Addressing sustainability challenges entails collaborating between people with different backgrounds, knowledge, and experiences to co-create change strategies. In this work, we share how a group of livestock producers, non-profit organization members, scientists, and government officials became a partnership aimed at promoting sustainable cattle ranching in Mexico. We identified three key ingredients for fostering meaningful partnerships: i) promoting horizontality among participants; ii) reframing participation beyond sectoral roles; and iii) co-creating a common actionable world. Nurturing these conditions at the onset of a co-design project phase is essential for catalysing the transformative potential of initiatives seeking transformative change towards sustainability.

Literature concerning sustainability-related endeavours seeking transformative change increasingly acknowledges the importance of creating more meaningful interactions within transdisciplinary partnerships. Yet, further research is needed to understand what these interactions entail and which enabling conditions can create partnerships required to catalyse transformative change. Framed in the initial co-design phase of a Social-ecological Innovation Laboratory aimed at fostering change towards sustainable cattle ranching, and based on notions of safe-enough and public spaces, in this article we elaborate on certain enabling conditions for creating meaningful partnerships. We describe how participants collectively articulated an actionable shared world, represented by a network of changes, and positioned themselves as relational agents co-designing the strategies to enact the desired changes from within, not from outside. From this experience, we discuss the conditions identified as enablers for facilitating meaningful transdisciplinary partnerships: i) promoting horizontality among participants, ii) reframing participants’ sector-specific identities into genuine and relational subjects, and iii) co-constructing and institutionalizing a shared actionable world. Our findings emphasize the relevance of a co-design phase centred on nurturing the quality of social interactions through context-specific conditions. We posit that such enabling conditions are essential for accumulating the transformative potential of initiatives seeking to catalyse significant change towards sustainability.

Nurturing meaningful relationships in a shared world for co-designing transformative change.

Electric vehicle (EV) adoption is not determined by technology alone. It also depends on how governments, industries, infrastructure, and public support develop together, while overcoming resistance from established fossil-fuel and automotive interests. Comparing California, Texas, and Michigan, we show why some states have progressed much faster than others. As responsibility for transport decarbonization increasingly shifts to state governments in the United States, our findings highlight the need for policies tailored to local economic, political, and industrial conditions rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Although socio-technical feedback studies have recently raised increasing interest in understanding the acceleration of sustainability transitions, limited studies can explain why these feedback loops differ across places. Thus, they provide limited explanations for why different places manifest different paces of low-carbon transitions. To address this gap, we develop a framework that links feedback loops with contextual moderators to reflect place-specific feedback dynamics. We identify five reinforcing loops: industrial transformation, technological change, infrastructure investment, behavior change, and environmental legitimacy, with two balancing loops rooted in fossil-fuel resistance and legacy automotive lock-ins. Additionally, we argue that state-level governance capacity and policy orientation perform as contextual moderators shaping the strength and interactions of these feedback loops. We apply our framework to a comparative case study of EV transitions in California, Texas, and Michigan to demonstrate how these feedback dynamics, together with their divergent contextual moderators, impact their different paces of EV transitions. Studying state-level EV transitions in the United States is particularly timely and policy-relevant, considering recent federal rollbacks.

Why do some U.S. states lead in EV transitions? Place-specific governance shapes the pace of change.

Digital Product Passports (DPPs) could help make products easier to repair, refurbish, and recycle by improving access to information about their materials and life cycle. This study examines their potential across major European product groups, including heat pumps, solar panels, printers, ICT equipment, and batteries. For the EU27, we estimate that DPP-enabled improvements could raise circularity from 14.8% to 45.0%, with substantial material and economic savings. The results provide a practical baseline for assessing how digital tools may support the European transition towards a more circular economy.

