The Cascade Institute’s Scale-up and Acceleration program applies research and analysis to accelerate the energy transition, with a focus on harnessing non-linear change in technological and social systems to discover, develop, and promote solutions.
It is abundantly clear that there is not just one energy transition; multiple types of ongoing sustainability transitions are moving at different speeds across industries, sectors, and scales, and the nature and speed of the energy transition is the product of complex interactions between technical and social components of the energy system.
The Scale-up and Acceleration program team pursues new research pathways, analyzes emerging data, and provides timely advice to frontline actors including policymakers, financial actors, and activists. This work explores the technological, institutional, and worldview components of energy systems to effectively guide R&D, investment, and implementation of key energy technologies.
“We have an obligation to better understand systemic barriers to scaling up energy transitions, and the complexity of the societal, political, economic, and environmental dynamics involved.”
- Cascade Institute Executive Director, Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon
The Scale-up and Acceleration program contributes to the Accelerating Community Energy Transformation initiative (ACET) (supported by the Canada First Excellence Research Fund), a multi-partner research initiative helping communities achieve their unique clean-energy systems goals.
