Sustainability Science

What causes some systems essential for human survival to endure and others to collapse? The social–ecological systems (SES) framework provides an analytical basis for the study of linkages between ecological and social systems, and of system dynamics. Human intervention in managed ecosystems causes their departure from natural dynamics in ways that can reduce or enhance sustainability. We study the interactions between social and ecological components of SES using a model that integrates stocks and flows of multi-capitals with the aim to understand and assess sustainability. First, multi-capitals (including economic, human, cultural, social, physical, and natural capital) and their flows are functionally expressed in terms of their capacity to generate and hold information, similar to the biological process of generating biodiversity. Second, with organizational precedent in industrial or business “ecosystems,” these stocks and flows of information are represented as component subsystems within an SES. Third, seven ecosystem states are described in a version of the adaptive cycle adjusted to apply to multi-capital systems interacting with ecological ones. The model is used to investigate crop production in the United States as an example SES, and to illustrate how human-originating shocks can be studied for managed-ecosystem impact in ways conceptually compatible with ecological risk assessment. The model assesses tradeoffs between productivity and sustainability, likely points of failure, and information flows of complex multi-capital systems.

This article critically examines UNEP's Adaptation Gap Report 2023 (AGR2023) as a foundational source in the narrative that insufficient adaptation finance is the primary barrier to climate change adaptation and, based on this analysis, offers suggestions for future Conference of the Parties (COP) discussions on the adaptation framework. This article identifies key methodological challenges in AGR2023’s estimation of the adaptation finance gap. These issues are traced back to deeper systemic issues within the UNFCCC adaptation framework, including the misalignment of national adaptation plans (NAPs) with the UNFCCC mandate and the lack of clear boundaries for adaptation activities. The article calls for more informed and evidence-based COP discussions, which should lead to a fundamental rethinking of the adaptation framework.

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is a crucial approach for mitigating climate change by extracting CO2 from the atmosphere. Although CDR has attracted international attention, its development is still in early stages in Malaysia. This study examines public perceptions of CDR through a survey experiment involving 1050 urban households in Malaysia, in the districts of Kuala Nerus and Kuala Terengganu, who were exposed to three different sets of information about CDR methods. The results show that 79% of participants were unfamiliar with CDR technologies, and the type of information provided on the CO2 storage location—whether about plants, oceans, or rocks—did not significantly affect support or attitudes towards CDR. Analysis reveals that larger household sizes decrease the likelihood of remaining neutral about CDR by 1.3 percentage points, while males are 3.2 percentage points more likely to oppose it. Each additional year of age reduces neutrality by 0.1 percentage point, and single individuals are 11.7 percentage points less likely to strongly support CDR and 2.4 percentage points more likely to oppose it compared to married individuals. Higher income is associated with increased opposition to CDR, reflecting financial concerns. Greater concern about climate change enhances strong support for CDR by 11.8 percentage points and decreases neutrality by 18.4 percentage points. Trust in science increases strong support by 6.3 percentage points, and support for renewable energy boosts CDR support by 7.1 percentage points. These findings emphasize the influence of socioeconomic and climate-related factors on public support for CDR and provide valuable insights for implementing CDR strategies and improving public engagement.

High-altitude ecosystems are under growing human pressure as a result of unsustainable harvesting rates of the entomopathogenic fungus Opiocordyceps sinensis (hereafter cordyceps). Conservation strategies are required to ensure high-altitude ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Such conservation efforts often require quick decisions on complex issues. Typically, the challenges involve stakeholders with opposing opinions and interests, resulting in disagreement, controversy, and political conflict. However, it is unclear what effects the unsustainable harvesting of cordyceps has on how ecosystems function. There is a growing gap between the pressure on high-altitude ecosystems and our understanding of those ecosystems. How can we close this rising knowledge gap on how people and nature interact? One technique is to get quick comprehension of the many stakeholders' divergent points of view. We identified four distinct viewpoints of cordyceps harvesting and its ecological impacts using a Q methods survey of cordyceps harvesters in northern Nepal. The harvesters with community-centered viewpoints thought that local governments and local communities should work together to manage and harvest cordyceps and their habitat. Government management and regulation of the cordyceps harvest was the main viewpoint of Government-oriented harvesters. Proft-oriented harvesters prioritize profitability more than conservation and oppose the implementation and formulation of laws and regulations. Conservation-oriented harvesters thought that there was a link between cordyceps harvesting and the degradation of nature. Understanding these divergent viewpoints aids in developing improved conservation management policies to sustain ecological functioning and desired economic activity in high-altitude ecosystems.

