Search

Highlights • Novel analysis of reported resettlement figures for large dams highlights the factors that lead to dispersion. • Reported resettlement numbers vary with project cycle, stakeholders releasing data, political regime and over time. • Presents entire database on resettlement data for large dams to facilitate further work to de-bias resettlement data. Abstract Reports suggest that up to 80 million people have been resettled due to the construction of large dams in the past century. Published resettlement data regarding large dam projects comes from different sources, with numbers that can be greatly dispersed. We have examined resettlement data for 29 large dam projects gathering and analysing up to 43 datum per dam project in our sample. We find that dispersion is influenced by the project cycle (with resettlement figures from the planning and design phase found to be lowest), the stakeholders releasing it (with resettlement figures released by project advocates lower than those of project opponents), the political regime (with highest data dispersion found in hybrid regimes and limited dispersion found both in democratic and autocratic regimes) and with time of completion (with dispersion increasing for dams completed since 2010). Our findings thus present some suggestive evidence for the political perspective within the project management literature which emphasizes the contested nature of truth and knowledge. Overall, our study highlights that data in the dam industry and resettlement data must be treated with caution. Furthermore, it provides the starting point for the development of a tool that helps to de-bias resettlement data provided for large dam projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Missions for sustainability are a celebrated notion in the sustainability and transitions community these days • Five criticisms regarding missions for sustainability: Normativity bias, top-down governance optimism, stakeholder monotony, picking winners, unintended effects. • Limited empirical examples of missions for sustainability, despite main ideas being discussed and implemented for decades. • Critical review at hand – first critical review on this notion – meant to provoke a fruitful debate on missions for sustainability. The concept of 'sustainability missions' has recently received increasing attention in the academic literature. Broadly defined as a collective ambition to strengthen systemic preparedness and adaptive capacity for various policy challenges, the concept of sustainability missions invites critical reflection due to its rise in usage and popularity. In this spirit, we discuss five challenges that limit the ability of the missions concept to guide progress on meaningful change. First, much of the academic literature takes the concept for granted by using it as a descriptor or normative goal, without the skeptical perspective that would challenge the perpetuation of old ways of thinking about societal problems. Second, the concept is policy-centric and thus tends to endorse a top-down approach to complex problems that otherwise elude centralization. Third, scholarly treatment of the concept often undervalues the role of non-government stakeholders like businesses and communities. Fourth, the literature often fails to acknowledge that sustainability missions involve picking industrial 'winners' – a strategy with historically mixed results. Finally, scholars frequently neglect the unpredictability of sustainability mission implementation, a risk magnified in the case of totalizing goals like economic or social-systemic transformation. These five limitations, among others, work against the stated goals of sustainability missions and hinder theoretical development. This article describes a way forward for research and practice utilizing the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars overwhelmingly adopt the case study method when analyzing causal conditions inducing anti-dam-protests. We have carried out the first medium-N-study on this topic analyzing public opposition to 12 dam projects in Asia. For this purpose, we employ a fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) which is based on a thorough review of scholarly writings and press reports on the dam projects at question as well as an online survey and semi-structured interviews. We identify two causal recipes sufficient for the emergence of significant anti-dam-protests. First, lacking social safeguards in combination with the presence of political opportunity structures and higher levels of development are sufficient for significant anti-dam-protests to emerge. Second, lacking social safeguards in combination with rampant corruption and environmental risk induce these protests. Current scholarly literature particuarly emphasizes political opportunity structures and development as causal conditions inducing significant protests. Our findings build on this literature to highlight the importance of project-specific conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have been exploring the social impacts of dams for over 50 years, but a lack of systematic approaches has resulted in many research gaps remaining. This paper presents the first systematic review of the literature on the social impacts of dams. For this purpose, we built a sample of 217 articles published in the past 25 years via key word searches, expert consultations and bibliography reviews. All articles were assessed against an