Structuring sustainability science

It is urgent in science and society to address climate change and other sustainability challenges such as biodiversity loss, deforestation, depletion of marine fish stocks, global ill-health, land degradation, land use change and water scarcity. Sustainability science (SS) is an attempt to bridge the natural and social sciences for seeking creative solutions to these complex challenges. In this article, we propose a research agenda that advances the methodological and theoretical understanding of what SS can be, how it can be pursued and what it can contribute. The key focus is on knowledge structuring. For that purpose, we designed a generic research platform organised as a three-dimensional matrix comprising three components: core themes (scientific understanding, sustainability goals, sustainability pathways); cross-cutting critical and problem-solving approaches; and any combination of the sustainability challenges above. As an example, we insert four sustainability challenges into the matrix (biodiversity loss, climate change, land use changes, water scarcity). Based on the matrix with the four challenges, we discuss three issues for advancing theory and methodology in SS: how new synergies across natural and social sciences can be created; how integrated theories for understanding and responding to complex sustainability issues can be developed; and how theories and concepts in economics, gender studies, geography, political science and sociology can be applied in SS. The generic research platform serves to structure and create new knowledge in SS and is a tool for exploring any set of sustainability challenges. The combined critical and problem-solving approach is essential.     

Sustainable supplier selection criteria classification for Indian iron and steel industry: a fuzzy modified Kano model approach

ABSTRACT

The aim of this work is to provide a systematic approach for sustainability criteria clustering into different useful categories. For this purpose, a methodology has been proposed with the following three steps. (i) A comprehensive set of the sustainability criteria in economic, environmental and social dimension has been extracted from the literature and have been customised for the iron and steel industry. (ii) A fuzzy Kano methodology has been used to classify these sustainability criteria into useful Kano cluster like must-be, one-dimensional, and attractive cluster (iii) further, must-be and attractive criteria derived from the second step were further sub-classified into three categories using Type IV Kano model. All steps have been examined in the iron and steel industry of India and findings indicate that quality and delivery criteria are classified as high must be criteria in the economic realm. Further, environmental and energy management system in the environmental dimension and social responsibility and right of stakeholders criteria in the social dimension are classified as high must be criteria. Prioritising must be and attractive criteria enable decision makers of other industries to select the appropriate criteria to adopt sustainability.     

Development of composite sustainable supply chain performance index for the automobile industry

The automobile companies are becoming increasingly aware about the importance of sustainability and its challenges. In order to compete in the global market, the industry has responded to these challenges by identifying the sustainability indicators. It is quite difficult to evaluate the performance of the company on the basis of large number of sustainability indicators. Integration of key sustainability indicators is quite essential for effective decision-making. This article presents an integrated method by accommodating both qualitative and quantitative approaches for the development of composite sustainable supply chain (SC) performance index. We applied an integration of fuzzy analytical hierarchy process, Liberatore score and signal-to-noise ratio approaches to compute the index. The proposed methodology demonstrates how quantitative statistical inputs can be combined with expert opinion to construct an overall index of sustainability. The index can be extensively used by SC managers to measure their organization's contribution towards SC sustainability. An application of an integrated methodology is demonstrated for an automobile SC.     

An overview on corporate response towards sustainability issues in textile industry

Textiles constitute an important part of human beings everyday life. Environmentalists have been calling forth industries to incorporate sustainability principles into their production processes. In comparison with other industries, textile industry is considered to be major contributor towards environmental pollution and is subject to creating various ecological (water body pollution, waste generation, air pollution) issues throughout supply chain from fibre production till fabric finishing. This paper reviews the existing literature related to various sustainability issues surrounding the textile industry across the globe. The authors classify the literature to discuss the drivers, barriers, and responses of firms in the textile industry in favour of sustainability. Despite a growing body of research in this area, we identify significant gaps in the literature with special reference to managerial approaches being used for incorporating sustainability. While it is very important to understand the motivations that drive firms towards sustainability and barriers to implementation, attention is also drawn towards research aspects pertaining to managerial perception towards new technologies and processes. The article also provides future research opportunities in form of specific questions to strengthen existing literature in this field.     