DPPs are expected to support circular economy strategies by improving information availability across product value chains. Building on the CE-RISE project, we assess their potential contribution to recycling- and refurbishment-related circularity for heat pumps, photovoltaic panels, printers, ICT equipment, and batteries. The analysis combines production and trade statistics, a PRISMA 2020-compliant systematic review, and evidence-informed scenario parameterisation. We construct material-flow and circularity indicators for Europe over 2010–2023, distinguish the EU27 from non-EU Europe (Switzerland, Norway, and Türkiye), and quantify a DPP scenario with sensitivity intervals. For the EU27 in 2023, baseline circularity is estimated at 14.8%, compared with 45.0% under the DPP scenario (95% sensitivity interval: 28.6–61.4). This corresponds to potential savings of 2.5 Mt of materials and EUR 27.9 billion (bn), with sensitivity intervals of 1.1–3.8 Mt and EUR 12.7–43.1 bn. We additionally estimate refurbishment-related employment exposure using Eurostat production value per employee in NACE J. The results establish an evidence-informed baseline for evaluating DPP-enabled circularity gains and future policy impacts.

DPPs could raise EU27 circularity from 14.8% to 45.0%, with major material and economic savings.

Scientific knowledge has become a powerful force in global sustainability politics, shaping discourses and legitimising solutions. Particularly for countries in the Global South, which are often disproportionately vulnerable to global environmental change and lack the adaptive capacity to cope with the impacts, scientific information is crucial. Yet the role of these countries in sustainability science remains insufficiently examined. What role do scientists based in the Global South play in the production and dissemination of knowledge on sustainability? This article sheds light on this crucial question by analysing the representation of Global South scientists in major sustainability-related academic journals and networks.

The Anthropocene carries major risks for countries in the Global South, which are disproportionately vulnerable to sustainability challenges. Given their high vulnerability, these countries need to play a central role in knowledge production on sustainability. Yet is this the case? This article studies the marginalisation of the Global South in the structures and practices of sustainability science, with a focus on the ‘least developed countries’, a group of countries classified as such by the United Nations. We examine, first, how scientists from least developed countries are represented in knowledge production in five major sustainability-related academic journals. Second, we explore the governance of scientific production and evaluation and how least developed countries are represented by examining editorial board membership in these five journals and conducting a qualitative assessment of barriers to publishing. Finally, we assess how scientists from least developed countries are represented in three major sustainability science networks, offering a detailed analysis of conference participation. We find that, overall, scientists from least developed countries, remain marginalised in the production and dissemination of knowledge on sustainability. This marginalisation, we argue, may legitimise scientific discourses and governance instruments that exclude the interests of the poorest in the Global South.

New evidence confirms that the Global South is epistemically marginalised in global sustainability science

In this paper, we aim to understand climate adaptation technologies by focusing on artificial ice reservoirs (AIRs) in Ladakh, India. The cryosphere-fed irrigation network of Ladakh has always been prone to water scarcity in spring. To address this, different types of AIRs, such as ice stupas, were introduced as adaptive technologies to aid during this scarce season. By using Ladakh as a case study, we argue that these technologies can configure hydrosocial relations and power across actors.

AIRs have emerged as climate adaptation technologies to cope with seasonal water scarcity in the changing cryospheric environments of Ladakh. In the era of climate change, it is important to study technologies promoted as climate adaptation solutions to uncover how they relate to the needs of communities and existing power relations. Taking AIRs in Ladakh as a case, this study uses qualitative methods, political ecology perspectives on water, and hydrosocial theory to show how hydrosocial relations are (re)configured in the development, adoption, and implementation of these technologies. Findings show that hydrosocial relations are configured between different actors through shared values, integration of new technologies with existing infrastructures, integration of different knowledges, and collective understanding of the sacredness of water and land. However, value conflicts and lack of integration into existing water governance and traditional infrastructures can lead to reluctance to accept AIRs, discontinued maintenance, fragmented implementation, and confusion between actors regarding the uses of meltwater, potentially leading to conflict. This study shows that while complex socio-natural power relations are embedded within these technologies and in their implementation, not all power relations are necessarily visible or rooted in resource conflict. Competing knowledge systems can be negotiated, tested, and modified, influencing the acceptance of climate adaptation technologies such as AIRs.

