Competing values, ideologies and lock-in dependencies in sociotechnical pathways for industrial decarbonization

This article reveals how interaction among values and different material, economic, political, and cultural dimensions shapes sociotechnical pathways for industrial decarbonization. In identifying this range of phenomena, the article highlights the persistent obstacles that countries face in aligning their approaches to net-zero industry. The article is based on a mixed-methods research design involving 139 in-depth interviews with experts from the energy and industrial sectors and 124 site visits in Norway, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States. For Norway, the article identifies a pathway of clean fossil fuels that focuses on making sure that future energy pathways are still coupled with, and prolong the use, of natural gas and oil. For the United Arab Emirates, it focuses on a pathway of incumbent innovation, the overlapping imperatives over defossilization and decarbonization with the reality that the country is constrained in the diversity of its natural resources. For the United States, it identifies a pathway of capitalist salvation, which harnesses the brainpower legacy of technology industries with considerable scale and scope. The article argues that a better understanding of the embedded values of energy systems in national geopolitical realities could ultimately break path dependence and inform more realistic low carbon industrial pathways. Moreover, it lends support to the recognition that more proactive and interventionist national policy approaches may be needed if countries dependent on carbon-intensive energy systems are to move out of their incumbent energy regimes while simultaneously achieving goals enshrined within a just transition. • Investigates industrial decarbonization sociotechnical pathways across 3 countries. • Norway pursues a pathway of clean fossil fuels that focuses natural gas and oil. • The United Arab Emirates focuses on a pathway of incumbent innovation. • The United States exhibits a pathway of capitalist salvation harnessing the brainpower legacy of technology industries. • Reveals the material, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of energy systems in national political-geographic realities.