Rethinking assessment of drought impacts: a systemic approach towards sustainability

Although impacting primarily economic sectors, droughts may also initiate dynamic mechanisms that have socio-environmental consequences on sustainability of the impacted areas. To date, most research has dealt with the economic impacts of droughts, with minimal attention being paid to the dynamics of damaging mechanisms associated with socio-environmental impacts. Using a systemic approach, this paper develops a method of identifying the dynamic structures responsible for the consequences of drought. Considering the impacts of recent droughts in Iran, the paper presents a conceptual model, underpinned by a Limits to Growth archetype to explain how different drought impacts are triggered. Moreover, adopting the Viability Loops concept, a range of strategies and indices are suggested as monitoring tools to sustain socio-economic life in a drought-impacted area. The provinces of Hamadan (with water abundance), and Yazd and Isfahan (with water scarcity) in Iran have been selected to illustrate the proposed methodology. Results show a higher vulnerability to droughts in the water-rich region due to dependence on water abundance as opposed to the water-poor regions, which are well adapted to water scarcity conditions.     

An ethical dimension to sustainable restoration and long-term management of contaminated areas

Experience after the Chernobyl accident has shown that restoration strategies need to consider a wide range of different issues to ensure the long-term sustainability of large and varied contaminated areas. Thus, the criteria by which we evaluate countermeasures need to be extended from simple cost-benefit effectiveness and radiological protection standards to a more integrated, holistic approach, including social and ethical aspects. Within the STRATEGY project, the applicability of many countermeasures is being critically assessed using a wide range of criteria. Attention is being given to issues such as practicability, feasibility, capacity and environmental side-effects, as well as social factors such as public perceptions of risk, communication of information and the need for dialogue and consultation with affected communities, and ethical aspects such as informed consent and the fair distribution of costs and doses. Although such socio-ethical factors are now the subject of a substantial field of research, there has been little attempt to integrate them in a practical context for decision makers. Within this paper, we specifically consider the ethical aspects of restoration strategies and suggest practical means by which these can be taken into account in the decision making process, introducing a value matrix. The paper covers two critical areas: evaluation of individual countermeasures, and use of the matrix to ensure transparent and systematic consideration of values in selection of a restoration strategy.     

Sustainability risk identification in product development

Sustainability-related issues present significant financial, strategic, compliance and operational risks to manufacturers. Many of these risks directly or indirectly result from the way a product is designed and managed across its life cycle. Assessing sustainability risk (S _R) at the product design stage is crucial for the development of products that both minimise sustainability risk exposure and are environmentally sustainable. Managing the costs associated with these risks requires risk management intervention at the design stage before these costs are committed throughout the life cycle (production, use, end-of-life). The goal of the sustainability risk assessment (SRA) methodology is to provide an approach to comparing the financial cost of a ‘sustainable product’ vs. an ‘unsustainable product’, by factoring in the effects of S _R on life-cycle cost. The SRA methodology demonstrates that, in some cases, sustainable products cost less than unsustainable products when sustainability risk is considered in the costing analysis. This paper outlines the first step of the SRA methodology, which is a process for identifying S _R inherent in the product life cycle. Once key risks are identified, the subsequent steps of the SRA assess and prioritise these risks for treatment through changes to product design and materials composition.     

