Trade-off between market and ecosystem services drives settlement decisions among smallholder ranchers in Baja California Sur, Mexico - Kenneth B. Vernon; Brian F. Codding; Simon C. Brewer; Shane J. Macfarlan (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Learning to collaborate within transdisciplinarity: internal barriers and strengths of an art–science encounter - Sandrine Gallois; María Heras; Carlo Sella; Mar Satorras; Ramon Ribera-Fumaz; Isabel Ruiz-Mallén (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Despite the recognized importance of transdisciplinarity, including art–science collaborations, for tackling the complex challenges of the Anthropocene, little is known about the internal mechanisms of such alliances. At its best, transdisciplinarity should involve social learning with transformative potential. However, we still need evidence on how this can be achieved, specifically regarding developing interpersonal interactions and group dynamics. Our study explored the social learning processes and outcomes of an art–science encounter, aiming to highlight such a collaboration’s internal barriers and enhancers. It took place within a science communication project for the European Performing Science Night 2021, which involved creating an immersive artistic installation through the collaboration of 28 artists and scientists. We analyzed the social learning processes and outcomes based on participants’ profiles, individual participation, group dynamics, and the workshop context using structured interviews and participatory observation during this two-week co-creation workshop. Our insights showed that inter-relational skills were among the most important outcomes, and social learning processes varied based on group dynamics. Moreover, we identified the presence of a delicate balance between driving egalitarian and self-regulated dynamics within inclusive, collaborative processes and the need to foster non-hierarchical structures and dismantle power dynamics between artists and scientists. We discuss these findings in light of three key elements: destabilization, immersion, and materialization, which can help overcome internal barriers and leverage strengths for facilitating transdisciplinary approaches that contribute to sustainability transformations.

Transdisciplinary approaches to local sustainability: aligning local governance and navigating spillovers with global action towards the Sustainable Development Goals - Reihaneh Bandari; Enayat A. Moallemi; Ali Kharrazi; Robert Šakić Trogrlić; Brett A. Bryan (Sustainability Science, 2024)
In an evolving world, effectively managing human–natural systems under uncertainty becomes paramount, particularly when targeting the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The complexity in multi-actor decision-making and multi-sectoral settings, coupled with intricate relationships and potential conflicting management approaches, makes understanding the local implications of progressing towards the global SDGs challenging. We used a transdisciplinary approach for knowledge co-production with local stakeholders to assess the impact of local action to boost sustainability in the Goulburn–Murray region, Victoria, Australia, and its alignment with global action towards the SDGs. Together, we co-developed 11 local actions geared towards achieving four locally important environmental and socioeconomic SDGs, with a particular emphasis on addressing potential ‘spillovers’—unintended effects that influence SDGs across scales. Through system dynamics modelling, we evaluated the interplay between these local actions and global scenarios, emphasising their synergies, trade-offs, and the resulting impact on SDG indicators. Key findings indicate a predominant synergy between global and local actions across most SDG indicators. However, certain areas like dairy production, riverine algal blooms, and agricultural profit displayed trade-offs. Local actions significantly impacted indicators, such as crop production, dairy output, agricultural land use, and agricultural profitability. Findings highlighted the need for complementary actions in areas, such as water availability management, skilled workforce, and salinity control. This study underscored the importance of harmonising local initiatives with global sustainability objectives and can inspire local governance to champion resilience policies that harmoniously integrate local actions with global sustainability goals, adapting to evolving uncertainty scenarios. Graphical abstract

Benefits of air quality for human health resulting from climate change mitigation through dietary change and food loss prevention policy - Thanapat Jansakoo; Satoshi Sekizawa; Shinichiro Fujimori; Tomoko Hasegawa; Ken Oshiro (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Food production, particularly cattle husbandry, contributes significantly to air pollution and its associated health hazards. However, making changes in dietary habits, such as reducing red meat consumption and minimizing food waste, can lead to substantial improvements in both air quality and human health. In this study, we explored the impact of dietary changes on future air quality and human wellbeing. We also assessed the influence of dietary transformation policies in the context of climate change mitigation, with the objective of understanding how policies can effectively complement each other. We used a chemical transport model and an integrated assessment model to determine changes in fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and ozone (O 3 ) concentrations. Then, an exposure model was applied to estimate premature deaths as a consequence of air pollution. Our results showed that dietary changes could play a crucial role in mitigating air pollution, particularly in regions where agricultural activities emit significant quantities of ammonia. In the European Union, for example, dietary changes could lead to a reduction of 5.34% in PM 2.5 by 2050. Similarly, in Asia, the models projected a reduction of 6.23% in PM 2.5 by 2100. Ground surface O 3 levels in Southeast Asia were projected to drop by as much as 12.93% by 2100. Our results further showed that dietary changes could lead to significant reductions in global mortality associated with PM 2.5 and O 3 , with 187,500 and 131,110 avoided deaths per year expected by 2100. A combined approach that integrates dietary changes with climate change mitigation measures could lead to more comprehensive air quality improvements in specific regions. However, careful consideration is needed to address any potential adverse effects on O 3 concentrations in some areas.

How do we reinforce climate action? - Jiaying Zhao; Jade Radke; Frances S. Chen; Sonya Sachdeva; Samuel J. Gershman; Yu Luo (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Humanity has a shrinking window to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, yet climate action is still lacking on both individual and policy levels. We argue that this is because behavioral interventions have largely neglected the basic principles of operant conditioning as one set of tools to promote collective climate action. In this perspective, we propose an operant conditioning framework that uses rewards and punishments to shape transportation, food, waste, housing, and civic actions. This framework highlights the value of reinforcement in encouraging the switch to low-emission behavior, while also considering the benefit of decreasing high-emission behavior to expedite the transition. This approach also helps explain positive and negative spillovers from behavioral interventions. This paper provides a recipe to design individual-level and system-level interventions to generate and sustain low-emission behavior to help achieve net zero emissions.

Mapping lock-ins and enabling environments for agri-food sustainability transitions in Europe - Tim G. Williams; Matthias Bürgi; Niels Debonne; Vasco Diogo; Julian Helfenstein; Christian Levers; Franziska Mohr; Anne Elise Stratton; Peter H. Verburg (Sustainability Science, 2024)
European agri-food systems must overcome structural lock-ins to achieve more sustainable modes of production and consumption. Yet European regions are highly diverse, and we lack understanding of how different regional characteristics may enable or inhibit sustainability transitions. This hinders the development of context-tailored governance strategies. In this paper, we identify and apply sets of spatial indicators to map the regional potentials for agri-food transitions. We first analyse the strength of lock-in to the incumbent agro-industrial paradigm. We then map the enabling environments for two alternative agri-food networks—multifunctional value chains and civic food networks—that each embed distinct social–ecological qualities of agriculture and food. Results demonstrate a large spatial diversity in transition potential, with stronger lock-ins throughout North and Western Europe and stronger enabling environments for agri-food transitions in Italy, France, Switzerland, and Southwest Germany. We find that lock-ins are strongest in livestock-dominated regions and are associated with higher GHG emissions and excess nitrogen levels. Our study demonstrates the need for coordinated public policies that (1) leverage region-specific transition potentials and (2) enable complementary innovations in market-based and community-led networks.

Why is the sky blue? A new question for political science - Víctor Alonso-Rocafort (Sustainability Science, 2024)
The future of political science in this crucial century requires that it (i) adopt the contemporary scientific paradigm, (ii) open itself to pluri-, inter- and transdisciplinarity, and (iii) redefine the main political actor, ourselves, in light of post-anthropocentric and relational turns. A theoretical revolution to a post-normal and eco-political science is needed and, through the influence of new fields such as sustainability science, is probably already in motion. In the Anthropocene, it implies paying attention to biological links that once seemed extemporaneous. And this is when we realize that the sky has become co-vulnerable. We may actually be at risk of losing blue sky through anthropogenic actions, including global warming or solar geoengineering. Politics will be crucial in determining whether or not to preserve its blue, and everything that goes with it. The article explores, through the answer to the blue question, this new super-wicked problem to illustrate the stated objectives for political science and the need to apply them. The proposals that have emerged from this also provide a new framework for Clean Air strategies for blue skies that are being developed at international and national levels.

Telecoupling lens for integrating ecological and human dimensions of the biological invasion problem - Lia Montti; N. Ignacio Gasparri; H. Ricardo Grau (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Estimating scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions through the shareholder network of publicly traded firms - Cristian Mejia; Yuya Kajikawa (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Accounting for scope 3 emissions from investments remains a challenge due to a lack of adequate data and guidelines that do not accommodate the systemic role of firms in the financial chain. Here, we use network analysis to estimate investment-associated scope 3 carbon emissions of public firms. Using shareholder data from publicly traded firms listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, we identified the most influential firms by their ownership share values. Environmental responsibility can then be assigned by distributing the carbon footprint in the network to each of these influential firms. The industrial services, including trading and manufacturing, and financial services industries were found to be the largest source of scope 3 emissions in the investment network. In particular, the influential role of financial firms is reflected by having the largest increase in carbon allocation after the adjustment. This research contributes to ongoing efforts to improve carbon disclosure through methods that accommodate complex interactions among firms and to quantitatively reveal the overlooked responsibility of investors in carbon emissions.

Assessing the relevance of different proximity dimensions for knowledge exchange and (co-)creation in sustainability-oriented innovation networks - Ulrich Wilke; Andreas Pyka (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Innovations incorporating environmental and social considerations can address many sustainability challenges. Such sustainable innovations emerge in networks often comprising actors from business, academia, civil society, and government. The crucial interactions here are the (co-)creation and transfer of knowledge, mutual learning, and experimentation in different environments. To better understand these knowledge processes and hence the eventual outcome of sustainable innovations, we analyze the actors’ relationships with the help of proximity and its five dimensions, namely geographical, cognitive, institutional, organizational, and social proximity. Building upon findings from sustainability science and innovation system theory, we present a refined proximity framework, introducing a differentiation of institutional proximity into micro- and macro-institutional proximity and a differentiation of cognitive proximity into systems-cognitive, normative-cognitive, and transformative-cognitive proximity. Analyzing examples from the literature by applying this framework, we see that all proximity dimensions and their interdependencies help to better understand knowledge processes and innovations in sustainability-oriented innovation networks. We find that such networks often depict low levels of micro-institutional and systems-cognitive proximity, which coheres with the prevalence of inter- and transdisciplinary approaches and the wide inclusion of relevant stakeholders for addressing sustainability issues. Our framework further reveals that successful networks show high levels in other proximity dimensions, with normative-cognitive proximity appearing to play a crucial role, highlighting the importance of shared goal orientations. Our results provide valuable input for the formation of sustainability-oriented innovation networks by pointing out the necessary combination of distances that allow for creativity and learning, combined with appropriate proximities for exchange and mutual understanding.

A methodological framework for capturing marine small-scale fisheries' contributions to the sustainable development goals - R. E. Bitoun; M. Léopold; T. Razanakoto; R. Randrianandrasana; S. L. Akintola; P. Bach; E. N. Fondo; N. Franz; N. Gaibor; Y. Massey; L. M. Saavedra-Díaz; S. Salas; et al. (Sustainability Science, 2024)

A practical tool to enable Indigenous enterprise planning and development grounded in culture - Kirsten Maclean; Phil Rist; Whitney Rassip; Nicole Prudames (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Globally, Indigenous people seek to develop sustainable livelihood options that enable them to practice their culture, look after their traditional estates and generate economic development outcomes for their wider community. Enterprise development can and may provide one such pathway. However, challenges can arise with regard to reconciling the core drivers of ‘economic development’ with aspirations to practice and preserve culture. Current enterprise development approaches and models do not always suit Indigenous contexts. In this paper, we present a practical tool to enable Indigenous leaders, their partners, and others, to consider enterprise development options grounded in culture that may generate multiple benefits including economic outcomes. Our tool combines critical review of alternative development models, with empirical research to outline a set of foundational principles, building blocks and potential enterprise development options. We apply the practical tool to a case study of a nascent enterprise from the northern Australia Indigenous-led bush products sector. The case study illustrates how enterprise development planning is integral and discussions should consider how to enable cultural governance, protection of Indigenous cultural and intellectual property, potential benefits and sharing, access to resources, as well as the ‘building blocks’ for enterprise development and consideration of different enterprise approaches. The practical tool aims to ensure development pathways build on local economies and ecologies, do not compromise culture and recognise the influence of extra-local political economies on lived experiences and outcomes.

Degrowth scenarios for biodiversity? Key methodological steps and a call for collaboration - Iago Otero; Stanislas Rigal; Laura Pereira; HyeJin Kim; Gonzalo Gamboa; Enric Tello; Adrienne Grêt-Regamey (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Studies show that economic growth contributes to biodiversity loss and that, after a certain threshold, it does not contribute to wellbeing. Thus, when developing biodiversity scenarios, considering societal futures where economic growth is not a pre-condition deserves special attention. However, to date, degrowth scenarios have not been explored for biodiversity conservation and human wellbeing. In this paper, we explain how the Nature Futures Framework (NFF) and other approaches could be used to generate degrowth scenarios for biodiversity, nature’s contributions to people (NCP) and good quality of life (GQL) based on multiple societal values. We present key methodological steps of such an endeavour, including: (i) producing degrowth visions for high-income countries; (ii) identifying leverage points and imagining degrowth pathways; (iii) identifying key social–ecological interactions; and (iv) modelling biodiversity, NCP, and GQL along degrowth scenarios. Our proposal is framed within current theoretical, empirical, and modelling work as well as within efforts to improve scenario development across the biodiversity and climate communities. To develop degrowth scenarios for biodiversity, NCP, and GQL, we call for collaboration across natural and social sciences, quantitative and qualitative approaches, and northern and southern perspectives. This collaboration could lead to a community of practice that tests and improves the degrowth scenarios in national and international science–policy interfaces as they set out to achieve the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 2050 vision of living in harmony with nature.

Modeling a pastoral social–ecological system and its application to climate risk assessment of traditional livelihoods - Nao Takashina; Kaoru Kakinuma (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Farming in the shadow of violent organizations: understanding farmers’ relational place-making in socio-ecological crises - T. Panico; S. Pascucci; G. Cicia; T. del Giudice (Sustainability Science, 2024)
This study investigates how farmers develop place-based relations when subject to structural conditions of violence and environmental crime. We particularly focus on environmental crimes perpetrated by the Camorra, the Neapolitan Mafia, at the expense of farming communities in the metropolitan areas of Naples and Caserta, in Italy. Farmers located in this area have struggled to mobilize collectively, with only a group of farmers enable to re-act to land exploitation, illegal burning or dumping, and more in general to the waste crisis. Stimulated by this rather puzzling empirical evidence, our research team engaged in a deeper investigation of the waste crisis, exploring how farmers located in the Land of Fires reacted to conditions of violence and environmental crime by developing a differentiated set of place-based narratives and practices. Using the Land of Fires and the waste crisis as an empirical context, in this study we focus particularly on conceptualizing place-based processes emerging in the context of organized violence and environmental crime. In our approach, these are structural conditions produced by the Camorra and the state, to which local agencies, such as farmers, respond.

What qualitative systems mapping is and what it could be: integrating and visualizing diverse knowledge of complex problems - Susanne Hanger-Kopp; Leonard Kwhang-Gil Lemke; Julia Beier (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Researchers in sustainability science deal with increasingly complex problems that cross administrative, geographical, disciplinary, and sectoral boundaries, and are characterized by high stakes and deep uncertainties. This in turn creates methodological challenges to frame, structure, and solve complex problems in science and practice. There is a long tradition in visualizing systems as diagrams, and concept and cognitive maps, but there is insufficient differentiation and comparison between these methods and no clear umbrella term has yet been established. Against this background, we systematically review three foundational methods from different academic disciplines—causal diagrams, concept mapping, and cognitive mapping. Comparing and contrasting them, we facilitate a coherent understanding of qualitative systems mapping (QSM) as an umbrella term. We then proceed to explore the evident intersections between these methods to showcase some of the inter- and transdisciplinary opportunities and challenges crystallizing in integrated QSM approaches. Finally, we share case study insights from the food–water–biodiversity nexus in Austria and elaborate on some of the methodological nuances to data integration in QSM. Overall, with this overview paper, we lay the groundwork for a systematic, transparent, and yet flexible development and application of QSM methods to support mixed-methods research design and clear case study documentation, as well as fostering effective inter- and transdisciplinary communication in sustainability science. Further research needs to explore these QSM applications in depth across alternative sustainability science contexts, particularly with respect to efficient and rigorous protocols for knowledge and data integration vis-a-vis complex problems and transdisciplinary research processes.

A complex transdisciplinary approach to achieve water sustainability: lessons from a case study in Morelia, Mexico - Carlos Alberto Ruggerio; Roberto Lindig-Cisneros; Yadira Méndez-Lemus (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Although the theoretical–methodological complexity theory and transdisciplinary approach is increasingly accepted within sustainability science, its application at local-scale work with rural communities in the global south is still incipient and requires further research on its scope and limitations. The general objective of this work was to contribute to the knowledge on how a complexity and transdisciplinary approach applied to water problems at local scales can facilitate the process for water sustainability. The research took as study area the ejido of Coro Grande located in the municipality of Morelia, in the rural vicinity of Morelia City, capital of Michoacán State (Mexico). The theoretical–methodological scheme was based on the combination of the concepts of complexity–sustainability–transdisciplinarity to analyze the local water metabolism and generate actions to mitigate present and future water risk. The activities carried out involved a participatory diagnosis and the development of activities for the restoration of degraded environments with a double purpose: to generate conditions for the water sustainability of the system, and to promote the involvement of the population in a transdisciplinary research–action process. The results obtained show the effectiveness of the framework chosen to identify problems, achieve transformation in the short term, and improve both ecosystem functions and participation of the population in the solution of problems in the medium and long terms.

Community-based sustainability initiatives: the quality of relationships matter? - E. Carmen; I. Fazey; R. M. Friend (Sustainability Science, 2024)
The quality of relationships between different actors involved in community-based sustainability initiatives is central to their success. This study examines the role of the qualities of social relationships within 22 different community-based sustainability initiatives each framed round different types of sustainability challenges, from flooding and climate change to community development and youth engagement. Research involved 37 semi structured interviews, combined with visual techniques, to explore the qualities of different relationship from the perspective of actors actively engaged in developing and progressing initiatives with different communities across Scotland. A typology of relationship qualities (tense, pragmatic and supportive qualities) is presented and applied to examine the ways in which relationships shape the benefits that participants identify for these community-based initiatives. The findings show supportive relationship qualities, involving a sense of respect, integrity, honesty and opportunities to test out new ideas, are particularly important in sustainability initiatives, providing a diverse range of benefits. Relationship qualities can also shift over time, either relatively suddenly or incrementally. Some groups of initiative actors worked strategically with relationships, underpinning their relationship-based strategies with relationships with different actors dominated by supportive qualities to actively harness the benefits these types of relationships provide and strengthen the sense of community and shared interest surrounding initiatives. A focus on relationship qualities can therefore provide a more dynamic picture of how community-based initiatives unfold and adapt to increasingly complex challenges. Such an approach places human agency centre-stage, recognising the fundamental importance of shaping social relationships within community-based initiatives.

Pampang Parikesit: front runner of sustainability science in Indonesia - Osamu Saito; Satoru Okubo; Koji Harashina; Oekan S. Abdoellah; Shruti Ashish Lahoti; Kazuhiko Takeuchi (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Climate-friendly healthcare: reducing the impacts of the healthcare sector on the world’s climate - Walter Leal Filho; Johannes M. Luetz; Urvi D. Thanekar; Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis; Mike Forrester (Sustainability Science, 2024)
If the global healthcare sector were a country, it would be the fifth-largest carbon emitter, also producing massive volumes of waste. A revolutionary transition to an environmentally sustainable model of healthcare is required. Decarbonisation efforts are initially focused on transitioning to renewable energy sources and improving energy efficiency in healthcare facilities (Scopes 1 and 2). One of the major challenges is to reduce the carbon intensity of the broader healthcare sector, especially operational and supply chain-related emissions, which represent 71% of the sector’s worldwide emissions (Scope 3). This comment briefly describes the connections between the healthcare sector and climate change and describes several high-impact decarbonisation opportunities, focusing on transitioning from current resource and waste-intensive procurement models and highlighting the planetary co-benefits of fostering low-emissions healthcare. To succeed, this transition will require high-level advocacy and policy changes supported by international collaboration at the global level.

Understanding the embeddedness of individuals within the larger system to support energy transition - Katharina Biely; Siddharth Sareen; Gerdien de Vries; Emile Chappin; Thomas Bauwens; Fabio Maria Montagnino (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Empowering citizens for the energy transition: facilitating role change through real-world experiments - Helena Trenks; Paula Maria Bögel (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Empowering citizens to take on new, more active roles is a central element in a successful energy transition. Yet, models that allow direct involvement and prosumer practices on the part of individuals are still not widely implemented. Real-world labs offer a supportive environment for citizens to experiment with new roles, allowing them to test transition processes within a protected niche. This study investigates the development of an empowering role change in the context of the real-world experiment “Your Balcony Network—Energy Creates Community”. The experiment serves as a case study to offer a better understanding of how real-world labs can support citizens toward an empowering role change that actively and positively affects the energy transition. In a mixed-method, longitudinal study, we first identify indicators of citizens’ role change in the energy transition and analyze their development in the course of the experiment’s first year. Second, we studied the role-changing process, identifying key mechanisms of change and contextual factors that accompanied and supported the role-changing process. Building on the “Embedded Agency Perspective” as our analytical framework, we applied a process perspective, empirically investigating how participants’ roles changed through taking part in the experiment. Our findings support the conclusion that real-world experiments can foster empowering role change among citizens, especially emphasizing the importance of real-world labs as places for experimentation, learning by experience, and networking. The study thus also contributes to the discourse about the impact of real-world labs.

Beyond a checklist for acceptance: understanding the dynamic process of community acceptance - Nikki Kluskens; Floor Alkemade; Johanna Höffken (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Community acceptance is considered a prerequisite for successful energy transitions and the uptake of renewable energy technologies (RET). While policy and research often focus on acceptance as an outcome, the process of acceptance remains a black box, especially in uncontested RET implementation contexts. We study the dynamic process of community acceptance where (1) different actor groups can have (2) different roles and (3) different active and passive responses towards (4) different objects of acceptance within the RET project implementation. Results show that community acceptance occurs over time and goes beyond citizen or resident acceptance alone. By unpacking different dimensions of acceptance, we show that even in uncontested cases, acceptance is ambiguous and includes various responses toward various objects. Furthermore, we see that roles can influence and interact dynamically with responses and that preferences for roles are heterogeneous. To move beyond acceptance as a merely coincidental outcome, but a widely embraced and intentional process, this process should meet the participatory needs of different actors.