In the face of the global food crisis, scientists are increasingly concerned about the management of natural resources. Currently, the study of socio-ecological systems represents a novel and holistic approach to sustainability science, and hence, native flora (NF) has been little studied as a food resource within traditional agricultural knowledge. In this article, through a multidisciplinary case study, we have determined the implications for the NF management within traditional agriculture. The traditional agricultural knowledge system is complex and fragile in the face of the acceleration of anthropogenic impacts on traditional food production systems. In this context, we included a novel transdisciplinary case study within the traditional agricultural system in two southeastern Mexican cities. Our research objective was to determine the implications of NF as a sustainable food resource by characterizing traditional knowledge. Consequently, we proposed to demonstrate that there is a regional-scale socio-ecological management system for NF into traditional agriculture. Our findings showed that there is a complex socio-demographic relation between management actors. In relation to NF food use, 41 traditional foods were documented based on consumption patterns and then classified into 12 food groups. Furthermore, farmers perceive the effects of climate change as the main threat to their management of NF through their traditional knowledge. Therefore, there is a narrow system of ethnobiological knowledge at a regional scale which has allowed the existence of biological resources such as traditional foods. As an epistemological contribution, we included a multidisciplinary scheme for the management of traditional food knowledge. Our findings may provide the foundational evidence for future research on NF as a sustainable food resource.

The advancement of the circular bioeconomy in the agri-food system highlights the lack of harmony in relevant conceptual components and frailties in existing solution creation and performance analysis. Thus, the goal of this study is to provide a robust framework that not only promotes circularity designs but also consolidates the varied yet complementary components of the concept in driving a consistent, inclusive, and accountable practice. To achieve this goal, a traditional scientific and gray literature analysis was conducted to establish the relevant components of circular bioeconomy practices, specifically those relevant to solution design and performance monitoring, and the status of their exploration. The identified gaps and recommendations, primarily the missing harmony between stakeholder participation, sustainability assessment, and decision analysis in solution design, were explored in an integrative manner to develop a novel and robust framework termed the circular bioeconomy accounting tool. Following recommendations on circular bioeconomy indicator development, this study also developed a circular bioefficiency index as a performance indicator that allows practitioners to compare circularity solutions through the lens of their capacity to maximize value and minimize environmental impact using weighted efficiency ratios. With the circular bioeconomy gaining exponential traction in the agri-food system and the concept regarded as not always inherently beneficial, this framework is considered timely and relevant for guiding comprehensive and accountable practice and delivering solutions that do not compromise sensitive economic, environmental, and social boundaries.

Sustainability transformations are characterized by complex system dynamics, including abstraction, non-linearity and uncertainty, which are often challenging to comprehend due to psychological barriers and misconceptions. Serious games offer a promising tool to both explore and communicate such dynamics, as they simplify complex mechanisms and enable more tangible understanding through simulations of real-world problems. This study examines how existing serious games related to sustainability transformations translate politico-economic structures and ecological patterns into game design. Furthermore, we explore how leverage points can be integrated into serious games, drawing on Donella Meadows' systems thinking approach. The review follows the PRISMA framework and encompasses 170 selected papers from Scopus and EBSCO databases. Findings of qualitative analysis reveal how existing serious games related to sustainability transformations mirror ecological, economic and political structures and show possible ways to address leverage points via game design. Subsequently, we discuss how serious games can be used as educational and research tool to both explore and teach the root causes of unsustainability as well as possible interventions. Further research is needed to evaluate how serious games can contribute to enhance understanding of system dynamics and analyze human–system interactions. We outline approaches for future research efforts and discuss questions of validity when using serious games for research purposes.

