ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how ecological modernisation scholars have approached transformations taking place in environmental governance and participation by social actors beyond the state. It considers the ways ecological modernisation theory has laid the foundation for the diffusion of new approaches and policy instruments in environmental governance. The chapter discusses how public participation, stakeholder inclusion and more broadly neocorporatist arrangements relate to these innovations. Transformations in environmental governance are required for the ideas and practices of ecological modernisation to penetrate the economy-environment interface more broadly around the world. The changes in energy systems that are required to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, in terms of production and consumption, and in human behaviour, will involve deep paradigmatic changes. Such changes provide opportunities for even broader interest in the principles of ecological modernisation, as well as opportunities for policy transformation. The chapter concludes by discussing the contribution that more participatory modes of governance could provide for institutional ecological modernisation around the world.
