Imagining sustainability: The added value of transition scenarios in transition management

Abstract Purpose – To address lessons that specify the impact and contribution of current scenario methods when focused on facilitating transition management processes. Design/methodology/approach – Comparative literature review based on transition management and scenario development. Research limitations/implications – Need of further systemic thought about the required criteria of transition scenarios and the embedding of scenario use in transition management processes. Practical implications – Processes of transition management are in need of transition specific scenarios. Originality/value – Because transition management implies a complex and long-term steering paradigm with which current scenario applications are not familiar, conclusions are drawn on the (changing) requirements of scenario development processes in transition management and on the need to innovate current scenario methods in the context of transition management

Reply to: Soils need to be considered when assessing the impacts of land-use change on carbon sequestration

Industrial Ecolog

Conclusions: The Prospects of Collaboration

We started this book by noting that sustainable development has become the central perspective in environmental strategies around the world. As a result, those strategies are now aiming at transformation rather than simple environmental reforms. Throughout this book, the authors addressed the role of partnership and leadership as an instrument to engage society in such a transformational process in a variety of cases and circumstances. Although collaboration has become the new paradigm in industrial transformation, there is still much uncertainty about the workings and outcomes of collaborative strategies. When reading the chapters in this volume, it becomes clear, that the theoretical concepts describing how innovation processes leading towards sustainability work, let alone which role partnership and leadership can or should play in these processes, are far from mature. In this chapter, we will therefore make an attempt to organise the information given in this book into a more structured, and more coherent framework, before assessing the experiences and lessons of the cases. We will touch upon the following three issues. The first issue concerns the classification of the innovation processes leading to sustainability. The second issue concerns the ‘management’ of the different types of innovation processes. Which are the most relevant factors that influence the direction of these processes? The answer to this question can then be linked to the third issue, which is the core question of this book: how can partnership and leadership play a role in the different types of innovation processes? Which functions can it have? In our introductory chapter we identified collaboration as a premise for sustainable development. At the same time it may block more radical innovations. In this chapter we will take stock of the experiences so far after having provided a structure for classifying different types of partnership and leadership. On the basis of all experiences gathered in the cases in this volume, learning points can be identified on how partnership and leadership for sustainable innovations can best be organised

Frontiers in Sustainable Consumption Research

While the field of sustainable consumption research is relatively young, it has already attracted scholars from all corners of the social sciences. The time has come to identify a new research agenda as trends in sustainable consumption research seem to suggest the dawning of a new phase. Not only does research need to be guided, but sustainable consumption policymaking, too, involving best practices around the application of standard and more innovative instruments. © 2016 L. A. Reisch et al

Global distribution of material inflows to in‐use stocks in 2011 and its implications for a circularity transition

Around 40% of global raw materials that are extracted every year accumulate as in-use stocks in the form of buildings, infrastructure, transport equipment, and other durable goods. Material inflows to in-use stocks are a key component in the circularity transition, since the reintegration of those materials back into the economy, at the end of the stock's life cycle, means that less extraction of raw materials is required. Thus, understanding the geographical, material, and sectoral distribution of material inflows to in-use stocks globally is crucial for circular economy policies. Here we quantify the geographical, material, and sectoral distributions of material inflows to in-use stocks of 43 countries and 5 rest-of-the-world regions in 2011, using the global, multiregional hybrid units input–output database EXIOBASE v3.3. Among all regions considered, China shows the largest amount of material added to in-use stocks in 2011 (around 46% of global material inflows to in-use stocks), with a per capita value that is comparable to high income regions such as Europe and North America. In these latter regions, more than 90% of in-use stock additions are comprised of non-metallic minerals (e.g., concrete, brick/stone, asphalt, and aggregates) and steel. We discuss the importance of understanding the distribution and composition of materials accumulated in society for a circularity transition. We also argue that future research should integrate the geographical and material resolution of our results into dynamic stock-flow models to determine when these materials will be available for recovery and recycling. This article met the requirements for a Gold-Gold JIE data openness badge described in http://jie.click/badge