Climate adaptation technologies introduced to address cryospheric changes affect the circulation of water and societal relations in many ways.

Sand is essential for building cities, roads, and homes, yet the small-scale miners who produce it are often overlooked in policy. This study examines how sand mining in Indonesia has been governed over time and why it remains poorly regulated despite its importance. By tracing laws and policies from the colonial period to today, it shows that sand has long been treated as low-value and therefore neglected. This has led to environmental damage and weak support for miners. The study highlights the need for more practical, effective rules for river-based sand mining to support both communities and sustainable development.

This paper examines the historical evolution of environmental governance in artisanal and small-scale sand mining (ASSM) in Indonesia. Using a political ecology approach and narrative policy analysis, it traces regulatory developments from the colonial period to the present through legal documents, archival records, and secondary data. The findings show that sand has consistently been framed as a low-value, abundant resource, leading to its exclusion from strategic mineral classifications and to limited regulatory attention. While artisanal mining has been formally recognised since the 1960s, governance frameworks have largely been adapted from large-scale mining systems and remain poorly suited to river-based extraction. This mismatch has contributed to weak enforcement, limited institutional support, and ongoing environmental degradation. The study further demonstrates that mineral security priorities continue to favour high-value and export-oriented commodities. Recent policies that promote high-quality industrial sand show a growing gap between large industrial operations and small-scale construction sand mining, especially in river systems. The paper argues that improving governance of ASSM requires river-specific regulatory approaches and greater recognition of sand as a development mineral. These findings provide a basis for more inclusive and context-appropriate governance reforms.

Why is sand, the world's second most used resource, still poorly governed? This study traces sand governance in Indonesia.

The European Union presents its green transition (GT) as a transformative response to climate change and environmental crisis. This article examines whether the current policies live up to that promise, and how transformation is interpreted within the European Green Deal and the EU bioeconomy as flagships of the EU's GT. It shows that while climate urgency and public pressure push for transformations, geopolitical competition, and economic growth-first approach pull policy in a different direction. It shows how transformative concepts, including transformations, degrowth, and (decolonial) justice, get systematically co-opted and deradicalized in the process.

This article analyzes how socioecological transformations are interpreted and operationalized within EU green policy, focusing on the European Green Deal and the EU bioeconomy. Drawing on qualitative interviews and a policy workshop with European Commission policy officers, it demonstrates that tensions between the EU's green transition and broader transformative agendas originate at the policy design stage rather than implementation alone. Two contradictory motives shape the EU's engagement with transformation narratives: (i) climate urgency and associated social movements, and (ii) EU's ambition to be(come) important global actor in green transition and decarbonization. While the former opens spaces for transformative change, the latter prioritizes competitiveness, growth, and domination. The article advances the concept of deradicalization to explain how transformative agendas – particularly those associated with degrowth and decolonial environmental justice – are selectively translated, depoliticized, or displaced. Structural, political–strategic, corporate, and procedural barriers reinforce this process, stabilizing capitalist agendas and growth-dependent governance under the language of sustainability and green growth. The analysis argues that such deradicalization inhibits movements and initiatives for more justice-centered, decolonial, and post-growth futures, while enabling continuity of socioecological injustices and (neo)colonial relations within EU green politics.

How the EU’s green transition deradicalizes transformation through growth imperatives and geopolitical ambitions.

A key process suggested to foster fast, nonlinear change and accelerate the energy transition is social tipping. Social tipping dynamics in low-carbon transitions occur when a small change or intervention in the socioeconomic system has a large effect on emission reductions. When tipping in one system or sector spills over to another system or sector, this may lead to tipping cascades, accelerating the overall transition, further weakening the old system, and reinforcing the new, ultimately reaching the regime tipping point. Leveraging such tipping cascades requires a model of how social processes and interventions scale up (upward scaling cascades) through socioeconomic systems. In this paper, we therefore present a stylized agent-based model to explore the emergence of cascades from the existing evidence about interactions within and between sectors. The model provides insights into the interactions between positive and balancing feedback loops, the potential for lock-ins (or reverting to the old system), and potential leverage points. Specifically, we focus on interactions between energy, mobility, and housing.

