Policy entrepreneurship theory seeks to explain how actors, institutions, actions and interactions influence policy makers and policy outcomes; however, the role of citizens in this process remains largely unarticulated. Adopting a conception of policy entrepreneurship as a (distributed) pattern of agency rather than the actions of an individual, we analyse the development of local government climate emergency declarations (CEDs) (many of which visibly involved citizen advocacy). This analysis expands on the role of citizens in policy change and provides evidence of how citizen entrepreneurs interact collaboratively with more traditional forms of policy elites, in this case local elected representatives. Since 2018 hundreds of local governments in the United Kingdom (UK) have issued CEDs in a surge of expressions of local climate ambition. Whilst CEDs have attracted attention from scholars, the underlying dynamics and politics which drove the adoption of these policies, including the role played by citizens, remain unexplored in the literature. Interviews with councillors, council officers, and citizens reveal that citizens carry out a range of activities related to policy entrepreneurship, including problem framing, identifying solutions, networking and building coalitions, and seeking attention and opportunities. We find that they carry out these activities collectively with other citizens and collaboratively with elected representatives; whilst precise coalition-internal dynamics vary, citizens frequently exploit opportunities to demonstrate the strength and breadth of public support for their cause.

The role of socio-political power is central to the development of policy, but systematic analyses of power associated with the development of energy policy are rare. Power is also an important yet somewhat under-researched aspect of socio-technical transitions research. The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) policy aims to increase deployment of low-carbon heat in Great Britain and begin a transformation to a low carbon GB heat system. This article analyses the socio-political power associated with the development of the RHI policy based on Lukes' 'dimensions of power' approach using a methodology based on triangulation. We identify a number of policy change episodes during the development of the RHI and describe the influence of key actors on the policy. Despite the common assumption of the power of incumbents, we show that those actors with niche technological expertise, close relationships with Government actors and actors within the administration have been the most powerful drivers of policy development and change. Niche actors sped up the introduction of the RHI scheme and have also had some success in increasing relative support for biomethane injection. The power of a civil servant to slow the introduction of the domestic element of the RHI has also been identified.

The system for space and water heating in the UK must be transformed if policy goals are to be met. This transformation will require major technological and social changes including the renovation of homes and other buildings, the replacement of any appliances which combust fossil fuels with low carbon heat technologies and infrastructure changes. An effective Government strategy will need to drive these changes through policies, regulations and the development of a clear vision. The UK Government has already made a number of policy interventions associated with decarbonising heating.

Transformations of large systems, such as the UK heat system, have been increasingly considered from the perspective of ‘sustainability transitions’, a branch of theory which considers the transitions of large socio-technical systems from being ‘unsustainable’ to ‘sustainable’. The ‘multi-level perspective’ is a model which has emerged from the ‘sustainability transitions’ literature as potentially valuable. However, this model and wider approaches to ‘sustainability transitions’ have been accused of not paying enough attention to the complex social phenomenon of power. Greater insights around power and policy change associated with transitions could strengthen transitions theories by providing evidence of how power can affect socio-technical change.

Employing an approach to power called the ‘four faces of power’ and using a methodology called the ‘EAR instrument’ based on data triangulation which has never before been applied to UK energy policy issues, this inter-disciplinary research investigates the combined issues of power, transitions and the policies associated with UK’s heat system. Power in this thesis is understood as the ability of actors to affect policy and governance associated with the decarbonisation of heat. Therefore an actor is considered powerful or to have had power if their behaviour has successfully affected policy change.

The thesis examines if actors have had the power to affect historic UK heat policy and what approaches have been used to attempt to influence it. In doing so, the research provides original contributions to the literature on UK energy policy which has seen little focus on heat decarbonisation and similarly little focus on how politics and influence affect policy change. A Dutch case study has also been completed as the Netherlands has a similar, highly natural gas dependent heat system. Similarities and differences between the two countries have been investigated.

Numerous attempts to influence heat policy by various actors have been identified in both countries. Approaches used to have power over policy and the actors involved in attempts to have power have been considered in detail. Only some attempts to influence have been successful and contextual and institutional issues have also affected power struggles. The size of actor has not determined policy influencing success in this analysis.

The power associated with policy change is shown to be an important element of the UK’s heat transformation. As actors primarily attempt to influence policy based on their own interests and appear to have some success, a major issue for transitions may be that the speed and direction of transitions reflect politically active actors’ interests, rather than wider societal interests. However, in this study, actor power has operated to both constrain and emancipate the transformation showing that power is not, in this example, one directional.

'Energy decentralisation' means many things to many people. Among the confusion of definitions and practices that may be characterised as decentralisation, three broad causal narratives are commonly (implicitly or explicitly) invoked. These narratives imply that the process of decentralisation: i) will result in appropriate changes to rules and institutions, ii) will be more democratic and iii) is directly and causally linked to energy system decarbonisation. The principal aim of this paper is to critically examine these narratives. By conceptualising energy decentralisation as a distinct class of sociotechnical transition pathway, we present a comparative analysis of energy decentralisation in Cornwall, South West UK, the French island of Ushant and the National Electricity Market in Australia. We show that, while energy decentralisation is often strongly correlated with institutional change, increasing citizen agency in the energy system, and enhanced environmental performance, these trends cannot be assumed as given. Indeed, some decentralisation pathways may entrench incumbent actors' interests or block rapid decarbonisation. In particular, we show how institutional context is a key determinant of the link between energy decentralisation and normative goals such as democratisation and decarbonisation. While institutional theory suggests that changes in rules and institutions are often incremental and path-dependent, the dense legal and regulatory arrangements that develop around the electricity sector seem particularly resistant to adaptive change. Consequently, policymakers seeking to pursue normative goals such as democratisation or decarbonisation through energy decentralisation need to look beyond technology towards the rules, norms and laws that constitute the energy governance system.

Incumbency is frequently considered as a barrier to the transformation of unsustainable socio-technical systems such as energy systems. However, despite wide use of the term, ‘incumbency’ has never been fully or adequately defined within the sustainable transitions literature. This working paper considers the use and meaning of the term incumbency in relation to sustainable transformations, specifically in relation to the UK’s heat system. It takes ideas of incumbency from other disciplines including economics, politics and innovation. Synthesising these literatures, the paper proposes a number of characteristics of incumbency. Finally we propose a definition of incumbency in relation to sustainability transformations, which suggests that incumbents are actors already present in a specific socio-technical system, who are likely to be involved with unsustainable practices, and who possess the capacity to affect system change.