Samenvatting

In this article, we show how a combination of technological, economic, institutional, and social aspects lead to inertia in decision-making in the heat transition. We start from the challenges that are experienced by governments, companies, and citizens in three critical collective tasks in the transition. These are: (1) the coordination of various socio-technical system components in the construction of a new system; (2) the assignment of tasks and responsibilities in that system; and (3) the distribution of the costs and benefits. Because of the considerable normative diversity, interdependency and a lack of trust in each other, not enough action is taken regarding these collective tasks. We theorise this as a collective action problem and argue that this problem is the cause of the inertia in the heating market. In the discussion, we discuss the extent to which the currently proposed Collective Heat Act addresses the problem. We conclude that a more flexible interpretation of the Act is critical and should create space for experiments in the design of the developing energy system, in which more diverse solutions can be tried.