The challenge of climate change mitigation is unprecedented. Staying within a maximum global warming of 1.5 requires accelerating the transition to a low-carbon society. We model how interactions between heat pumps (HPs), electric vehicles (EV), solar panels, and home batteries (HBs) can accelerate the transformation to decentralized and sustainable household energy provision.

Modeling how interactions between HPs, EV, solar panels, and HBs can accelerate the energy transition.

Fisheries encompass humans and fish, but fisheries researchers rarely model human–nature interactions over space and time. I filled this information gap for dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus), a popular, widely distributed species that supports industrial, artisanal, recreational, and subsistence fisheries. Dolphinfish human–nature interactions showed a long-term up-and-down pattern in 1950–2019. Recent declines in catch mirror decreases in abundance and size that have been observed in parts of the species’ range. This research provides a robust perspective on the recreational, economic, cultural, and nutritional significance of dolphinfish while creating an approach for evaluating human–nature interactions in fisheries worldwide.

Fisheries are coupled human and natural systems, but rarely does research examine metacouplings: human–nature interactions within and between adjacent and distant fisheries. I used the metacoupling framework to compare dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) catches in exclusive economic zones (EEZs) in 1950–2019; model interactions and forecast catches of dolphinfish across sectors; and examine management implications of metacouplings. Dolphinfish catches increased in 1950–1998, decreased in 1998–2000, and increased in 2000–2012 before declining in 2012–2019, mirroring recent declines in abundance and size that have been observed in parts of the species’ range. The most common fishing-sector interactions were bidirectional positive relationships between small-scale industrial and artisanal fishing, although large-scale industrial fishing negatively affected artisanal catches in some EEZs. Despite the economic and cultural importance of recreational dolphinfish fisheries, industrial fishing accounted for 49% of metacouplings in 1950–2019, followed by artisanal (29%) and recreational (20%) fishing. Subsistence catches – a small but nutritionally significant portion of dolphinfish fisheries – were predicted to decline in four EEZs in 2020–2035. This research provides a holistic perspective on the recreational, economic, cultural, and nutritional importance of dolphinfish while generating a template for social–ecological synthesis to inform fisheries management and conservation worldwide.

Dolphinfish metacouplings (multiscalar human–nature interactions) are common, diverse, and management-relevant worldwide.

Latin Americans strongly support climate action, yet their governments have struggled to implement effective climate policies. We surveyed adults in Chile and Mexico to explore the key features of climate policy support. We found that while carbon taxes, fuel bans, and vehicle mandates meet resistance, opposition is lower than in wealthier Global North countries. Chileans show higher support overall, especially among those who do not fear economic downsides. Many prefer economic growth that reduces emissions rather than growth at all costs. The findings suggest that framing climate policies as good for jobs, health, and long-term economic stability can boost public support.

Despite strong public support for climate action across Latin America, governments have largely failed to enact effective policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study employs a web-based survey conducted in Chile (n = 1,000) and Mexico (n = 1,001) to examine public support for climate policies and the relationship between perceived emissions–economy trade-offs and policy support. Results indicate that compulsory consumer-facing policies, including carbon taxes, fossil fuel bans, and zero-emission vehicle sales mandates, face the highest opposition in both countries. Nonetheless, resistance to these policies is lower than in the Global North, suggesting a stronger appetite for climate action in the studied jurisdictions. Chileans have significantly higher mean support for all climate policies, except for business subsidies. Policy support is highest among those who are unconcerned about potential negative economic impacts of climate policies. Furthermore, decoupling emissions from economic growth instead of pursuing a growth-at-all-costs approach is the preferred economic approach in both countries. These findings suggest that governments could frame climate policies as a means of growing the economy and protecting against economic losses, thereby strengthening public support, particularly among individuals concerned about economic growth. Communicating policy-specific emissions reductions and co-benefits, such as improved public health and job creation, may further enhance support.

