These literatures describe similar processes through which these interacting elements generate significant system change. In the sustainability transitions literature, the process begins with a stable system of actors, technologies and institutions . Radical innovations begin in niches or protected spaces, sometimes introduced by new entrants or outsiders. Successful innovations expand in scale, scope and geographically, and ultimately help generate new regimes. Incumbent actors can support or resist innovations through combinations of government policies, economic forces and institutional and behavioural pressures. Such processes can, but need not, follow a common S-curve pattern of initial adoption, take-off, acceleration and stabilisation . The multi-level perspectives literature in WGIII similarly describes innovations as moving from niches to socio-technical regimes, at first mediated by and then potentially altering exogenous socio-technical landscapes .
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report