Scaling up Solutions for a Sustainability Transition

Lambin, Eric [UCL] Kim, Hajin [Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, Stanford University, Stanford] Leape, Jim [Center for Ocean Solutions, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford] Lee, Kai [Center for Ocean Solutions, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford]

The main challenge for a sustainability transition is to scale up successful solutions. Upscaling requires coali-tions of public, private, and civil society actors who align their motivations. Pathways to upscaling may involveleveraging a dominant player’s market power, integrating successful initiatives into public policy, or reinforcinggovernment-led change withprivate efforts. Various actors agreeto collaborate to take advantageoftheir com-plementary capabilities, e.g., government policies facilitate private action, market incentives reward progres-sive actors while government sanctions punish laggards, actors take up different tasks of the policy cycle, andlarge players absorb and disseminate pioneer efforts. To achieve durable impacts, the upscaling of solutions toreach sustainability must continually maintain a balance of incentives among key actors. We identify generallessons for successful upscaling that provide insights on the importance of motivating actors, designing col-laborations for lasting success, and incorporating concerns of developing countries.