The role of natural resources in accelerating net-zero transitions: Insights from EV lithium-ion battery Technological Innovation System in China

Huiwen Gong and Allan Dahl Andersen
Additional contact information
Huiwen Gong: Department of Environmental Social Science, Eawag, Dübendorf, Switzerland
Allan Dahl Andersen: Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture (TIK), University of Oslo, Norway

No 20221001, Working Papers on Innovation Studies from Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo

Abstract: As sustainability transitions in some sectors enter an acceleration phase, widespread diffusion of low-carbon technologies seem inevitable. While the availability of critical natural resources will inevitably influence the pace and direction of sustainability transitions, there is as yet little exploration on the role of natural resources in such upscaling and diffusion processes in transition studies. Drawing on the literature on technological innovation systems (TIS), this paper develops an analytical approach to highlight the natural resource dimension in a TIS value chain and link it to TIS dynamics (functional and structural) in the face of inter-sectoral imbalances caused by natural resource scarcity in accelerating transition processes. Empirically we study China's EV battery TIS which shows that a shortage of critical natural resource (especially lithium) has influenced the TIS functional and structural dynamics both within and across sectors and can severely impact transition processes. Overall, we plea for more research on natural resources in transition studies as many low-carbon technologies enter an upscaling and diffusion phase.

Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2022-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-ene and nep-env
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sv.uio.no/tik/InnoWP/tik_working_paper_20221001.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tik:inowpp:20221001

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers on Innovation Studies from Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by H&kon Normann ().