Welcome back SCORAI members,
Amidst the backdrop of the unjust invasion of Ukraine, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has just released their latest climate report focused on adaptation to the climate crisis. As we have seen from their previous reports, we must immediately and urgently decarbonize global society. This report hammers home the interdependence of climate, biodiversity and people, and emphasizes the urgency of immediate and more ambitious action to address climate risks.
Speaking to the IPCC, Ukrainian scientist Svitlana Krakovska was clear on the interconnection between these ongoing crises:
“Human induced climate change and the war on Ukraine have the same roots, fossil fuels, and our dependence on them”
As the current situation in Ukraine continues, we know that many of us may feel powerless. Discussion amongst our networks on the intersection of fossil fuel dependence and this conflict is one way that we can promote a sustainable future.
Join us in amplifying the message that our global fossil fuel dependence is fueling this and other conflicts around the globe and use these hashtags to continue this conversation online.
#savingEnergy4peace
#lightsOff4peace
#choosePublicTransportation4peace
#divesting4peace
This is but one of many steps that we can take in remembering the interconnectedness between the myriad crises facing our current world, and for envisioning what a sustainable SCP future looks like! Share
Thank you!
Your Board: Ashley, Ginnie, Halina, Liz, Philip, Valerie
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A New Look for SCORAI.net!
We will be continuing to update and improve the website so keep checking in and exploring our new and improved design! Many thanks to our website team for their continued work on the site!
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The Rizoma Field School is run by a member of the SCORAI Executive Board, Dr. Ashley Colby. RFS is a place that seeks to put forward ideas about a future that is not only sustainable, but regenerative. A place to consider resilient paths toward the future. The central principle guiding our teaching is how to make the human and natural world healthier and more diverse, which includes social equality, freedom and tolerance.
We have begun renovations on an original brick building on our property with the goal of creating a classroom space. Our orientation with this project is toward the traditional, sustainable, and long lasting.
In the past five years in Uruguay we have learned about different methods of bioconstruction, a kind of building that uses local, earthen and natural materials, as well as traditional construction methods. We would like to put together the best of the traditional and the modern to make a classroom that is a model for experimental learning!
So now we embark on an adventure without a guidebook or map, but with an orientation toward building thoughtfully, centering local knowledge and expertise. Toward learning as we go. Toward teaching about both our successes and failures in a classroom made by our successes and failures.
Learn more about our classroom renovation project here: https://rizomafieldschool.com/classroom-renovation/
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Amplify the discussion online on the intersections of sustainable consumption and peace!
@SCORAI_net
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A New Blog from SCORAI and the Hot or Cool Institute!
Our newly launched Frontier Series is a collaboration between SCORAI and the Hot or Cool Institute that is bringing lessons learned, personal experiences, and insights from the cutting edge of climate and sustainability research and practice.
Our first blog in this partnership, Lessons from the ground: Where activism, technical analysis, and city action intersect, was written by SCORAI Board Member Halina Brown! She explores the impact of local sustainability activism in small and midsize cities and the challenges faced when working towards a sustainable future.
As Halina says, sustainability will be an uphill battle – but push we must.
Read more here and keep an eye out for additional posts by both SCORAI and Hot or Cool contributors!
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Lessons from the ancestors: Solving sustainability with animism
Journal of Marketing Management
Sustainability is a wicked problem, but we can crack it. But marketing cannot fix the ecological crisis for which it bears a lot of responsibility. Instead, we can learn from our ancestors how to live with rather than against the world of living things of which we are a part. Animist wisdom culled from those misty times when we cultivated relationships with semi wild animals and plants, when combined with unfettered interdisciplinary science holds the keys to cracking the sustainability problem.
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Revealed: leading climate research publisher helps fuel oil and gas drilling
The Guardian
Scientists working with one of the world’s largest climate research publishers say they’re increasingly alarmed that the company works with the fossil fuel industry to help increase oil and gas drilling, the Guardian can reveal. Elsevier, a Dutch company behind many renowned peer-reviewed scientific journals, including the Lancet and Global Environmental Change, is also one of the top publishers of books aimed at expanding fossil fuel production.
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European consumers reluctant to change eating habits for greener food system
Food Navigator
New consumer research across seven markets has examined how far people are prepared to go – or not – to support sustainable food and drink brands. It would appear shoppers in the developed markets of Europe and North America lag those in emerging economies.