Surveys in Chile and Mexico show strong climate policy support, especially when policies link emissions cuts with economic growth.

Corporate mitigation and adaptation responses to climate change are still considered as distinct strategies, rather than complementary ways of managing climate risk. An analysis of 5,910 companies that responded to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) questionnaire in 2021 suggests that companies perceiving physical climate risks are more likely to define low-carbon transition plans, adaptation measures, and integrated climate strategies combining both. Other climate-related risks (e.g., technology risk) also drive adaptation and a comprehensive climate strategy. This argues for interpreting the business response to climate change from a mitigation and adaptation resilience perspective.

In current scientific debate and practice, corporate mitigation and adaptation responses to climate change are often investigated in isolation. Drawing on a global sample of 5,910 companies responding to the 2021 CDP questionnaire, predominantly from Asia (37.1%), the Americas (31.5%), and Europe (28.2%), across Manufacturing (37.7%) and Services (21.9%), we conducted a logistic regression to identify key drivers of corporate responses to climate change. 41.3% of firms develop a low-carbon transition plan, 6% adopt adaptation measures, and 3.9% integrate both. Companies perceiving physical risks exhibit higher odds of implementing mitigation (p-value < 0.001, Exp(β) = 1.65), adaptation (p-value < 0.01, Exp(β) = 2.19), and a comprehensive strategy (p-value < 0.01, Exp(β) = 4.42). Nested other climate-related risks further increase the odds of adopting adaptation (p-value < 0.01, Exp(β) = 11.02) and a comprehensive strategy (p-value < 0.01, Exp(β) = 38.96). These results support interpreting business responses to climate change from a mitigation and adaptation resilience perspective.

Mitigation and adaptation are complementary. CDP data from 5,910 firms show risk perception drives climate action.

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries have advanced circular economy (CE) policies, but guidelines for companies are lacking. The goal of this research was to develop a model from circular design (CD) to guide companies to implement CE. A circular design model (CDM) was co-created with companies in the oil and gas sector to demonstrate its applicability across sectors. In this case study, we found opportunities related to water, energy, materials, and social aspects and drew strategies to improve management and reuse of equipment and materials. The model contributes to the CE transition of companies in LAC.

The need for circular economy (CE) frameworks applicable outside of high-income regions is imperative for a global-level implementation of circular strategies. These can help fill gaps in practical company-level guidelines for transforming business operations across key economic sectors. This paper presents the development of a circular design model (CDM) tailored to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The model was tested and refined through a participatory co-creation process with five oil and gas companies in Colombia and Peru. The findings demonstrate the model's effectiveness in analyzing material, water, and energy flows and social aspects, ideating circular initiatives, and fostering collaboration among stakeholders. Results show that in those companies where visual thinking and circular design (CD) tools were applied and embraced, the number of circular initiatives identified and implemented was higher. The CDM provides a practical and transferable framework for companies in any sector across LAC to diagnose their CE performance, identify circular opportunities, and develop actionable strategies.

A co-created circular design model to help Latin American companies diagnose performance and develop circular economy strategies.

European climate plans call for a doubling of onshore wind capacity by 2030, yet over the last 15 years growth has largely stagnated – contradicting technology diffusion theories that predict smooth acceleration until a substantial share of the market is reached. We show that early slowdowns in large countries were associated with the withdrawal or weakening of policy support, while reinstating support and higher electricity prices drove reaccelerations. Despite these pulses, the average deployment pace remained steady and below the first peak rate. Current targets aim for historical peak speeds, but forecasts revert to long-run rates, suggesting persistent limits that only sustained policy effort can overcome.

