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Understanding how policy and policy-making processes can influence the speed and direction of socio-technical change is an important, yet underexplored research agenda in the field of sustainability transitions. This paper is the first application of a novel analytical framework which conceptualises the co-evolutionary dynamics of policy mixes and socio-technical systems, by complementing the sustainability transitions and policy mix literatures with insights from policy feedback theory. Our paper is an in-depth empirical case study of the zero carbon homes policy mix in the UK which sought to promote radical change in the UK house building system. Our paper makes three contributions. First, it makes an empirical contribution by analysing an example of an ambitious policy strategy in the housing sector where various policy effects and feedback mechanisms led to a loss of political support for the target, eventually leading to its abandonment, and only limited change within the socio-technical system. Second, our paper produces novel insights about the effects of policy mix credibility on socio-technical change, and the underlying feedback mechanisms which influence its formation and loss. Finally, based on our empirical analysis we propose conceptual refinements to the co-evolutionary framework and suggest avenues for future research explaining the dynamics of feedbacks between policy mixes and socio-technical systems. From the empirical analysis a key finding is that policy mixes need to be effectively designed in order to produce positive feedback from the outset, through the creation of resources, provision of clear information and the creation of credibility, and reforming conflicting institutional supports. In the case, ineffective initial design led to uncertainty and inertia, which did not generate sufficient positive feedback to withstand adverse economic and political conditions later on, which ultimately contributed to the abandonment of the policy mix.

Understanding how policymaking processes can influence the rate and direction of socio-technical change towards sustainability is an important, yet underexplored research agenda in the field of sustainability transitions. Some studies have sought to explain how individual policy instruments can influence transitions, and the politics surrounding this process. We argue that such individual policy instruments can cause wider feedback mechanisms that influence not only their own future development, but also other instruments in the same area. Consequently, by extending the scope of analysis to that of a policy mix allows us to account for multiple policy effects on socio-technical change and resultant feedback mechanisms influencing the policy processes that underpin further policy mix change. This paper takes a first step in this regard by combining policy studies and innovation studies literatures to conceptualise the co-evolutionary dynamics of policy mixes and socio-technical systems. We focus on policy processes to help explain how policy mixes influence socio-technical change, and how changes in the socio-technical system also shape the evolution of the policy mix. To do so we draw on insights from the policy feedback literature, and propose a novel conceptual framework. The framework highlights that policy mixes aiming to foster sustainability transitions need to be designed to create incentives for beneficiaries to mobilise further support, while overcoming a number of prevailing challenges which may undermine political support over time. In the paper, we illustrate the framework using the example of the zero carbon homes policy mix in the UK. We conclude with deriving research and policy implications for analysing and designing dynamic policy mixes for sustainability transitions.