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The Great Transition Initiative
Technology and the Future Forum
Much like SCORAI, the Great Transition Initiative is focused on creating a forum of ideas and an international network for the critical exploration of concepts, strategies, and visions for a transition to a future of enriched lives, human solidarity, and a resilient biosphere. Their most recent forum on how technology will shape—and be shaped by—the global transition provides a rich series of online panels that explore the current and future state of technology in our society.
Panel 1 focuses on vanguard technologies, such as bioengineering and artificial intelligence, and whether they have a role to play in a Great Transition. This panel features such contributions as "The Truth about the Green Revolution" by Tim Weiskel and "Toward a People’s Social Media" by Derek Hrynyshyn.
Panel 2 explores conceptual frameworks for understanding the interplay between technology and society. Does technology drive history, the reverse, or something else entirely? This includes a panel by Melissa Leach on "Pathways to Sustainability" and Brian Tokar on "The Dialectic of Tech and Society".
Read the many panel contributions here!
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Call for Papers for The Sustainability Series: The Plastics Problem - Investigating Socio-economic Dimensions of Plastic Pollution
Deadline for manuscripts: 14 April 2022
Submit Abstracts and Learn More
The urgent need to tackle plastic pollution is undeniable. The rate of plastic production has been growing since its mass production began in the mid-1940s. To date, it is estimated that more than a cumulative 8,300 million metric tons (Mt) of virgin plastics have been produced, resulting in 6,300 Mt of plastic waste. Over half of this plastic waste has entered the environment. River discharges and mismanaged waste have largely contributed to plastic waste entering the oceans, where it persists as marine plastic pollution, causing negative environmental impacts from macro to nano.
The goal of this research topic is based on non-technological approaches to address plastic pollution. What interventions (eg., policies, education, social pressure, etc.) can change individuals' behaviors? What interventions, from policymakers or other sectors of society, can change industry behavior? What is the socio-economic feasibility of the proposed intervention measures? What are barriers (e.g., economic, political, educational, psychological, cognitive, etc.) to the desirable behaviors needed to achieve sustainable plastic governance, from production to use to disposal?
We invite studies focusing on primarily non-technological approaches to reducing plastic pollution, which may incorporate technological innovations. We accept various types of articles (see Article Types on the journal homepage) employing a broad range of methods focused in the following areas (non-exhaustive list):
- Behavioral approaches (e.g., neuroscience, psychology, sociology, behavioral economics);
- Conventional economic measures (e.g., market-based, rights-based);
- Global, regional, national, and local policies aiming for zero plastic waste
- Evidence-based policymaking (EBPM) (e.g., Life Cycle Assessment, cost-benefit analysis);
- Governance (e.g., collective action, community-based resource management, civic ecology);
- Regulation (e.g., national laws, international treaties);
- Model and simulation analysis involving socio-economic dimensions;
- Environmental education and education for sustainable development (ESD).
Guest Editors
Takuro Uehara, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan
Mateo Cordier, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Versailles, France
Juan Baztan, CEARC, Marine Sciences For Society, Guyancourt, France
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Call for Papers for Organizational and Consumption Perspectives on Sustainable Food Culture
Deadline for manuscripts: 15 June 2022
Submit Abstracts and Learn More
In debates on sustainable production and consumption, all actors in food supply chains, food and eating are increasingly problematized as one of the major contributors to issues such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, and degradation of land and water resources. There is an urgent need for a more sustainable food culture, i.e., addressing sustainability in food and eating and order to diminish the ecological impacts of food production and consumption while paying attention to their economic, social and cultural dimensions. Although food sustainability has been investigated from different aspects, there has been little research on sustainable food culture as an endeavor that connects organizations and consumers together from multiple perspectives. Culture refers to the system that produces and co-ordinates meanings and knowledge and is characterized by more or less shared practices, identities and values. Culture is thus present in all aspects of daily lives of individuals, organizations, and societies. It comprises of knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, custom and any other capabilities and habits, and is affected by various economic, political, legal, religious, linguistic, educational, technological and industrial environments and is researched via a range of theoretical frameworks. Research to date concludes that culture is paramount in driving sustainable societies.