Correction: Multifunctionality benefits of small-scale urban agriculture - Chethika Gunasiri Wadumestrige Dona; Geetha Mohan; Kensuke Fukushi (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Correction: Community-centred scenarios development for water–energy–food security on Zanzibar - Rebecca J. S. Newman; Claudia Capitani; Tahir A. Haji; Aziza Y. Nchimbi; Charis Enns; Robert A. Marchant (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Whose “place” is it? Using corpus-based techniques to sketch place-based sustainability discourses in public and academic forums - Samuel Wearne; Christopher Riedy (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Calls for a “place-based” approach to sustainability are increasingly common in the field of sustainability transitions and transformations (STT). To critically explore the agendas and politics a call towards place carries, we undertook a corpus-assisted discourse study (CADS) to examine a sample of public and academic texts from 2019 to 2020. Two distinct discourses about place were evident: an environmental discourse framing place as an assemblage of more-than-human constituents and an anthropocentric discourse framing place as a human community. These discourses present vastly different priorities about which species matter, what change entails, and what kind of future we should create. Our findings reflect the emergence of a discourse coalition that advocates for a place-based approach to STT, and we discuss how this viewpoint has continued to emerge since the compilation of our data. Our paper provides an overview of the discursive landscape we encountered, synthesises a central narrative about place-based STT based on what we observed, and provides a critical discussion of the tensions and opportunities that this narrative raises. In doing so, we suggest there remains an opportunity for fruitful dialogue amongst sustainability educators, sustainability practitioners, and researchers to refine what a place-based approach to STT looks like. By demonstrating an application of CADS, we hope to show how digital tools and techniques can be used to research discourses in sustainability. We outline specific opportunities to take this forward, including a broad opportunity to use web-derived corpora to help survey discursive landscapes, and a more specific application to explore discursive dynamics between communities, places, and at different spatial scales.

Benefits and co-benefits of urban green infrastructure for sustainable cities: six current and emerging themes - Prabhasri Herath; Xuemei Bai (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Integrating urban green infrastructure (UGI) into cities is receiving increasing attention owing to its potential to provide various urban ecosystem services (UES). This review assesses the multifaceted services of UGI as benefits and co-benefits. By combining systematic and narrative review processes, we aim to synthesise existing knowledge along six current themes and identify research gaps. A total of 690 peer-reviewed articles published during 2000–2020 from Web of Science were selected, followed by bibliometric and full-text analysis. Based on the frequency of appearance in the network visualisation of keywords, six themes of current trends were identified, namely: (1) benefits of UGI as UES; (2) mitigating climate and urban climate impacts by UGI; (3) UGI contribution to sustainable development goals; (4) reconceptualising greenspaces as ‘safe havens’; (5) public acknowledgement and supportive governance for UGI; and (6) rethinking the operationalisability of UGI. The first two themes represent existing focus on categories of ecosystem services, the next two encompass broader emerging co-benefits and the last two focus on how to operationalise UGI and support widespread adoption and implementation. Within Theme 2, the most frequently discussed service with the largest number of research, we conducted a detailed analysis of the methods and content focus in the existing literature. Through a narrative review, we identified 15 research gaps throughout these 6 themes. This review provides a comprehensive overview for urban researchers and practitioners to inform the integration of urban green infrastructure into urban planning and management.

The multilocality of sense of place in ecosystem services discourse - Sakineh Ghorbanzadeh; Kenneth Nordberg (Sustainability Science, 2024)
This paper focuses on sense of place as a cultural ecosystem service and a mediatory experience in grasping a collection of ecosystem benefits. Through phenomenological and social constructionism/relational approaches, we focus on sense of place as a relational entity at both the individual and collective levels. Using content analysis of 32 in-depth interviews with (a) environmental officials and (b) local inhabitants in the region of Ostrobothnia, Finland, the study finds that sense of place is shaped via the interactions of environmental settings and cultural practices. Here, we argue that material and non-material interactions contribute to sense of place. With a phenomenological approach, the study presents the qualities associated with places, such as tranquility, beauty, and uniqueness that are important for achieving both material and non-material ecosystem benefits, while social constructionism/relational approaches indicate that the social dimension of sense of place contributes to ecosystem service benefits through traditional cultural practices. The study also shows a shift in cultural practices from provisioning to recreation in creating meaningful places. The results highlight a multilocal dimension of senses of places, particularly in contemporary lifestyles and increased mobilities.

At the intersections of influence: exploring the structure–agency nexus across sufficiency goals and time frames - Laura Maria Wallnoefer; Sahra Svensson-Hoglund; Soumyajit Bhar; Paul Upham (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Unveiling global sustainability boundaries: exploring inner dimensions of human critical determinants for sustainability - Filipe Duarte Santos; Tim O’Riordan; Miguel Rocha de Sousa; Jiesper Tristan Strandsbjerg Pedersen (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Greater global awareness and action to implement sustainable development are underway. However, global progress towards sustainability has been slow. Advancing towards some form of sustainability requires greater attention and analysis of the role played by the human inner world. While the scientific analytic tools have focused on external aspects, we present a scientific methodology to identify human critical determinants (HCDs) acquired during the human biological and cultural evolution, which, although crucial for survival, well-being, and economic prosperity, may also currently act as human sustainability boundaries (HSDs). These boundaries can be softened by personal transformations with the capability of spurring resonant institutional and governance transformations. This commentary examines how a definable set of interacting and interdependent HCD provides a complete and coherent explanation of why reaching sustainability is currently an elusive objective.

Inter- and transdisciplinary reasoning for action: the case of an arts–sciences–humanities intervention on climate change - Luana Poliseli; Guido Caniglia (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Inter- and transdisciplinary (ITD) approaches represent promising ways to address complex global challenges, such as climate change. Importantly, arts–sciences collaborations as a form of inter and transdisciplinarity have been widely recognized as potential catalysts for scientific development and social change towards sustainability. However, little attention has been paid to the process of reasoning among the participants in such collaborations. How do participants in arts–science collaboration reason together to overcome disciplinary boundaries and to co-create interventions? This article investigates how inter- and transdisciplinary reasoning (or ITD reasoning) unfolded in a collaboration involving experts from the natural sciences, humanities, and the arts. We studied how collaborators reasoned through different understandings and experiences of climate change as well as through multiple ways of fostering motivation to take action via two co-designed artworks, HOMONEXUS (a participatory textile and acoustic installation) and GLACIER NEX US (a performance staging a dialogue between a melting glacier and a glaciologist). Our conclusions are threefold: (i) ITD reasoning can increase participants’ capacity to navigate often-unpredictable situations by cross-fertilizing ideas and overcoming blind-spots; (ii) humanities in arts–science collaborations can foster a more nuanced understanding of the differences and similarities of different knowledge systems as well as a deeper ecological understanding of sustainability problems; and (iii) the aesthetic experiences stimulated by arts–science interventions may help to raise awareness about the climate emergency and sustainable actions by providing pleasant and positive or dazzling and negative aesthetic experiences.

Social acceptance of district heating: evidence from the Netherlands - A. M. Onencan; J. Ou; J. I. J. C. de Koning (Sustainability Science, 2024)
The Netherlands Climate Change Agreement aims to reduce CO 2 emissions and seismic events by halting natural gas usage by 2050. This will require widespread societal acceptance by 90% of households. The study investigates the social acceptance of a district heating network (DHN) among social housing tenants in Haarlem, Netherlands. The findings of a survey administered to ninety-five tenants revealed a substantial level of support for the DHN project. A significant portion of respondents, 75%, expressed their approval for the DHN, surpassing the legally required threshold of 70% for implementing building retrofits. Findings imply that although the participants possess an adequate comprehension of the rationale for energy transition, their familiarity with the precise particulars and practical information pertaining to the proposed transition to DHN is inadequate. The level of trust in housing corporations, energy providers, and the municipality is uniformly low, indicating a lack of institutional trust. Generally, the interpersonal trust among tenants tends to be lower than their trust in the broader public, which in turn restricts their capacity for self-organization and exercising influence over energy institutions. Although DHNs are typically regarded as environmentally friendly and secure, there are several challenges that need to be addressed, including the uncertainty about who will cover the costs of transitioning and the doubts surrounding DHN feasibility (warmth and reliability). We suggest implementing interventions to improve tenants' comprehension of the DHN project's particulars (capability), provide practical information regarding costs and feasibility (motivation), and foster trust at both interpersonal and institutional levels (opportunity).

Correction: Processes of sustainability transformation across systems scales: leveraging systemic change in the textile sector - Julia Leventon; Maike Buhr; Lisa Keβler; Jorge Gustavo Rodriguez Aboytes; Felix Beyers (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Multifunctionality benefits of small-scale urban agriculture - Chethika Gunasiri Wadumestrige Dona; Geetha Mohan; Kensuke Fukushi (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Teaching–learning environmental conflicts through case studies and experiential immersion: introducing students to transdisciplinary research - Carlos Alberto Ruggerio; Marcela Morales-Magaña; Jaime Paneque-Gálvez; Francisco Martín Suárez (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Understanding the mechanisms of meaning-making for transformations toward sustainability: contributions from Personal Knowledge Theory - Benita C. Odii; Yanyan Huang; Marie K. Harder (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Collective action lessons for the energy transition: learning from social movements of the past - Vanja Djinlev; BinBin J. Pearce (Sustainability Science, 2024)
To accelerate the energy transition and achieve the needed large-scale transformation to address climate change, different barriers including lock-ins and path dependencies, incumbent power structures and changing individual and collective norms, values, and behaviors around energy need to be addressed. In the face of these challenges, citizens are beginning to play a bigger role in the transformation of the energy system. For example, they are becoming prosumers (energy consumers who also produce energy) and are increasingly engaging in collective energy actions, including taking part in energy communities. In the latter instance, collective investment and consumption decisions are made together, and norms, understanding and behavior towards energy are shaped collectively. To better understand the roles that individuals and groups can play in confronting the challenges of the energy transition, we make use of and adapt Ostrom’s socio-ecological systems (SES) framework to analyze past examples of collective actions and to delve deeper into the causes and catalysts of collective actions. We show how this framework can be used to analyze collective actions across time and contexts, focusing on connecting individual and group behavior with changing societal norms and the corresponding barriers to change. By applying the adapted SES framework as a lens to analyze historical examples of collective actions that have resulted in a widespread transformation in social norms and structures, we identify similarities and differences between these case studies and the current energy transition. Confronting incumbents and the challenge of changing social norms and behaviors are among the similarities, but the specific tactics used to limit incumbents’ powers and the actions taken to influence the norms and behaviors differ. Lastly, we determine the key actors that influenced social and behavioral change, as one of the main outcomes of the analysis.

Assessment of transdisciplinarity by its participants: the case of Tertúlias do Montado, Alentejo, Portugal - M. Helena Guimarães; Gonçalo Jacinto; Catarina Isidoro; Christian Pohl (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Evaluation plays a pivotal role in transdisciplinary (TD) research, often discussed during funding stages or when assessing project impacts. A few studies delve into the participant perspective when examining the quality of transdisciplinarity. Our work contributes to this area of assessment. Rather than providing a definitive definition of transdisciplinarity, we developed a questionnaire to evaluate a set of TD principles within a specific TD initiative. We collected insights from 100 individuals out of a pool of 200 participants engaged in a TD initiative since 2016. Given the long-term nature of the case study, our sample included both frequent and occasional participants. Using non-parametric statistical, we concluded that frequent participants express higher satisfaction with their involvement, identify more outcomes stemming from their participation, and assign greater importance to TD principles. These findings highlight the significant impact of investing in long-term TD initiatives. Additionally, our questionnaires featured open-ended questions to capture participants’ individual definition of the initiative, along with their perceived benefits and drawbacks. Through content analysis, we identified two distinct discourses: positivism and postpositivism. The positivist discourse predominantly features male participants over 60 years of age, primarily from the research community. These participants express lower satisfaction with their participation and assign less value to TD principles. We found no association between positivism/postpositivism and participation frequency (i.e., frequent/casual). This suggests that these two discourses can coexist and interact within a TD environment. Nevertheless, the perceived value of TD is not uniform across these groups, indicating that TD may not align with everyone’s objectives, even in complex contexts where the approach is considered essential.

Correction: How individuals make sense of their climate impacts in the capitalocene: mixed methods insights from calculating carbon footprints - Tullia Jack; Jonas Bååth; Jukka Taneli Heinonen; Kirsten Gram-Hanssen (Sustainability Science, 2024)

To charge or not to charge? Using Prospect Theory to model the tradeoffs of electric vehicle users - S. Pelka; A. Bosch; E. J. L. Chappin; F. Liesenhoff; M. Kühnbach; L. J. de Vries (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Electric vehicle (EV) users who aim to become flexibility providers face a tradeoff between staying in control of charging and minimizing their electricity costs. The common practice is to charge immediately after plugging in and use more electricity than necessary. Changing this can increase the EV’s flexibility potential and reduce electricity costs. Our extended electricity cost optimization model systematically examines how different changes to this practice influence electricity costs. Based on the Prospect Theory and substantiated by empirical data, it captures EV users’ tradeoff between relinquishing control and reducing charging costs. Lowering the need to control charging results in disproportionally large savings in electricity costs. This finding incentivizes EV-users to relinquish even more control of charging. We analyzed changes to two charging settings that express the need for control. We found that changing only one setting offsets the other and reduces its positive effect on cost savings. Behavioral aspects, such as rebound effects and inertia that are widely documented in the literature, support this finding and underline the fit of our model extension to capture different charging behaviors. Our findings suggest that service providers should convince EV-users to relinquish control of both settings.

(Too) high hopes? How Austrian energy community actors construct their roles in the energy transition - Andrea Vogler; Barbara Kump (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Energy communities (ECs), as forms of social innovation, have the potential to contribute to sustainability transitions in the energy system. Hence, policymakers place great hopes in ECs as drivers of the energy transition and impose 'transformative goals' on EC actors. However, earlier work revealed differentiated motives (e.g., personal gain, hedonism, economic reasons) on the part of these actors, with system transformation not always being the most important goal. Hence, this empirical study aims to provide a more nuanced picture of how individual actors, namely, founders, intermediaries, and influential early members of ECs, set about understanding and constructing their roles in the energy transition. Using the concept of actor roles in transitions and taking a discourse–theoretical approach, we study the case of Austria, where recent legislative changes enabled the formation of renewable ECs. Drawing on extensive desk research, 15 in-depth interviews, and participant observations in four community meetings, we identify four ideal–typical role constructions of EC actors: grassroots , entrepreneurial , local hero , and techno-centric. In fact, these roles vary significantly in their transformative potential, with the grassroots role emphasizing empowerment for a profound social and ecological transition, the techno-centric focusing on technological advancement, while the entrepreneurial role prioritizes economic aspects, and the local hero role centers on a limited, small-scale approach. Our findings challenge the widespread assumption of EC actors taking a 'transformative' role and reveal novel insights into the different roles’ main concerns that need to be considered in the implementation of energy policies.

How individuals make sense of their climate impacts in the capitalocene: mixed methods insights from calculating carbon footprints - Tullia Jack; Jonas Bååth; Jukka Taneli Heinonen; Kirsten Gram-Hanssen (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Many people want to play their part to tackle climate change, but often do not know where to start. Carbon Footprint (CF) Calculators pose potential for helping individuals situate themselves in climate impacting systems of which they are a part. However, little is currently known about whether and how individuals who complete CF calculators understand their CF in the context of climate change. This article explores how people make sense of their CFs and locate themselves in the capitalocene. It draws on theories of social practices, environmental ethics, valuation, and knowledge-use to analyse data from 500+ Danes who completed a CF calculator ( https://carbonfootprint.hi.is ) and interviews with 30 Danes who were asked to complete the CF calculator. In this article, we describe how Danes’ CFs are impacted, looking at how survey respondents rate importance of mitigating climate change, importance of personal actions, and importance of public steering, as well as disposable income, living space, and family type. We also show how interviewees reflect over their consumption activities and possibilities. Those with high income nearly always had high CF but felt like they had little agency to change the system and rather justified their high-emitting practices such as flying, while those with low CF felt they had more agency in the system. The results show that high-CF individuals resist voluntary reduction of their emissions despite the presence of environmental ethics. Thus, we conclude that systemic solutions have the foremost capacity to reduce carbon emissions.

Agents of change or victims of transition? Media framings on household roles during the energy crisis - Senja Laakso; Eugenia Castellazzi; Kaisa Matschoss; Jenny Rinkinen (Sustainability Science, 2024)
The energy crisis that began in late 2021 and escalated after the war in Ukraine in early 2022 was seen as a disruption accelerating the energy transition in Europe. It forced households to save energy and change their patterns of energy use in a struggle to cut dependency on Russian energy, and in public discussions, various kinds of agency were required from and allocated to households. In this article, we analyze a total of 220 articles on energy use published in the main Finnish newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat , during the energy crisis between 1 November 2021 and 31 October 2022. We investigate how household agency driven by the energy crisis is framed in the media by analyzing the variety of roles assigned to households and the framings of the agency attached to those roles in relation to mitigating the energy crisis. The analysis provides insights into how households are embedded within the energy system and whether and how they are expected to facilitate the energy transition; moreover, the article contributes to a better conceptualization of the understudied roles and agency of households in transitions.

Memory in energy transitions: individual agency through historical narratives in the energy transition to gas and electricity in the Dutch household - Gijs ten Berge (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Authors adopting socio-technical frameworks to study energy transitions argue that individual behavioural change and the uptake of social and technological innovations on higher-level scales are both imperative for sustainability transitions to come about. However, the way individuals are embedded in the larger system has remained largely unclear. To better understand individual embedment in energy transitions, this paper enriches sustainability transition research with the insights of memory studies. During energy transitions, social actors that enact these transitions change their identity. A core premise of memory studies is that individual and collective remembering cannot do without each other in the constitution of identity. To illustrate the role of memory in energy transitions, this paper conducts a historical case study of the role of housewives in the energy transition to gas and electricity in the Dutch household. By adopting a narrative approach, the historical narratives across the Monthly Magazine of the Dutch Association for Housewives (NVvH), published between 1913 and 1942, are explored. The results show how the master narrative prescribed the guiding principles of the historical narratives that emerged in the energy discourse. However, as part of the flexible nature of memory, a varied ‘menu of stories’ came forward that enabled individuals to identify with different historical narratives, incorporating differing energy sources and drawing on the transformative nature of memory by imagining different energy futures. It is concluded that individual agency in energy transitions moves beyond choices of use and consumption. It rests in the individuals’ ability to identify with a historical narrative that adheres to the way the individual makes sense of the world.

An organizing framework to break down Western-centric views of knowledge in North–South research - Hannah Turner; Briony Rogers; Sarah Kneebone; Diego Ramirez; Matthew French; Mere Jane Sawailau; Filise Volavola; Sholyn Baran; Kelera Matavesi; Orlando Newton; Maraia Batiota Luveniyali; Autiko Tela; et al. (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Global challenges, such as climate change, persistent poverty, and food insecurity are complex problems. These societal, environmental, and economic challenges cross scientific disciplines, communities, and geographies, requiring interdisciplinary, North–South solutions. Nevertheless, prevailing sustainability science responses are Western-centric. Some seminal studies have attempted to understand and engage with diverse knowledge systems. These include decolonial and Indigenous methodologies, such as “Two-Eyed Seeing”, which emphasizes the importance of using both Western and Indigenous knowledge to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the world, and participatory action research, which highlights the importance of involving participants in the research process and promoting social change through collaborative effort. However, apart from in-country research collaborations with traditional Indigenous knowledge, most North–South studies overlook the role or influence of Western-centric views and therefore fail to recognize and incorporate diverse worldviews and knowledge systems. This may, in part, reflect the tendency to categorize research into disciplinary silos, but more likely is the unintentional, yet prevalent, view that Western science is “objective and neutral.” As more scholars from multiple disciplines and geographies focus on interdisciplinary North–South research, it is critical that researchers reflect on dominant research approaches and knowledge production. Studies can co-construct, reproduce, or control the forms of knowledge generated—whether intentional or unintentional. This paper presents an organizing framework to help researchers navigate, understand, and engage with diverse forms of knowledge in undertaking North–South research. The framework draws on empirical observations from the authors’ interdisciplinary research and from empirical cross-cultural literature. It comprises three contextual levels of influence, featuring guiding principles and subsequent practical actions researchers can use to navigate the complexities of knowledge co-construction in North–South research.

Centring Indigenous peoples in knowledge exchange research-practice by resetting assumptions, relationships and institutions - J. K. Weir; R. Morgain; K. Moon; B. J. Moggridge (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Knowledge exchange is a broad and consequential undertaking, analysed by diverse scholars, and rapidly growing as a field of academic practice. Its remit is to strengthen ties between research generators and users to support better material outcomes for society. This review paper considers how this increasingly codified academic field might engage with the research-practice concerns identified in the Indigenous and decolonial literature. We do so by bringing the two literature sets together for analysis, noting they are not mutually exclusive. We reveal how addressing discrimination towards Indigenous peoples from within the knowledge exchange field requires a fundamental reconsideration of the biases that run through the field’s structures and processes. We prioritise two connected framing assumptions for shifting—jurisdictional and epistemological. The first shift requires a repositioning of Indigenous peoples as political–legal entities with societies, territories, laws and customs. The second shift requires engagement with Indigenous expert knowledge seriously on its own terms, including through greater understanding about expert knowledge creation with nature. These shifts require taking reflexivity much further than grasped possible or appropriate by most of the knowledge exchange literature. To assist, we offer heuristic devices, including illustrative examples, summary figures, and different questions from which to start the practice of knowledge exchange. Our focus is environmental research practice in western Anglophone settler-colonial and imperial contexts, with which we are most familiar, and where there is substantial knowledge exchange literature.

Correction: Reflexive use of methods: a framework for navigating different types of knowledge and power in transformative research - Minna Kaljonen; Johanna Jacobi; Kaisa Korhonen-Kurki; Jani P. Lukkarinen; Anna Ott; Juha Peltomaa; Flurina Schneider; Theresa Tribaldos; Julie G. Zaehringer (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Correction to: Unlocking and accelerating transformations to the SDGs: a review of existing knowledge - Cameron Allen; Shirin Malekpour (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Action research for transformative change - Thami Croeser; Sarah Clement; Marta Fernandez; Georgia E. Garrard; Ian Mell; Sarah A. Bekessy (Sustainability Science, 2024)
As major policy actors (e.g. governments, global organisations) grapple with 'wicked’ sustainability challenges, the use of demonstration projects or ‘living labs’ has promise in showcasing potential solutions. However, these projects can struggle to realise enduring change, with initial experimental deliverables tending not to be replicated and remaining as once-offs. As well as demonstrating solutions, projects also need to overcome the considerable inertia in the complex systems of organisations and institutions that govern (or indeed generate) sustainability problems. Here we argue that demonstration projects, while initially impactful, could be more likely to realise transformative change if they were designed more thoroughly as action research projects, working with partners to not only deliver and measure demonstrations of solutions, but also demonstrate changes to organisations and institutions to remove barriers and facilitate replication. We note the important role of both engaged leadership and explicitly-stated theories of change in maximising the potential of projects designed in this way.