Mainstream theories predict S-shaped technology growth with a single peak followed by slowdown, but recent literature has observed low-carbon technologies often departing from this pattern. We systematically show that over four decades, onshore wind trajectories in 16 of the 18 largest European Union countries have strongly deviated from S-curve expectations. Initial acceleration ended at just 2% of capacity potential (Interquartile range: 1–4%) or 4% of electricity (IQR: 1.5–6%), coinciding with the withdrawal or weakening of policy support. In 14 countries, the first slowdown was followed by secondary and sometimes tertiary reacceleration, forming distinct growth pulses, with peak growth rates at subsequent pulses statistically similar to the first. Pre-2021 reacceleration closely followed the reinstating or introduction of support schemes, while several post-2020 pulses were likely driven by better market conditions. Over the full period, the cruising speed – average additions after the first peak – was about one-quarter below the peak rate. National 2030 targets require growth close to historical peaks, yet the latest forecasts converge on the cruising speed. Germany is the sole outlier, consistent with unprecedented institutional reforms beyond financial incentives. Our multi-segment growth model, combined with growth metrics and policy mapping, can be extended to other policy-driven technologies.

Policy-driven technologies grow in pulses, not S-curves. Despite higher 2030 targets, EU wind expands at unchanged speed.

EU building policy faces interlinked challenges: issues like the housing crisis and energy poverty persist, while buildings contribute significantly to global resource consumption and related environmental impacts. Resolving these issues may require more than improvements in efficiency and clean technology. Sufficiency offers a complementary strategy – reducing the resource consumption of buildings to what is really needed while ensuring decent living standards for all. Yet, the role of sufficiency in EU building policies remains underexplored. This study assesses how sufficiency is integrated into EU policies, identifying key gaps and opportunities for strengthening it in the building sector.

Buildings are responsible for a large share of the EU’s resource consumption and environmental impacts, while access to living space is highly unequal. Technological innovation alone may not adequately address this social-ecological challenge; however, sufficiency offers a complementary solution. Most research on sufficiency policy for buildings examines national or subnational policies, leaving the EU level underexplored, while studies on policy mixes rarely assess the built environment in an EU context. Our study addresses these gaps by providing, to the best of our knowledge, the first investigation into how sufficiency is integrated into EU policies for the built environment. We use content analysis, applying a conceptual framework for sufficiency with four dimensions: reduced consumption, environmental sustainability, behavioural and lifestyle change, and equitable welfare. The findings indicate that the EU policy mix for buildings incorporates measures in all four sufficiency dimensions, although the social aspects are acknowledged to a lesser extent. Most measures remain technical, but some exceptions align more with existing suggestions for sufficiency policy. Still, we spot significant gaps in the policy mix. This highlights the potential for the EU to adopt sufficiency principles by strengthening existing measures and combining them with more ambitious approaches.

An analysis of EU building policies through the lens of sufficiency: balancing environmental goals and societal needs.

We compare the economic, environmental, and social effects of an early ‘just sustainability transition’ starting in 2030 with a delayed global transition starting in 2075. An early transition scenario performs better in terms of environmental outcomes, living standards of the poorest social classes, and long-term system stability. A delayed transition is triggered by accumulating adverse environmental impacts on global economic production. Strong redistribution and technological policies have a stabilizing effect on the world system in the late transition but are implemented too late to prevent dangerous levels of global warming.

While most modeling studies focus on sustainability policies being implemented in the near future, delayed societal transition processes remain underexplored. Using a quantitative system-dynamic model, we compare the socioeconomic and environmental performance of two global ‘just transition scenarios’ featuring ambitious social, economic, technological, and demographic policies. The early-transition scenario is implemented from 2030 onward, whereas radical sustainability policies in the late-transition scenario are introduced in 2075. An early transition avoids an unintentional reduction in economic production due to rising adverse environmental impacts, and achieves social consumption and redistribution targets with slower rates of change. Conversely, a decline in the consumption of richer classes in a late-transition scenario is linked to adverse biophysical impacts on economic production and further accelerated by redistribution policies. Simulations reveal a trade-off between maintaining high consumption levels and crossing critical ecological thresholds. While both scenarios fail to achieve international climate goals, average temperatures in 2100 are 1.4°C higher in the late-transition scenario than in the early-transition scenario. Radical sustainability policies during a delayed transition might temporarily stabilize the world system and prevent dynamics of accelerated economic breakdown driven by a destabilized Earth system, whereas an earlier transition could achieve higher long-term stability.