aggregate matrix framework on the social impact of dams, which combines 27 existing frameworks. We find that existing literature is highly biased with regard to: perspective (45% negative versus 5% positive); dam size (large dams are overrepresented); spatial focus (on the resettlement area); and temporal focus (5–10 years ex-post resettlement). Additionally, there is bias in terms of whose views are included, with those of dam developers rarely examined by scholars. These gaps need to be addressed in future research to advance our knowledge on the social impact of dams to support more transparency in the trade-offs being made in dam development decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No commonly used framework exists in the scholarly study of the social impacts of dams. This hinders comparisons of analyses and thus the accumulation of knowledge. The aim of this paper is to unify scholarly understanding of dams' social impacts via the analysis and aggregation of the various frameworks currently used in the scholarly literature. For this purpose, we have systematically analyzed and aggregated 27 frameworks employed by academics analyzing dams' social impacts (found in a set of 217 articles). A key finding of the analysis is that currently used frameworks are often not specific to dams and thus omit key impacts associated with them. The result of our analysis and aggregation is a new framework for scholarly analysis (which we call ‘matrix framework’) specifically on dams' social impacts, with space, time and value as its key dimensions as well as infrastructure, community and livelihood as its key components. Building on the scholarly understanding of this topic enables us to conceptualize the inherently complex and multidimensional issues of dams' social impacts in a holistic manner. If commonly employed in academia (and possibly in practice), this framework would enable more transparent assessment and comparison of projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Quantitative dataset to track development finance in the global power sector. • Chinese Developmental Institutions largest public finance provider. • Expansion patterns differ from traditional Multilateral Development Banks. • Technology portfolio dominated by coal plants, albeit cleaner coal over time. • Coal finance driven by set of drivers and enablers on demand and supply side. Public developmental institutions are pivotal in shaping the contours of the electricity sector of the developing world and its associated greenhouse gas emissions pathways. However, we have a fragmented and incomplete picture of the evolution of their investments over time and space. This is particularly the case for the recent rise of various Chinese Developmental Institutions (CDIs) for which infrastructure investment estimates range in the trillions under China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and for which data is mostly not publicly disclosed. We address this gap in two ways: first, we compile and analyze a novel dataset that draws on commercial data tracking, publicly available datasets, and more than 1,000 supporting documents to match financial transactions by the main CDIs and traditional Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to power plant projects worldwide. This allows us to conduct a quantitative, comparative analysis of the role of CDIs and MDBs to understand the relative size, technology, and country focus of such investments in the period 1999–2020. Second, we complement the quantitative dataset with 39 expert interviews to shed light on the drivers behind the Chinese investments, with a particular focus on coal projects. The analysis shows that CDIs have rapidly emerged as the largest public finance provider for the electricity sector in the developing world. We also find that, in contrast with the increasingly green BRI rhetoric, the technology portfolio of CDI investments in power plants is still heavily dominated by coal plants. Over time, however, CDIs have increasingly supported more efficient coal plants and increased the share of their portfolio supporting non-hydro renewables and supported a growing number of projects jointly with MDBs. Steering China's bilateral coal finance flows through international efforts into a more sustainable direction to meet climate goals will require careful consideration of a set of drivers and enablers of the involvement of CDIs and recipient countries in coal projects, which we discuss, as well as of the role of other finance providers, including traditional MDBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as the main element of China's foreign policy, has undergone significant changes since it was first launched in 2013 • However, there is no research yet on how it might evolve in the future, especially with the impacts of current developments such as the COVID-19 crisis and global power shifts • We aim to address this gap and present the first systematic qualitative future analysis with 4 proposed scenarios of the BRI, based on 39 expert interviews • Our analysis might help political and private sector decision-makers around the world anticipate developments and prepare their responses, as well as provide an academic contribution for conceptualising the BRI, e.g., for scholars who might aim to quantify future BRI impacts China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), labelled as the world's largest infrastructure program, has so far directed investments