This Research Topic (RT) will provide insights into a sustainable food culture through both organizational and consumption lenses and will do so by covering topics such as (but not limited to):
- Sustainable dimensions in food companies (i.e. economy, environment, society, and food safety) and their inter-relations
- Contributions of organizations to developing a sustainable food culture (including consumption, habits and behavior, procurement, production, and management)
- Sustainable food supply chains
- Sustainable food and catering procurement
- Education, training and awareness for a sustainable food culture
- International, national and other legal contexts for promoting sustainable food production and consumption
- Dimensions of sustainable food consumption (ecological, economic, social, cultural and ethical) and their inter-relations
- Sustainable food practices in different cultural contexts
- Sustainable triggers in food purchasing patronage
- Critical analysis and approaches to fade out unsustainable food consumption and production
- Role of UN SDGs in achieving a global sustainable food culture
- Sustainable culture of food production / consumption in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and after
We welcome empirical, methodological, and theoretical papers, as well as reviews that provide insights into the area of sustainable food culture via consumption and organizational lenses. The papers may focus on a particular geographical area, food system, stakeholder group, policies and laws, or include comparative analyses (e.g. between countries, cultural contexts, food supply chains, or social groups). The papers should contribute to perspectives pertaining to sustainable food organizations and food consumption, such as (but not limited to) those originating in sociology, organizational theory and behavior, social psychology, geography, political studies, food technology, philosophy, marketing and consumer studies, or (food) sustainability science.
Editors
Ilija Djekic, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Mari Niva, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Peter Glavič, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
Diana Gregory-Smith, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Olawale Olayide, Faculty of Multidisciplinary Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Cheryl Desha, Griffith University, Nathan, Australia
Roberto Caranta, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
Federica Murmura, University of Urbino, Carlo Bo Urbino, Italy
Steven McGreevy, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan
Sylvia Lorek, Sustainable Europe Research Institute, Köln, Germany
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Call for Papers for a topical collection, "The Role of Education in the Implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals – How Sustainability Education Influences Consumption and Production Systems and Contributes to Achieving Sustainable Development Goals" in the journal Discover Sustainability
Submission deadline: 31 March 2022
Submit Abstracts and Learn More
The consumption and production systems impact economies, the environment, and societies significantly worldwide and in all sectors. Apart from the significant environmental degradation, the high levels of resource use and the waste and pollution associated with both production and consumption phases of the lifecycle, including resource extraction, the production of intermediate inputs, distribution, marketing, use, waste disposal and re-use of products and services are paralleled by inefficient, polluting, and ultimately costly phases of development. These vary from the traditional decision-making and policies to scarcity, volatility, and pricing levels unaffordable for our economy’s manufacturing base. Impacts of consumption and production patterns reflect the ability of many economies and societies to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Based on the perceived need to drive markets in the direction of innovation and sustainability, thereby enabling the transition to a green economy, The special issue “The role of Education and UN Sustainable Development Goals – How Sustainability Education influence consumption and production systems and contribute to achieving sustainable development goals” is proposed as part of the journal “Discover Sustainability”.
This Topical Collection has two main focuses. Firstly, it welcomes submissions based on scholarly research, analyses, and reflections on how sustainability education affects consumption and production systems. Secondly, it invites scholars to introduce and discuss innovations, tools, and instruments to evaluate teaching and learning and pedagogical approaches, different disciplinary practices that can be integrated to deliver transdisciplinarity education, transition design research framework – from research to practice and practice to research, collaborative research, transnational research, and the mechanisms of systems that are external to the education system but are related to, the role of career counselling for the marginalised communities as a socio-economic and environmental mechanism for challenging and transforming current education inequality for sustainable development in the context of climate change, covid19, 4IR, and SDG’s, all in context of how we can harness innovation in Sustainability Education, and overcome the challenges of sustainable consumption and production, in a way that the achievement of the SDGs is not compromised. There is a vast awareness that through effective collaboration and communication and sharing experiences and insights, the world may be better able to cope with real-world challenges.
Collection editors:
Dr Renuka Thakore, Dr Kushal Adhikari, Dr Isa Elegbede, Dr Jos Eussen, Dr Mahwish Ali, and Dr Ewa Duda; if you have any queries, contact r.thakore@ucem.ac.uk
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Call for Papers for special research topic in Insights in Sustainable Consumption: 2022
Deadline for manuscripts: 15 April 2022
Submit Manuscripts and Learn More
We are now entering the third decade of the 21st Century, and, especially in the last years, the achievements made by scientists have been exceptional, leading to major advancements in the fast-growing field of sustainability research. Frontiers has organized a series of Research Topics to highlight the latest advancements in research across the field of sustainability, with articles from the Associate Members of our accomplished Editorial Boards. This editorial initiative of particular relevance, led by Prof. Sylvia Lorek (Specialty Chief Editor of the Sustainable Consumption section), together with Dr. Henrike Rau, is focused on new insights, novel developments, current challenges, latest discoveries, recent advances, and future perspectives in the field of sustainable consumption.
