Understanding systemic analysis in the governance of sustainability transition in renewable energies: The case of fuel cell technology in Iran

Considering the complex and evolutionary process of renewable energy development, it is imperative to have a framework for its governance. The governance of transition toward renewable energies can be divided conceptually into two phases, namely systemic analysis and policy making. This paper focuses on identifying different methodological steps in the systemic analysis phase. These steps provide requisite inputs for the second phase, policy making, by attaining a concrete understanding of the current status. In the first step, the boundaries of the transition process are defined by specifying the unit of analysis and identifying the system׳s components and relations. In the second step, and in order to have a big picture of the system׳s transformation, the dynamism of technological development is mapped through time. In the third step, an approach for analyzing and policy making of sustainability transition is chosen by comparing various approaches and selecting the most fitted one. All of these methodological steps are finally applied in the case of the Iran fuel cell technology development program to show the practicality of the proposed conceptual framework in a real case problem and to provide some insights for practitioners.