Advancing sustainable solutions: an interdisciplinary and collaborative research agenda

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Abstract

Sustainable solutions are needed to drive a profound industrial and societal transformation towards a sustainable, low-carbon, resilient, equitable and prosperous future. This Special Volume of the Journal of Cleaner Production addresses possibilities and drivers for change by focusing on strategies for sustainable solutions with the underlying purpose of defining an interdisciplinary and collaborative research agenda for the next 10 years. Based on over 20 articles from around the world, we identify 10 key areas for targeted research and action, which are underpinned by 5 themes on sustainable solutions, including consumption governance and lifestyles, cities and buildings, business management and practice, international and national policies, and education and learning. The main message of this Special Volume is that we need creative, robust and audacious strategies in governance, management and education to catalyse and mainstream sustainable development across scales and sectors.

Introduction

A profound industrial and societal transformation is a precondition for a sustainable, low-carbon, resilient, equitable and prosperous future (McCormick et al., 2013, Gaziulusoy et al., 2016, Voytenko et al., 2016b). This demands creative, robust and audacious strategies in governance, management and education, which address governmental policies, business models, visionary plans and concrete actions (Trencher et al., 2014a, Mont et al., 2016). We need to work at the nexus of industry, government, academia, NGOs and across societies in interdisciplinary, collaborative and empowering ways. We need to continue to synthesise insights from economic theory and practice, natural sciences, engineering, geography and political science, as well as organisational, legal and behavioural studies. We need to integrate knowledge and experiences from across disciplines and sectors to change from business-as-usual to sustainable solutions. In academia, we need to work in collaboration with partners outside research, including from industry, government, and NGOs (Rodhe et al., 2016, Trencher et al., 2014b). We need to actively engage in collaborative research projects and platforms, case studies and action research, living labs and interactive exchanges (Voytenko et al., 2016b). We need to go beyond research-as-usual.

This Special Volume (SV) of the Journal of Cleaner Production (JCLP) addresses possibilities and drivers for change by focusing on strategies for sustainable solutions with the underlying purpose of defining an interdisciplinary and collaborative research agenda for the next 10 years. The contributions in this SV build on articles and knowledge about sustainable solutions from the JCLP and relevant sources. This SV aims to contribute to the Sustainable Development Solutions Network that mobilizes scientific and technical expertise in support of sustainable development problem solving as well as Future Earth, which is an international research initiative designed to develop knowledge for responding effectively and robustly to the risks and opportunities of global environmental change and for supporting transformations towards global sustainability over the coming 10 years. We build on efforts by the International Social Science Council in its report on Transformative Cornerstones of Social Science Research for Global Change, which defines key priorities for research on sustainable solutions. We also hope to support research and action on the Sustainable Development Goals developed through the UN.

Section snippets

Strategies for sustainable solutions

Strategies are not merely formal plans or abstract visions. We interpret strategies as frameworks to guide concrete actions and real processes leading to transformative changes at niche, local, national and global scales. This SV concentrates on the need to envision and implement strategies for sustainable solutions through a diversity of activities in governance, management and education. Specifically, we highlight the following 5 themes: 1) Strategies for sustainable consumption and

Research agenda for sustainable solutions

This SV brings together over 20 articles on sustainable solutions (see Table 1). Based on the articles, we highlight 10 key areas for targeted research and action, including: Alternative models of consumption; Mobility management and sustainable travel behaviour; Urban living labs; Renovation of existing buildings; Virtual meetings; Business models for distributed renewable energy; Extended producer responsibility; Green growth and environmental objectives; Sustainability change agents; and

Conclusions

This SV aims to advance knowledge on governance, management and education for the transition to sustainable, low-carbon, resilient, equitable and prosperous economies across different spheres of society – individual, business, urban, national and international. In this SV, we describe 5 themes on sustainable solutions, including consumption governance and lifestyles, cities and building, business management and practice, international and national policies, and education and learning. Drawing

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