Tactics of infrastructures in transitions: exploring the space between decarbonization strategies and operational practices in Dutch infrastructure organizations

Infrastructure systems are critical to advancing decarbonization goals, yet translating strategic ambitions into practice remains challenging. While prior research has explored high-level visions and operational experiments, the tactical level—where mid-level actors coordinate between strategy and operations—has received limited attention. This study investigates how tactical-level functions shape sustainability strategy implementation across three Dutch infrastructure providers: a national mobility agency, a regional drinking water utility, and a regional electricity distribution operator. Based on 34 semi-structured interviews and document review, it identifies four tactical functions: translating strategic goals into operational roles, processes, and requirements; taking advantage of emerging interdependencies and collaboration opportunities; trade-off navigating between conflicting priorities; and transferring lessons from operations back to strategy. These functions are shaped by sector-specific constraints and institutional contexts but reveal shared interdependencies, particularly in capacity planning. The findings underscore tactical actors’ crucial role in aligning sustainability ambitions with operational realities across interdependent infrastructure systems.