The Research Topic solicits brief, forward-looking contributions from the editorial board members that describe the state of the art, outlining, recent developments and major accomplishments that have been achieved and that need to occur to move the field forward. Authors are encouraged to identify the greatest challenges in the sub-disciplines, and how to address those challenges.
The goal of this special edition Research Topic is to shed light on the progress made in the past decade in the sustainable consumption field, and on its future challenges to provide a thorough overview of the field. This article collection will inspire, inform and provide direction and guidance to researchers in the field.
Guest Editors
Sylvia Lorek, Sustainable Europe Research Institute, Köln, Germany
Henrike Rau, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
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Call for Papers in Focus on Intergenerational Sustainability
Deadline for submissions: 31 August 2022
Submit Manuscripts and Learn More
Anthropogenic impacts to Earth's systems have placed humanity in a precarious position in which our gross consumption could lead to nonlinear changes to Earth Systems which could be non-conducive to societal development as we know it. As humanity's knowledge of Earth's planetary boundaries, and our transgression of them continues, it is of increasing importance that we begin to place our environmental research and assessments within the context of a 'safe operating space for humanity'. This is needed to ensure global sustainability research results work towards the definition, and transformation to, an intergenerational sustainable state as opposed to sustainable development focused solely on rate of change. This means understanding and obeying the boundaries and carrying capacity limits of the natural environment, whilst providing good life for everyone. Therefore, we should not focus on (potentially marginal) incremental improvements, but on understanding the environmentally safe operating space, and searching for ways to return from the current ecological overshoot to living within this space with just and good life for everyone.
This paradigm shift presents an opportunity to consider novel development pathways across sectors and regions, as well as the reconsideration and repurposing of previous research to place a focus on how the developments align with intergenerational sustainability. Thus, in this special issue we welcome research across spatial and temporal scales that provide quantitative or qualitative environmental research/assessments of product(s), systems, sectors, consumption profiles, relevant policies, or economic structures which integrate intergenerational environmental sustainability into the research/assessment.
This broad topic stretches across fields, and we welcome submissions covering (although not limited to):
- 'Safe and just operating spaces'
- Doughnut economics
- Sustainable consumption corridors
- Sustainable lifestyles
- Degrowth and economic reconfiguration
- Planetary boundaries
- Environmental economics
- Global carbon budget allocations
- Sustainable cities in the context of localized planetary boundaries
- Technological and behavioural change pathways
- Life cycle assessment/use of LCA studies in the context of sustainable consumption
- Rebound effects and/or systemic interconnectedness which could potentially hinder sustainable consumption
- System-level and individual lock-ins potentially hindering from reaching an environmentally sustainable society
The Guest Editors encourage the addition of social and justice perspectives within research articles. Particularly those that add perspectives of potential positive or negative social impacts (and feedbacks) associated with certain environmental developments, and universal basic services/needs to ensure a 'good life' while remaining within the Earth's carrying capacity.
Guest Editors
Jukka Heinonen, University of Iceland
Brynhildur Davíðsdóttir, University of Iceland
Kevin Joseph Dillman, University of Iceland
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The Plausibility of Deep Decarbonization
Halina Brown on our Climate Future
A recently released report, the “Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook” raises oft-overlooked elements in the discussion about decarbonizing the world by 2050, as called for in the 6th IPCC report. It takes a systematic analytical view of the social change that must accompany the technological transition toward deep decarbonization.
SCORAI’s message has been that technological change alone – switching to non-fossil-fuel-based energy sources and increased efficiency – will not be able to accomplish the radical reduction in GHG emissions that are necessary. Hence, the imperative to reduce demand for materials and energy.
The debate between the proponents and opponents of this view has been largely (though not exclusively) framed as limits to large-scale technological change, including its unintended consequences, and the impacts of reducing poverty and increasing population in the world.Bill Rees’s recent article (Megan Seibert is the first author) and the article that I co-authored in 2019 with several others are but two examples of that framing.