The transition to a sustainable society: a new social contract

This paper explores issues that are central to ecological economics. In spite of a substantial body of research and other literature that has appeared in recent decades on transition, and countless other efforts, no progress has been made to halt the increase in global warming, global emissions, rampant population growth, or several hundred other critical planet sustainability indicators including global species extinction. The opposite is true. Consumption has escalated and it is poised to double and, with it, planetary decay has followed closely. The aim of this work is to introduce a pragmatic solution and the economics mechanisms solidly rooted in science, in the laws of conservation of mass and energy, and in environmental and ecological sustainability that are necessary to overcome the tremendous forces of social, political, and economic resistance to major change. To advance towards a sustainable civilization, adopting a holistic approach with those underlying principles in all aspects of human activity, among others economy, finance, industry, commerce, engineering, politics, architecture, and education, is both lacking and fundamentally required. A short review of the state-of-the-art of the science on the critical status of the planet’s resources and its life-supporting systems is presented, as well as a brief catalog of the seminal works of the science that gave rise to its metrics and established early on the groundwork for the understanding of the degree of sustainability of the planet. We present the argument why past and current schemes of human economics, organization, culture, and politics cannot achieve anything else, but complete and utter failure under their own underlying precepts. A rigorous and disciplined process on how to overcome and avoid the precipitous decline and collapse of the environmental and planetary biosystems on which all life depends, including human life, and a new view towards the world and the universe we all have no choice but to live in, are also offered.     

Towards a framework for cross-scale and multi-level analysis of coastal and marine social-ecological systems dynamics

As the Anthropocene proceeds, regional and local sustainability problems are ever more likely to originate at multiple levels of the earth system. The rate of global environmental change is now vastly outpacing our policy response, and social-ecological systems analysis needs to support global environmental governance. To respond to this challenge, this paper initiates the development of a coastal social-ecological typology and applies it in an exemplary fashion to nine coastal and marine case studies. We use an explicit distinction between the definitions of scale and level and a problem or issue-specific approach to the delineation of social-ecological units. A current major challenge to social-ecological systems analysis is the identification of the cross-level and cross-scale interactions and links which play key roles in shaping coastal and marine social-ecological dynamics and outcomes. We show that the regional level is the best point of departure to generate sustainability-oriented cross-scale and multi-level analyses and offers the outline of a typology in which different disciplinary and other forms of knowledge can be integrated as both part of regionally grounded analysis and action which engages with global sustainability challenges.     

A science of integration: frameworks,processes, and products in a place-based,integrative study

Integrative research is increasingly a priority within the scientific community and is a central goal for the evolving field of sustainability science. While it is conceptually attractive, its successful implementation has been challenging and recent work suggests that the move towards interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in sustainability science is being only partially realized. To address this from the perspective of social-ecological systems (SES) research, we examine the process of conducting a science of integration within the Southcentral Alaska Test Case (SCTC) of Alaska-EPSCoR as a test-bed for this approach. The SCTC is part of a large, 5 year, interdisciplinary study investigating changing environments and adaptations to those changes in Alaska. In this paper, we review progress toward a science of integration and present our efforts to confront the practical issues of applying proposed integration frameworks. We: (1) define our integration framework; (2) describe the collaborative processes, including the co-development of science through stakeholder engagement and partnerships; and (3) illustrate potential products of integrative, social-ecological systems research. The approaches we use can also be applied outside of this particular framework. We highlight challenges and propose improvements for integration in sustainability science by addressing the need for common frameworks and improved contextual understanding. These insights may be useful for capacity-building for interdisciplinary projects that address complex real-world social and environmental problems.     

Feeding the world sustainably: knowledge governance and sustainable agriculture in the Argentine Pampas

This article discusses the role of knowledge governance arrangements in the mainstreaming of sustainable practices, in particular, in the creation, sharing and use of integrated and contextualized knowledge. That is, knowledge which accounts for the social, economic, institutional, and ecological dimensions of potentially sustainable practices, and which considers the need to adapt generic practices to the sustainability requirements of specific places. An actor-centered approach is proposed for the study of the historical evolution of knowledge governance arrangements in order to understand their role in the adoption of sustainable practices. The approach is applied to explain the rapid adoption of no-till agriculture in the Argentine Pampas. A radical knowledge governance transformation occurring in this region during the 1990s led to increasing knowledge exchange and pushing sustainability practices to the top of key actors’ agendas. This embracing of no-till agriculture illustrates the crucial role played by farmers’ associations as boundary organizations: linking farmers with actors specialized in the generation of scientific knowledge and technology. This case reveals that sustainability transitions can be fostered through knowledge governance arenas characterized by: (a) promoting public–private collaboration through boundary organizations, (b) assigning private actors a leading role in the adoption of sustainability practices at the production unit scale, (c) fostering the public sector competence in regional and socio-ecological research, and (d) addressing the heterogeneous needs of knowledge users. However, the case also shows that the success of no-till agriculture in the Pampas is pushing the agriculturization of surrounding areas where this practice is largely unsustainable. This finding suggests that present knowledge governance arrangements fail to contextualize practices that are potentially sustainable.     