Awareness of different ethical theories can support transformation-oriented researchers in navigating value-based decisions in co-production. We synthesize and explicitly link the literature on co-production and ethical theories in philosophy to initiate this awareness. Four key decision points in co-production projects are outlined that require value-based actions: (1) what to focus on, (2) who to include, (3) how to co-create and (4) how to continue. To discuss how project actions can be examined from different ethical perspectives, we synthesize the claims of four ethical theories and discuss them in the context of co-production project choices. The four ethical theories are: deontological ethics, utilitarianism, contractualism and virtue ethics. Overall, we argue for embracing pluralistic ethical perspectives when navigating decisions in co-production projects.

To shift human behaviour towards sustainability, a complete comprehension of the approaches that lead to it is required. This study aims to review potential connections between the mindfulness state and trait and changes in human behaviour toward sustainability. Using bibliometric analysis as an innovative approach in this field, combined with an expert-driven literature review, the research builds on previous works regarding sustainability and mindfulness and fosters the research field by exploring six thematic clusters, each containing a set of specific mediators that could bridge this connection. To illustrate the relationship between mindfulness and sustainable development, a framework was developed, illustrating how mindfulness-based skills could positively influence these mediators and which dimensions of sustainable development could be further impacted by it. Moreover, a mindfulness program focused on sustainability and planetary health may be an innovative way to develop competencies related to the variables identified as mediators.

Social–ecological systems need to become more sustainable, especially in places undergoing rapid land degradation. The challenge is to reverse the depletion of natural resources while improving human well-being. This is especially critical in Africa where rural populations are often highly dependent on natural resources. Since the 1980s, several territories in Africa have initiated changes to reverse land degradation. This study aims at drawing lessons from these experiences. We identified seventeen cases of African territories that have engaged in sustainability interventions, either restoration or rehabilitation initiatives, with varying degrees of success. The key factors—grouped as information of key actors, their motivation to change practices, and their capacity to do so—that are recognized as potential success factors or obstacles for interventions towards sustainable resource use were analysed. Results highlighted the importance of maintaining a balance of factors over the long term. Managing sustainability transitions in low-income contexts requires integrating poverty-related concerns, mitigating the risks inherent to any change in practices, creating incentives for participation by all actors, and strengthening coalitions over the long term between actors around a sustainability agenda.

This paper presents school climate assemblies, conceived as an innovative educational tool for the co-creation of climate change and sustainability solutions in educational institutions and communities. It describes an intervention research project that builds on previous processes and experiences of climate citizen assemblies which have been organised in different countries across the world. School climate assemblies are conceived of as a tool that promotes the active engagement of pupils and their communities in co-creating climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies towards jointly defining innovative sustainability and climate change solutions. An intervention, piloted in five secondary schools in the Spanish region of Tarragona, is reported, presenting the main phases and steps followed. To test the effectiveness of the intervention, this paper outlines the policy climate change recommendations that emerged from the co-creation process to identify and agree on a set of actions to tackle climate change and sustainability challenges and the degree of student satisfaction with the intervention. A detailed methodology for organising school climate assemblies that can be replicated in other educational institutions, contexts and regions, is presented, enabling the widespread adoption of this innovative approach. The study emphasises the potential of co-creation methods in the educational context and underscores the critical role of education in fostering sustainability in citizens and empowering students to become active change agents in their local communities. The results lead to policy implications for integrating co-creation approaches into school curricula worldwide, aiming to empower students and drive sustainability action.

There is now widespread recognition of the need for inter/transdisciplinary (I/TD) approaches to solving global problems like climate change and biodiversity. Yet methods for successfully integrating knowledge across disciplines, and between research and practice, are in need of further development, particularly approaches that can ameliorate epistemological and ontological divides. Here we propose a framework for good listening as a ‘weak method’ that can provide guidance and structure to I/TD collaborations, but does not assume the form and goals a given collaboration will take. Synthesising the results of a scoping, interdisciplinary literature review, we highlight four key components of listening—receiving, processing, interpretation, and feedback/response—and provide a set of normative values regarding ‘good listening’ for each. Our goal is to provide a framework that is grounded in detailed scholarly discussions of listening politics and practice, but that is specifically formulated in response to the needs and concerns of I/TD researchers. We then apply our framework to four commonly encountered challenges in sustainability science, drawing on our collective experience in the field to explore how good listening can aid I/TD collaboration in regards to inclusion, group dynamics, format and pace. In doing so, we hope to inspire those working in sustainability science to approach I/TD collaboration in a new way and provide a tool for facilitating caring and transformational approaches to solving the world’s most pressing sustainability crises.