The Hamburg report deserves attention because it takes a different perspective. It starts with the premise that, apart from the necessary technological transition, reaching the 2050 goal of deep decarbonization will require major changes in institutional structures, policies and politics, the economy and culture, and technology and infrastructure. It then asks the following two questions:
- What are the drivers of these monumental social processes?
- Based on what we know about the current state and recent history of these social drivers, and the enabling conditions, how plausible is it that we can reach the deep decarbonization goal?
In response to question 1, the report identifies 10 social drivers of change. In response to question 2, the report makes a distinction made between feasibility and plausibility. Feasibility refers to the endpoints. But plausibility refers to the likelihood that these endpoints will be reached, based on historical trends, current developments, and on the understanding of the social change processes. The report concludes that six of the ten drivers —climate litigation, climate-related regulation, knowledge production, transnational initiatives, UN climate governance, and fossil fuel divestment—have dynamics that are judged to support decarbonization, though the existing internal barriers prevent the magnitude and speed of change necessary for deep decarbonization. Two additional drivers—consumption patterns and corporate responses—have overall dynamics that inhibit further decarbonization. The potential of two other social drivers -- protests and social movements, and journalism -- to support decarbonization is currently impossible to assess by the authors of the report.
The authors thus conclude that reaching deep decarbonization by 2050 is currently not plausible. But all hope is not lost, and we must continue the push for sustainability as far as we can.
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Listed in chronological order, from coming-soon to farthest out on the horizon.
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Controversies about the interpretation of limits and scarcity (Live Debate)
1 March 2022 | YouTube
The question whether there are limits to the size of the economy imposed by socio-ecological constraints has been present in ecological economics since its foundation. This question is still relevant, and probably more relevant than ever. This debate will be hosted by the International Society for Ecological Economics, which seeks the advancement of our understanding of the relationships among ecological, social, and economic systems and the application of this understanding to the mutual well-being of nature and people, especially that of the most vulnerable including future generations.
Lyla Mehta, Erik Gómez-Baggethun and Giorgos Kallis will mobilize biophysical, political ecology and feminist insights to debate about this contentious subject, live on the ISEE YouTube Page
Click the above video to watch it or go to: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVuPZiZfGaUw5Gbef7gYfmQ
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Symposium of the International Research Network on Sustainable Fashion Consumption 2022
30 March - 1 April 2022 | Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin
Fashion consumption and production have doubled since the beginning of the 21st century, leading to fundamental changes in how we acquire, use, and dispose of our clothes. Consumption of fashion and textiles has been recognised as the fourth most polluting lifestyle domain in Europe, after mobility, food, and household energy use. Challenges of overconsumption and resulting post-consumer textile waste are becoming increasingly evident, especially in the urban context.
The first symposium of the international research network on Sustainable Fashion Consumption (SFC) aims to bring together academic scholars and practitioners to share and discuss ongoing research in the field in efforts to contribute to a transition towards more sustainable forms of fashion consumption.
We would like to invite abstracts (max. 300 words) for scientific studies that address one or several of the indicated themes. Papers can be at different stages of completion and research-in-progress is welcome. Abstracts will be peer-reviewed and selected contributions will be invited. After the end of the symposium, there is a possibility to publish presented research as an edited volume with PALGRAVE. Deadline for abstracts: 1 November 2021.
For more conference information & to register: https://sustainablefashionconsumption.org/symposium-on-sustainable-fashion-consumption/
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2022 GamiFIN Conference
26-29 April 2022 | Hybrid, Online and in Tampere, Finland
This year GamiFIN will be organised as a hybrid event, making it possible for all attendees to participate either live or remotely. The region of Tampere is the second largest urban area in Finland, and one of the greatest cultural and industrial centers of the nordic countries. Tampere is the home of several international gaming companies, a thriving gaming start-up scene and the city also hosts the Finnish Museum of Games. The city itself is situated between two lakes and surrounded by forests: Tampere is a shining example of the Finnish approach to combining Nature and Innovation.
GamiFIN is a leading international conference for gamification research, which is chaired by the professor of gamification, Juho Hamari and gamification scholar Jonna Koivisto. GamiFIN 2022 conference welcomes 1) paper submissions, 2) posters, and 3) doctoral consortium applications from a wide array of topics around e.g. gamification, serious games, VR/AR/MR, esports, streaming.