Community-centred scenarios development for water–energy–food security on Zanzibar - Rebecca J. S. Newman; Claudia Capitani; Tahir Haji; Aziza Nchimbi; Charis Enns; Robert A. Marchant (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Small developing islands demonstrate strong social–ecological interactions as well as a high level of exposure to climate-related effects, which can result in intense land use pressures. Scenario methodologies are useful for reflecting on how competing pressures interact when planning for a more sustainable future. In small islands, local knowledge is integral to the development of scenarios because of the close connection between people and local environments. However, local communities are often underrepresented in scenario development processes. This study provides a methodological example of how local knowledge can be used to create scenario themes. Ten community participatory workshops were hosted on Zanzibar ( n = 142 ), where a water–energy–food framework was used to examine impacts of environmental change on resource security. Major drivers of land use and land cover change affecting water–energy–food security were identified; these include population growth, development and climate change. Solutions to observed challenges formed three coherent scenario themes, centred on adaptation, ecosystem health and sustainable settlements. Findings support the idea that communities need space to frame their resource challenges for sustainability planning to work at the appropriate scale.

Spatial exploration of rural capital contributing to quality of life and urban-to-rural migration decisions: a case study of Hokuto City, Japan - Yasuo Takahashi; Takahiro Yoshida; Sawako Shigeto; Hiroyuki Kubota; Brian Alan Johnson; Yoshiki Yamagata (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Globally, urbanization constitutes one of the major underlying drivers of global ecological degradation. Hence, deurbanization, i.e., demographic shift from urban to distant rural areas in a way that increases quality of life (QoL), can be one of the key pathways to address this global challenge. In this study, we investigated the contribution of nature and other types of rural capital to QoL and to people’s decision to migrate from urban to rural areas by studying residents in Hokuto City, a popular urban-to-rural migration destination in Japan. An integrated analysis of the 414 responses to a questionnaire survey and open and commercial geospatial datasets representing natural, built, human, cultural, and financial capital revealed the contributions of specific elements of rural capital to people’s QoL. These included natural capital (farmland, symbolic natural sites, mountain peak view, lower temperature, and tranquility), built capital (highways, railway stations, shops, and restaurants), and financial capital (employment). Many of these are related to the reasons that migrants, including return and one-way migrants, chose their present home location in Hokuto City, indicating their intention to increase QoL by migration. Particularly, one-way migrant homes were located predominantly on higher up mountain slopes with lower temperatures, higher forest cover, near natural parks, and symbolic natural sites, and yet with easier access to railway stations and employment. These results provide a valuable evidence base for rural spatial planning for increased QoL and attracting migrants that considers ecological–social feedbacks, and hence supports deurbanization.

Monitoring environmental sustainability in Japan: an ESGAP assessment - Masahiro Sato; Arkaitz Usubiaga-Liaño; Alison Fairbrass; Paul Ekins; Jusen Asuka (Sustainability Science, 2024)
This paper assesses the environmental sustainability of Japan by applying the environmental sustainability gap (ESGAP) framework, which builds on the concepts of strong sustainability, critical natural capital, environmental functions, and science-based reference values. The assessment is carried out using two indices of environmental sustainability (Strong Environmental Sustainability Index (SESI) and Strong Environmental Sustainability Progress Index (SESPI)) that provide a snapshot and a trend perspective on environmental sustainability performance and on progress toward it. The results reveal that Japan has not experienced significant changes in terms of aggregate environmental sustainability throughout the 2011–2017 period, but this is primarily a consequence of the mutually offsetting movements of different indicators. The country performs best for the human health and other welfare indicators, but worst for the sink function indicators such as the per-capita CO 2 emissions and the eutrophication of fresh water. The indices also expose the main policy areas that Japan needs to strengthen to improve its environmental performance. They include issues such as tropospheric ozone pollution, which has long been discussed in scientific literature but never been a primal policy focus of the government until very recently.

Directing personal sustainability science toward subjective experience: conceptual, methodological, and normative cornerstones for a first-person inquiry into inner worlds - Pascal Frank; Johannes Wagemann; Julius Grund; Oliver Parodi (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Despite the rapid expansion of sustainability science in recent decades, sustainability crises have continued to grow. Sustainability researchers argue that this is partly the result of neglecting people’s inner worlds and call for a stronger consideration of inner states and processes in sustainability scholarship. We argue that the advancement of personal sustainability science , i.e., the systematic inquiry of inner worlds in relation to sustainability, is currently impeded by at least two unresolved issues. First, attitudes, emotions, values, and the like have frequently been the object of sustainability-related research. It thus remains unclear to what exactly researchers should more closely look at when inquiring into people’s inner worlds. Second, the epistemological and methodological foundations for conducting research on inner worlds remain underdeveloped. We illustrate that current research activities usually remain at a phenomenologically shallow level. In response to these issues, we provide conceptual, methodological, and normative cornerstones for a first-person inquiry within personal sustainability science, allowing for an in-depth understanding and potentially even a transformation of people’s inner worlds with regard to sustainability. Overall, we suggest redirecting personal sustainability science more strongly toward the inquiry into people’s subjective (i.e., first-person) experiences of inner states and processes unfolding in relation to sustainability.

Can security be sustainable? Three perspectives on security and social sustainability: paradox, co-production, and deconstruction - Irja Malmio (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Security and sustainability are prioritized goals in the “Western liberal” world. Maintaining democratic resources while simultaneously strengthening society’s ability to deal with security issues firmly resonates with ideals associated with social sustainability. However, merging normative theories like security and social sustainability produces conceptual difficulties that are hard to resolve. Based on key literature in this field and policy documents from the UN, this article uses conceptual analysis to investigate what boundaries and openings three distinct perspectives of the connection between social sustainability and security might produce. The perspectives chosen as illustrative tools are paradox, co-production, and deconstruction. The paradox perspective pronounces inherently divergent qualities of sustainability and security, which implies a trade-off situation. In contrast, the co-production perspective views social sustainability as a critical component in security issues, while security, in turn, is a prerequisite for sustainability. A third perspective, deconstruction, highlights underlying processes that produce and prioritize specific meanings. The perspectives of paradox, co-production, and deconstruction identify how competing values operate in conceptual configurations, highlighting the limitations and possibilities of security measures to accommodate values of social sustainability. Applying distinct approaches as illustrations for disparate ideological standpoints can deepen the knowledge of how multiple and occasionally competing outcomes are formed while considering the normative foundations enfolding inquiries of security responses to societal challenges.

Reflexive use of methods: a framework for navigating different types of knowledge and power in transformative research - Kaljonen Minna; Johanna Jacobi; Kaisa Korhonen-Kurki; Jani P. Lukkarinen; Anna Ott; Juha Peltomaa; Flurina Schneider; Theresa Tribaldos; Julie G. Zaehringer (Sustainability Science, 2024)
In transformative sustainability science, reflexivity is considered critical for ethically sound and socially relevant research. In practice, many transdisciplinary knowledge co-production processes have faced problems in mitigating power hierarchies among the participating actors and the different types of knowledge. In this paper, we develop and test a reflexive framework that enables transdisciplinary researchers to convey more explicitly how their methodological choices play a role in im/balancing power relations in knowledge co-production. The reflexive framework allows researchers to distinguish the different types of knowledge co-produced by the methods, as well as tracking the movements between them. We utilize the framework to reflect upon the methodological choices made through the application of three different transformative methods, namely the Transition Arena, Theory of Change, and Participatory Food Sustainability Assessment and Transformation Framework in different contexts. The results illuminate how the agility between the knowledge types is critical for navigating tensions in power imbalances, as well as producing transformative knowledge. Moreover, the results call further attention to the co-production of critical knowledge in sustainability science.

Processes of sustainability transformation across systems scales: leveraging systemic change in the textile sector - Julia Leventon; Maike Buhr; Lisa Kessler; Jorge Gustavo Rodriguez Aboytes; Felix Beyers (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Sustainability research emphasizes the importance of intervening with both individual and organizational behaviours as well as the systems that shape them to create sustainability transformations. However, to date there is a lack of studies that bridge the divide between small case-based interventions and global systems at broader scales, and the complex interactions across scales and processes. This paper works with a leverage points framework to consider systems transformation. It focuses on four individual sustainability interventions in the textile sector and explores how they are embedded within a complex set of nested systems, and how these connected systems shape the transformative potential of the interventions. By using an onion metaphor for systems with several onion layers representing the current textile sector and its multiple connected and nested systems, we integrate and reflect across four in-depth case studies, conducted over a period of 3 years, using a range of empirical research approaches. The findings show that the studied interventions all target multiple deep leverage points within their target systems of production and consumption. All are limited in fulfilling their transformative potential by a range of barriers that we trace back to the economic and policy and regulation systems that they are embedded within. The economic system enforces a paradigm of consumption-based growth, and the policy and regulation system fails to either support change, or restrict unsustainable behaviours. Our findings demonstrate the need to think across systems scales to understand leverage points and transformative change; our nested systems approach is one way to do so. We outline two promising pathways for sustainability transformations: (1) focussing on how to create spillover effects of favourable interventions in sub-systems to push outwards against the constraints of the current policy and regulation, and economic systems; and (2) by targeting actors and interventions within the policy and regulation and economic systems to create change in the paradigms and design they embody and enforce on the systems nested within them.

Breaking the unsustainable paradigm: exploring the relationship between energy consumption, economic development and carbon dioxide emissions in Ecuador - Jennifer Borja-Patiño; Andrés Robalino-López; Angel Mena-Nieto (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Energy consumption is a crucial driver for economic development, improving the quality of life of the population of a country. This study attempts to contribute to the discussion by employing a systemic approach and methodology to examine the relationship between energy consumption (EC), gross domestic product (GDP) and carbon dioxide emissions (CO 2 ) in Ecuador using time series from 1990 to 2018 with a mixed methodology (quantitative and qualitative). The energy balance and the enlarged Kaya identity are utilised to quantify the environmental impact of human activities. Furthermore, correlational cointegration and Granger causality tests are used to analyse the long-term and short-term relationships between variables in different sectors. The results reveal that there is no Granger causality between the variables in the agriculture and transport sectors, but there are unidirectional causality relationships in the industry and services sectors. In the industry sector, the study finds that EC Granger causes GDP (Wald test p value = 0.0038) and CO 2 Granger causes GDP (Wald test p value = 0.0433). In the services sector, GDP Granger causes CO 2 (Wald test p value = 0.0075), and EC Granger causes CO 2 (Wald test p value = 0.0122), reinforcing the loop between GDP and CO 2 in both the sectors. The analysed relationships help to inform policymakers about the likely impact of interventions. In addition, the study shows that Ecuador is in the initial phase of the Environmental Kuznets Curve, and provides strategies to manage sectoral energy consumption and valuable insights for other developing countries in Latin America seeking to pursue sustainable development.

Operationalizing ambiguity in sustainability science: embracing the elephant in the room - Anita Lazurko; L. Jamila Haider; Tilman Hertz; Simon West; Daniel D. P. McCarthy (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Ambiguity is often recognized as an intrinsic aspect of addressing complex sustainability challenges. Nevertheless, in the practice of transdisciplinary sustainability research, ambiguity is often an ‘elephant in the room’ to be either side-stepped or reduced rather than explicitly mobilized in pursuit of solutions. These responses threaten the salience and legitimacy of sustainability science by masking the pluralism of real-world sustainability challenges and how research renders certain frames visible and invisible. Critical systems thinking (CST) emerged from the efforts of operational researchers to address theoretical and practical aspects of ambiguity. By adapting key concepts, frameworks, and lessons from CST literature and case studies, this paper aims to establish (1) an expansive conceptualization of ambiguity and (2) recommendations for operationalizing ambiguity as a valuable means of addressing sustainability challenges. We conceptualize ambiguity as an emergent feature of the simultaneous and interacting boundary processes associated with being, knowing, and intervening in complex systems , and propose Reflexive Boundary Critique (RBC) as a novel framework to help navigate these boundary processes. Our characterization of ambiguity acknowledges the boundary of a researcher’s subjective orientation and its influence on how ambiguity is exposed and mediated in research (being), characterizes knowledge as produced through the process of making boundary judgments, generating a partial, contextual, and provisional frame (knowing), and situates a researcher as part of the complexity they seek to understand, rendering any boundary process as a form of intervention that reinforces or marginalizes certain frames and, in turn, influences action (intervening). Our recommendations for sustainability scientists to operationalize ambiguity include (1) nurturing the reflexive capacities of transdisciplinary researchers to navigate persistent ambiguity (e.g., using our proposed framework of RBC), and (2) grappling with the potential for and consequences of theoretical incommensurability and discordant pluralism. Our findings can help sustainability scientists give shape to and embrace ambiguity as a fundamental part of rigorous sustainability science.

Identifying mindsets for urban sustainability transformation: insights from Urban Labs - Flávia Guerra; M. Danial Syed (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Increasing calls for transformation to address climate change and related challenges underscore the societal imperative to shift from mindsets that drive environmentally unsustainable and socially unjust processes to mindsets that enable urban sustainability transformations. However, it is not always clear what such mindsets comprise, if and how they can be shifted and under which conditions. Fragmented understandings of the concept of mindsets across disciplines and limited empirical analysis beyond Europe and North America have hindered progress in this field. To address these gaps, this article proposes a novel conceptual and analytical framework for identifying mindsets. The framework is applied to data collected from an exploratory survey involving over 150 participants from five Urban Labs in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. Through cluster analysis, three distinct personas are identified: the Skeptical Activist, the Optimist Technocrat and the Bystander with Mixed Feelings. These are fictional characters that represent groups of individuals with defining mindsets, demographic characteristics, capacities, trust levels and network features. Results offer valuable insights into the emotions, beliefs, values, perceptions, attitudes and worldviews that guide the behavior of diverse stakeholders, from policymakers to often marginalized community groups, in urban climate governance. Despite its limitations, namely the relative homogeneity of our non-randomized sample, the article advances the understanding of the human dimension of climate change and its interlinkages with urban development goals. It also proposes social innovation strategies to trigger mindset shifts, foster climate action and accelerate urban sustainability transformations.

Correction: Identifying untapped legal capacity to promote multi-level and cross-sectoral coordination of natural resource governance - Nicola Harvey; Ahjond Garmestani; Craig R. Allen; Anoeska Buijze; Marleen van Rijswick (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Sustainability of international research: evidence from an H2020 European project - Claudia Fabiani; Fabiana Frota de Albuquerque Landi; Luisa F. Cabeza; Anna Laura Pisello (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Greenhouse gas emissions reduction is a critical topic in the scientific community, as researchers strive to produce knowledge for the betterment of society. However, it is important to acknowledge that researchers themselves engage in activities that have a significant environmental impact. Group meetings and conferences are under the spot due to their extensive contribution to emissions through travel, catering, hosting, and other event-related activities. To address this issue, our work aims to conduct an environmental diagnosis of an ongoing H2020 European project, focusing on the impacts associated with the periodical group meetings organized in each country involved. We also sought to evaluate researchers’ stance on online meetings and collected environmental and personal opinions through dedicated online forms. Results show that while travel is the primary contributor to emissions, catering, meeting structures, and hosting support should not be overlooked. Conference location and availability of public transportation also play a crucial role in the final impact of the event, as they affect directly the 87% share of emissions due to travels. Besides, using local distributors and reducing hotel stays (representing about 5% of the final impact) may reduce the potential environmental burden of these events. On the other side, besides the obtained positive feedback from online meetings, in-person activities are still more effective for reinforcing human bonds and collaborations.

Phasing-out ‘coal tradition’ in favour of ‘renewable colonialism’: how the press contributes to the discursive (de)legitimization of coal and renewables in a coal region in transition - Fulvio Biddau; Valentina Rizzoli; Mauro Sarrica (Sustainability Science, 2024)
This article examines the Sulcis coal region in Italy and illustrates how discursive dynamics can impede energy transition by delegitimizing coal decline and the diffusion of renewable energies. Combining quantitative analyses of textual data and argumentative discourse analysis, we analyze newspaper articles published between 2011 and 2021 in the national, regional, and local press. Our findings reveal that shifts in topic salience and storylines reflect different transition phases (coal legitimacy, regime destabilization, and reconfiguration). Throughout the analyzed period, newspapers have cultivated a discursive environment that weakens efforts to phase out coal and promote low-carbon energy by amplifying particular storylines endorsed by competing discourse coalitions. Media discourse consistently portrays decarbonization and coal phase-out as threatening, anticipating disruption to regional livelihoods and traditions. Over time, renewable energies are marginalized or hindered by storylines promoting regime stability (coal legitimacy), soft transformation (coal-to-gas transition), and, finally, a reconfiguration (utility-scale renewable transition) promoted by incumbents and resisted by locally based discourse coalitions perceiving it as a form of colonialism. This study sheds light on the interplay between discourse dynamics and the complexities and challenges of the destabilization–reconfiguration pathway of coal regions. It contends that approaches combining both build-up and break-down dynamics into the analysis of transitions can offer a more nuanced, politically sensitive understanding and practical insights to instigate and navigate more equitable destabilization–reconfiguration pathways.

Broad values as the basis for understanding deliberation about protected area management - Devin J. Goodson; Carena J. van Riper; Riley Andrade; William Stewart; Miguel A. Cebrián-Piqueras; Christopher M. Raymond (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Correction to: Exploring bioproduction systems in socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes in Asia through solution scanning using the Nature Futures Framework - Shruti Ashish Lahoti; Susanti Withaningsih; Laizha Lomente; Chiho Kamiyama; Catherine De Luna; Mesfin Sahle; Annas Dwitri Malik; Pampang Parikesit; Juan Pulhin; Shizuka Hashimoto; Osamu Saito (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Correction to: Exploring bioproduction systems in socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes in Asia through solution scanning using the Nature Futures Framework - Shruti Ashish Lahoti; Susanti Withaningsih; Laizha Lomente; Chiho Kamiyama; Catherine De Luna; Mesfin Sahle; Annas Dwitri Malik; Pampang Parikesit; Juan Pulhin; Shizuka Hashimoto; Osamu Saito (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Job creation in a low carbon transition to renewables and energy efficiency: a review of international evidence - Richard Hanna; Philip Heptonstall; Robert Gross (Sustainability Science, 2024)
In this paper, we present findings from a systematic review on job creation, quality, and skills, focusing on decarbonisation in the energy sector. We compare a range of gross job employment factors which indicate that overall, investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency can deliver more jobs than gas or coal power generation. In addition, we review a subset of recent studies which estimate the net employment effects of decarbonisation in the energy sector at a national scale, across various international contexts. These national studies largely agree that the most likely outcome over the next few decades is a modest net positive creation of jobs and moderate economic growth. In certain regions within these countries, jobs in fossil fuel industries may be lost faster than the pace at which low carbon energy sectors can offer new employment. There may be mismatches between regions where displaced workers live and where new opportunities become available, which may be a barrier to accepting alternative employment even if former workers have the requisite skills. In these cases national government transition plans are recommended, coordinated with local governments, to manage the impacts of displacement from carbon-intensive sectors and respond to the need to build a new low carbon workforce including through skills development and training. We highlight a lack of metrics and data in the literature on job quality, skills, and the geographic distribution of employment impacts in decarbonising energy systems, and these should be priority areas for further research.

Critical hydrologic impacts from climate change: addressing an urgent global need - Jim Falk; Peter H. Gleick; Shinichiro Asayama; Faten Attig-Bahar; Swadin Behera; Joachim von Braun; Rita R. Colwell; Ashok K. Chapagain; Adel S. El-Beltagy; Charles F. Kennel; Masahide Kimoto; Toshio Koike; et al. (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Accelerating actions for leveraging a climate-neutral sustainable society - Mikiko Kainuma; Robert Gross; Jean-Charles Hourcade; Sergio La Motta; Stefan Lechtenböhmer; Toshihiko Masui (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Economic inequality expanded after an extreme climate event: a long-term analysis of herders’ household data in Mongolia - Kaoru Kakinuma; Kohei Tamura; Hiroki Takikawa; Yuichiro Fujioka; Kazuhiro Kezuka; Hiroshi Nakamura (Sustainability Science, 2024)
The importance of ending poverty and reducing economic inequality has been explicitly recognized globally. Climate extremes are a critical global risk and can lead to economic damages, but empirical evidence of their effects on economic inequality is limited. Here, we focus on Mongolian pastoralism, which has a coupled socio-ecological system, to examine the trend of economic inequality among herders following a climate extreme event. Mongolia experienced a winter disaster in 2009 that caused a mortality of about 20% of the total number of livestock across the country. We used a long-term livestock panel dataset at the household level ( n = 787) during 2004–2013 to examine changes in the economic distribution after the disaster. Economic inequality increased after the disaster (Gini coefficient increased from 0.46 to 0.61), and the increased level of inequality remained 4 years after the disaster. A decomposition of the inequality analysis showed that within-group inequality largely contributed to the greater total inequality, and household groups with a small number of livestock had the largest increase in inequality. Moreover, household groups that did not recover their livestock number had a higher loss rate of livestock during the disaster than household groups that did recover. Although the number of total livestock in the study area did recover after 4 years, we empirically showed that inequality among herders increased after the disaster. This result suggests that economic distributions are critical when examining the socio-economic impacts of climate extremes. We also suggest that preparing for disasters during normal years to alleviate loss of livestock during a disaster, especially for households with a small number of livestock, is a critical way to reduce poverty in the face of more frequent climate extremes.

Emotions and transformative learning for sustainability: a systematic review - Julius Grund; Mandy Singer-Brodowski; Alexander Georg Büssing (Sustainability Science, 2024)
As multiple global sustainability crises are getting more severe and existential, a better understanding of how people undergo deep personal transformations related to sustainability is needed. In the educational debate on sustainability learning, transformative learning theories are widely used. To analyze specific phases of transformative learning, we derived five meta-phases from the literature (novel experience, reflection, social exchange, shift of action, shift of meaning). Although human emotions often arise during the confrontation with sustainability issues and are central to moral action, no substantial, theorized understanding of the role of emotions within sustainability-related transformative learning exists to date. We conducted a systematic review (following the PRISMA guidelines) and screened 355 publications to close this research gap. After applying the exclusion criteria, the in-depth analysis of 20 studies showed that sound theoretical references to theories of emotion and transformative learning are rare. The review shows clearly that diverse emotions permeate sustainability-related transformative learning processes. Among these are both negative emotions to novel learning experiences concerning sustainability (e.g., sadness, shame, disgust, guilt) as well as positive emotions in the context of social exchange (e.g., awe, gratitude, fun) and associated with newly formed actions (e.g., fulfillment, pride). Accordingly, to enable emotionally positive learning experiences, relationship and action orientation are particularly important within sustainability learning. The analyzed studies call for an educational practice where emotions can be experienced, expressed, and understood in a safe atmosphere. Future research in this area should use more stable theoretical foundations for emotions and transformative learning theory and apply methods that can capture deeper levels of subjective experience.

