Subordinating Coupling in Sustainability Transitions

The Case of Pulp, Paper, and Plantation Forestry

Philipp Jonas Kreutzer
philipp_jonas.kreutzer@ekh.lu.se

Department of Economic History, Lund University

Derek Garfield
derek.bradley.garfield@slu.se

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

August 31, 2026

Paper introduces subordinated coupling as a new multi-system interaction mode and capital mediated replication as a specific manner of geographic regime scaling using the global pulp and paper sector as a case study

Drawing on structural composition, multi-system transition and global regime research

Structural composition framework (Miorner et al., 2026)

  1. Degree of institutionalization:

    strong persistence, translation, uncontested <—> new, abstract, contested

  2. Degree of coherence:

    settled configurations <—> competing configurations

  3. Spatial characteristics:

    globally valid <—> locally constraint

Structural and functional coupling (Andersen & Geels, 2023)

Multiple interaction modes:

Spatial reproduction of regimes (Fuenfschilling & Binz, 2018), mostly through discursive actor relations and configuration templates (Miorner et al., 2025)

But how can we explain that forest globally increasingly look similar?

Figure 1: Industrial Plantation of Spruce, Sweden
Figure 2: Industrial Plantation of Eucalyptus, Uruguay

The pulp and paper sector is a monolithic sector, centered on conversion of homogenous wooden biomass into diverse paper products at scale.

Figure 3: Pulp Production From Main Sources by Continent. Output in tonnes. Data from (fao2026FAOSTATForestryProduction?).

The production system constrains what configurations are possible in the raw material collection system: subordinated coupling

Figure 4: System Boundaries of the Pulp and Paper System. Material and energy flows are represented as arrows. Bold text indicates special focus of this analysis. Figure based on Dai et al. (2024, p. 339).

The regime replicates globally through transporting capital intensive pulp mills with limited knowledge or value diffusion of receiving locals

Figure 5: Mörrum Mill, Southern Sweden
Figure 6: Paso de los Toros, Uruguay’s largest pulp mill

Key Take Aways

  1. Subordinating coupling constrains systems to configurations imposed by downstream systems’ infrastructure requirements

  2. Capital-mediated replication explains how regimes scale through infrastructure with limited diffusion

  3. Especially for natural resource systems transition governance needs to include coupled systems to identify intervention points

Reach Out 👋

pjkreutzer.github.io

References

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