Spanish to English Tech/Engineering Energy / Power Generation Energy transition issues

This translation is intended for publication in an academic journal devoted to issues of energy transition. The paper argues that the transition that we need to make to renewable energy sources must be accompanied by significant reductions in total material consumption and production, so that our most important needs can be met by renewables, because, due to their physical limits and the environmental costs that their expansion entails (e.g., from mining), it is not practical or desirable to try to make them supply the very high levels of energy to which we are currently accustomed. And it argues that changes to our social and economic systems will be necessary in order for us to be able to live well on the likely lower levels of energy that will be available to us in the future.

I have put the term in question in upper case letters where it appears in the following excerpt from the source text:

Afortunadamente, cada vez más se va abriendo paso la necesidad de incorporar estos escenarios de reducción de la escala económica en los análisis y prospectiva. Así lo han visto de igual manera otros investigadores que han propuesto planteamientos similares en trabajos relevantes recientemente publicados también en importantes revistas científicas internacionales. Se hace, pues, preciso complementar las soluciones tecnológicas (eficiencia, renovables, etc.) con cambios socioeconómicos importantes que INICIEN PAUTAS de reducción de los consumos, de la movilidad motorizada, con políticas de redistribución de renta riqueza y tiempos, políticas económicas fuertes de gestión de la demanda, de promoción de consumos colectivos, servicios públicos potentes, agricultura ecológica, etc.

I have looked at several examples of "iniciar pautas" on the net, but I have not found much help from dictionaries on this, and I am not sure how to translate it.

The current translation draft says (I have put the relevant part in upper case):

"It is therefore vital to complement technological solutions (efficiency, renewables, etc.) with important socioeconomic changes which will SET US ON A COURSE TO reduce consumption and motorised mobility, with policies for the redistribution of income, wealth, and working time, strong economic policies of demand management, promotion of collective consumption, strong public services, ecological agriculture, etc.

I suspect that "set us on a course to" might be an adequate idiomatic rendering, but I can't be certain of that without understanding the term better, so any light that anybody can shed on this would be much appreciated.

Thank you.