A Combined Multi-Level Perspective and Agent-Based Modeling in Low-Carbon Transition Analysis

Low-carbon transitions are long-term complex processes that are driven by multiple factors. To provide a theoretical and practical framework of this process, we argue that the combination of the multi-level perspective (MLP) and agent-based modeling (ABM) enables us to reach a deeper and detailed analysis of low-carbon transitions. As an extensively applied theoretical form, MLP conceptualizes low-carbon transitions as a nonlinear process and allows a system to be analyzed and organized into multiple dimensions (landscape, regime, and niche). However, MLP cannot explain the many details of complex transitions, whereas ABM can estimate the influence of interacting behaviors in a complex system. Therefore, the main advantages of the combined approach for the analysis of low-carbon transition are verified: the MLP can contribute to the overall design of ABM, and ABM can provide a dynamic, continuous, and quantitative description of the MLP. To construct this combination framework, this paper offers a guiding principle that combines the two perspectives under a low-carbon transitional background to create an integrated strategy using three procedures: defining the common concepts, their interaction, and their combination. Through the proposed framework, the goal of this work was to reach a better understanding of social system evolution from the present high-carbon state to a low-carbon state under the pressure of ambitious climate goals, providing specific policy recommendations.