Cities are increasingly adopting nature-based solutions (NbS) to improve urban spaces and respond to urgent climate challenges. These projects can support urban sustainability, resilience, and place making. However, how to leverage NbS for urban transformation remains insufficiently understood. This review develops a theoretical framework for planning transformative place making with NbS through three mechanisms: rethinking routine practices, reconnecting people with urban nature, and reimagining the future of place. The framework positions transformative place making with NbS as a pathway of urban transformation. It is more than adding green; it is a dynamic process of creating engaging, connected, and future-oriented places.

NbS, regarded as an effective response to urban agglomeration and climate adaptation, have the potential to promote different aspects of place making. Place making has incorporated sustainable and environmental concerns, evolving into a more pluralistic concept. However, the recognized outcomes and mechanisms for planning NbS for place making remain underexplored. This scoping review examines 128 peer-reviewed articles to identify how NbS are employed for place making in cities, developing a conceptual framework comprising three interconnected leveraging mechanisms – rethinking, reconnecting, and reimagining – operationalized through six levers. Our findings show that transformative place making with NbS is not about adding nature, but about a dynamic process of rethinking routine practices, focusing on experimental innovations and deepening knowledge and experiential learning; reconnecting with local nature, valuing direct experience, inherent values, and emotional resonance; and reimagining the future of place through forward-looking governance. The transformative mindset, manifesting as social–ecological worldviews and relational values of urban nature, underlies the levers for transformative place making with NbS. These mechanisms provide a reference for planning and facilitating transformative place making, shifting urban systems toward resilience. This review emphasizes systems thinking, long-term dynamics, and contextual sensitivity for utilizing NbS as a catalyst for transformative place making.

NbS enable transformative place making by rethinking practices, reconnecting people and nature, and reimagining futures.

This commentary responds to the argument advanced by Geels that technical innovations are more likely than social innovations to accelerate sustainability action and transformative change. Drawing on a comparison between sustainability transition and transformation theories, the article argues that these conceptualizations come with different strengths and limitations, and therefore, they should be considered distinct analytical traditions serving different purposes but also having the capacity to complement each other. In terms of implications, the comparison suggests that responding to sustainability challenges requires sustained societal commitment to advancing both technical and social innovations, rather than an overreliance on technological acceleration alone.

This commentary responds to Geels’s argument that technical innovations are more likely than social innovations to accelerate change toward more sustainable practices, and that socio-technical transition theory is more compatible for analyzing such change than transformation approaches. It argues that sustainability transitions and sustainability transformations are distinct analytical traditions with different purposes. First, theoretical focus: transition scholarship foregrounds innovation dynamics, sectoral reconfiguration, and governance, whereas transformation scholarship foregrounds deeper system-wide change and the conditions under which societies reorganize. Second, spatial–temporal orientation: transitions research excels at reconstructing how change unfolds over time, while transformation research typically adopts a prospective, cross-scale orientation linking change to wider systemic challenges. Third, approaches to sustainability change differ: transitions research explains mechanisms but offers less guidance for judging whether outcomes are sufficient, whereas transformation research more readily invokes sustainability reference frames to evaluate adequacy. These differences can be complementary if terminology, analytical reference points, and the aims of the analysis are explicit. The commentary concludes that clearer evaluative criteria are needed to connect debates about acceleration to adequacy relative to sustainability goals, and that effective responses require sustained societal investment in both technical and social innovation.

Sustainability transitions and transformations are different but complementary ways to understanding systems’ change.