The conference is organized by the Gamification Group and past keynotes have included notable scholars from the field of gamification such as Lennart Nacke, Sebastian Deterding, Richard Landers, T.L. Taylor, Elisa Mekler and Kristian Kiili.
https://gamifinconference.com
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Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference (NESS): Emergency and Transformation
7-9 June 2022 | University of Gothenburg, Sweden
If global environmental changes, including climate change, have taken decades to build up to an emergency, last year saw the almost instantaneous spread of a fatal virus that in a matter of weeks pushed global society into a humanitarian crisis, and soon also into a deep economic crisis. The Covid-19 emergency will most definitely be a watershed in modern history, but where the rain will flow is too early to tell. The 15th Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference (NESS), will be a chance for environmental social scholars to meet and discuss where the crises have brought us.
- What are the urgent contributions of environmental social science to these emergencies?
- Is the crisis an opportunity for accelerating since long necessary green transformations or a moment for patience, where resources should be directed toward the most urgent needs?
- Either or – what are the lessons learned by the Covid-19 crisis for a green transformation?
- Is the ‘strong society’ now back on the arena after decades of liberalizations, marketizations, and ‘just in time’?
- What are, then, the implications for democracy, governance, economic policies, and public discourses?
While the interconnectedness of emergency and transformation will gain special attention during the conference, we welcome contributions in areas related, but not restricted, to climate change, biodiversity, food, water, energy, natural resource extraction, bio-economy, rural and urban sustainability, and conservation. The conference workshops will cover various aspects of environmental social science, from the local to the global, from empirical papers over policy-relevant papers to conceptual and theoretical contributions. As is the tradition of NESS, the workshops are at the center of the conference, with plenty of time devoted to presentation and discussion of submitted papers.
Register to attend or submit your paper: https://www.gu.se/en/globalstudies/ness-nordic-environmental-social-science-conference-emergency-and-transformation#NESS-Conference-2022
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Up-scaling Co-benefits Of Sustainable Consumption For Development
13-14 June 2022 | Bonn, Germany
Deadline for abstract submission (max. 600 words): 7 April 2022
The conference is jointly organized by the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) and the Climate Change Center Berlin Brandenburg.
Environmentally sustainable consumption is now high on the agenda of researchers and policymakers in rich countries. In contrast, in developing countries the consuming middle classes are just emerging, mostly in cities, and concerns about the environmental footprint of consumption are only slowly entering the policy agenda. Given the unprecedented fast expansion of middle classes with increased spending capacity especially in emerging economies, however, it is crucial to encourage sustainable consumption here as well, avoiding emulation of unsustainable patterns of the past. Sustainable consumption is de facto already practiced in various contexts in low and middle income countries, for instance when it comes to energy saving, shared mobility, decentral digital markets, (informal) repair and recycling services or innovative plastic re-use start-ups. Yet, such pratices are often realized in settings of poverty, precarious working conditions and enviornmental hazards.
The challenge is thus to chart a pathway to sustainable consumption that is aligned with the economic aspirations of growing urbanizing middle classes, and at the same time creates economic benefits in terms of viable business innovations, decent work and good health conditions. Put differently: To unleash a virtuous cycle in which sustainable consumption and production reinforce each other and improve well-being.
Researchers and policymakers will discuss innovative insights on sustainable consumption and the role of the demand-side in the green transformation of economic systems. The conference also marks the end of the 5-year research project "Sustainable Middle Classes in Middle Income Countries: Transformation of Carbon Consumption Patterns (SMMICC)". Scientific contributions to the conference are welcome. Selected papers will be published in a special issues.
Please find more information in the Call for Papers
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Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2022
20-24 June 2022 | Online and onsite in Pretoria, South Africa
SRI2022 will be a hybrid meeting, bringing together sustainability professionals and practitioners from all over the world, to attend both online and onsite. Similar to SRI2021, organizers anticipate an interactive meeting with significant opportunities for mixing and exchanging information – dialogues, training sessions, workshops, and innovation demonstrations, with plenty of space for sponsors and cyber-enabled engagement. SRI2022 will be designed to service a more diverse group of participants from different geographies, language groups and across sectors. For a global transformation to sustainability, we need a broad coalition of experts and change-makers.
An important objective of SRI2022 is to amplify the voice of sustainability science and innovation in the Global South, specifically for the African continent, through raising awareness and propelling discussions about sustainable priorities for Africa. Africa has much to offer to the global discussion on sustainability, and SRI2022, together with its host Future Africa, will provide a critical platform for collaboration with local, African and international partners.
