Regional sustainability networks in the Netherlands are rooted in regionalculture and have an emphasis on social learning and effective collaboration between multiple actors. The national ‘Duurzaam Door’ (Moving Forward Sustainably) Policy Programme regards these networks as generative governance arrangements where new knowledge, actions and relations can co-evolve together with new insights in governance and learning within sustainability transitions. In order to understand the dynamics of the learning in these networks we have monitored emergent properties of social learning between 2014 and 2016. Our focus is particularly on the interrelated role of trust, commitment, reframing and reflexivity. Our aim is to better understand the role and the dynamics of these emergent properties and to see which actors and roles can foster the effectiveness of social learning in regional transitions towards more sustainable ways of living. We used a retrospective analysis with Reflexive Monitoring in Action (RMA), which we combined with the Most Significant Change approach. We found that reflexivity in particularis a critical property at moments that can make or break the process.
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Expectations are high for digital technologies to address sustainability related challenges. While research into such applications and the twin transformation is growing rapidly, insights in the actual daily practices of digital sustainability within organizations is lacking. This is problematic as the contributions of digital tools to sustainability goals gain shape in organizational practices. To bridge this gap, we develop a theoretical perspective on digital sustainability practices based on practice theory, with an emphasis on the concept of sociomateriality. We argue that connecting meanings related to sustainability with digital technologies is essential to establish beneficial practices. Next, we contend that the meaning of sustainability is contextspecific, which calls for a local meaning making process. Based on our theoretical exploration we develop an empirical research agenda.
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The challenges we collectively face, such as climate change, are characterized by more complexity, interdependence, and dynamism than is common for educational practice. This presents a challenge for (university) education. These transition challenges are often described as wicked or VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) problems. In response, educational innovations that are inspired by ecology such as living labs are starting to emerge, but little is known about how learners engage within and with these more ecological forms of education. This work is an exploratory study into how learners navigate VUCA learning environments linked to tackling sustainability transition challenges, with a focus on the positive qualities of these experiences. This is done through interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of seven students (using semi-structured interviews) of the MSC Metropolitan Analysis, Design and Engineering program, a joint degree from Wageningen University and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. The main findings, which are both psychological and educational, of this exploration include openness to new experiences (1), flexibility (2), a process appreciation of learning (3), a desire to create a positive impact on one’s direct biophysical environment (4) and society (5). In addition, we discuss the potential limitations of the malleability of these different qualities and propose future avenues for research into ecological learning for universities. This work closes by highlighting recommendations for educators to consider when designing or engaging in ecological forms of higher education that connect students to sustainability transitions.
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Many transitions scholars underscore the importance of learning in sustainability transitions, but the associated learning processes have hardly been conceptualised. The diverse, well-established research fields related to learning are broadly ignored or loosely applied. In this paper, we systematically explore four interesting learning traditions in terms of their value for gaining an in-depth understanding of learning in sustainability transitions and their relevance for fostering learning, by connecting them to key features of transitions. The selected learning traditions from different disciplinary backgrounds provide valuable insights. None of them sufficiently addresses the complexity of transitions. They include, however, a diversity of relevant learning contexts. We conclude that they have value for investigating new areas such as learning in socio-technological regimes and in later phases of a transition, while enlightening forms of learning that have not yet been fully recognised in transition studies, such as superficial learning, unlearning, and learning to resist change.
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Keynote given during the 5th International Conference on New Business Models on the topic of sustainable, inclusive and circular new business models. New business models have been widely touted for their promise of sustainability. However, conceptual approaches to new business models by and large fail to make connections with sustainability transitions. In this contribution, DRIFT researcher and professor of New Business Models for Agrifood Transition, HAS University of Applied Sciences, PJ Beers draws upon the characteristics of sustainability transitions to introduce a transformative business model concept. Given that sustainability transitions are radically incremental processes, he proposes that the innovative potential of business models lies in the extent to which they can influence their current institutional setting and that the radicalism of new business models can only be assessed in relation to the transition to which they might contribute.