Restricted and large-scale sustainability - Fulvio Mazzocchi (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Leverage points for tackling unsustainable global value chains: market-based measures versus transformative alternatives - Truly Santika; Valerie Nelson; Michael Flint; Melissa MacEwen; Stefania Cerretelli; Duncan Brack (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Tropical forests are rapidly disappearing due to the expansion of cash crops to meet demands from distant markets. Pressing concerns on deforestation impacts resulting from the global trade of tropical commodities have led some high-income countries’ governments to consider diverse regulatory and trade levers to tackle the problem. These include proposals for new supply chain due diligence legislation concerning imports of forest-risk products and the inclusion of environmental measures in trade deals. To contribute to this debate, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of existing data on global trade and consumption patterns of tropical commodities, attribution of commodity production to deforestation, trade agreements, and progress in the implementation of crop sustainability standards. We used global data on key tropical commodities of oil palm, cocoa, and coffee. Our study shows that high-income countries have the highest per capita consumption for the three commodities evaluated and that consumption rates have dramatically increased in the last two decades. We discuss a range of measures that can potentially be required to tackle deforestation in global supply chains, which are currently being considered by policymakers, before discussing the kinds of post-growth, convivial approaches that are often excluded by the framing. Given the inherent expansionary nature of global market dynamics, we show that market-based initiatives are inadequate to tackle continuing deforestation and socio-ecological degradation. More transformative solutions amplify commoning and post-growth approaches are required to lead to some uncoupling of trade and territorialising of economic activity to fit within planetary boundaries and allow for plural values.

Enablers of transdisciplinary collaboration for researchers working on climate risks in African cities - Alice McClure (Sustainability Science, 2024)
This study explores enablers that help researchers to undertake collaborative transdisciplinary work with non-academic actors to co-produce knowledge on complex climate risks in African cities. Enablers were explored using a qualitative case study approach and expansive learning theory, which emphasises the embeddedness of practices in cultural and historical contexts. Concepts associated with expansive learning helped to consider relational enablers, namely: (i) capabilities required by researchers to understand the perspectives, values and motives of non-academic actors and make their own explicit; (ii) characteristics of spaces that allowed diverse participants to engage with perspectives, values and motives of others; and (iii) knowledge of the motivation behind different practices of non-academic actors, as embedded in different contexts. Findings highlight the importance of researchers’ intentional efforts to engage non-academic actors in their city contexts and respond to local priorities. Design elements that enabled relational work included explicit co-production framings, sharing experiences and opportunities for understanding various actor groups through structured activities and informal dialogues. The study highlights the situated and dialectical relationship between growing relational capabilities of researchers and their engagement in transdisciplinarity, provided spaces were created for reflection on activities. Relational enablers helped researchers to understand the heterogeneous experiences of actors working in African cities and tensions that influence their practices including traditional knowledge paradigms and siloed ways of working. The “champions” identified by researchers were those non-academic actors who took agency to engage with these tensions and begin transforming their practices towards multi-actor transdisciplinary knowledge co-production.

Sustainability governance for agrarian transformation under climate change - Chuan Liao; Juan Liu; Arun Agrawal (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Identifying untapped legal capacity to promote multi-level and cross-sectoral coordination of natural resource governance - Nicola Harvey; Ahjond Garmestani; Craig R. Allen; Anoeska Buijze; Marleen van Rijswick (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Natural resource governance in the face of climate change represents one of the seminal challenges of the Anthropocene. A number of innovative approaches have been developed in, among others, the fields of ecology, governance, and sustainability sciences for managing uncertainty and scarcity through a coordinated approach to natural resource governance. However, the absence of an enabling legal and regulatory framework has been identified in the literature as one of the primary barriers constraining the formal operationalization of these governance approaches. In this paper, we show how these approaches provide tools for analyzing procedural mandates across governmental levels and sectors in the natural resource governance space. We also find that there has been inadequate consideration of the potential in existing laws and regulations for cross-sectoral and multi-level coordination of natural resource governance. On this basis, we develop and apply a protocol that draws on the traditional legal method of doctrinal analysis to demonstrate how to identify existing, untapped legal capacity to promote coordinated governance of natural resources through an in-depth case study of water resources in South Africa. We then show how these untapped capacities within existing legal structures may be operationalized to improve natural resource governance. Further, this protocol is portable to other countries, provinces (states), and localities around the world.

Mitigation policies buffer multiple climate stressors in a socio-ecological salt marsh habitat - Michael S. Roy; Jarrett E. K. Byrnes; Georgia Mavrommati (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Teaching sustainability at the high sea: the “One Ocean Expedition” - Jarle Eid; Marianne Aanerud; Katja Enberg (Sustainability Science, 2024)
This case study explores educational practices and processes in an interdisciplinary summer course addressing SDG14 (Life below water), SDG13 (Climate action), SDG4 (Education), SDG3 (Good health and wellbeing), and SDG17 (Partnerships). From May to August in 2022, students from 12 countries participated in an undergraduate summer course (SDG 200 Ocean–Climate–Society) on the sailship Statsraad Lehmkuhl as part of the One Ocean Expedition. Sustainability, marine biology, behavioral science, and sail training were core aspects of the daily assignments for the 86 students during the Pacific crossing from Chile to Tahiti. The students took part in watch duties 24–7 and were assigned to 18 working groups in their academic studies. Active learning approaches such as team-based learning and storytelling proved essential to engage students in interdisciplinary exchange on sustainability issues. A major challenge was to strike a balance between the academic work and the requirements from sea duties and life on board a sailship. Student feedback and assessment contribute to contextualize the learning experiences and personal development during the first five weeks on board. This case study provides an example of how life on a sailship can present a formative learning experience and an interdisciplinary laboratory to study and live in alignment with SDGs and with the overall mandate of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Development.

A challenge for sustainability science: can we halt climate change? - Shuzo Nishioka (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Lessons from a Climate Citizens’ Assembly Kawasaki, Japan - Hideyuki Mori; Tetsuro Yoshida (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Establishing the use of climate citizens’ assemblies in Japan: their significance and challenges - Mikiko Kainuma; Hideyuki Mori; Naoyuki Mikami; Kenji Asakawa; Shuzo Nishioka; Aditi Khodke; Tomoko Ishikawa (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Importance of long-term flexibility in a 100% renewable energy scenario for Japan - Akihisa Kuriyama; Xianbing Liu; Katsuhiko Naito; Akibi Tsukui; Yugo Tanaka (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Energy sector sustainability for a fast-growing economy like Bangladesh: an empirical assessment - Hasan Mahmud; Joyashree Roy (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Development of AIM (Asia–Pacific Integrated Model) and its contribution to policy-making for the realization of decarbonized societies in Asia - Go Hibino; Toshihiko Masui (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Industrial and infrastructural conditions for production and export of green hydrogen and synthetic fuels in the MENA region: insights from Jordan, Morocco, and Oman - Sibel Raquel Ersoy; Julia Terrapon-Pfaff; Thomas Pregger; Josua Braun; El Mostafa Jamea; Ahmed Al-Salaymeh; Patrick Braunschweig; Zsuzsa Bereschi; Oana Teodora Ciobotaru; Peter Viebahn (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Green hydrogen and synthetic fuels are increasingly recognized as a key strategic element for the progress of the global energy transition. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with its large wind and solar potential, is well positioned to generate renewable energy at low cost for the production of green hydrogen and synthetic fuels, and is therefore considered as a potential future producer and exporter. Yet, while solar and wind energy potentials are essential, other factors are expected to play an equally important role for the development of green hydrogen and synthetic fuels (export) sectors. This includes, in particular, adequate industrial capacities and infrastructures. These preconditions vary from country to country, and while they have been often mentioned in the discussion on green hydrogen exports, they have only been examined to a limited extent. This paper employs a case study approach to assess the existing infrastructural and industrial conditions in Jordan, Morocco, and Oman for the development of a green hydrogen and downstream synthetic fuel (export) sector.

Mapping national development priorities under the Sustainable Development Goals framework: a systematic analysis - Auriane Meilland; Franck Lecocq (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Analysis of past energy transitions of OECD and BRICS countries in the scope of energy interconnection - Augustin Vaillant; Naoya Abe; Akihisa Kuriyama (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Transforming universities - Derk A. Loorbach; Julia Wittmayer (Sustainability Science, 2024)
The dominant model of universities, especially in the social sciences, is often based upon academic disciplines, objectivity, and a linear knowledge-transfer model. It facilitates competition between academics, educating students for specific professions from an objective, descriptive, and neutral position. This paper argues that this institutional model of universities is inadequate to contribute effectively to societal transitions towards just and sustainable futures. Taking the Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), the Netherlands, as an example, this paper illustrates the problems with the dominant (twentieth century) model of universities in the social sciences and explores what strategies universities can develop to transform. It introduces the notions of transformative research and transformative education: transdisciplinary, collaborative, and action-oriented academic work that explicitly aims to support societal transitions. It presents the design impact transition (DIT) platform as an ‘institutional experiment’ at the EUR and a concerted and strategic effort that lays bare current lock-ins of the dominant university model and the kind of institutional work needed to transform universities.

Beyond synergies: understanding SDG trade-offs, equity and implementation challenges of sectoral climate change mitigation options - Kirsten Halsnæs; Shreya Some; Minal Pathak (Sustainability Science, 2024)
Mitigation actions needed to achieve the ambitions of the Paris agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 °C or below 2 °C have to align with sustainable development. In the near term, this implies a better understanding of context-specific challenges in integrating sustainability with climate policies during the designing, planning, implementation and financing stages. Through a review of selected studies across regions, this paper draws out conclusions focussing on mitigation–sustainable development goal (SDG) trade-offs, with implications on costs and equity for different development contexts. Studies show that trade-offs depend on how the option is implemented and at what scale; mitigation options such as afforestation, biomass production and digitalisation are examples of this. Some options could also result in significant adverse environmental impacts as in the case of battery waste and raw material resources for electric vehicle (EV) or air pollution associated with compact urban development. We find the most important factors influencing equity include unequal access (e.g. urban green spaces and public transportation), high costs (e.g. EV) and financial constraints. Major knowledge gaps include (i) limited empirical evidence of SDG-related trade-offs associated with scaling up mitigation options, (ii) limited understanding of the extent to which benefits are experienced by different groups, (iii) an understanding of the extent to which local context was considered when assessing mitigation–SDG interaction, including the engagement of stakeholders and (iv) synergies and trade-offs associated with cross-sectoral policies. The paper recommends ex-post analysis of detailed and place-based cases that document how synergies and trade-offs emerged and how these were addressed.

Thailand’s net-zero emissions by 2050: analysis of economy-wide impacts - Salony Rajbhandari; Pornphimol Winyuchakrit; Bijay Bahadur Pradhan; Achiraya Chaichaloempreecha; Piti Pita; Bundit Limmeechokchai (Sustainability Science, 2024)
This paper aims at exploring the economy-wide impacts of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 in Thailand. This study developed a recursive dynamic Asia-Pacific Integrated Model/Computable General Equilibrium (AIM/CGE) model of Thailand for the assessment. The macroeconomic impacts of Thailand’s net-zero GHG emission targets by 2050 are analyzed relative to its 2-degree pathway. Results indicate that Thailand should put more effort in GHG mitigation actions to achieve the emissions peak by 2025 and net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. Improvement in energy efficiency; increasing electrification; expanding renewable energy utilization; deploying green hydrogen; bioenergy; carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS); and behavioral changes are the key identified pillars of decarbonization to drive Thailand towards the pathways of net-zero emissions by 2050. Results show that there is a possibility of attaining net-zero GHG emissions by 2050 at the expense of an economic loss for Thailand. The gross domestic product (GDP) loss would be as high as 8.5% in 2050 to attain net-zero emissions. Lower productivity from the energy intensive industries such as petroleum refineries, coal and lignite mining, manufacturing industries, and transport are the key contributing sectors to the GDP losses. The price of carbon mitigation would shoot up to reach USD 734 per tCO 2 eq in 2050 from USD 14 per tCO 2 eq in 2025 to attain net-zero emissions in 2050.

Decarbonisation strategies in industry: going beyond clusters - Imogen Rattle; Ahmed Gailani; Peter G. Taylor (Sustainability Science, 2024)
An effective and just industrial transition is necessary both to mitigate climate change and protect jobs, and as a precursor to enable other sectors to decarbonise. Activity is at an early stage and examples of successful sector-wide interventions to decarbonise industry do not yet exist. Governments of industrialised countries are beginning to develop policy and provide funding to support deployment of carbon capture and low-carbon hydrogen infrastructures into high-emitting industrial clusters, but options for sites outside of clusters, denoted here as ‘dispersed sites’, are also required. This paper takes a mixed methods approach to provide the first analysis of the issues facing dispersed industrial sites on their route to decarbonisation and to suggest solutions to the challenges they face. Using the UK as a case study, it first characterises dispersed sites in terms of location, emissions released, sectors involved, and size of companies affected. It then shows how these features mean that simply expanding the geographical scope of the present UK decarbonisation strategy, which focuses on the provision of carbon capture and low-carbon hydrogen, would face a number of challenges and so will need to be broadened to include a wider range of abatement options and other considerations to meet the needs of dispersed sites. While the solutions for each place will be different, these are likely to include some combination of the expansion of shared infrastructure, the development of local zero-carbon hubs, research into a wider range of novel abatement technologies and facilitating local participation in energy planning. The paper concludes with a discussion of remaining knowledge gaps before outlining how its findings might apply to industrial decarbonisation strategies in other countries.

International collaboration in climate technology innovation: the Italian experience in Mission Innovation - M. Capra; S. La Motta (Sustainability Science, 2024)

Promoting agricultural conservation on Facebook: an exploration of the performance of farmer identity frames across age and gender - Laura Witzling; Bret R. Shaw; Jaqueline Comito; Dara M. Wald; Elizabeth Ripley; Nathan Stevenson (Sustainability Science, 2023)

A transdisciplinary model for teaching and learning for sustainability science in a rapidly warming world - Orla Kelly; Peta White; Fabrizio Butera; Sam Illingworth; Pim Martens; Maud Huynen; Susan Bailey; Geertje Schuitema; Sian Cowman (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Designing sustainable systems using nature’s toolbox - Matthew J. Hasenjager; Xiaohui Guo; Noa Pinter-Wollman; Nina H. Fefferman (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Crop diversification practices in Europe: an economic cross-case study comparison - J. A. Zabala; V. Martínez-García; J. M. Martínez-Paz; E. I. López-Becerra; M. Nasso; E. Díaz-Pereira; V. Sánchez-Navarro; J. Álvaro-Fuentes; M. González-Rosado; R. Farina; C. Di Bene; E. Huerta; et al. (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Crop diversification practices (CDPs) are alternative strategies aimed to achieve sustainable cropping systems and food production overcoming the agro-environmental impacts of conventional cropping systems such as monoculture. Thus, this paper aims to improve the knowledge of implementing CDPs in different European pedoclimatic regions by assessing the economic performance at the farm level. CDPs are compared with conventional cropping systems and clustered in terms of their gross margin (GM) results and variations. Farm-level assessment shows that CDPs provide positive economic results, representing an adaptive management strategy for ecological transition, without compromising economic sustainability. Particularly, the main findings show that (1) the impact of diversification depends more on crop type than on the selected CDPs, (2) most farms exhibited a low GM with low economic impact, and (3) there is a great likelihood that the CDPs facilitate the buildup of more resilient farming systems.

Recognizing our authors - Kazuhiko Takeuchi (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Stakeholders’ involvement and reflections on preserving sacred swamps in the Western Ghats, India, as revealed by participatory visioning - Narasimha Hegde; Hans Joosten; Rafael Ziegler (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Lack of a shared vision has been identified as a major obstacle in transdisciplinary research involving both scientists and other stakeholders. Without a shared vision, the implementation of scientific findings is difficult. The diverse partners of collaborative research, however, imply a plurality in the valuation of nature and a need for deliberative mechanisms. If visioning processes are to do justice to local contexts, research must apply deliberative mechanisms to cover the plurality in the valuation of nature. This paper proposes a visioning approach for local communities, based on prior transdisciplinary research. This participatory workshop method invites stakeholders to approach nature conservation and livelihoods via a deliberation of desirable futures, barriers for achieving them and associated responsibilities for taking action. The paper explores this method via a case study of visioning workshops on sacred swamps in the Western Ghats (India), and their role for both freshwater swamp protection and livelihoods. The visioning exercise offered discussion opportunities facilitating conscientization, conciliation and collaboration in local bottom-up nature conservation. For conserving the tropical freshwater swamps, the results show the need for a more participatory forest governance, providing space for shared value creation. They also point to the need for further research on inter-faith nature conservation possibilities, along with innovations on value addition and value chain development for livelihood promotion and protection.

The contributions of citizen science to SDG monitoring and reporting on marine plastics - Dilek Fraisl; Linda See; Rachel Bowers; Omar Seidu; Kwame Boakye Fredua; Anne Bowser; Metis Meloche; Sarah Weller; Tyler Amaglo-Kobla; Dany Ghafari; Juan Carlos Laso Bayas; Jillian Campbell; et al. (Sustainability Science, 2023)
The accumulation of plastic litter in marine environments is a major environmental challenge along with the difficulties in their measurement because of the massive size of the oceans and vast circulation of plastic litter, which is being addressed as part of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Citizen science, public participation in scientific research and knowledge production, represents a potential source of data for SDG monitoring and reporting of marine plastic litter, yet there has been no evidence of its use to date. Here, we show how Ghana has become the first country to integrate existing citizen science data on marine plastic litter in their official monitoring and reporting of SDG indicator 14.1.1b for the years 2016–2020, which has also helped to bridge local data collection efforts with global monitoring processes and policy agendas by leveraging the SDG framework. The results have been used in Ghana’s 2022 Voluntary National Review of the SDGs, and reported on the UN SDG Global Database, as well as helping to inform relevant policies in Ghana. In addition, here, we present a pathway that can be adopted by the relevant government authorities in other countries that have an interest in following a similar citizen science data validation and reporting process for this indicator and potentially others.

Futures for invasive alien species management: using bottom-up innovations to envision positive systemic change - J. L. van Velden; R. Biggs; T. Hichert; P. Booth; C. Büchner-Marais; K. J. Esler; M. Lewarne; L. J. Potgieter; S. J. Rahlao; A. J. Rebelo; T. B. Robinson; N. J. van Wilgen; et al. (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Invasive alien species (IAS) pose a key threat to biodiversity, the economy and human well-being, and continue to increase in abundance and impact worldwide. Legislation and policy currently dominate the global agenda for IAS, although translation to localised success may be limited. This calls for a wider range of responses to transform IAS management. An under-appreciated strategy to achieve success may come from bottom-up, experimental innovations (so-called “seeds”), which offer alternative visions of what may be possible for IAS management in the future. We present an application of a participatory process that builds on such innovations to create alternative visions of the future, with actionable pathways to guide change. Through a series of workshops with practitioners and academics, we used this process to explore alternative positive futures for IAS management in South Africa. We then identified a set of domains of change, that could enable these visions to be actioned by appropriate stakeholders. The domains of change highlight the social–ecological nature of the IAS sector, with interconnected actions needed in financial, cultural, social, technological and governance spheres. Key domains identified were the need to shift mindsets and values of society regarding IAS, as well as the need for appropriate and functional financing. This participatory futuring process offers a way to interrogate and scale bottom-up innovations, thereby creating optimism and allowing stakeholders to engage constructively with the future. This represents an important step in fostering the potential of bottom-up innovations to transform IAS management.

A critical review of green growth indicators in G7 economies from 1990 to 2019 - Kyle S. Herman; Yeong Jae Kim; Soheil Shayegh; Jun Xiang (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Green growth policies aim to address both climate change and economic growth and are now prevalent throughout many economies. While green growth is sufficiently assessed in qualitative, case-study-based literature, quantitative and cross-country analyses are still limited. In response to this research deficit, our aim is twofold: (1) to develop a classification framework to quantitatively analyse green growth and (2) to identify key policy inputs and techno-economic or environmental outputs for green growth through a novel taxonomy. We focus on the G7 countries, since they have, historically, tended to align their economic policies. We employ a machine-automated K-means clustering algorithm, as well as correlation analyses, to assess where green growth “win–wins,” or co-benefits to the economy and environment, might exist. Our findings suggest that enthusiasm should be tempered for public policy commitments for green growth; despite unified green growth policy in G7 countries—significant differences are observed for both policy inputs and environmental/economic outputs. As a result, we caution policymakers and researchers against drawing generalised conclusions about the effectiveness of green growth policies, even among highly developed economies. Finally, our research draws attention to data deficiencies which, evidently, reduce more robust assessment across countries and over time.

Integrating Menominee model for sustainable forestry with Systems Thinking competency through 3D virtual tours - Ellie Nasr-Azadani; Erica A. H. Smithwick; Stuart J. Steidle; Melissa S. Lucash; Denice H. Wardrop; Nathan T. Fregien; Thomas R. Kenote (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Sustainability competencies enable planners, the public, local communities, academics, and development practitioners to address environmental challenges, better envision the future and devise practical solutions. A key competency in this framework is Systems Thinking, allowing individuals to think comprehensively at different temporal and spatial scales. Among all interested groups, local and Indigenous communities play a significant role in preserving the sustainability of the natural environment and co-producing knowledge based on traditional ecological knowledge. Hence, new approaches are needed to integrate traditional ecological values into competency-based practices to articulate problems and related solutions. This project introduces place-based scenarios rooted in conventional forest management concerning two identified subsets of Bloom’s Taxonomy, Remembering and Understanding, including some competencies necessary for thinking systemically. Overall, 57 participants, including students and staff of the College of Menominee Nation and Menominee community members, in northeast Wisconsin, USA, randomly experienced two visual tools with the same information presented as either: a website with simple 2D images or a 3D virtual tour to investigate which visualization method can help better articulate systems, their components, and behaviors. Participants answered two kinds of questionnaires based on either cognitive mapping or reflection on place-based scenarios. The results show that 3D virtual tour users better demonstrated proficiency in Remembering and Understanding compared to users who experienced the 2D website. Our results thus highlight the potential for 3D virtual experiences to enable sustainability competencies. However, given the observed differences among age and educational groups, future visualization tools and associated research methods should attend to audiences’ competencies, preferences, and comfort, especially among older age groups.

Learning about climate change with comics and text: a comparative study - Frederik von Reumont; Alexandra Budke (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Climate change education has a high priority in the current global situation. Traditional learning material like text does not meet the needs of young learners, because of the complexity of the problem. We designed learning material in the comics form merging visual storytelling with scientific geographical communication devices such as maps, charts and diagrams. In an experimental research design, we found that this comic is more effective for learning about climate change than text with the same content, particularly regarding understanding and retaining the material’s content and development of environmental concerns. We strongly recommend using more comics for the support of cognitive performance of young learners for learning about climate change where human–environmental interaction is a focal point.