Executing a single Bitcoin transaction equates approximately to the greenhouse gas emissions of a moderate-sized electric or gasoline engine sedan vehicle traveling between 1600 and 2600 km. This research undertakes an examination of Bitcoin’s real climate problem and presents a novel framework and an in-depth analysis of Bitcoin mining’s carbon footprints based on country-specific, per transaction, and per total hashes required for mining a block. In addition, it maps the carbon footprints of global supply chains inherent in Bitcoin mining operations. We propose a life cycle assessment-based multination carbon footprint accounting method, allowing us to map both direct and indirect carbon footprints across various regional and global supply chain sectors. The findings show that approximately 50% of global emissions from Bitcoin mining are confined within the territorial boundaries of the USA. Meanwhile, China, despite its regulatory restrictions on mining, continues to play a significant role as both a major contributor to global mining emissions and a leading manufacturer and supplier of Bitcoin mining equipment. The globalized nature of Bitcoin’s supply chain suggests that localized efforts to reduce carbon emissions may fall short of addressing the full scope of the problem. For instance, while Norway’s domestic emissions from Bitcoin mining are low due to its use of renewable energy, a significant share of its emissions stems from its global supply chain, particularly from China. The findings underscore the necessity for carbon footprint reduction policies and management strategies that transcend national borders, emphasizing the importance of accounting for emissions embedded in global trade and supply chains. This research contributes to the broader discourse on sustainable cryptocurrency practices by highlighting the imperative need of a globally coordinated approach to carbon footprint management in Bitcoin mining.

Identifying research gaps and priorities is paramount to advance sustainability science and contribute to a sustainable future. This editorial contributes to this effort by contemplating the sustainability science research agenda and aligning it with recent changes in global dynamics. Drawing on consultations with the editorial board members of the Sustainability Science journal and a review of relevant literature, we identified 12 key research topics. These topics are interpreted within a strategic framework encompassing three key themes: (1) goals that drive sustainability science, (2) approaches to attain these goals, and (3) tools to advance sustainability science research. In so doing, this editorial emphasizes a sustainable development agenda extending beyond 2030, fostering equity and justice, and tackling issues related to power dynamics and geopolitical conflicts. It underscores the significance of research approaches to attaining sustainability goals, in particular, theorizing, co-production of knowledge and action, attaining clarity in conceptual descriptions, and developing systems-oriented analytical frameworks. Additionally, it highlights the value of place-based approaches, learning from significant systemic shocks, and nurturing inner transformations. It also underlines the need to explore emerging technologies and data-intensive methodologies as a tool to address sustainability concerns. The systematic contemplation of the sustainability science research agenda presented in this editorial piece aims to invoke further discussion among researchers and practitioners about a fresh and relevant agenda that promotes the sustainable integration of nature and society.

