The Sustainability Transition

We need to make a deliberate and coordinated transition from unsustainability to sustainability.

By Dr Andy Brookes and Professor Matthijs Bal

Introduction

Despite making pledges and setting ambitious goals, our contemporary society is failing to bring about the change necessary to deal with the numerous global sustainability crises that we are experiencing, such as climate change, pandemics, biodiversity loss, poverty, and hunger. A key indicator of this failure is that global CO2 emissions are continuing to increase and in 2021 reached the highest ever level of 36.3 billion tonnes [1]. One of the reasons for this strategic change failure, or “the global problem-solving paradox” [2], is that the term ‘sustainability’ is ambiguous and vague which makes it difficult to translate into coordinated, concrete action. Despite much talk, the real-world impact of sustainability initiatives remains limited and insufficient – in fact increasing frequency of extreme weather events have shown that the problems have become more extreme and urgent. Sustainability has also been framed as a future problem, or as future goals to be achieved, and this has also inhibited the action being taken now. The concept of ‘Sustainability Transition’ offers a potentially more useful way to frame the task that needs to be accomplished if a catastrophic breakdown of the Earth’s ecosystems is to be avoided. The UN have stated that “the climate crisis calls for a rapid transformation of societies” [3] or in other words we need to make a deliberate and coordinated transition from unsustainability to sustainability.

Transition away from unsustainability

This language of transition places a greater emphasis on present-day, unsustainability and the real-world harm, suffering and destruction that this is causing [4]. This avoids the overly future-focused approach to sustainability that locates the problem as something that might happen in the future. The actually-existing problem of unsustainability provides the key starting point on the transition pathway. For example, the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrates the unsustainability of the contemporary food system. The likelihood of animal to human disease transmission is increased within a system that exploits nature, destroys habitats and reduces biodiversity [5]. The direction of travel, or central purpose, of the Sustainability Transition is to reach a position where people are leading healthy and dignified lives that are in balance with the planets ecosystems, i.e. a state of human and environmental flourishing [6]. This transition requires a move to the  regenerative use of resources and at least halving existing usage to bring it below the estimated safe upper limit of 50 billion tonnes per annum [7]. Decarbonisation of energy and production systems is also essential for bringing down concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere below the safe level of 350ppm [8].

Transition from business as usual to a new sustainable economy

The contemporary capitalist consumer economy is the primary driver of unsustainability – or as New Scientist stated “our economy is killing the planet” [9]. The modern economy is organised on the principle of continuous economic growth – this economic orthodoxy is fundamentally unsustainable [10]. Constant expansion and growth, which has been institutionalised in the GDP growth targets set by national governments, can only be achieved through increased exploitation of natural resources and increased consumption. However, even a modest 3% annual GDP growth equates to a doubling of the economy every 20 years, which is clearly illogical and absurd on a planet with finite, limited resources [11]. The Sustainable Transition involves moving to a post-growth or degrowth economy which is “an equitable downscaling of production and consumption that increases human wellbeing and enhances ecological conditions at the local and global level, in the short and long term” [12]. Degrowth is about deliberately reducing production and consumption so that regenerative use of resources and decarbonisation are achievable within the required timescale. The goal of a sustainable society cannot be achieved through technology alone, or simply by ‘greening’ business as usual, as there is no evidence that growth can be decoupled from material consumption [13].

Transition at all levels of society

The framing of sustainability as a global challenge has been unhelpful in that it has inhibited necessary action at other levels of society. The overall transition to sustainability will be achieved by transitions being enacted across: law and public policy making; industrial sectors; institutions; professions; groups and individual organisations. Transition will involve the development and implementation of bespoke transition pathways to suit the context of the community and economic sector [3]. Business organisations, especially the multi-national corporations, will have to be incentivised to develop and implement new, sustainable, ‘in-balance’ business models that use resources regeneratively and are fully decarbonised. Although progress with the sustainable transition has to occur concurrently across different parts of the economy and society there are priority areas in the economy that will need to make rapid transitions e.g. food, finance, and energy [3].

Conclusion

The Sustainability Transition is about taking real concrete action to dismantle, reform and replace the laws, policies, institutions, social practices, and technologies that currently reproduce and perpetuate unsustainability. Action needs to be taken at global, local and individual levels. The primary beneficiaries of unsustainability have been the rich and powerful countries and corporations in the Global North – they have caused the levels of over-consumption and pollution. These high income countries and powerful businesses now have to take responsibility to put right the unsustainability and injustice that they have inflicted and ensure a just transition to sustainability.

 

References

1. International Energy Agency (IEA) (2022) Global CO2 emissions rebounded to their highest level in history in 2021
2. Guterres, A. (2022, Feb 8). The global problem-solving paradox. UN Sustainable Development Group.
3. United nations Environmental Programme (2022) Emissions Gap Report 2022: The Closing Window – Climate crisis calls for rapid transformation of societies
4. Barry, J., 2012. The politics of actually existing unsustainability: human flourishing in a climate-changed, carbon constrained world. Oxford University Press.
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