Supplier evaluation and selection for sustainable supply chain management under uncertainty conditions

Abstract

With the global increasing importance of sustainable development, sustainable supply chain has gained value among both researchers and industrialists in the last decade. Nowadays, industries are facing pressure from government legislation and the global competition in addition to the pressure from their clients to carry out environmentally – conscious actions. Thus, organisations are required to implement actions to enhance their level of both environmental and economic performances. Traditionally, organisations use criteria such as cost, quality and on-time delivery to evaluate their suppliers’ performance. Although there have been numerous studies on the common criteria for these assessments, very few studies have taken sustainable criteria into consideration. Thereupon, this study tries to put forward a complete model for selection and evaluation of the suppliers, considering three criteria for sustainability, thus using the fuzzy group graph theory and matrix approach. It is an innovative approach based on fuzzy logic and group decision-making, which aims to treat lack of certainty in selection and evaluation of suppliers. We will also discuss a case study in the industry to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed approach.     

Multi-level perspectives with technology readiness measures for aviation innovation

Sustainability science requires the development of a theoretical framework to understand, analyze, and design innovation to solve social, economic, and environmental issues. This paper extends the framework of multi-level perspectives (MLP) by introducing a technology readiness level (TRL), and analyzes the innovation of the advanced turboprop (ATP) engine in the aviation industry, also known as a propfan or an open rotor engine, which is one of the most promising engine innovations expected to mitigate climate change. The concept of TRL was introduced to explain the mechanisms of ATP failure in the late 1980s as well as the transition of the geared turbofan (GTF). In this paper, we discuss why ATP and GTF faced different fates although both were developed under the same landscape in the aviation industry. We also discuss the different roles of the socio-technical regime, such as uneven and dynamic opportunity windows, technological readiness, niche stock, institutional support of export products, and the risk of a ‘launch’ customer, at different TRLs. As illustrated in this paper, MLP with TRL is expected to facilitate future interdisciplinary collaboration between social scientists and engineers, and also transdisciplinary expertise between academia and practitioners by supporting analysis and design of the industry’s transition toward a more environmentally friendly regime as well as its effective management.     

Structuring complexity for tailoring research contributions to sustainable development: a framework

Research aiming at generating effective contributions to sustainable development faces particular complexity related challenges. This article proposes an analytical framework disentangling and structuring complexity issues with which research for sustainable development is confronted. Based on theoretical conceptions from fields like policy sciences and transdisciplinary research as well as on an in-depth analysis of the concept of sustainable development, three meta-perspectives on research for sustainable development are introduced and elaborated. The first perspective focuses on notions of sustainable development, sorting out the problem of unclear or ambiguous interpretations of the general sustainability objectives in specific contexts. The second perspective introduces a broad conception of the policy process representing the way societal change towards sustainable development is brought about. It supports identifying those academic and non-academic actors and stakeholders that are relevant for coming up with effective knowledge contributions. The third perspective identifies different forms of knowledge that are needed to tackle sustainability problems as well as the significance of their mutual interrelations. How the framework perspectives support reflecting on the fundamental complexity issues research for sustainable development is confronted with is illustrated using a case example from natural scientific research in the field of land use. We argue that meeting the complexity inherent in the concept of sustainable development requires joint learning in policy processes, working out shared visions being in line with the core objectives of sustainable development and generating knowledge about empirical, normative and pragmatic aspects.     

