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, on Sustainability transition and energy communities: Insights from the NEWCOMERS project
• Lianda Sjerps-Koomen, manager business development at Rc Panels, on Engaging people from paper to practice: How to arrange enough hands holding yours, speeding up the sustainability transition
• Didi van Doren, environmental economist at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, on What governments can do to better engage citizens in the sustainability transition

This symposium is organized by the Behavior & Institutions platform, part of the Utrecht University Institutions for Open Societies strategic theme. Please register by sending an email to Ms. Amal Ng by October 31.