Regulatory taxation spills over.

The challenges of operating within the planet's carrying capacity call for an urgent transition towards sustainable consumption and production (Sustainable Development Goal 12). Regulatory instruments, one of the backbones of policymaking, have received limited attention in recent sustainability transitions research compared to more novel and experimental instruments (Bachus and Vanswijgenhoven, 2018; Kohler ¨ et al., 2019; Soininen et al., 2021). Ambitions to make them more transformative have been voiced in the political fora. For example, the European Commission (EC) aims to “ensure that the regulatory framework is… fit for a sustainable future, that the new opportunities from the transition are maximised, while minimising burdens on people and businesses” (EC, 2020, p. 3). But how do regulatory instruments, in fact, contribute to sustainability transitions?

The preparation and implementation of regulatory instruments establishes control over activities through formal and informal orders, laws and standards (Baldwin et al., 2012; OECD, 2018, 2022). So far, regulatory instruments have been considered, in a rather simplified manner, as means to facilitate transitions (Soininen et al., 2021). In this paper, we refine the conceptualisation and roles of regulatory instruments in sustainability transitions, meaning profound change processes in the consumption and production patterns (e.g., Van Oers et al., 2021; Lazarevic et al., 2022). To do so, we develop a novel approach by bringing together the theoretical approaches on intervention points (Kanger et al., 2020) and on the roles of law (Soininen et al., 2021). Intervention points are particular areas where a policy instrument can bring about transformative change in the socio-technical system (Kanger et al., 2020). Intervention points show where the political emphasis is, which can help to identify strengths and weaknesses in existing policies. The approach focuses on the catalysing role of policies and changing the system directionality. However, we argue that the intervention point approach does not by itself articulate well the fact that the change may vary — policies meant to catalyse a transition can end up altering its trajectory, slow it down and even stop it altogether. To uncover these aspects and to deepen the analysis of how regulatory instruments contribute to sustainability transitions, we propose assessing the six intervention points from the viewpoint of the different roles – steering, accelerating and braking (Soininen et al., 2021) – that law mXZay have in transitions.