mainly to energy and transportation networks in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Since its launch, the BRI has changed significantly in terms of scale, stakeholders, and investment sectors and continues to evolve, also in light of the COVID-19 crisis. However, so far, there is no systematic and comprehensive analysis of how it might look like in the medium-term future (2035), even though academic literature on the BRI is burgeoning. We address this research gap and apply a scenario method with a 2 × 2 matrix, building on insights from ∼40 qualitative interviews with representatives from business, non-profit and public sectors from China and BRI countries, complemented by desk research of press and academic articles. We conceptualise the BRI alongside its degree of economic globalisation and multilateralism, which are both impacted by the global pandemic response. We arrive at the four scenarios Asian, Vibrant, Irrelevant, and International BRI. These scenarios show that different development are possible with the BRI's geographical scope, the investment volumes and sectors, the funding structure, and also the orientation towards sustainability. These post-pandemic pathways of the BRI might help decision-makers in business and politics to prepare their responses and strategies. The scenarios can also inform the academic debate around conceptualising the BRI and provide a qualitative basis for future quantitative impact assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Circular Economy (CE) promises an alternative to the current 'take-make-dispose' economic model of high energy consumption and waste production. There are a range of examples of CE implementation in literature, but few focus on complex product value chains. Consequently, there is a lack of sector-specific understanding of barriers and enablers. This research addresses this gap with a case study from the coffee industry. Over a 7-month period, we observed a business model experimentation (BME) in the value chain of an Amsterdam based specialty coffee importer. The BME is aimed at changing both the producing and consuming side of the value chain, with the intention to minimize waste and balance ecological with social and financial sustainability. It was concluded that coherence in governmental policies, "silo thinking" of industries and standardization of circular design remain major barriers. Having a common awareness and vision as well as designing solid business models were found to be crucial enablers. Next to this, additions to existing literature are presented. Firstly, the sensitivity to identity and market perception of companies with regards to the adoption of CE initiatives was observed as a barrier. Secondly, "knowledge" in CE literature often refers to the technical barrier, where it was found that more specific fact-based communication can be an enabler for CE initiatives when perceptions of a linear economy are false. Thirdly, clear interaction between barriers and enablers was observed, which additionally allowed a clear role for the focal firm. The study at hand complements existing literature on CE with a sector-specific perspective of the coffee industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The early 2020s have been characterized by multiple convergent crises, including the Covid-19 pandemic and economic fallout of mitigation measures, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the ongoing sustainability and climate change crisis. This article discusses how the concept of the circular economy can inform responses to such crises by addressing four elements of a socio-economic system: technological innovation, supply chains and markets, public policy, and consumer behaviour. Synthesizing emerging insights from the scholarly and policymaking arenas, the article identifies the following ways that the circular economy concept can be effectively framed as crisis response: focusing on circularity in a more holistic way, adopting global value chains as the primary unit of analysis, pinpointing specific circularity aspects like drivers and barriers in value chains and business models, and extending the prevailing focus on technical aspects and material flows to often overlooked trade and geopolitical considerations. This discussion aims to articulate lessons for industry, policymakers, and scholars in leveraging a circularity approach to address the world's most pressing issues. • The world is facing a convergence of major systemic crises. • The concept of the circular economy can help manage these crisis. • Circularity is applicable beyond notions of sustainability only. • Connection to crisis response brings together two burgeoning literatures. • The benefit is theoretical novelty and practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transitioning from the 'take-make-dispose' linear production system to a circular economy can strengthen sustainability, and governments play a vital role. Recent scholarship has investigated policies for circular economy transition, but few studies take a perspective on circularity reform that spans geographies, industries, and product life-cycle stages. This article fills that gap by introducing a policy framework for the circular economy that includes over 100 policy instruments. The framework is developed from a review of 572 studies published in the academic and grey literature, along with policy databases and other documents. The findings are validated and