Research and education for sustainability in a beekeeping project in sub-Saharan Africa

Support to small farmers is at the heart of the fight against poverty. However, the continuous provision of support poses a major challenge which greatly affects the sustainability of development-related projects. Using a research and education approach, in which beekeeping was introduced into the curriculum of two secondary schools, we tested the potential of knowledge transfer as a means of promoting beekeeping. In this paper, we show that, with an educational program tailored to the audience needs, knowledge transfer and self-start-ups ensure better sustainability than material support. We further discuss the implications of these results in the sustenance of beekeeping as a development-related activity.     

Towards a Paradigmatic Shift in Sustainability Studies: A Systematic Review of Peer Reviewed Literature and Future Agenda Setting to Consider Environmental (Un)sustainability of Digital Communication

The materiality of digital communication inflicts substantial environmental damage: the extraction of resources needed to produce digital devices; the toxicity of e-waste; and the rapidly increasing energy demands required to sustain data generated by digital communication. This damage, however, is paradoxically under-theorized in scholarship on environmental sustainability. Despite the existing critique of the “techno-fix” approach in sustainability studies, digitization – and digital communication in particular – continue to be celebrated as the tool for environmental sustainability; an approach we coin “digital solutionism.” The article presents the first systematic review of the literature to map the implicit assumptions about the relationships between digital communications and environmental sustainability, in order to examine how digital solutionism manifests, and why it persists. We propose a concept matrix that identifies the key blind spots with regards to environmental damages of the digital, and call for a paradigmatic shift in environmental sustainability studies. An agenda for future research is put forward that advocates for the following: (1) a systematic account of material damages of devices, platforms and data systems adopted into sustainability research and practice, resulting in changes in both research framing and methodological foundations; (2) a reconceptualization and denaturalization of the digital itself as a promising solution; (3) a theoretical dialogue between sustainability studies and environmental communication. (4) an expansion of environmental communication as a field, from focusing on the communication aspect of environmental change to include the environmental footprint of communication itself.     

The Sustainability Babel Fish

This paper proposes a quantitative measure of sustainability. Using primary energy as a metric, it enables decisions to be made across different activities such as electricity, fuel and water use. By relying on bill data, we eliminate the need for new measurements and readily connect to economics through market prices. We choose the primary energy content of a gallon of gasoline as the basic unit, which turns out to be the right size to appeal to common intuition. We highlight that there are no ‘one size fits all’ rules governing sustainability decisions. Rather, the appropriate choices depend on location, time, and personal attributes.     

Developing a sustainability assessment framework for integrated management of water resources systems using distributed zoning and system dynamics approaches

The management of large-scale water resources systems requires including of different stakeholders and users from municipal, agricultural, industrial and environmental sectors. This has baffled the process of decision making for integrated water resource systems. In such systems, the interactions between various stakeholders must be carefully taken into account with the goal of aggregating interests around the sustainability concept. In this study, first, the integrated water resources systems of Big Karun Watershed, Iran, have been modeled using the system dynamics approach. The system dynamics model represents the interactions between different components of the system, including water transfer projects, dams, urban, industry, agriculture and fish farming, and environmental demands. Vensim software has been used for the system dynamics modeling. Vensim simulates the dynamics behavior of the sub-systems and overall performance of the system by comparing the current operation policies with the future management scenarios. A wide range of performance indices, such as quantitative and qualitative water stress, income, cost, and productivity, have been used here to represent different aspects of sustainability goals. Finally, the performance of the systems has been evaluated by developing a sustainability index using distributed zoning model in order to identify proper management policies for this watershed. The results indicate that downstream users demand cannot be fully met by solely considering inter-basin water transfer and agricultural development projects. The sustainable and integrated management of the whole system ties into enhancement in both infrastructure systems and the operation of the whole system. It is expected that the sustainability of the basin improves if a water market schema exists and the gained money would be used to enhance the efficiency of existing irrigation networks.