Tree diversity and social–ecological resilience of agroforestry after volcanic ash deposition in Indonesia - Rika Ratna Sari; Rossyda Priyadarshini; Danaë M. A. Rozendaal; Danny Dwi Saputra; Kurniatun Hairiah; Meine van Noordwijk (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Smallholder farmers and their agroecosystems in active volcanic landscapes need to deal with and recover from eruptions. Resilience to extreme shocks may increase with system diversity, enhancing food and income security and ecosystem services provision; however, the longer term effects of volcanic ash are rarely assessed. To test the hypothesis that tree diversity contributes to the social–ecological resilience of coffee-based agroforestry, we quantified (1) the immediate effects of deposition of a 15-cm ash layer on tree survival, (2) the effect of volcanic ash on aboveground C stocks, tree diversity and wood density frequencies, (3) litter layer dynamics, and (4) farming system and income recovery 3 years after. Observations in four land-use systems before and after ash deposition (remnant forest, coffee-based complex and simple agroforestry, annual crops) were complemented by 46 farmer interviews on tree species’ survival, system, and financial recovery. Based on farmer interviews, low-wood-density trees were most affected by volcanic ash deposition. Ash deposition did not, after 3 years and across land-use systems, significantly change tree density, basal area, or C stocks. In contrast, species richness in coffee-based agroforestry increased significantly. Standing litter stocks in agroforestry decreased, but slower decomposition partially compensated for reduced litter input. Farmers stated that diversity and flexibility in coffee-based agroforestry support a system recovery that is faster than that for annual crops, suppressing income fluctuation. Farmer’s adaptive responses to enhance species diversity contributed to the resilience of farms, by retaining basic system structure and functions of agroforestry, and increasing product diversity and income. Graphical abstract

Assessing resilience, equity, and sustainability of future visions across two urban scales - Marta Berbés-Blázquez; Elizabeth M. Cook; Nancy B. Grimm; David M. Iwaniec; Lelani M. Mannetti; Tischa A. Muñoz-Erickson; Darin Wahl (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Cities need to take swift action to deal with the impacts of extreme climate events. The co-production of positive visions offers the potential to not only imagine but also intervene in guiding change toward more desirable urban futures. While participatory visioning continues to be used as a tool for urban planning, there needs to be a way of comparing and evaluating future visions so that they can inform decision-making. Traditional tools for comparison tend to favor quantitative modeling, which is limited in its ability to capture nuances or normative elements of visions. In this paper, we offer a qualitative method to assess the resilience, equity, and sustainability of future urban visions and demonstrate its use by applying it to 11 visions from Phoenix, AZ. The visions were co-produced at two different governance scales: five visions were created at the village (or borough) scale, and six visions were created at the regional (or metropolitan) scale. Our analysis reveals different emphases in the mechanisms present in the visions to advance resilience, sustainability, and equity. In particular, we note that regional future visions align with a green sustainability agenda, whereas village visions focus on social issues and emphasize equity-driven approaches. The visions have implications for future trajectories, and the priorities that manifest at the two scales speak of the political nature of visioning and the need to explore how these processes may interact in complementary, synergistic, or antagonistic ways.

Correction to: IMAGINE sustainability: integrated inner-outer transformation in research, education and practice - Christopher D. Ives; Niko Schäpke; Christoph Woiwode; Christine Wamsler (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Correction: Opening the human spirit to sustainability transformation: the potential for individual human–nature resonance and integrative rituals - Susanne Müller; Martina Artmann; Caroline Surrey (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Navigating or adding to complexity? Exploring the role of catchment partnerships in collaborative governance - Kerry A. Waylen; Kirsty L. Blackstock; Keith Marshall; Alba Juarez-Bourke (Sustainability Science, 2023)
An enduring challenge for environmental governance is how to coordinate multiple actors to achieve more collaborative and holistic management of complex socio-ecological systems. Catchment partnerships are often thought able to achieve this, so here we ask: do such partnerships actually help navigate complexity, or merely add to it? We answer this question by analysing the experiences of four voluntary UK catchment partnerships. Our data combined a structured desk-based analysis of partnership documents, with semi-structured interviews with partnership coordinators, chairs and partner representatives. These data were analysed using a qualitative thematic approach informed by the literatures on catchment management and collaborative governance of complexity. We found that partnerships both add to and help navigate the complexity of holistic and inclusive environmental management. Maintaining partnerships entails costs for partners, and partnerships connect messily and multitudinously to other initiatives. However, the partnerships were all judged as worthwhile, and made progress towards goals for water quality, biodiversity and river restoration. They were especially valued for envisioning and initiating complex activities such as Natural Flood Management. Communication and networking by partnership coordinators and partners underpinned these achievements. Aspects of pre-existing governance systems both enabled and constrained the partnerships: in particular, statutory agencies responsible for policy delivery were always important partners, and delivering partnership plans often depended on public-sector grants. This draws attention to the pervasive effect of governmentality in collaborative governance. More attention to analysing—and supporting—such partnerships is worthwhile, complemented by reflection on the limits to environmental governance in the face of complexity.

Towards epistemic diversity in sustainability transitions: an exploration of hybrid socio-technical systems - Alejandro Balanzó-Guzmán; Mónica Ramos-Mejía (Sustainability Science, 2023)
A wealth of scholarly work has contributed to make visible and describe the place of indigenous peoples and knowledge in sustainability transitions. We follow suit, exploring if, and how, indigenous peoples and knowledges take part in the construction of hybrid socio-technical systems, i.e. socio-technical systems where heterogeneous knowledges already coexist and give rise to the emergence of specific and nuanced socio-technical patterns. We address the question: What are the types of interaction between techno-scientific and indigenous/local knowledges in socio-technical configurations aiming at sustainability? Our inquiry focuses on knowledge circulation patterns in hybrid socio-technical systems. Conceptually, we build on epistemic diversity and hybridisation as means to reflect on socio-technical systems. Empirically, we carry on a theory-driven literature review and ground a model on the backdrop of the MLP perspective. Results show that hybrid socio-technical systems present overlapping socio-technical assemblages coexisting in constructive tension. Such tension stems from the manyfold possible directionalities that take place in the social production of hybrid-oriented and non-hybrid-oriented performativity of knowledges. This paradoxical nature implies that each encounter performs a potential tension within the broader web of relations in the system. In terms of sustainability transitions, hybrid socio-technical systems pose particular knowledge governance challenges. Its paradoxical nature risks enabling contradictory, non-viable or illegitimate transition pathways towards sustainability.

Non-monetary narratives motivate businesses to engage with climate change - Christopher Luederitz; Animesh Animesh; Katrin Rohrbacher; Tiange Li; Andrew Piper; Catherine Potvin; Dror Etzion (Sustainability Science, 2023)
The dominant narrative to motivate business actors to take climate actions emphasizes opportunities to increase monetary gains, linking sustainability to the financial goals of these organizations. The prevalence of monetary motivations in sustainability communication among businesses, consultancies, academics and international organizations has made this narrative a truism in the private sector. We conducted an online, real-world, large- n experiment to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of different motivations using narrative communication. We show that non-monetary narratives highlighting prosocial or achievement motivations are 55% more effective in creating responses from businesses than narratives emphasizing monetary gains. These findings are robust across most narrative and audience characteristics, including age and language. Our findings suggest that communication towards business leaders around sustainability can be multi-pronged and should incorporate prosocial and achievement motivations aside from articulating potential financial benefits.

Creative destruction in academia: a time to reimagine practices in alignment with sustainability values - Emmy Wassénius; Anne Charlotte Bunge; Mary K. Scheuermann; Kajsa Resare Sahlin; Agnes Pranindita; Moa Ohlsson; Abigayil Blandon; Chandrakant Singh; Kristin Malmcrona Friberg; Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Academia has experienced acceleration and expansion in parallel with the Great Acceleration, which has shaped the Anthropocene. Among other pressures, the expectation to be internationally mobile conflicts with many values held by sustainability scholars and results in disillusionment. The changes in the academic system can be seen through the framework of the adaptive cycle, which can help us understand historical parallels and shape the system to better align with sustainability values in future. We hope this piece can contribute to the discussion of the next steps forward to reimagine academia.

IMAGINE sustainability: integrated inner-outer transformation in research, education and practice - Christopher D. Ives; Niko Schäpke; Christoph Woiwode; Christine Wamsler (Sustainability Science, 2023)
There has been a recent proliferation of research and practice on the interior dimensions of sustainability, such as values, beliefs, worldviews and inner capacities. This nascent field of inner transformation is dynamic and emerging, with varied terminology, a breadth of applications, and intense debate about possible contributions as well as limitations and shortcomings. In this article, we aim to provide some orientation by systematising the core contributions of the emerging domain of inner transformation research via the acronym IMAGINE. We show that ontologically, inner transformation research highlights (i) the Interdependence of inner/outer and individual/collective/system phenomena, as well as (ii) the Multiple potential that is latent within each of us to enable transformative change. Correspondingly, it underscores the implications of inner phenomena for sustainability and related action-taking, particularly through: (iii) the Activation of inner dimensions across individual, collective and system levels, and (iv) the Generation of inner transformative capacities through intentional practices. Epistemologically, this necessitates the (v) INclusion of diverse perspectives, required for (vi) Expanding knowledge systems for sustainability. The presented heuristic offers a framework to systematically support and guide sustainability researchers, educators and practitioners to incorporate inner transformation into their work, which is a key requirement for sustainability outcomes and necessary to effectively formulate related policy frameworks.

Disparities in the impacts of co-management on fishers’ livelihoods - Cristina Ruano-Chamorro; Georgina G. Gurney; Michele L. Barnes; Stefan Gelcich; Joshua E. Cinner (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Natural resources are widely managed through collaborative governance arrangements (e.g., co-management) which often result in the uneven distribution of costs and benefits among fishers. Discrepancies in how a fisher is impacted by co-management relative to other fishers or others in the community (i.e., disparity) can negatively affect fishers’ wellbeing, their support for management, and subsequently, ecological outcomes. Yet, disparities in the distribution of social impacts from co-management have rarely been assessed. We address this gap by examining disparities (losses and gains) in perceived livelihood impacts from co-management. Losses (or gains) occur when a fisher experiences a more negative (or positive) impact on their livelihood relative to other fishers or others in the community. We used data from interviews with 1191 fishers associated with 48 coral reef co-management arrangements across Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea to examine how socioeconomic and institutional characteristics were associated with losses and gains from co-management. Overall, we found that more fishers perceived equality than disparities in the distribution of co-management impacts. Of those that perceived disparities, more fishers perceived losses than gains. We also found that disparities could be predicted by a range of socioeconomic characteristics, including distance to markets and wealth, and institutional characteristics of the co-management regime, such as gear, access, and area restrictions. This study provides insights on potential entry points that could be used by managers and policy-makers to promote equitable co-management of small-scale fisheries, such as the reduction of losses by increasing participation in decision-making processes, fostering conflict resolution mechanisms, prioritizing gear restrictions over area restrictions, and reducing poverty.

The case for the “climate humanities”: toward a transdisciplinary, equity-focused paradigm shift within climate scholarship - Megan Cole (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Mapping the shared socio-economic pathways onto the Nature Futures Framework at the global scale - Peter Alexander; Roslyn Henry; Sam Rabin; Almut Arneth; Mark Rounsevell (Sustainability Science, 2023)
The Nature Futures Framework (NFF) was developed for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) to explore scenarios that represent a diversity of positive relationships between humans and nature. Widely used in global environmental assessments, the shared socio-economic pathways (SSPs) in combination with the representative concentration pathways (RCPs) were developed for climate change assessments. However, the relationship at a global level between the SSP–RCP scenario outcomes and the framing of the NFF around three value perspectives—Nature for Nature, Nature for Society, and Nature as Culture—has not been established. Here, we demonstrate a method to map onto the NFF value perspectives results from alternative SSP scenarios, each paired with an RCP consistent with the SSP storyline. For each of the NFF value perspectives, multiple elements were identified, each represented by one or more nature-focused indicators. Values for these indicators, for the different SSP scenario outcomes, were derived from an existing application of a global land system model, LandSyMM. A score for each indicator is estimated by comparing the indicator values against a normative target range. We find that only SSP1 provides greater benefits for Nature as Culture and Nature for Society relative to a 2010 baseline. Overall, the SSP scenarios provide fewer benefits for Nature for Nature, consistent with a bias towards the provision of material over non-material ecosystem services. The results demonstrate that the SSP–RCP scenario framing captures some, but not all, of the dimensions of nature and that alternative scenario framings, such as the NFF, are needed to study a broader range of biodiversity and ecosystem related questions as well as exploring positive futures.

Identifying nature-positive futures in new cities: an application of the Urban Nature Futures Framework - Shaikh Fairul Edros Ahmad Shaikh; Perrine Hamel (Sustainability Science, 2023)
With the increasing loss of biodiversity due to urbanization, it is essential to examine and re-imagine the place of nature in cities. The opportunity to redesign positive relationships between cities and nature is particularly apparent in the development of new cities—rapidly developing areas observed in many Asian and African countries. As these new cities are built on a perceived tabula rasa, there is a potential to design positive nature futures. This study, therefore, aims to understand how nature is incorporated into existing plans for new cities and identify pro-nature perspectives envisioned within these plans. We use the Urban Nature Futures Framework (UNFF) to conduct a content analysis on the masterplans of new city and town developments within the Jakarta Metropolitan Area (JMA). The UNFF promotes the creation of multiple positive visions of nature in cities by considering three broad nature perspectives: Nature for Nature, Nature for Society, and Nature as Culture, as well as emphasizing equity in these visions. Our findings show that the Nature for Society perspective tends to dominate the design of new cities in the JMA, closely followed by the Nature for Nature perspective embodied by pollution control measures. New cities also emphasise the Nature as Culture perspective through nature stewardship programmes. Based on these results, we exemplify how the UNFF can be used to further integrate nature elements in new cities’ masterplans. We conclude with a discussion of the strengths and limitations of the framework at each stage of the new city development process.

Net-zero transitions for all? Considering applications in Asia - So-Young Lee (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Household adoption modes of rooftop photovoltaic in rural China and social inequality: an energy justice perspective - Fang Yang; Wandi Cao; Jiahui Yang; Qidong Huang (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Just transition through “commoning” coastal wetlands in growing and shrinking communities in Japan - Hiromi Yamashita (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Assessment of alternative land resource utilisation towards Net-Zero and regional revitalisation through the circulating and ecological sphere in depopulated city regions in Japan: a case study of Hachinohe City Region - Haruno Sato; Bijon Kumer Mitra; Rajarshi Dasgupta; Shizuka Hashimoto (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Who will encourage a sustainable diet? Understanding the psychological predictors of relational organizing - Megan S. Jones; Samantha Sekar; Courtney Dillard; Andrew Mertens; Gregg Sparkman (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Why do (or do not) people encourage others in their social networks to adopt climate-friendly behaviors? Encouragement like this has been referred to as “relational organizing,” and can help scale up climate action across communities. Since relational organizing is a social behavior, it likely has its own specific barriers and motivations beyond what affects personal climate action. Food is a big part of our day-to-day lives and our relationships with people we care about. It also impacts the climate, ecosystems, animal welfare, and our own health. As such, people’s climate-friendly food choices provide an ideal case study to explore drivers of relational organizing. Using an online survey with two North American samples of motivated audiences (one US-wide animal advocacy community, N = 1166, and one environmentally focused community in Boulder, Colorado, N = 363), we sought to identify and categorize the social–psychological barriers to and drivers of relational organizing for climate-friendly food choices. Using exploratory factor analysis and predictive models, we found that self-efficacy in carrying out the personal behavior, response efficacy beliefs, supportive social norms, and personal aptitude in relational organizing (e.g., personal norms) predicted relational organizing action after the survey. People’s sense of personal obligation to engage in relational organizing (i.e., personal norms), beliefs that would make a difference to important causes (i.e. response efficacy), and social identity beliefs around activism were particularly important. We discuss how these findings can help inform interventions related to climate-friendly diets, and what this means more broadly for how relational organizing can support climate action.

Longitudinal analysis of home food production and food sharing behavior in Japan: multiple benefits of local food systems and the recent impact of the COVID-19 pandemic - Chiho Kamiyama; Keiko Hori; Takanori Matsui; Jules Pretty; Osamu Saito (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Home food production and sharing (home consumption) make up a local community-based food system that has become a custom closely tied to people’s daily life and culture across Japan. In this study, nationwide questionnaire surveys were conducted in 2015 and 2021 to investigate the status and trends of non-commercial home food consumption in Japan. We were also able to evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which commenced at the beginning of 2020 in Japan. It was found that a wide variety of foods and many different species of food are part of home consumption. In addition, the amount of home production and the amount shared with close neighbors and friends via social networks is higher in agricultural areas than in urban areas. The amount of home production was slightly higher and the amount shared with others slightly lower in 2021 compared with 2015, suggesting that COVID-19 may have limited the sharing activities that also connect people. Meanwhile, the majority of respondents who were directly asked about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the survey in 2021 answered “no change”, suggesting a resilient system even under the pressures of the pandemic. Moreover, there has been an uptake in home food production and sharing amongst younger generations, men, and people living in urban areas. These customs and lifestyles are embedded in Japanese culture, helping to produce a sustainable and resilient food system. This home consumption system has the potential to contribute to various global challenges in the form of nature-based solutions which help meet the targets of the sustainable development goals, in particular a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and the promotion of health, well-being and social relations. We discuss future research challenges for a more resource-efficient, inclusive, and sustainable growth model that includes home consumption.

Changes in perception and the effects of personal attributes in decision-making as imaginary future generations: evidence from participatory environmental planning - Keishiro Hara; Masahiro Naya; Yoko Kitakaji; Masashi Kuroda; Yutaka Nomaguchi (Sustainability Science, 2023)
We conducted a Future Design deliberation workshop on the theme of the “3rd Environmental Master Plan” of Suita City, Osaka Prefecture over four sessions in 2019, with the participation of both city residents and officials of the city government. To condition the deliberations of participants, we adopted the method of Imaginary Future Generations (IFGs) and analyzed its impact on their future vision of the city in 2050, policy options needed to shape that future, and changes in their perceptions. We also investigated how the adoption of IFGs affects the relationships between personal attributes and the changes in their perception. The results of variance analysis and multiple linear regression analysis based on data from the deliberations and questionnaire surveys of participants revealed the following: (1) the content and quality of the 2050 vision of society and policy options conceived from the perspective of the IFGs significantly differed from those conceived from the perspective of the current generations; (2) IFGs heightened certain perceptions, such as “a sense of crisis about the future” and “a shared recognition of goals that are desirable for society as a whole”; and (3) although the degree of “critical thinking”, as a disposition of individuals, influences the heightening of perceptions in decision-making from the perspective of the current generations, when IFGs is adopted, the degree of “critical thinking” seems to be no longer a factor in heightening these perceptions. These findings could be useful for designing mechanisms to facilitate sustainable decision-making that considers the interests of future generations.

Potential side effects of climate change mitigation on poverty and countermeasures - Shinichiro Fujimori; Tomoko Hasegawa; Ken Oshiro; Shiya Zhao; Katsuya Sasaki; Junya Takakura; Kiyoshi Takahashi (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Many countries have set ambitious long-term emissions reduction targets for reaching the goal in alignment with the Paris Agreement. However, large-scale emission reduction efforts may influence poverty by various economic channels. Here, we show the extent to which climate change mitigation, excluding climate change impacts, has the potential to increase poverty, and have identified its factors such as income, price changes, and direct and indirect carbon pricing impacts. We found that the global poverty headcount could increase by 69 million (19%) in 2030 relative to the baseline for climate change mitigation with global uniform carbon prices. Moreover, our decomposition analysis revealed that both price and income change effects were major factors that could increase the poverty headcount, which are 55% and 40%, respectively. This adverse side effect could be mitigated by various measures, such as emission regulations and an enhancement of energy efficiency standards beyond the typical simple carbon tax. Our results imply that global climate change mitigation policy should place more attention on economic development in poor countries.

Inclusive wealth footprint for cities in Japan: regional clusters for sustainable development - Shuning Chen; Kenichi Kurita; Takako Wakiyama; Shigemi Kagawa; Shunsuke Managi (Sustainability Science, 2023)

An exploration of the influence of problem wickedness on project pluralism in sustainability science - Kristina Likhacheva; Vincent Bretagnolle; Isabelle Arpin (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Expert and non-expert at the same time: knowledge integration processes and dynamics in interdisciplinary teamwork - Annemarie Horn; Eduardo Urias; Julie T. Klein; Andi Hess; Marjolein B. M. Zweekhorst (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Contemporary sustainability issues require the integration of diverse knowledge to study and address them holistically. How interdisciplinary knowledge integration arises in teamwork is, however, poorly understood. For instance, studies often focus on either individual or team processes, rather than studying their interplay and thereby contributing to understanding knowledge integration in an integral manner. Therefore, in this study we aimed to understand how knowledge integration processes are shaped by interactions in interdisciplinary teamwork. We present insights from an ethnographic case study of interdisciplinary teamwork among eight master’s students. In this student team, we observed two dynamics that impeded knowledge integration: (1) conformative dynamic manifested as avoiding and ignoring differences, and (2) performative dynamic as avoiding and ignoring not-knowing. Based on earlier work, we expected that contributing one’s own and engaging with each other’s knowledge would ensure knowledge integration. However, the dynamics exposed that it did not only depend on whether knowledge was contributed and engaged with, but also which knowledge was exchanged and manipulated in the teamwork. We coin the concept ‘relative expertise’, which emphasizes that interdisciplinary teamwork requires that collaborators act simultaneously as expert—in relation to their own contributory expertise—and non-expert—in relation to others’ contributory expertise. The dynamics hampered acting as a relative expert, and we saw that this was shaped by an interplay of students’ individual epistemic competencies, shared assumptions about teamwork, and social context. The insights may help recognize dynamics and underlying factors that impair knowledge integration, and thereby inform targeted interventions to facilitate knowledge integration.

Opening the human spirit to sustainability transformation: the potential for individual human–nature resonance and integrative rituals - Susanne Müller; Martina Artmann; Caroline Surrey (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Urgent calls by the younger generation and the scientific community to approach sustainability only seem to scratch the surface of individuals’ awareness while ecological destruction moves forward. In this regard, current dominant mindsets claiming a human–nature separation appear to hamper change by not granting nature dignity and her own voice . Therefore, the scientific community is inviting us to embrace Indigenous ontologies and an overall spiritual connectedness with nature in our lives. Yet, in times of crisis, it is unclear how individuals can overcome prevailing mind-action gaps—and instead turn towards sustainable caring human–nature relationships. Against this background, this conceptual paper elaborates, in a first step, individual human–nature resonance as a relational integrative framework to study psychological transformation processes and their supporting capabilities. In a second step, a ritual-based intervention is elaborated to nurture the quality of this relationship between human and nonhuman nature which is experientially enriched with insights from psychotherapy. Transdisciplinary research in the form of self-experience completes the research process. Eventually, we plead for openness in favor of adopting “lived wholeness” as a solution for sustainability transformations—of ourselves, science, and our relationship with nonhuman nature. Graphical abstract Including icons (concept: Müller, design: Bongaerts; IOER 2022)

28 months later: the coronavirus pandemic as an analogy for future sustainability challenges - John-Oliver Engler; Henrik von Wehrden (Sustainability Science, 2023)
We combine the concepts of ‘black elephants’ and wicked problems with Roy Bhaskar’s critical realist philosophy of science and frame the current state of the coronavirus pandemic as an analogy for impending sustainability challenges. We point out and illustrate that the interaction of different ontological levels of our world as it ‘is’ will likely remain a challenge in addressing the wicked problems of our time.

