Intermediaries and Intermediation in Sustainability Transitions

Intermediary actors are key catalysts that can accelerate sustainability transitions. The related academic literature on intermediaries and intermediation in sustainability transitions has expanded rapidly since 2019. This rapid expansion has resulted in inconsistent use of the concept of intermediaries, proliferated lists of activities assigned to intermediaries and questions regarding the impact of intermediaries on transitions processes. These challenges can undermine the concept making it fuzzy and inaccessible for newcomers to the field while limiting its practical relevance. Thus, this chapter seeks to provide readers with an accessible introduction to the concept of intermediaries and intermediation in sustainability transitions followed by a historical account of the development of the concept. The chapter then provides some empirical examples of intermediaries and their activities, followed by a problematization of the literature specifically with regards to its lack of an explicit theory on why intermediaries exist in transition processes. In doing so, we position intermediaries in relation to other actors in transition processes such as system entanglers, orchestrators, and champions. The chapter ends by suggesting future research trajectories including the need to move beyond individual intermediaries to ecologies of intermediation as different transitions accelerate and interact.