Glaciers are more than ice masses: they help communities make sense of their place in the world. And as glaciers retreat, the identities formed in relation to place of those who depend on them are transformed. Using the example of the Central Andes of Chile, this article argues that this transformation is a political one. In the Cajón del Maipo, next door to Chile’s capital, Santiago, local connections to glaciers are not always palpable. However, they are strengthened as people start to identify with them and see their destruction as linked to development projects and the extractive industry.

This article explores the relationship between glacier retreat and place identity through a political ecology lens, using the Cajón del Maipo in Chile as a case study. While place identity has been widely discussed in environmental psychology as a set of cognitive, affective, and behavioral elements that connect individuals to their environments, it has often been depoliticized. This paper seeks to politicize the concept by emphasizing how power, struggle, and place transformations shape identity formation. Drawing on 48 semi-structured interviews conducted in San José de Maipo and Baños Morales in October and November 2024, I examine how local identities are formed and reconfigured in response to environmental degradation caused by both climate change and extractive industries. Findings suggest that opposition to, or mere acknowledgment of, large-scale development projects, like the controversial Alto Maipo hydroelectric plant, has reinforced local attachments to place and to glaciers. The article argues that place identity is not merely emotional or symbolic, but emerges through political contestation, making glaciers key entities around which power and belonging are negotiated in the context of environmental change.

As glaciers retreat in Chile, people begin to tie their identities to a nature that is being changed before their eyes.

Transformations to sustainability and justice have recently encountered backlash and political polarization, violent conflict, democratic backsliding, and dehumanization. In this article, we describe three archetypes of backlash that may affect whether and how transformations unfold. We then explore the role of harnessing hope and imagination, hospicing with dignity, and enabling radical collaboration while holding paradox as three capacities that may prove helpful to navigating backlash during transformative change efforts.

Recognizing backlash as a dynamic of transformations that is distinct from the forms of counter-resistance or contentious politics that have previously been documented as crucial in transformations, we focus on three backlash archetypes and the potential for derailment of transformations to sustainability and justice. Focusing on the specific transformation phase of ‘in-betweenness’ when systems are in flux and the risk of backlash and derailment is high, we suggest there is a need for capacities that help create provisional spaces to grapple with the range of emotional, relational, and political issues underpinning backlash. We explore the role of three transformative capacities for their relevance in addressing backlash and derailment based on existing evidence: harnessing hope and imagination, hospicing with dignity, and enabling radical collaboration while holding paradox.

Societal transformations involve backlash and derailment risks – three archetypes and key capacities to navigate them.

Energy communities allow people to produce, share, and manage renewable energy together, helping reduce carbon emissions and decentralize the energy system. Their success, however, depends on whether citizens are willing to participate. This study explores what drives people to engage in these communities, especially the influence of positive emotions and the feeling of empowerment. By surveying Portuguese citizens, the research shows that joy and empowerment significantly increase interest and participation in energy communities. These insights can help policymakers and practitioners create more engaging and citizen-centred sustainable initiatives.

Energy communities play a key role in advancing decentralized and low-carbon energy systems by placing citizens at the centre of energy production and management. Yet, their effective implementation depends on citizens’ willingness to engage. This study examines the determinants of citizens’ behavioural intention to participate in energy communities, with particular emphasis on hedonic motivations and empowerment. To do so, a conceptual model integrating the Hedonic-Motivation System Adoption Model (HMSAM) and empowerment theory was developed. Data were collected through an online survey administered to Portuguese citizens, yielding 307 valid responses. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the proposed relationships. The results show that empowerment significantly moderates the effect of joy on behavioural intention, strengthening both the intention to participate and overall engagement in energy communities. These findings highlight the importance of positive emotional experiences and perceived control in motivating sustainable behaviours. The study provides practical guidance for policymakers and practitioners seeking to enhance citizen engagement, suggesting that fostering empowering and emotionally rewarding experiences can support the development and successful uptake of energy communities.

Empowerment and joy boost citizen engagement in renewable energy communities.