Harnessing concepts for sustainability: a pledge for a practice - N. Antoine-Moussiaux; S. Leyens (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Correction to: Human–nature connectedness and other relational values are negatively affected by landscape simplification: insights from Lower Saxony, Germany - Maraja Riechers; Berta Martín-López; Joern Fischer (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Perceived impacts of the Fridays for Future climate movement on environmental concern and behaviour in Switzerland - Livia Fritz; Ralph Hansmann; Blanche Dalimier; Claudia R. Binder (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Calling for increased action on climate change, Fridays for Future (FFF) quickly gained momentum around the world and became highly visible through strikes and protests in more than 150 countries. Considering its scale and magnitude, questions about the impact of this newly emerging climate movement arise. This article is based on a survey investigating the perception of Swiss residents ( N = 1206) of how the FFF movement and Greta Thunberg’s climate activism changed their environmental awareness and behaviour. We found that the Swiss public by and large perceives Greta Thunberg and the FFF movement positively, and a considerable share of participants report that Greta Thunberg (30%) and the FFF activism (23%), respectively, positively influenced their environmental concern and behaviour. Structural equation modelling revealed that the strength of the behaviour change motivation depended mainly on how a participant evaluated the FFF movement and Greta Thunberg. The latter was influenced positively by general environmental attitudes, and education level and negatively by the acceptance of justifications for environmentally harmful behaviours. Participants reported environmentally positive changes most frequently in private sphere behaviours, particularly in the domains of mobility, consumption and waste, whereas few changes in public sphere behaviour were reported. Next to increased awareness and motivation gains, also the reinforcement of existing pro-environmental behaviour was reported. Although the influence on sympathisers was stronger, some of those sceptical of the climate strike movement also reported behaviour changes, indicating that the unconvinced have to some extent been reached.

The role of emotions in human–nature connectedness within Mediterranean landscapes in Spain - Irene Otamendi-Urroz; Cristina Quintas-Soriano; Berta Martín-López; Mónica Expósito-Granados; Daniela Alba-Patiño; Emilio Rodríguez-Caballero; Marina García-Llorente; Antonio J. Castro (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Landscapes can lead to different emotions towards nature that in turn shape people’s environmental behavior and decision processes. This study explores the role of emotions that Mediterranean landscapes foster in people and to what extent these emotions are associated with human–nature connectedness (HNC). We conducted 176 face-to-face surveys to explore HNC and the diversity of emotions associated with a suite of landscapes in Southeast Spain. Results revealed that Marine and Coastal Protected Areas received the highest number of positive emotions, whereas Greenhouses and Non-Protected Littoral were linked to negative emotions. We propose a framework for classifying emotional landscapes according to four groups: emotionally positive, negative, polarized or neutral. Results showed that emotions might play a key role in shaping HNC in Spanish Mediterranean landscapes and may be used as a common ground for understanding roots underpinning human decisions and actions that lead to sustainable management or landscape degradation.

Beyond global versus local: illuminating a cosmolocal framework for convivial technology development - Vasilis Kostakis; Vasilis Niaros; Chris Giotitsas (Sustainability Science, 2023)
A reconceptualisation of technology, as a vital component of modern society cutting across all its other aspects, is required to achieve social and environmental sustainability. This paper presents a convivial technology development framework using the concept of “cosmolocal” production. The latter captures the dynamic of dispersed technology initiatives, which exhibit conceptualisations of living, working and making around the commons. It is a structural framework for organising production by prioritising socio-ecological well-being over corporate profits, over-production and excess consumption. From the vantage point of Tzoumakers, a cosmolocal initiative in which the authors participate, this paper offers an empirical account of its conception and evolution. We further examine its relation and cooperation with various similar interconnected places in urban and rural settings.

‘Being’ and ‘doing’: interconnections between researcher identity and conceptualizations of sustainability research - Viola Hakkarainen; Ulla Ovaska; Katriina Soini; Annukka Vainio (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Sustainability research is characterized by a plurality of interests, actors, and research traditions. Sustainability is a widely used concept across multiple disciplines and often a cross-cutting theme in different research projects. However, there is a limited understanding of how researchers from multiple disciplinary backgrounds approach sustainability and position themselves in sustainability research as a part of their researcher identity. Previous studies among sustainability science experts have indicated diverse approaches and definitions of the socio-political, epistemic and normative dimensions of sustainability. In this study, we use semi-structured interviews with researchers ( N = 7) and a survey distributed to two academic institutes in Finland ( N = 376) to examine how researchers relate to sustainability research through the notions of identity as ‘being’ and ‘doing’ and how the differing ways to relate to sustainability research shape preferred definitions and approaches. The examination of perspectives among researchers enables the identification of diverse views related to sustainability and, consequently, sheds light on what kinds of ideas of sustainability get presented in the research. We conclude that understanding different identities is crucial for negotiating and implementing sustainability and developing sustainability research, requiring more attention to researchers’ positionality and reflexivity.

Advancing sustainable development goals: embedding resilience assessment - Zahra Assarkhaniki; Soheil Sabri; Abbas Rajabifard; Masoud Kahalimoghadam (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Accelerating challenges to cities and communities have triggered a growing interest in the assessment of resilience and sustainability of future developments. For this purpose, many countries have adopted the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for sustainable development goals (SDGs), in which resilience has been incorporated as a component of sustainability. However, the framework has been criticised for not undertaking a comprehensive evaluation of resilience. This study, in an analytical scheme, examines the extent to which the SDGs incorporate measurement of resilience. Here, the SDGs indicators have been compared with the most recent comprehensive baseline resilience framework (BRF) through three stages: (a) thematic coding of the SDGs and BRF indicators; (b) developing matrices of coding for each resilience dimension; and (c) evaluating resilience measurement in terms of coverage by the SDGs. Results showed that although the SDGs indicators have a high level of coverage for resilience measurement through all 17 goals, some aspects are nonetheless overlooked. In this study, by categorising the goals into five groups based on their coverage of each resilience dimension, a guideline is created, demonstrating the goals relevant to each resilience dimension. Furthermore, a systematic framework of resilience indicators is also proposed to integrate the overlooked aspects of resilience into the SDGs and the post-2030 agenda. The advanced SDGs can serve as a joint framework to measure resilience and sustainability.

Climate justice beyond intergenerational conflict: youth climate activism in South Korea - Kyu Youn Choi (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Operationalising a large research programme tackling complex urban and planetary health problems: a case study approach to critical reflection - Daniel Black; Geoff Bates; Sarah Ayres; Krista Bondy; Rosalie Callway; Neil Carhart; John Coggon; Andy Gibson; Alistair Hunt; Ges Rosenberg (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Addressing increasingly urgent global challenges requires the rapid mobilisation of new research groups that are large in scale, co-produced and focussed explicitly on investigating root causes at a systemic level. This requires new ways of operationalising and funding research programmes to better support effective interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary (ID/TD) partnerships between a wide range of academic disciplines and stakeholder groups. Understanding the challenges and approaches that teams can follow to overcome them can come through critical reflection on experiences initiating new research programmes of this nature and sharing of these reflections. We aimed to offer a framework for critical reflection and an overview of how we developed it and to share our reflections on operationalising a newly formed large-scale ID/TD research programme. We present a framework of 10 areas for critical reflection: systems, unknowns and imperfection, ID/TD understanding, values, societal impact, context and stakeholder knowledge, project understanding and direction, team cohesion, decision-making, communications and method development. We reflect on our experience of operationalising the research programme in these areas. Based on this critical examination of our experiences and the processes we adopted, we make recommendations for teams seeking to tackle important and highly complex global challenges, and for those who fund or support such research groups. Our reflections point to an overarching challenge of the structural and institutional barriers to cross-disciplinary research of this nature.

Promoting net-zero economy through climate-smart agriculture: transition towards sustainability - Md Nazirul Islam Sarker; Babul Hossain; Guoqing Shi; R. B. Radin Firdaus (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Senses of injustices-in-place: nature’s voice through Melbourne’s environmental stewards - Melissa Pineda-Pinto; Niki Frantzeskaki; Christopher M. Raymond (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Ecological injustices are systemic acts and processes of misrepresentation, misrecognition, maldistribution of impacts, and destruction of fundamental capabilities, to both human and nonhuman living beings. Unpacking these context-specific injustices requires in-depth explorations of people and their experiences, perceptions, types of knowledge, actions, and relations to, for, and with nonhuman beings and their capacities. To explore these injustices-in-place, we used embedded case studies within Metropolitan Melbourne, Australia, and examined the data with the self–others–environment sense of place framework to uncover people’s understandings of ecological (in)justices. The findings reveal a sense of disempowerment, conflated by unrecognized environmental work, a disconnect between different groups and levels of society, and the anonymity of the nonhuman others. Through a contested self–others–environment lens, place meanings in the study sites show different ways of valuing nature, which is conveyed in the types of actions, stewardship behaviors, and attachment to place. This analysis introduces a new concept of ‘ecological injustice’ that bridges the sense of place and justice by visibilizing the senses of anonymity, collectivity, reciprocal nurturing, and contestation that unfold across human–nonhuman interactions. We discuss strategies to prevent and restore ecological injustices, which include building capacity through knowledge exchange, improved funding and governance mechanisms, raising social–ecological awareness, and finding ways to populate our cities with environmental stewards that can help to deanonymize and make the needs of the nonhuman others visible.

The different values of nature: a comparison between university students’ perceptions of nature’s instrumental, intrinsic and relational values - Viktoria Feucht; Paul Wilhelm Dierkes; Matthias Winfried Kleespies (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Human–nature relationships are in a critical state, characterized by increasing environmental problems caused by humans. Thus, it is essential to know how to motivate people for environmental protection. Motivation can arise from intrinsic, instrumental or relational perceptions of why nature is valuable. The present study investigates empirically how university students differ in their view of nature’s value. For this purpose, students from 13 different majors across Germany as well as students engaged in the environmental protection organization Health-for-Future (HfF) were surveyed via an online survey ( N = 1885). The majors were divided into four thematic groups (environmental, people-aligned, structures-exploring as well as economics and political science). While all groups showed high levels of agreement with intrinsic and instrumental values, the groups differed strongly in their relational perception of nature. Environmental disciplines were characterized by a stronger relational view, followed by people-aligned disciplines, while disciplines not directly associated with either people or nature agreed less with relational and also intrinsic values. HfF as a conservation organization showed the highest level of agreement in all three value components. Further we found that gender plays a role in value perception, with women holding stronger intrinsic and relational values than men. The study concludes that among students in Germany, regardless of major, there is a pluralistic understanding of values: ecosystem services (instrumental values) and the intrinsic value of nature are both appreciated, whereas relational values appear to be more group specific. Since students will be future decision-makers of society, relational values have special significance for the understanding of conservation.

Navigating ecological security research over the last 30 years: a scoping review - Benhui Zhu; Shizuka Hashimoto; Samuel A. Cushman (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Intensification of human activities is pushing our use of ecosystems beyond thresholds of resiliency. Given the accelerating global crisis of ecological sustainability, there has been enormous growth in research related to ecological security. However, differences in opinions on ecological security have hindered understanding and effective applications of this concept. To understand the development of research on ecological security, we reviewed its achievements and limitations over the past 30 years from three dimensions: definition, evaluation method, and approach to identify measures to improve the ecological security level. We used the Web of Science search engine to retrieve peer-reviewed journal articles published from 1990 to 2021 containing the keywords “ecological security” or “ecological safety”. There are three main ethical perspectives among the definitions of ecological security: nature-centric, human-centric, and eclectic; the human-centric view, which focuses on human well-being, is predominant in the field. Most studies employed the following three evaluation methods: quantitative comparison, composite indicators, and spatial analysis. However, the results of ecological security analyses were difficult to compare. Three main approaches (causality, correlation, and landscape) were used to identify the drivers of ecological security and propose measures for ensuring or improving ecological security. Owing to the complexity and heterogeneity of ecosystems, universally effective measures to ensure ecological security rarely exist. For the definition and evaluation of ecological security, a broader, non-anthropocentric perspective that incorporates the intrinsic value of non-humans in the context of cost–benefit, security–efficiency evaluations is essential. When proposing evaluation methods, the comparability of evaluation results should be given priority. To improve ecological security level, identifying the key drivers and/or potential optimal patterns of ecological security may be a promising solution.

Making sense of (un)sustainable food: creation of sharable narratives in citizen-participating farming - Atsushi Watabe (Sustainability Science, 2023)
There has been broad recognition that current food systems need to go through a process of transformation and transition. In the similar way that other areas have transitioned to be more sustainable, the transition process for food systems has some issues related to justice in terms of achieving more sustainable and inclusive food production, distribution and consumption. Acknowledging the importance of these issues, this article aims to understand how knowledge about desired changes is produced and shared among people engaged in activities to transform food production and consumption. To this end, it analyses the short narratives of urban citizens in Japan engaged in participatory farming, adopting the concepts focusing on the contrasts embedded in the short stories, learning from risk studies. The farmer, volunteer staff members and urban citizens collaborate to grow rice using traditional techniques. Their narratives reveal some contrasts in how they used to engage with food, farms and the local environment, and their engagement now. Furthermore, it was observed that these citizens reconfirm the importance of knowledge learned through actual work on the farm and the different roles played by the farmer, volunteers and local participants in creating and passing on knowledge. In such ways, people’s interaction leads to the creation of shared meanings of “appropriateness” in terms of existing and emerging food-related practices. This matter of meaning-making for “appropriateness” is often overlooked in the discussion of the justice in food systems’ transitions.

Interlinkages between leverage points for strengthening adaptive capacity to climate change - Linda M. Rosengren; Thomas Schinko; Jan Sendzimir; Abdul-Razak Mohammed; Rahajatu Buwah; Hilkka Vihinen; Christopher M. Raymond (Sustainability Science, 2023)
While systemic leverage points have been identified as a powerful approach for planning and assessing policies and interventions for sustainability transformations, few studies have explored how leverage points interact and how this affects the desired change. In this study, we explored how the interlinkages between leverage points enable or constrain adaptive capacity to climate change of food system actors. We found 24 interlinkages when drawing on results from semi-structured interviews and a participatory visual art method used in focus groups in a case study in the Northern Region of Ghana. Nine interlinkages were identified as barriers to the adaptive capacity of the communities and actors of the local food system. For example, when studying the interlinkages between the place-specific leverage point of agricultural extension services and the generic leverage point of gender equality, we found that women have less access to agricultural extension services compared with men. Fifteen interlinkages were presented as enabling adaptive capacity; for example, women’s savings groups had many enabling interlinkages with gender equality such as creating unity and empowering the members. We argue that interlinkages between a set of leverage points (1) play a pivotal role in enabling or hindering the leverage points, (2) may instigate a chain of leverage and (3) may affect the system including the related leverage points in a deep or shallow way.

Natural capital accounting for sustainable cities - Shunsuke Managi; Moinul Islam; Dayong Zhang; Younes Ben Zaied; Osamu Saito (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Just Transition on air quality governance: a case study of heavy-duty diesel truck protests in Taiwan - David Walther; Kuei-Tien Chou (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Just Transitions are gaining attention in environmental research, and most studies have focused on climate change; however, the insights from this work may be usefully applied to the rarely discussed area in just transition studies. This article uses traditional dimensions of environmental and social justice, such as distributive, procedural, recognition, and restorative justice, to understand why heavy-duty diesel truck drivers fought back against stricter air pollution regulations while demanding destigmatization. The protest resulted in policy failure, and Taiwan’s transition to cleaner, newer diesel trucks were halted. This study finds that the key social contextual factor in Taiwan’s transportation industry was the labor relations of license-leasing. The drivers’ protest began with a lack of procedural justice, and communication occurred only after the law was passed. There was insufficient regard for procedural justice, and although the drivers were concerned, the new rule would significantly impact their right to work and life. Furthermore, the drivers felt disrespected and even carried the stigma of creating environmental pollution. The article assumes that the results should be different if the governance mechanism can handle the key factor in a social context and make appropriate arrangements for the four dimensions of Just Transition. This argument may be relevant for other countries looking to transition from older diesel vehicles to cleaner vehicles through Just Transition.

How do past global experiences of coal phase-out inform China’s domestic approach to a just transition? - Vigya Sharma; Julia Loginova; Ruilian Zhang; Deanna Kemp; Guoqing Shi (Sustainability Science, 2023)
China produces nearly half of the world’s coal and more than half of the global coal-fired electricity. Its CO 2 emissions are higher than the combined volumes of the next three world regions—the US, Europe, and India. China has announced a net-zero commitment by 2060. This timeline creates enormous pressure to maintain energy security while phasing down coal use. Despite the localized nature of China’s coal production with nearly 80% of its thermal coal industry concentrated in four provinces, the dependencies are complex and extensive. Large-scale changes to energy systems will result in a range of social, cultural, and economic disruptions across China’s urban, rural, and remote regions. This paper examines experiences with coal transitions in other jurisdictions and considers implications for China. We examine the drivers, successes, and failures of coal phase-down in Germany, Poland, Australia, the UK, and the US. Despite significant differences in scale and complexity, these experiences offer important insights for China as it works to meet its climate commitments.

Operationalizing the Nature Futures Framework for ecological infrastructure - Paula Mayer; Sven-Erik Rabe; Adrienne Grêt-Regamey (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Scenarios are useful for considering development pathways under different future conditions. To manage a functioning ecological infrastructure (EI) as a network of natural and semi-natural habitats that can promote biodiversity and provide nature’s contributions to people (NCPs), one needs to understand future biophysical and socio-economic influences on its development. However, scenarios often do not incorporate the reciprocity of biophysical and societal changes. This has prompted new proposals from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) on the importance of creating nature-centered multiscale scenarios that include a normative dimension accounting for diverse human–nature relationships. In this contribution, we operationalize the Nature Futures Framework (NFF), developed under IPBES, into integrated normative and exploratory scenarios framing the development of a functioning EI in Switzerland until 2060. We follow a two-stage participatory approach methodologically aligned with the IPBES development. First, we elaborated positive visions for future EI with stakeholders in four regions of Switzerland. We then collaborated with experts to create integrated normative and exploratory scenarios through a process comprising literature research, workshops and a survey. By positioning status quo and future scenarios within the Nature Futures Framework, we demonstrate the diversity of nature values in a specific context of EI in Switzerland, thus contributing to the global set of Nature Futures scenarios. Integrating both plausible and desirable developments, these scenarios will serve as a valuable tool in the planning of long-term measures to ensure a functioning EI in Switzerland.

New paths for modelling freshwater nature futures - Lilith Kramer; Sven Teurlincx; Brenda Rashleigh; Annette B. G. Janssen; Jan H. Janse; Kate A. Brauman; Csaba Földesi; Dianneke van Wijk; Lisette N. de Senerpont Domis; Sopan D. Patil; Parinaz Rashidi; Perrine Hamel; et al. (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Freshwater ecosystems are exceptionally rich in biodiversity and provide essential benefits to people. Yet they are disproportionately threatened compared to terrestrial and marine systems and remain underrepresented in the scenarios and models used for global environmental assessments. The Nature Futures Framework (NFF) has recently been proposed to advance the contribution of scenarios and models for environmental assessments. This framework places the diverse relationships between people and nature at its core, identifying three value perspectives as points of departure: Nature for Nature, Nature for Society, and Nature as Culture. We explore how the NFF may be implemented for improved assessment of freshwater ecosystems. First, we outline how the NFF and its main value perspectives can be translated to freshwater systems and explore what desirable freshwater futures would look like from each of the above perspectives. Second, we review scenario strategies and current models to examine how freshwater modelling can be linked to the NFF in terms of its aims and outcomes. In doing so, we also identify which aspects of the NFF framework are not yet captured in current freshwater models and suggest possible ways to bridge them. Our analysis provides future directions for a more holistic freshwater model and scenario development and demonstrates how society can benefit from freshwater modelling efforts that are integrated with the value-perspectives of the NFF. Graphical abstract

Disrupting the opportunity narrative: navigating transformation in times of uncertainty and crisis - Michele-Lee Moore; Lauren Hermanus; Scott Drimie; Loretta Rose; Mandisa Mbaligontsi; Hillary Musarurwa; Moses Ogutu; Khanyisa Oyowe; Per Olsson (Sustainability Science, 2023)
COVID-19 posed threats for health and well-being directly, but it also revealed and exacerbated social–ecological inequalities, worsening hunger and poverty for millions. For those focused on transforming complex and problematic system dynamics, the question was whether such devastation could create a formative moment in which transformative change could become possible. Our study examines the experiences of change agents in six African countries engaged in efforts to create or support transformative change processes. To better understand the relationship between crisis, agency, and transformation, we explored how they navigated their changed conditions and the responses to COVID-19. We document three impacts: economic impacts, hunger, and gender-based violence and we examine how they (re)shaped the opportunity contexts for change. Finally, we identify four kinds of uncertainties that emerged as a result of policy responses, including uncertainty about the: (1) robustness of preparing a system to sustain a transformative trajectory, (2) sequencing and scaling of changes within and across systems, (3) hesitancy and exhaustion effects, and (4) long-term effects of surveillance, and we describe the associated change agent strategies. We suggest these uncertainties represent new theoretical ground for future transformations research.

Spirituality and sustainable development: an entangled and neglected relationship - Johannes M. Luetz; Patrick D. Nunn (Sustainability Science, 2023)
There is a paucity of research that examines the relationship between spirituality and sustainable development, including in relation to Indigenous or non-Western worldviews. This Comment argues that closer integration of spirituality and sustainability will enable more effective and sustainable strategies for future development.

“My place in the grand scheme of things”: perspective from nature and sustainability science - Rachelle K. Gould; Eliza Merrylees; Diana Hackenburg; Tatiana Marquina (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Unlocking and accelerating transformations to the SDGs: a review of existing knowledge - Cameron Allen; Shirin Malekpour (Sustainability Science, 2023)
As we approach the 2030 deadline to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is a growing sense of urgency around the need to accelerate the necessary transformations. These encompass a broad range of systems and require fundamental changes in system goals and design. In this paper, we undertake a narrative review of the literature relating to the acceleration of transformations and offer a framework for unlocking and accelerating transformations to the SDGs. While there is no blueprint for acceleration, there is an expanding knowledge base on important dynamics, impediments and enabling conditions across diverse literatures which can help to inform strategic interventions by actors. The emerging literature on positive tipping points and deep leverage points identifies opportunities to rewire systems design so that important system feedbacks create the conditions for acceleration. Transformation takes time and actors will need to build momentum to reorient systems around new goals, informed by knowledge of common policy, technology and behavioural feedbacks that govern system dynamics. Where resistance is strong, actors can seek to augment system design in ways that weaken balancing feedbacks that stabilise existing system configurations and strengthen reinforcing feedbacks that promote emerging system configurations oriented towards the SDGs. Well-designed and sequenced interventions can promote innovation and behaviour change and build and maintain political support. This can build critical enabling conditions and push systems towards large-scale tipping points, paving the way for decisive policy action that is crucial for triggering acceleration. We conclude by highlighting gaps and priorities for further research.