This paper focuses on the critical role of integrative leadership in inter- and transdisciplinary (ITD) research programs. ITD programs have become one of academia’s responses to address contemporary sustainability challenges. Fulfilling the promise of such programs is extraordinarily challenging for all involved participants, but especially for program leaders who have to ensure that the perspectives of the involved program participants become truly integrated and that final and useful synthesis outputs are created. We present six core leadership challenges and respective strategies to address them to advance integration within ITD programs. These challenges include (1) mastering complexity and ambiguity, (2) advancing decision-making with lateral leadership, (3) ensuring responsibility and accountability, (4) setting program boundaries, (5) selecting suitable projects, and (6) dealing with misconceptions. We derived these challenges and respective strategies from both leading and studying in-depth three ITD programs focusing on sustainability issues in Switzerland. With this paper, we intend to promote awareness about the range of leadership challenges in ITD programs and provide actionable knowledge, which can support in particular fellow and future leaders, but also funders and heads of research institutions in their efforts to realize the integrative potential of such programs. Graphical abstract Image 1: © Eawag: Lisa Deutsch & Sabine Hoffmann; Stückelberger Cartoons: Christof Stückelberger, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Large-scale forest restoration is vital for delivering a broad array of ecosystem services benefits to society. However, it is often perceived as an economically noncompetitive land use choice. Integrating economic opportunities into restoration aligns socioeconomic and environmental goals, reducing conflicts between forest production and conservation-oriented management decisions. Supply chains focusing on high-value goods can enhance the reach of forest restoration efforts and unite ecological and economic benefits in a multifunctional manner. The bioeconomy has emerged as a potential but critical driver for attracting investments in restoration. We outline the challenges and solutions to reconcile forest restoration and bioeconomy, specifically about (i) native timber production, (ii) non-timber forest products, (iii) biotechnological products, and (iv) intangible ecosystem services. This requires collaborative and multidisciplinary efforts to improve investment in large-scale projects. The intricacies of these issues intersect with research development, market dynamics, legal frameworks, and regulatory paradigms, underscoring the necessity for nuanced and tailored public policy interventions. These integrated approaches should enable tropical countries to lead the global forest-based economy and usher in a new era of forest restoration. Graphical abstract

Spanning the boundaries between research and decision-making is critical for supporting environmental management. One way to do so is through knowledge brokers who, among other things, work to build social networks among decision-makers and researchers, facilitating their interaction and exchange of knowledge. While knowledge brokering has received increasing attention in the literature, critical gaps in our knowledge limit their effective recruitment and implementation, which demands for a better understanding of the personal attributes needed for their success. Such an understanding is also necessary to support the evaluation of knowledge brokering activities. Therefore, in this study, we investigate the question ‘what are the most important attributes for being a knowledge broker at the interface of environmental research and management’, and how is knowledge brokering evaluated. We do so through the study of Australia’s National Environmental Science Program (NESP) which employs a range of professional knowledge brokers, 14 of whom participated in this study. Specifically, we performed a quantitative ranking exercise (Q-methodology) and an online survey. Results show that the most important attributes to knowledge brokering were interpersonal social competencies of a unifying nature. As such, Being good at seeing opportunities for collaboration, Being able to tailor communication to different audiences, and Being able to ask questions were the most highly ranked attributes. In the dimension of evaluation, survey results show that NESP knowledge brokers are mainly evaluated through metrics relating to immediate delivery and engagement (mostly quantitative measures) and medium-term impact on end-users (qualitative measures). However, participants envisioned better options to capture the impact/value of knowledge brokering by evaluating long-term impacts and efforts throughout the full brokering process to better capture value addition in line with their goals, strategies, and required attributes. The new knowledge generated through our findings offers an applied contribution to the practice of knowledge brokering, suggesting that knowledge brokering is a distinct and complex career whereby different knowledge brokers with complementary skill sets appear relevant to perform all tasks along a knowledge brokering timeline. As such, our results also emphasize the need for bespoke approaches to evaluation that are tailored towards the diverse goals, strategies, and personal contributions of knowledge brokers to support their career progression and maximise outcomes.

Life depends on the ocean, with societal health, cultural systems and national economies reliant on ocean processes and resources. As ocean resources are used, and humans continue to drive climate change, the benefits from the ocean to society are being diminished. Science must meet the needs of policy and deliver to decision makers the information and tools for identifying pathways that support continued delivery of the benefits society derives from the ocean, whilst minimising impacts. This is crucial if the world’s nations are to meet the goals and targets they have set under international agreements. Here, we outline how a global assessment that focuses specifically on the ocean, the World Ocean Assessment, is linking science to the governments of the world and their policies within an internationally mandated framework. In doing so, we identify key elements that are needed for facilitating engagement by decision makers and uptake of knowledge, and the pathways taken by the assessment in implementing them. We also provide insights into the evolution that the World Ocean Assessment has undertaken over its first three cycles to progress its goal of enhancing the scientific basis of policymaking. We identify the challenges in delivering science to policy at a global scale and the work that still needs to be done in filling gaps to achieve a coordinated, comprehensive mechanism for connecting science with policy and ensuring future sustainability of the ocean.

