Social tipping intervention strategies for rapid decarbonization need to consider how change happens.

Otto et al.’s (1) evaluation of “social tipping interventions” (STIs) for accelerating a global transformation to carbon neutrality by 2050 is an important sociopolitical contribution to a debate that is all-too-often technocentric in focus. Otto et al.’s (1) expert panel identified six social tipping elements—within energy production/storage, human settlement, financial markets, norms and value systems, education, and information feedback—as candidates with the greatest potential to overcome incumbent interests and other “self-stabilizing mechanisms” (ref. 1, p. 2356) and trigger nonlinear carbon reductions. However, in considering how this “defining task for humanity” (ref. 1, p. 2354) is … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: steven.r.smith{at}surrey.ac.uk. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1