Learn more or submit your paper: https://sri2022.org
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ReSToRE 2 - Researching Social Theories, Resources, and Environment International Summer School
4-8 July 2022 | University College Dublin, Ireland
After the success of ReSToRE 1 in the summer of 2019, the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG) and International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) have decided to organise ReSToRE 2 on July 4-8th, 2022, in University College Dublin.
Run under the patronage of UNESCO, ReSToRE 2 aims to nurture an interdisciplinary and experiential learning environment for geoscientists and social scientists to address cross-cutting topics and to create a network for all participants and contributors. Specifically, the summer school seeks to bring early-career academics and professionals from developing and developed countries together in the same physical space to foster conversations at the nexus of Earth Sciences and Social Sciences.
We encourage all early-career academics and professionals who are interested in exploring these topics to apply to spend a week with us at the ReSToRE 2 summer school. You can find more information about ReSToRE and how to apply at this website. If you have any questions, please contact: restore@icrag-centre.org.
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 Climate change and industrial F-gases: A critical and systematic review of developments, sociotechnical systems and policy options for reducing synthetic greenhouse gas emissions
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Sovacool, BK, S Griffiths, J Kim, and M Bazilian
Humanity has come to depend on synthetic, factory made gases that have extremely significant global warming potential. Fluorinated greenhouse gases, or F-gases, such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) have been termed “super pollutants” and “super greenhouse gases” given their severe and powerful impact on the climate. They are the most potent greenhouse gases known to modern science, with global warming potentials far greater than carbon dioxide, some up to almost 24,000 times more so. Troublingly, they are also the fastest growing class of greenhouse gas emissions around the world, especially in developing countries.
Research suggests that almost 40% of their emissions by 2050 will fall outside the scope of international agreements such as the Paris Accord, Montreal Protocol and Kigali Amendment. Without comprehensive and sustained interventions, uncontrolled growth in F-gas emissions could offset all of the gains made by the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, or the cornerstone of existing international climate governance, the Nationally Determined Contributions of the 2015 Paris Accord. This review asks: What options are available to mitigate the environmental impacts of F-gases and thus make their manufacturing or disposal far more sustainable? What technical solutions and innovations exist to make their industrial usage low to zero carbon? What benefits will accrue from F-gas mitigation, and what barriers will need addressed? It undertakes a comprehensive and critical review of more than 140,000 sources of evidence, and a short list of 855 studies on the topic. It utilizes a sociotechnical lens that examines the manufacturing and use of F-gases across multiple sectors (including refrigeration, electronics manufacturing, non-ferrous metals processing, and applications in consumer goods) and components of its lifecycle (including not only manufacturing, but also use, disposal and destruction). We find that there are several policies and regulations that can be employed to address this already serious and growing climate change challenge.
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 Responses to Comments on "Through the Eye of a Needle: An Eco-Heterodox Perspective on the Renewable Energy Transition"
Energies
Megan K. Seibert & William E. Rees
Comments from Mark Diesendorf & Fthenakis et al.
When we published Seibert and Rees (2021), we expected conflicting responses from the energy/climate/sustainability community. We were therefore somewhat surprised that most of the comments and questions that have come to us in private communications have been markedly positive, many expressing gratitude for seeing such unpopular yet evidence-based and common-sense assertions in a public forum. Some have expressed relief for no longer feeling like a lone voice or that they have privately held the same view but have been reluctant to express it for fear of backlash. Because the opposing perspective expressed in Prof. Diesendorf’s critique is fairly representative of views in the modern renewables camp, we welcome the opportunity to respond to it and thank the editors of Energies for the invitation to comment.
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We're very pleased to welcome 7 new SCORAI members who joined the network for the new year, bringing our organization's total membership to 1,398 individuals. New members include:
- Joshua Miguel Lopez, Reboot Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines
- Mariella Siña, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Pierre McDonagh, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
- Lorna James, Maastricht University, Reading, United Kingdom
- Paloma Henriques, University of Maine, Kenduskeag, USA
- Richwell Musoma, Practical Action, Marondera, Zimbabwe
- Sara Constantino, Princeton University, Brooklyn, USA
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About SCORAI
SCORAI (Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative) is an international knowledge network of researchers and practitioners committed to building a flourishing and ecologically-sound society by changing the way we consume. We advance research, disseminate knowledge, impact policies and support campaigns. SCORAI recognizes that technological innovation alone is insufficient to address climate change and environmental threats. Therefore we support transformative changes in the economy, institutions and culture.
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