Achieving sustainable Australian food and land systems requires the rapid implementation and scaling up of a broad suite of solutions to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Decision-making frameworks are needed to identify suitable indicators and prioritise solutions at national scales to inform sustainability transitions. Using a knowledge co-production framework, we convened 150 stakeholders from 100 + organisations to identify 18 nationally relevant indicators that aligned with critical SDGs describing a sustainable food and land system for Australia, in addition to 78 key solutions (supply- and demand-side) to enable progress against these indicators. We then asked subject matter experts to code the impact of each solution on each indicator using an adapted interaction mapping method accounting for uncertainty. The solution category ‘Protecting and restoring nature’, which included solutions targeting conservation and restoration, showed the highest potential for capturing synergies and avoiding trade-offs across multiple indicators. This category exhibited 34.6% of total major synergies, supporting the achievement of clean water and sanitation (SDG6), economic growth (SDG12), life under water (SDG14), and life on land (SDG15). The solution category ‘Carbon sequestration’, which included technological and biological carbon dioxide removal solutions, had the highest number of trade-offs with individual sustainability indicators (42.3%), particularly those relating to zero hunger (SDG2), wellbeing (SDG3), SDG6, SDG14, and SDG15. Our framework can be used to inform future research investment, support the prioritisation of solutions for quantitative modelling, and inform discussions with stakeholders and policymakers for transforming national-scale food and land systems in alignment with the SDGs.

Planetary sustainability is in trouble, heading towards what pioneer of evolutionary biology, E.O Wilson, twenty-two years ago called a “bottleneck”. Created through the actions of humanity this is an increasingly narrow passage through which only some species can pass, and on which humans depend to provide the sources of re-radiation. What is lost is hard to impossible to restore. Keeping this passage as wide as possible is crucial, but the trends are not yet promising. At a time when those trends appear to be converging to a human and ecological crisis of planetary but finite duration, changed priorities are required whilst at the same time providing opportunity. In particular, strategies, such as experimental governance devised to act in the face of unknowns and uncertain knowledge provide a basis for action to hold open and successfully pass through the bottleneck, a goal which is of the highest importance for humans as we seek to achieve a sustainable future.

Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science (TRSS) inherently involves a diversity of research actors and societal actors performing a variety of roles, but it is often unclear which actors perform which roles. This paper contributes to filling this knowledge gap by examining a sample of TRSS projects selected from a French research infrastructure with a strong sustainability science orientation. For each project, we analysed the types of actors involved, the number and types of roles they performed at the time of the study, and how the different roles were distributed among them. We found that different types of societal actors were involved in TRSS projects to very different degrees. Citizens were the least represented and tended to play far fewer roles than the other types of societal actors, which seems to be a major weakness of TRSS projects. We also found that the number of roles played by research and societal actors tended to increase with the diversity of societal actors involved, suggesting a multiplier effect of involving societal actors in TRSS. We conclude the paper by highlighting its limitations and perspectives, discussing our findings and drawing out their operational implications.

The inclusive development index provides a comprehensive assessment of a country’s wealth and wellbeing, and recognizes that economic development should not come at the expense of depleting natural resources or neglecting human welfare. Although inclusive development assessment in China has advanced significantly at the national level, there is a noticeable absence of similar assessments at the city level. To address this gap, the inclusive development index framework is enhanced based on a dataset of 285 cities (in both urban area and rural areas) in China during 2000–2019, and the role of green finance in promoting inclusive development is empirically investigated. The asymmetric, direct, and indirect impact mechanisms of the relationship between these two variables are also investigated. The primary findings suggest that the city-level inclusive development index is constantly increasing, and green finance is positively associated with inclusive development. Second, green finance exerts an asymmetric effect on inclusive development, as it has a higher promotion effect in cities with lower levels of inclusive development. Third, six aspects of green finance, namely, green credit, green investment, green insurance, green bonds, green funds, and green trading, all contribute to increased inclusive development. Finally, green finance affects inclusive development by improving human capital and the innovation level, which are two indispensable impact mechanisms.