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This study evaluates the effectiveness of the European Union's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in quantitatively measuring the transition of companies to a circular economy. First, using the most recent literature review on circularity metrics, a complete overview of the currently available circularity metrics is developed. Subsequently, it is determined which circularity metrics can be generated with the available quantitative datapoints of CSRD. The metrics that can be generated were analyzed on their ability to cover all circular strategies, to represent different Product-as-a-Service systems and to acknowledge the key role of Critical Raw Materials in a circular economy. The study finds that, with data disclosed under CSRD, metrics can be generated to cover all circular strategies. However, gaps remain in representing pay-per-use and pay-perperformance systems and the use of Critical Raw Materials. Recommendations are to include ‘Product utilization’ and ‘Mass of Critical Raw Materials used’ in the data disclosed under CSRD and to have an independent institution report data to enable benchmarking of performances. Finally, this study concludes with an overview of the metrics which enable to measure circular transitions using data disclosed by CSRD
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This special issue was initiated to contribute to an in-depth debate on the issue of learning in transitions, specifically by integrating concepts from the learning and transition domains.
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Eco-innovations that reduce carbon emissions help advance sustainability transitions in tourism. This article examines the analytical potential of actor-network theory (ANT) to study eco-innovation. ANT assumes that reality consists of actor-networks made of human and non-human elements that perform actors as network effects. We argue that, in a time when climate change is the simultaneous product and producer of human actions, eco-innovation is better understood when research gives the human and non-human elements that perform eco-innovations equal analytical treatment. We therefore develop an ANT-inspired framework, which we apply in a case study to investigate the development of a specific eco-innovation: CARMACAL, a web-based carbon management application in the Dutch travel industry. We find that technological novelty alone is insufficient to instigate transition. CARMACAL affords multiple new practices with opposite implications for socio-economic and environmental sustainability. The practices triggering most industry support are least effective in addressing tourism's climate impacts and vice versa. Examining eco-innovation through ANT helps us put eco-innovation in a different light. Seemingly contradictory practices may be mutually supportive: their individual strengths and weaknesses may help prevent the failure of eco-innovations. This new possibility opens the way for concerted policies strengthening the contribution of eco-innovations to sustainability transitions.
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Author supplied: Within the Netherlands the interest for sustainability is slowly growing. However, most organizations are still lagging behind in implementing sustainability as part of their strategy and in developing performance indicators to track their progress; not only in profit organizations but in higher education as well, even though sustainability has been on the agenda of the higher educational sector since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, progress is slow. Currently most initiatives in higher education in the Netherlands have been made in the greening of IT (e.g. more energy efficient hardware) and in implementing sustainability as a competence in curricula. However if we look at the operations (the day to day processes and activities) of Dutch institutions for higher education we just see minor advances. In order to determine what the best practices are in implementing sustainable processes, We have done research in the Netherlands and based on the results we have developed a framework for the smart campus of tomorrow. The research approach consisted of a literature study, interviews with experts on sustainability (both in higher education and in other sectors), and in an expert workshop. Based on our research we propose the concept of a Smart Green Campus that integrates new models of learning, smart sharing of resources and the use of buildings and transport (in relation to different forms of education and energy efficiency). Flipping‐the‐classroom, blended learning, e‐learning and web lectures are part of the new models of learning that should enable a more time and place independent form of education. With regard to smart sharing of resources we have found best practices on sharing IT‐storage capacity among universities, making educational resources freely available, sharing of information on classroom availability and possibilities of traveling together. A Smart Green Campus is (or at least is trying to be) energy neutral and therefore has an energy building management system that continuously monitors the energy performance of buildings on the campus. And the design of the interior of the buildings is better suited to the new forms of education and learning described above. The integrated concept of Smart Green Campus enables less travel to and from the campus. This is important as in the Netherlands about 60% of the CO2 footprint of a higher educational institute is related to mobility. Furthermore we advise that the campus is in itself an object for study by students and researchers and sustainability should be made an integral part of the attitude of all stakeholders related to the Smart Green Campus. The Smart Green Campus concept provides a blueprint that Dutch institutions in higher education can use in developing their own sustainability strategy. Best practices are shared and can be implemented across different institutions thereby realizing not only a more sustainable environment but also changing the attitude that students (the professionals of tomorrow) and staff have towards sustainability.
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