Analyzing SDG interlinkages: identifying trade-offs and synergies for a responsible innovation - Nikki Luttikhuis; Kirsten S. Wiebe (Sustainability Science, 2023)
This paper responds to recent calls to address the indivisible nature of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) framework and the related knowledge gap on how SDG targets interlink with each other. It examines how SDG targets interact in the context of a specific technology, point of care (PoC) microfluidics, and how this relates to the concept of responsible innovation (RI). The novel SDG interlinkages methodology developed here involves several steps to filter the relevant interlinkages and a focus group of experts for discussing these interlinkages. The main findings indicate that several social synergies occur when deploying PoC microfluidics, but that the environmental trade-offs may jeopardize the total progress toward the SDGs. More specifically, the environmental sacrifices (use of plastics and lack of recyclability) resulted in the product being cheaper and, thus, better accessible. This work suggests that attention should be given (and prioritized) to the use of renewable and recyclable materials without jeopardizing the accessibility of the product. This should minimize the identified trade-offs. These findings inform how analyzing SDG interlinkages relates to the responsibilities and dimensions of RI in several ways. First, analyzing SDG interlinkages helps to execute the governance responsibility by using the RI dimensions (anticipation, reflexivity, inclusion and responsiveness). Second, analyzing SDG interlinkages gives insights into if and how a technology relates to the do-good and avoid-harm responsibility. This is important to assess the responsiveness of the technology to ensure that the technology can become truly sustainable and leaves no one behind.

Indigenous trans-systemics: changing the volume on systems - Don G. McIntyre; Geneva A. Cloutis; Dan McCarthy (Sustainability Science, 2023)
This paper emerged as a result of Anishinabe and non-Indigenous scholars discussing the basic principles behind systems thinking. By asking the question “what is a system?”, we uncovered that our very understanding of what makes a system was vastly different. As scholars working in cross-cultural and inter-cultural environments, these differing worldviews can create systemic challenges in unpacking complex problems. Trans-systemics offers language to unearth these assumptions by the recognition that the dominant, or “loudest”, systems are not always the most appropriate or equitable. It goes beyond critical systems thinking to identify that tackling complex problems requires the recognition that there are multiple, overlapping systems and worldviews at play. We identified three key takeaways from Indigenous trans-systemics for socio-ecological systems thinkers: (1) trans-systemics is a call to humility, asking us to critically examine our patterns of thought and behavior; (2) by exploring humility, trans-systemics allows us to move past the autopoiesis of Eurocentric systems thinking to consider interdependence; and (3) to utilize Indigenous trans-systemics, we need to fundamentally reconsider how we understand the systems around us and bring in outside tools and concepts to enact meaningful systems change.

People’s heterogeneous preferences for future development scenarios: a case study of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan - Shinsuke Kyoi; Koichi Kuriyama; Shizuka Hashimoto (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Rurbanity: a concept for the interdisciplinary study of rural–urban transformation - Ellen M. Hoffmann; Nikolaus Schareika; Christoph Dittrich; Eva Schlecht; Daniela Sauer; Andreas Buerkert (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Along with climate change, population growth, and overexploitation of natural resources, urbanisation is among the major global challenges of our time. It is a nexus where many of the world’s grand challenges intersect, and thus key to sustainable development. The widespread understanding of urbanisation as a successive and unidirectional transformation of landscapes and societies from a rural to an urban state is increasingly questioned. Examples from around the globe show that ‘the rural’ and ‘the urban’ are not only highly interdependent, but actually coexist and often merge in the same space or livelihood strategy. Our concept of rurbanity provides an integrated theoretical framework which overcomes the rural–urban divide and can be operationalised for empirical research. Rurbanity is the next stringent step following the gradual widening of previous concepts from urban-centred approaches through the emphasis on urban peripheries to attempts of abolishing any distinction of a rural environment and acknowledging the highly dynamic nature of globalising urbanisation. Building on complex systems theory and assemblage thinking, our concept explores complementary aspects of the distinct epistemic worldviews dominating the natural and social sciences. Within this theoretical frame, we derive four analytical dimensions as entry points for empirical research: Endowments and Place , Flows and Connectivity , Institutions and Behaviour , and Lifestyles and Livelihoods . Two examples illustrate how these dimensions apply, interact, and together lead to a comprehensive, insightful understanding of rurban phenomena. Such understanding can be an effective starting point for assessing potential contributions of rurbanity to long-term global sustainability.

The role of formal and informal institutions in land management in the Uluguru Mountains, Morogoro, Tanzania - Emmanuel Timothy Malisa; Amon Z. Mattee; Christopher P. Mahonge (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Understanding leverage points of rural activities on hillsides in Taiwan - Li-Pei Peng (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Linking household access to food and social capital typologies in Phalombe District, Malawi - Ailish Craig; Craig Hutton; Laura A. Lewis; Frank B. Musa; Justin Sheffield (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Food security remains a major sustainability challenge in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Food security has numerous determinants that are complex and interlinked, with one of them being social capital. Social capital reflects an individual’s, household’s, or community’s social networks, social interactions, and social support systems that can be mobilized in times of need to maintain, among others, livelihoods or food security. This study aims to further understand how typologies of social capital are associated with household food security in Southern Malawi, with a focus on access to food. We unpack social capital into three typologies, namely bonding, bridging, and linking social capital, and establish which one is most strongly associated with household access to food, and whether this varies by the gender of the household head. To achieve this, we analyze secondary data from 382 households collected through the Malawian Fourth Integrated Household Survey (IHS4), using principal axis factor analysis and logistic regression analysis. Our findings demonstrate that bonding and bridging social capital are associated with better household access to food, while linking social capital was associated with lower household access to food. Bonding social capital was most strongly associated for female-headed households and linking social capital for male-headed households, highlighting that there are differences between such households. This work confirms observations from other related studies in Sub-Saharan Africa exploring the interface of social capital and food security. It also highlights the importance of both acknowledging the gender of the household head and of unpacking social capital into its typologies when considering food security.

Governance paradox: implications from Japan’s national parks for managing complex protected areas - Toshinori Tanaka; Nao Takashina (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Carbon, cash, cattle and the climate crisis - Franco Bilotto; Karen Michelle Christie-Whitehead; Bill Malcolm; Matthew Tom Harrison (Sustainability Science, 2023)
While society increasingly demands emissions abatement from the livestock sector, farmers are concurrently being forced to adapt to an existential climate crisis. Here, we examine how stacking together multiple systems adaptations impacts on the productivity, profitability and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of livestock production systems under future climates underpinned by more frequent extreme weather events. Without adaptation, we reveal that soil carbon sequestration (SCS) in 2050 declined by 45–133%, heralding dire ramifications for CO 2 removal aspirations associated with SCS in nationally determined contributions. Across adaptation-mitigation bundles examined, mitigation afforded by SCS from deep-rooted legumes was lowest, followed by mitigation from status quo SCS and woody vegetation, and with the greatest mitigation afforded by adoption of enteric methane inhibitor vaccines. Our results (1) underline a compelling need for innovative, disruptive technologies that dissect the strong, positive coupling between productivity and GHG emissions, (2) enable maintenance or additional sequestration of carbon in vegetation and soils under the hotter and drier conditions expected in future, and (3) illustrate the importance of holistically assessing systems to account for pollution swapping, where mitigation of one type of GHG (e.g., enteric methane) can result in increased emissions of another (e.g., CO 2 ). We conclude that transdisciplinary participatory modelling with stakeholders and appropriate bundling of multiple complementary adaptation-mitigation options can simultaneously benefit production, profit, net emissions and emissions intensity.

Introducing GoNEXUS SEF: a solutions evaluation framework for the joint governance of water, energy, and food resources - Adrián González-Rosell; Imen Arfa; Maria Blanco (Sustainability Science, 2023)
To enhance water, energy, and food security and promote ecosystems conservation, it is necessary to design policies or solutions capable of addressing cross-sectoral challenges. In this paper, GoNEXUS SEF, an evaluation framework for co-designing and evaluating nexus solutions, is presented. This framework provides guidelines for conducting a nexus-coherence assessment to improve the governance of the water-energy-food-ecosystems nexus. The assessment involves a participatory process that integrates qualitative and quantitative methodologies through systemic approaches. The crucial aspects necessary in the development of methodologies that address the nexus have been identified and considered. The framework was applied to a practical case study, an increase in the irrigation water price in Andalusia—Spain for the horizon of 2030. Case study results revealed that the measure can generate synergies since it favours water savings, irrigation water efficiency and ecosystems conservation. However, trade-offs are observed, mainly undermining the economic development of agriculture in the region. GoNEXUS SEF has proven capable of evaluating nexus solutions by measuring cross-sectoral synergies and trade-offs. It highlights hidden properties and identifies leverage points and key aspects of a complex cross-sectoral system to apply nexus solutions more effectively to promote sustainable development. In addition, the framework can be adapted to fit different case studies, considering their own challenges and their spatial and temporal scales, which gives it a competitive advantage over other methodologies focused on analysing the nexus. Graphical abstarct

Exploring “big picture” scenarios for resilience in social–ecological systems: transdisciplinary cross-impact balances modeling in the Red River Basin - Anita Lazurko; Vanessa Schweizer; Derek Armitage (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Climate change is increasing the frequency and the severity of extreme events in river basins around the world. Efforts to build resilience to these impacts are complicated by the social–ecological interactions, cross-scale feedbacks, and diverse actor interests that influence the dynamics of change in social–ecological systems (SESs). In this study, we aimed to explore big-picture scenarios of a river basin under climate change by characterizing future change as emergent from interactions between diverse efforts to build resilience and a complex, cross-scale SES. To do so, we facilitated a transdisciplinary scenario modeling process structured by the cross-impact balances (CIB) method, a semi-quantitative method that applies systems theory to generate internally consistent narrative scenarios from a network of interacting drivers of change. Thus, we also aimed to explore the potential for the CIB method to surface diverse perspectives and drivers of change in SESs. We situated this process in the Red River Basin, a transboundary basin shared by the United States and Canada where significant natural climatic variability is worsened by climate change. The process generated 15 interacting drivers ranging from agricultural markets to ecological integrity, generating eight consistent scenarios that are robust to model uncertainty. The scenario analysis and the debrief workshop reveal important insights, including the transformative changes required to achieve desirable outcomes and the cornerstone role of Indigenous water rights. In sum, our analysis surfaced significant complexities surrounding efforts to build resilience and affirmed the potential for the CIB method to generate unique insights about the trajectory of SESs.

Embedding animals within a definition of sustainability - Matt Drury; Janet Fuller; John Hoeks (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Current definitions of sustainability and sustainable development are problematic. They reinforce the dominant capitalist paradigm of economic growth as a goal—a system which has contributed in no uncertain terms to the current state of the planet—and they exclude animals as moral entities. We propose that sustainability is primarily an ethical issue which connects people, the planet on which we live, and the animals and other organisms which inhabit it. Our definition of sustainability states that in all decisions and actions on any scale, from the individual to the institutional, we should minimise our immediate and future negative impact on humans, other animals, and the planet, while simultaneously maximising our positive impacts on these domains. We take an interdisciplinary approach in discussing trade-offs between these three broad interests, providing a rationale for adopting this more inclusive definition at every level of society. Our definition calls for a normative shift in discussions around sustainability, one of which is more inclusive of the animals and other organisms with which we share the planet. We believe that the paper forms a strong and coherent foundation for policy and communication about sustainability going forward.

Towards an institutional “landscape” view of modern money creation mechanisms and some reflections on their ecological significance - Andrew Hook (Sustainability Science, 2023)
In recent years, a number of different strands within heterodox economic thinking have successfully provided more empirically robust and sociologically informed analyses of how money gets created. However, there is a tendency within these analyses to discuss the different money creation theories and institutional practices in isolation, inhibiting a broader audience from grasping the whole institutional picture. By integrating contemporary heterodox theories and the latest empirical evidence, this article therefore attempts to develop a “landscape” view of modern money creation that visualizes and explains the different ways that modern money is created. It suggests that, while it is ultimately only commercial banks that can “create” new bank deposits in customers’ accounts, this may be initiated by one of three institutional mechanisms: by customers “borrowing new money into existence” when commercial banks make loans; by central banks creating new money when they purchase assets such as government bonds from investors; and by the government “spending new money into existence”. The article also reflects on how a clearer institutional understanding of these processes may be helpful in improving our overall capacity to think about how money creation may better serve current urgent social and environmental needs, especially in the post-COVID-19 context.

Disentangling the practice of landscape approaches: a Q-method analysis on experiences in socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes - Mario Torralba; Maiko Nishi; Miguel A. Cebrián-Piqueras; Cristina Quintas-Soriano; María García-Martín; Tobias Plieninger (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Landscape approaches are gaining momentum in both scientific and policy agendas. However, landscape approaches comprise a multitude of concepts, approaches and principles, which are in part similar, in some parts different or even contradictory. In this paper, we used a Q-method questionnaire to explore how landscape approaches are understood and employed in 45 case studies of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes derived from the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI), as well as the motivations for employing them. Our analysis revealed that all landscape approaches pursued very similar goals, namely to ensure that local communities as landscape stewards have the capacity to preserve context-specific values in the face of socio-economic and environmental changes. The tools for reaching such goals are built upon people and nature feedback dynamics that crystalize in rich biodiversity and local ecological knowledge. However, our analysis also showed that the means to reach those goals differed depending on many contextual factors, such as the dominant ecosystems and socio-economic activities in the landscape, the constellation of actors or the most relevant drivers of change affecting the social–ecological system. In particular, we identified four distinct lenses in which landscapes approaches are applied in practice to landscape sustainability: (1) for the preservation of natural values, (2) for the preservation of socio-cultural values, (3) for the promotion of social justice and participatory governance, and (4) for securing food security and local livelihoods. Our results showed an association between the choice of a lens and the value types motivating the use of a landscape approach. Relational values were associated with a focus on landscape conservation and safeguard of social–ecological values. Our study highlights the relevant and beneficial role of landscape approaches as a boundary concept and emphasizes the need for transdisciplinary and participatory methods within landscape research and practice to navigate the context-specific options for implementation of landscape approaches.

Upscaling agroforestry in the tropics through actor-networks: a comparative case study of cacao farming systems in two regions of Colombia - Tatiana Rodríguez; Michelle Bonatti; Katharina Löhr; Aura Bravo; Martha Del Río; Marcos Lana; Stefan Sieber (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Agroforestry systems (AFS) upscaling has the potential to integrate sustainability and resilience objectives into agriculture. However, this is a daunting task requiring multi-actor collaboration across public and private sectors at multiple governance levels, coupled with innovative approaches to jointly managing AFS knowledge. Understanding such multi-actor interactions from a network perspective may help to unravel how social structures, created by relational patterns enhance or hinder AFS upscaling. Our paper aims to comparatively explore the role of regional actor-networks on AFS upscaling for a selected farming system. By conducting semi-structured interviews, we collected information about the ties of 86 actors supporting cacao agroforestry systems (CAFS) across two regions of Colombia. We use social network analysis (SNA) to comparatively visualize and understand the general structure of these networks, find relational patterns between the diverse categories of actors involved, and identify a set of key players bridging the majority of the actors within these networks. We find highly centralized networks that connect multiple actors by a low number of mostly non-reciprocal ties. Within these networks, we identify a predominance of bridging ties over bonding ties, homophily patterns among research and education institutions, and heterophily configurations among farmer-based organizations. We also find that the composition of the sets of key actors and the platforms where they converge varies substantially from region to region due to decentralized agricultural policies and differing characteristics across regions. Our approach provides key entry points for promoting multi-actor coalitions that can effectively expand the benefits of AFS in tropical agricultural systems.

Panarchy theory for convergence - Shana M. Sundstrom; David G. Angeler; Jesse Bell; Michael Hayes; Jennifer Hodbod; Babak Jalalzadeh-Fard; Rezaul Mahmood; Elizabeth VanWormer; Craig R. Allen (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Aligning the Global Delta Risk Index with SDG and SFDRR global frameworks to assess risk to socio-ecological systems in river deltas - Emilie Cremin; Jack O’Connor; Sumana Banerjee; Ly Ha Bui; Abhra Chanda; Hieu Hong Hua; Da Van Huynh; Hue Le; Sonia Binte Murshed; Salehin Mashfiqus; Anh Vu; Zita Sebesvari; et al. (Sustainability Science, 2023)
River deltas globally are highly exposed and vulnerable to natural hazards and are often over-exploited landforms. The Global Delta Risk Index (GDRI) was developed to assess multi-hazard risk in river deltas and support decision-making in risk reduction interventions in delta regions. Disasters have significant impacts on the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, despite the strong interlinkage between disaster risk reduction and sustainable development, global frameworks are still developed in isolation and actions to address them are delegated to different institutions. Greater alignment between frameworks would both simplify monitoring progress towards disaster risk reduction and sustainable development and increase capacity to address data gaps in relation to indicator-based assessments for both processes. This research aims at aligning the GDRI indicators with the SDGs and the Sendai Framework for Disaster and Risk Reduction (SFDRR). While the GDRI has a modular indicator library, the most relevant indicators for this research were selected through a delta-specific impact chain designed in consultation with experts, communities and stakeholders in three delta regions: the Red River and Mekong deltas in Vietnam and the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) delta in Bangladesh and India. We analyse how effectively the 143 indicators for the GDRI match (or not) the SDG and SFDRR global frameworks. We demonstrate the interconnections of the different drivers of risk to better inform risk management and in turn support delta-level interventions towards improved sustainability and resilience of these Asian mega-deltas.

Valuation of student-led agricultural activities at university: comparison of willingness to pay with inferred values - Ryo Sakurai; Takuro Uehara (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Agricultural fields in university campuses can improve urban nutrition security, increase greenery, and provide opportunities for students to grow crops and enhance self-management skills. We conducted student surveys among freshmen in two different years (2016 and 2020) to understand their willingness to pay (WTP) for donations toward student-led agricultural activities. In order to mitigate the social desirability bias, we also asked students’ inferred WTP and compared that with conventional WTP. We found that inferred values could determine more conservative and realistic estimations of students’ donations than conventional WTP. Full model regression analysis using logit model estimation showed that students’ interest and engagement in pro-environmental behaviors increased WTP for student-led agricultural activities. In conclusion, such projects are economically feasible through student donations.

Correction: Regenerative agriculture: a potentially transformative storyline shared by nine discourses - Ethan Gordon; Federico Davila; Chris Riedy (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Diverse types of knowledge on a plate: a multi-perspective and multi-method approach for the transformation of urban food systems towards sustainable diets - Marta López Cifuentes; Marianne Penker; Lisa Kaufmann; Fritz Wittmann; Valentin Fiala; Christina Gugerell; Christian Lauk; Fridolin Krausmann; Michael Eder; Bernhard Freyer (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Urbanization processes are accompanied by growing global challenges for food systems. Urban actors are increasingly striving to address these challenges through a focus on sustainable diets. However, transforming food systems towards more sustainable diets is challenging and it is unclear what the local scope of action might be. Co-production of knowledge between science and non-science is particularly useful for analysing context-specific solutions and promise to result in more robust socio-economic, political and technical solutions. Thus, this paper aims to integrate different types and sources of knowledge to understand urban food systems transformation towards a more sustainable diet in Vienna; and, second, to analyse and reflect on the difficulties and ways forward to integrate diverse actors’ perspectives, multiple methods and epistemologies. We created different future scenarios that illustrate the synergies and trade-offs of various bundles of measures and the interactions among single dimensions of sustainable diets. These scenarios show that there is plenty of scope for local action, but co-ordination across diverse groups, interests, and types of knowledge is necessary to overcome lock-ins.

Regenerative agriculture: a potentially transformative storyline shared by nine discourses - Ethan Gordon; Federico Davila; Chris Riedy (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Modern agriculture is underpinned by a colonial, industrial and productivist discourse. Agricultural practices inspired by this discourse have fed billions but degraded socio-ecological systems. Regenerative agriculture (RA) is a prominent alternative seeking to transform food production and repair ecosystems. This paper proposes that RA discourse is supported by a shared storyline binding diverse actors and discourses together—a discourse coalition. Consequently, multiple discourses contribute to the over-arching discourse of RA. A discourse analysis was conducted on texts from ninety-six organisations and complimented by twenty-two interviews in Australia and the USA. This analysis identified nine discourses contributing to RA discourse: Restoration for Profit; Big Picture Holism; Regenerative Organic; Regrarian Permaculture; Regenerative Cultures; Deep Holism; First Nations; Agroecology and Food Sovereignty; and Subtle Energies. This paper describes and examines these component discourses and discusses tensions that may make RA vulnerable to co-optation and greenwashing, diluting its transformative potential.

Pathways to climate justice: transformation pathway narratives in the Belgian climate movement - Ewoud Vandepitte (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Utilization of urban agriculture to enhance urban sustainability: investigating people’s heterogeneous preferences for proximity to urban agriculture through a choice experiment - Shinsuke Kyoi (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Degrowth and agri-food systems: a research agenda for the critical social sciences - Leonie Guerrero Lara; Laura van Oers; Jacob Smessaert; Julia Spanier; Guilherme Raj; Giuseppe Feola (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Degrowth has become a recognised paradigm for identifying and critiquing systemic unsustainability rooted in the capitalist, growth-compelled economy. Increasingly, degrowth is discussed in relation to specific economic sectors such as the agri-food system. This paper builds on the foundational work of Gerber (2020) and Nelson and Edwards (2021). While both publications take a rather specific analytical or disciplinary focus—the former specifically connects critical agrarian studies and degrowth, the latter explores the contributions of the recent volume ‘Food for degrowth’—this paper takes stock of the emerging body of literature on degrowth and agri-food systems more broadly. It proposes research avenues that deepen, expand and diversify degrowth research on agri-food systems in four areas: (i) degrowth conceptualisations; (ii) theorisation of transformations towards sustainability; (iii) the political economy of degrowth agri-food systems; and (iv) rurality and degrowth. Together, these avenues devote due attention to a variety of agents (ranging from translocal networks to non-humans), spaces (e.g. the rural), theories (e.g. sustainability transitions and transformations towards sustainability) and policies (of the agricultural sector and beyond) that thus far have received limited attention within the degrowth literature. The critical social science perspective on degrowth agri-food systems, which is advanced in this paper, illuminates that the present unsustainability and injustice of hegemonic agri-food systems are not merely a problem of that sector alone, but rather are ingrained in the social imaginaries of how economies and societies should work as well as in the political–economic structures that uphold and reproduce these imaginaries.

