Abstract. The interface of a long-standing movement for sustainability at the urban scale
and the imperatives of the carbon-reduction agenda are driving change in urban energy
systems. This paper seeks to address the nature of that change and, in particular, to consider
how different pathways of change are emerging. To do this it draws on the coevolution and
pathways literatures to interrogate a database of current urban energy initiatives within
the UK. This analysis reveals the multiple pathways of change though which new modes
of energy production and consumption are being developed to deliver carbon reductions
through the reconfiguring of urban energy systems. The paper concludes with a discussion
of the implications of these changes for urban governance and for carbon reductions
