SusTec at IST Conference 2025, Lisbon

This year’s conference, themed Tensions and Trade-Offs in Structural Changes for Sustainability Transition, gathered over 500 scholars from dozens of countries to explore transformative pathways and critical challenges in sustainability transitions.

Jochen Markard chaired one session of the conference track on new conceptual understandings of transitions, and he presented upcoming work tracing the emergence of a new meta-rule: electrification for net-zero, a collaboration with Prof. Daniel Rosenbloom at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and Prof. Laur Kanger at the University of Tartu in Tartu, Estonia.

Alejandro Núñez-Jiménez presented his recent publication on decline processes in technological innovation systems, offering new insights into how established technologies decline with four examples of energy technologies. This paper was the result of a collaboration with Prof. Nuno Bento at ISCTE in Lisbon, Portugal, and Prof. Noah Kittner at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, the United States.

Alberto Arcà discussed the European Union’s emerging and contested policy mix for chemical recycling. He highlighted the key elements of the policy mix, governance challenges, and competing stakeholder preferences. This study is the result of a collaboration with Denise Reike and Prof. Catharina Bening, who leads the Circular Economy team of SusTec.

James Kneebone outlined preliminary findings from a study on the evolution of European hydrogen strategies, revealing a pivot towards security policy motivations, along with major differences in the vision for hydrogen between the European Commission and Member States. The study is a major effort in collaboration with SusTec researchers Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez and Olivia Moor and Ben McWilliams from Bruegel in Brussels, Belgium.

The conference provided a valuable platform for SusTec to share its research, foster interdisciplinary dialogue, and contribute to shaping future sustainability transitions. The four-days were packed with exchanges with scholars, and it included an Early Career Day where emerging scholars had additional opportunities for networking. Thank you to the organizers at ISCTE for hosting our researchers.

We are also thrilled to share that, at the end of the conference, it was announced that Eawag and ETH Zurich will welcome sustainability transitions to Zurich for the #IST26. From the SusTec team, we look forward to welcoming you all soon!