Correction: Projecting population distribution under depopulation conditions in Japan: scenario analysis for future socio-ecological systems - Keiko Hori; Osamu Saito; Shizuka Hashimoto; Takanori Matsui; Rumana Akter; Kazuhiko Takeuchi (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Correction: How public catering accelerates sustainability: a German case study - Melanie Speck; Lynn Wagner; Felix Buchborn; Fara Steinmeier; Silke Friedrich; Nina Langen (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Diverse approaches to nature recovery are needed to meet the varied needs of people and nature - Rowan Dunn-Capper; Laura C. Quintero-Uribe; Henrique M. Pereira; Christopher J. Sandom (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Conservation and restoration projects often fail to engage local communities during the planning and implementation stage. In addition, when considering urban boundary ecosystems, there exists a wide range of stakeholders that must be involved in the planning process to ensure social equity in land management outcomes. Traditional methods for assessing future landscape change scenarios have been critiqued for their inability to adequately incorporate the diverse range of stakeholder values. This paper presents a multicriteria mapping study, incorporating a novel application of the Nature Futures Framework, to assess nature recovery scenarios on Brighton and Hove’s Downland Estate—an urban boundary landscape surrounding the city of Brighton and Hove in Sussex, South East England. We focus on two key research outcomes. First, we assess the perceived performance of alternative nature recovery options across Nature Future value perspectives and between contrasting stakeholder groups. Second, by mapping stakeholder values from our multicriteria mapping study, we demonstrate that the Nature Futures Framework provides a robust framework within which to assess the diverse values stakeholders hold for land use change. We propose that utilizing the Nature Futures Framework, in combination with the multicriteria mapping interview technique, can form a valuable tool to elicit stakeholder values that may have been hidden, or underrepresented in traditional assessment methods, and to compare the perceived performance of alternative nature recovery scenarios between stakeholder groups.

Exploring bioproduction systems in socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes in Asia through solution scanning using the Nature Futures Framework - Shruti Ashish Lahoti; Susanti Withaningsih; Laizha Lomente; Chiho Kamiyama; Catherine De Luna; Mesfin Sahle; Annas Dwitri Malik; Pampang Parikesit; Juan Pulhin; Shizuka Hashimoto; Osamu Saito (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Social–ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS) are an essential source of livelihood for people worldwide; however, they are experiencing challenges due to climate and ecological systems’ change affecting their bioproduction mechanisms. These externally influenced drivers challenge their relevance, which calls for the revitalization of these systems focusing on sustainable use and management of resources with increased socio-ecological resilience and improved economic viability. In response, this study was conducted by reviewing the literature on 90 bioproduction systems in SEPLS across three countries in Asia, Japan, Philippines and Indonesia. Through a solution scanning exercise, the study aims to identify the driver of change, the involvement of stakeholders, and the prominent response types considered during their revival. The recorded 348 policy responses are filtered using the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment-based response typology to systematically categorize the scanned solutions, and the Nature Futures Framework (NFF) to capture the linked pluralistic values. In addition to the solutions, the study captured the drivers of change and other characteristics of the bioproduction system. Overall, the stakeholder engagement, the solution type, and pathways to achieve the NFF perspectives vary across the countries. In all study countries, the change in natural, physical, and biological systems and challenges posed by land use change are the key direct driver. Indirect drivers in Japan are mainly associated with demographic change, while in the Philippines and Indonesia, they are socio-political and technological challenges, respectively. The NFF filtering indicates a stronger lean toward a ‘Nature as Culture/One with Nature’ perspective, achieved through solutions targeting sociocultural and behavioral change and community-based management. The solutions and the filtering allowed an understanding of the differing approaches, which can guide other bioproduction systems in enhancing their socio-economic resilience and bringing transformative change to SEPLS.

Bringing the Nature Futures Framework to life: creating a set of illustrative narratives of nature futures - América Paz Durán; Jan J. Kuiper; Ana Paula Dutra Aguiar; William W. L. Cheung; Mariteuw Chimère Diaw; Ghassen Halouani; Shizuka Hashimoto; Maria A. Gasalla; Garry D. Peterson; Machteld A. Schoolenberg; Rovshan Abbasov; Lilibeth A. Acosta; et al. (Sustainability Science, 2023)
To halt further destruction of the biosphere, most people and societies around the globe need to transform their relationships with nature. The internationally agreed vision under the Convention of Biological Diversity—Living in harmony with nature—is that “By 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people”. In this context, there are a variety of debates between alternative perspectives on how to achieve this vision. Yet, scenarios and models that are able to explore these debates in the context of “living in harmony with nature” have not been widely developed. To address this gap, the Nature Futures Framework has been developed to catalyse the development of new scenarios and models that embrace a plurality of perspectives on desirable futures for nature and people. In this paper, members of the IPBES task force on scenarios and models provide an example of how the Nature Futures Framework can be implemented for the development of illustrative narratives representing a diversity of desirable nature futures: information that can be used to assess and develop scenarios and models whilst acknowledging the underpinning value perspectives on nature. Here, the term illustrative reflects the multiple ways in which desired nature futures can be captured by these narratives. In addition, to explore the interdependence between narratives, and therefore their potential to be translated into scenarios and models, the six narratives developed here were assessed around three areas of the transformative change debate, specifically, (1) land sparing vs. land sharing, (2) Half Earth vs. Whole Earth conservation, and (3) green growth vs. post-growth economic development. The paper concludes with an assessment of how the Nature Futures Framework could be used to assist in developing and articulating transformative pathways towards desirable nature futures.

From reflection diaries to practical guidance for transdisciplinary research: learnings from a Kenyan air pollution project - Heather D. Price; Cressida J. Bowyer; Patrick Büker; Cindy M. Gray; Matthew Hahn; Fiona Lambe; Miranda Loh; Alexander J. Medcalf; Timothy Kamau Njoora; Charlotte Waelde; Megan Wainwright; Sarah E. West (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Transdisciplinary research (TDR) approaches have been cited as essential for overcoming the intractable sustainability challenges that the world is currently facing, including air pollution, water management and climate change. However, such approaches can be difficult to undertake in practice and can consequently fail to add value. Therefore, examples of what works in practice (and what does not) are helpful to guide future research. In this study, we used a conceptual TDR framework as the basis to examine and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of our approach in a project exploring air pollution in an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. Reflection diaries exploring experiences of participation in the project were undertaken by the project team (comprising academic and community partners) at multiple time points throughout the project. These reflection diaries played an important role in evaluation and for providing space for team learning. Diaries were thematically coded according to the TDR framework to explore aspects of the project that worked well, and areas which presented challenges. We draw upon our reflections, and the extant literature, to make practical recommendations for researchers undertaking TDR projects in future. Recommendations focus on three key project stages (pre-funding, funded period, post-funding) and include; building the team in a way that includes all key stakeholders in relevant and appropriate roles, giving everyone sufficient time to work on the project, and ensuring regular and open communication. Building these recommendations into the design and delivery of transdisciplinary sustainability science projects will support progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Discrepant implicit and explicit attitudes toward climate change: implications for climate change communications - Yuanchao Gong; Shuai Wang; Yang Li; Yan Sun (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Reasoning by analogy and the transdisciplinarian’s circle: on the problem of knowledge transfer across cases in transdisciplinary research - Jaana Eigi-Watkin; Inkeri Koskinen (Sustainability Science, 2023)
In their 2018 paper, Carolina Adler, Gertrude Hirsch Hadorn, Thomas Breu, Urs Wiesmann, and Christian Pohl propose that transferability of knowledge across cases in transdisciplinary research should be thought of in terms of arguments by analogy. We aim to advance this discussion about transferability by examining it in the light of recent ideas about knowledge transfer, extrapolation, and external validity in the philosophy of science. We problematise Adler et al.’s proposal by identifying the ‘transdisciplinarian’s circle’, due to which even knowledge that could be of use in other projects may be identified too late for efficient knowledge transfer to take place. We then suggest that Steel’s ideas on overcoming the ‘extrapolator’s circle’ can serve as a source of inspiration for addressing the issue of the transdisciplinarian’s circle.

Leveraging plural valuations of mangroves for climate interventions in Indonesia - Michelle Ann Miller; Prayoto Tonoto (Sustainability Science, 2023)

The spectrum of knowledge: integrating knowledge dimensions in the context of forests and climate change - Janina Priebe; Isabella Hallberg-Sramek; Elsa Reimerson; Erland Mårald (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Integrated approaches to knowledge that recognize meaning, behavior, culture, and systems as domains of knowledge are increasingly employed in holistic views on sustainability transformation but often remain conceptually driven. In this study, we analyze empirical data from a collaborative process with local forest stakeholders in Sweden through the lens of individual, collective, interior, and exterior knowledge dimensions. We show that the participants’ understanding of knowledge about forests and climate change presents a nuanced picture of how knowledge and acting are connected. Meaning-making, cultural frames, and techno-scientific knowledge conceptions converge, interact, and, at times, replace or diminish each other. The connection and interplay of these dimensions, we suggest, can be understood as a knowledge spectrum. These insights into integrated knowledge, based on an empirical case, must be addressed in the production of knowledge, both to grasp the climate and sustainability issues that face us and to support action in response to them.

Correction to: Development of a method for downscaling ecological footprint and biocapacity to a 1-km square resolution - Keiko Hori; Shuji Shirahama; Shizuka Hashimoto; Osamu Saito; Takanori Matsui; Chihiro Haga (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Process ownership in science–practice collaborations: the special role of transdisciplinary processes in sustainable transitioning - Roland W. Scholz; Gerald Steiner (Sustainability Science, 2023)
The complexity and importance of environmental, societal, and other challenges require new forms of science and practice collaboration. We first describe the complementarity of method-driven, theory-based, and (to the extent possible) validated scientific knowledge in contrast to real-world, action-based, and contextualized experimental knowledge. We argue that a thorough integration of these two modes of knowing is necessary for developing ground-breaking innovations and transitions for sustainable development. To reorganize types of science–practice collaborations, we extend Stokes’s Pasteur’s quadrant with its dimensions for the relevance of (i) (generalized) fundamental knowledge and (ii) applications when introducing (iii) process ownership, i.e., who controls the science–practice collaboration process. Process ownership is a kind of umbrella variable which comprises leadership (with the inflexion point of equal footing or co-leadership) and mutuality (this is needed for knowledge integration and developing socially robust orientations) which are unique selling points of transdisciplinarity. The extreme positions of process ownership are applied research (science takes control) and consulting (practice takes process ownership). Ideal transdisciplinary processes include authentic co-definition, co-representation, co-design, and co-leadership of science and practice. We discuss and grade fifteen approaches on science–practice collaboration along the process ownership scale and reflect on the challenges to make transdisciplinarity real.

Making sense of power through transdisciplinary sustainability research: insights from a Transformative Power Lab - Tessa de Geus; Flor Avelino; Marta Strumińska-Kutra; Magdalena Pitzer; Julia M. Wittmayer; Lara Hendrikx; Vaishali Joshi; Naomi Schrandt; Linda Widdel; Maria Fraaije; Marfuga Iskandarova; Sabine Hielscher; et al. (Sustainability Science, 2023)
If transdisciplinary sustainability research is to contribute to sustainability transitions, issues of power dynamics need to be understood and accounted for. However, examples of concrete methods that put this into practice are sparse. This paper presents a conceptual and methodological framework that develops a better understanding of the power phenomenon, while providing actionable knowledge. By focussing on the context of social innovation in energy transitions, we demonstrate how different theoretical conceptualisations of power can be translated into a collaborative, transdisciplinary research design. In a facilitated process, researchers, policy workers and practitioners from diverse social innovation fields developed and tested the Transformative Power Lab approach and co-wrote a ‘Power Guide’ as a strategic exploration of power dynamics in sustainability transitions, specifically regarding social innovation in energy transitions. Based on the insights that emerged during this process, we discuss how transdisciplinary and action-oriented approaches in sustainability transition studies might benefit from this approach and, potentially, develop it further.

Strategic agency and learning in sustainability initiatives driving transformation: the symphony tool for ecosystem-based marine spatial planning - Linn Järnberg; Gregor Vulturius; Filippa Ek (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Ecosystem-based management and marine spatial planning (MSP) represent novel approaches intended to transform marine governance and improve ecosystems. The transformation can be supported by sustainability initiatives such as decision-support tools, which inform changes in management strategies and practices. This study illustrates the potential and challenges of such sustainability initiatives to promote deliberative transformative change in marine governance systems. Specifically, it focuses on the amplification processes of the Symphony tool for ecosystem-based MSP in Sweden. Our findings suggest that the amplification of sustainability initiatives is driven by informal networks, coalition forming, resource mobilization skills, a shared vision, trust, experimentation, and social learning. Our results also highlight that in the face of institutional challenges such as sparse financial resources, uncertain institutional support, and divided ownership, a strategic way forward is to simultaneously work on parallel amplification processes, as they may enable each other. Further, we find that a key challenge in amplification across governance scales is the need for significant adjustments of the original innovation, to meet differing needs and competences. This highlights the broader challenge of achieving transformative change across scales in heterogenous and fragmented multilevel governance systems. Co-production of knowledge and early stakeholder interaction to ensure accessibility and availability can improve the chances of successful amplification. To move beyond a mechanistic understanding of steps and processes, future research on sustainability initiatives should consider the interplay between strategic agency, social learning, and institutional context in driving amplification processes.

Development of a method for downscaling ecological footprint and biocapacity to a 1-km square resolution - Keiko Hori; Shuji Shirahama; Shizuka Hashimoto; Osamu Saito; Takanori Matsui; Chihiro Haga (Sustainability Science, 2023)
In this study, we propose a method for downscaling ecological footprint (EF) and biocapacity (BC) to a 1-km square resolution for a spatially flexible analysis of environmental burden balance. To conduct EF downscaling (by land type and consumption category) for all terrestrial areas of Japan, the grid population was multiplied by the scaled EF per capita based on the consumption expenditures and income statistics available at the municipal level. The BC of each land type was estimated following the land-use map. Subsequently, a balance analysis between EF and BC showed the spatial distribution of EF, BC, and the environmental load excess ratio (EF/BC). The values of the environmental load excess ratio significantly varied between grids, and the spatial distributions differed depending on the land type. An example of multiscale balance analysis at municipal and prefectural scales by the developed dataset showed the different distributions of the environmental load excess ratio due to the scale of spatial boundaries and demonstrated its contribution to designing interregional cooperative policies from a multilayered perspective. The established high-resolution dataset can be utilized practically for flexibly analyzing the multilayered spatial boundaries to fill the scale mismatch between natural resources and administrative boundaries. The downscaling method proposed in this study can be applied beyond Japan if similar sets of statistics and land-use information are available, which will significantly improve the spatial resolution of the analysis.

Intrapersonal capacities for sustainability: a change agent perspective on the ‘inner dimension’ of sustainability work - James Ayers; Merlina Missimer; Jayne Bryant (Sustainability Science, 2023)
An ongoing discussion in education for sustainable development (ESD) research has focused on defining a list of agreed upon sustainability competencies required for the work of sustainability change agents. This discussion has included the consideration of an ‘Intrapersonal’ perspective that considers the role of inner qualities in change agents and how this impacts their ability to implement sustainability. While many researchers have looked at the ‘inner dimension’ of sustainability work, the identification and function of an ‘Intrapersonal’ competence remains in question. Utilizing practitioner responses, this paper identifies eight Intrapersonal capacities that change agents described as beneficial to their implementation of sustainability. These capacities are the ability to: Hold complexity, Foster a learner’s mindset, Deeply value others, Let be, Show up as one’s full self, Regulate and manage the self, Persist with lightness and Ensure one’s wellbeing. The study provides insights into the identification of the capacities and their relationship to a wider Intrapersonal research field. It also discusses the implications this perspective has on education for sustainable development should it consider incorporating such capacities into teaching and learning. While much literature in the field is of conceptual nature, this paper offers an empirical contribution by including the voice and perspective of change agents to the Intrapersonal discussion.

Water trading as a tool to combat economic losses in agriculture under climate change - Xiaoliang Han; Proloy Deb; Nicholas R. Magliocca; Denis Nadolnyak; Hamed Moftakhari; Ruchie Pathak; Hamid Moradkhani (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Correction: From shops to bins: a case study of consumer attitudes and behaviours towards plastics in a UK coastal city - Stephanie Lucy Northen; Laura Karoliina Nieminen; Serena Cunsolo; Steven Kator Iorfa; Keiron Philip Roberts; Stephen Fletcher (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Science under pressure: how research is being challenged by the 2030 Agenda - Leonie Büttner; Marianne Darbi; Annegret Haase; Kurt Jax; Robert Lepenies; Jörg Priess; Walther Zeug (Sustainability Science, 2023)
In this comment, we scrutinize how research is being challenged by the 2030 Agenda and what may be required for research to contribute to transformative change toward sustainability. Building on the current debate and state of knowledge, we argue that we need a stronger engagement with norms and values within science. Conflicting goals, values and visions need to be made explicit and taken into account in the (co-)production of knowledge in a transparent way. This requires the ability for normative reflection on the part of scientists, both about the norms at play and their own role. To produce transformative-oriented knowledge needed for the implementation of the sustainable development goals, we argue, fundamental changes are required within the science system, from the production to the assessment of knowledge.

Using the three horizons approach to explore pathways towards positive futures for agricultural landscapes with rich biodiversity - Tamara Schaal; Michael Mitchell; Ben C. Scheele; Paul Ryan; Jan Hanspach (Sustainability Science, 2023)
In light of the global challenges of the Anthropocene, including biodiversity loss, there are increasing calls for positive, inspirational futures to motivate action and help steer away from current, largely unsustainable trajectories. The three horizons framework is an approach in future studies that engages with normative futures and helps develop pathways towards them. However, this approach has not been applied to explore opportunities for biodiversity conservation with farming communities. We developed a template to apply the three horizons framework in combination with storytelling to explore positive futures for agricultural landscapes with rich biodiversity. We then applied this method over two workshops with a rural community in a farming landscape of south-eastern Australia facing typical contemporary challenges of an ageing population, climate change, biodiversity loss and global market uncertainty. In the workshops, six pathways for change were developed. We unpack these narratives of change to contrast problem framings, future aspirations and mechanisms of change and discuss implications for conservation. We discuss our approach to integrating diverse perspectives and values, creating actionable knowledge and highlight the role of governance and policy to support individual and collective agency. We conclude that the three horizons approach has the potential to create actionable knowledge through locally meaningful narratives of change, and thus influence priorities and empower local action. For lasting on-ground change, leadership and effective cross-scale governance is required.

A leverage points perspective on Arctic Indigenous food systems research: a systematic review - Silja Zimmermann; Brian J. Dermody; Bert Theunissen; Martin J. Wassen; Lauren M. Divine; Veronica M. Padula; Henrik von Wehrden; Ine Dorresteijn (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Arctic food systems are increasingly challenged by rapid climate change, loss of food security and subsequent weakening of food sovereignty, and destabilization of Indigenous practices. Despite growing scientific knowledge on Arctic food systems, Indigenous communities continue to struggle with a plethora of sustainability challenges. To develop a systemic understanding of these challenges, we performed a systematic review of 526 articles published between 1998 and 2021 on Arctic Indigenous food systems. We used the leverage points framework to structure our analysis to understand to what extent the existing Western scientific body of literature provides the necessary knowledge to understand the food system characteristics that give rise to the current sustainability challenges. We combined deductive qualitative and inductive quantitative approaches to identify gaps in the systemic understanding of Arctic Indigenous food systems. We characterized existing research across the four levels of systemic depth—parameters, feedbacks, design, intent—and identified promising directions for future research. Our analyses show that research on food systems is clustered within six main domains, we term environmental contaminants, diet and health, food security, food culture and economy, changing socio-ecological systems and marine and coast. Based on our analysis, we identify three directions for future research that we believe to be of particular importance to enable sustainability transformations of Arctic Indigenous food systems: (i) the decolonization of research practices, (ii) acknowledging the significance of systemic interdependencies across shallow and deep leverage points, and (iii) transdisciplinary action-oriented research collaborations directing transformative system interventions.

From shops to bins: a case study of consumer attitudes and behaviours towards plastics in a UK coastal city - Stephanie Lucy Northen; Laura Karoliina Nieminen; Serena Cunsolo; Steven Kator Iorfa; Keiron Philip Roberts; Stephen Fletcher (Sustainability Science, 2023)
Understanding the use behaviours of plastic items within households is important to enable informed policy development, particularly with the emerging and developing global plastic treaty. A survey of 400 permanent residents in Portsmouth aimed to identify the general trends in single-use plastic product (SUPP) use and disposal, and their personal motivations and barriers to reducing and recycling plastic. This included identifying common influencers of attitudes such as environmental values, situational characteristics, psychological factors and the individual demographic characteristics of residents. Key factors in consumer behaviour were found to be product availability, affordability and convenience. Often, less conveniently recycled plastics more frequently end up in landfill such as films, shopping bags and personal care items. The age of respondents was found to be the most significantly associated demographic with SUPP consumption, reuse and recycling behaviours. Other demographic variables such as a resident’s location within the city, income and vehicle ownership were potential drivers influencing individual attitudes and their incentives towards reducing and recycling their plastic waste. The findings from this study brought to light the importance of effective local plastic governance. This study also identified consumer perceptions and behaviours that could contribute to future holistic plastic policy recommendations.

Sustainability of urban expansion in Africa: a systematic literature review using the Drivers–Pressures–State–Impact–Responses (DPSIR) framework - Kamaldeen Yussif; Eric Brako Dompreh; Alexandros Gasparatos (Sustainability Science, 2023)

Implementing post-normal science with or for EU policy actors: using quantitative story-telling - Kirsty L. Blackstock; K. A. Waylen; K. B. Matthews; A. Juarez-Bourke; D. G. Miller; A. Hague; D. H. Wardell-Johnson; M. Giampietro (Sustainability Science, 2023)
There is increasing recognition of the wicked nature of the intertwined climate, biodiversity and economic crises, and the need for adaptive, multi-scale approaches to understanding the complexity of both the problems and potential responses. Most science underpinning policy responses to sustainability issues, however, remains overtly apolitical and focussed on technical innovation; at odds with a critical body of literatures insisting on the recognition of systemic problem framing when supporting policy processes. This paper documents the experience of implementing a mixed method approach called quantitative story-telling (QST) to policy analysis that explicitly recognises this normative dimension, as the methodology is part of a post-normal science (PNS) toolkit. The authors reflect on what was learnt when considering how QST fared as a tool for science–policy interaction, working with European Union (EU) level policy actors interested in sustainable agriculture and sustainable development goal 2. These goals—also known as UN Agenda 2030—are the latest institutionalisation of the pursuit of sustainable development and the EU has positioned itself as taking a lead in its implementation. Thus, the paper illustrates our experience of using PNS as an approach to science policy interfaces in a strategic policy context; and illustrates how the challenges identified in the science–policy literature are amplified when working across multiple policy domains and taking a complex systems approach. Our discussion on lessons learnt may be of interest to researchers seeking to work with policy-makers on complex sustainability issues.