supplemented by data from 33 semi-structured interviews with circular economy experts including scholars, policymakers, and representatives from NGOs and businesses. Derived primarily from the EU context but broadly applicable, the framework categorizes circular economy policies into nine groups. Six groups correspond to stages of the product life-cycle and three are overarching, capturing a holistic perspective mostly lacking in the literature. This study aims to promote a more structured discussion about circular economy policies and provides directions for future research by identifying topics where scholarship is thin. In addition to advancing theory, the framework can also serve as an assessment lens for designing circular economy policies. • This article introduces a comprehensive framework for circular economy policies. • Framework includes more than 100 policy instruments. • Framework is based on a review of literature, policy databases, and policy documents. • Findings are validated by data from 33 semi-structured interviews. • Framework can serve as a practical assessment lens and policy toolbox. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of scholarship has examined circular business models as a pathway towards sustainability. However, employee skills to support such business models have been largely overlooked. Addressing this research gap, this article proposes a comprehensive skill taxonomy for start-ups embracing circular economy transition. As the first large-N effort to develop a comprehensive skill taxonomy for circular business model implementation, this study uses a clustering analysis of self-reported skill profiles for 2407 staff working in circular start-ups. The taxonomy outlines 40 skills across six categories: business innovation, operations, social dimensions, systems, digitization, and technical issues. Findings suggest that circular business model implementation requires a set of general, sustainable, and circular skills, but some of these skills have been neglected in scholarship. Promoting circular narratives as a framing device for skill development can help advance CE towards mainstream uptake, and this study's taxonomy offers a practical framework for using talent to accelerate CE transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• China is increasingly involved in renewable energy deployment in sub-Saharan Africa. • Unique Chinese model of renewable energy infrastructure provision exists. • Only bounded local economic co-benefits can be identified in three detailed project-level case studies. • Policymakers should be cautions of overly optimistic expectations of co-benefits. • Implementation of carefully designed policies can potentially increase local economic co-benefits. Investments in renewable energy are increasing rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa. The overall purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent and under what conditions these investments are producing economic co-benefits in terms of spillovers and linkage development effects. One peculiarity of Africa's renewable-energy sector is the rapid increase and likely future growth of Chinese involvement in large-scale renewable-energy infrastructure projects. Insights from other infrastructure, utility and resource-extraction sectors in sub-Saharan Africa suggest that China is pursuing a specific Chinese model of investments characterised by enclave characteristics and including finance, turnkey project development and the importation of labour and equipment from China. Hence our focus in this paper is to determine to what extent economic co-benefits are created when renewable-energy projects are developed by Chinese investors. To do this, we undertake an in-depth analysis of three Chinese renewable-energy investment projects in hydro, wind and solar PV, based on primary data. Overall, we find evidence of 'bounded benefits'. On the one hand, we can identify some newly created jobs, linkages generated with actors in local systems of production and training activities involving local staff. On the other hand, the extent of these benefits is very limited. Overall, the results suggest that policymakers should be wary of overly optimistic expectations when it comes to assessing the co-benefits of renewable energy projects in the context of scarce pre-existing capabilities. However, the adoption of pro-active strategies and the implementation of carefully designed policies can increase the local economic co-benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circular economy (CE) concept is much-heralded among policy-makers, scholars and industry professionals as an accelerated pathway towards sustainability. This move away from the dominant linear system where products are discarded at the end of product lifecycle is deemed necessary since it is the main cause of an accelerated resource consumption. Business models are considered as a key enabler for the shift from a linear to a CE. However, research on circular business models has mainly focused on circular approaches adopted by incumbent firms, while the contributions of newly established firms (the authors call these 'circular start-ups') have been largely overlooked. This article scrutinises the business models of circular start-ups and how they may differ from those of incumbent firms embracing CE. For this, it analyses the circular business model strategies and innovations adopted by circular start-ups, relying on a novel data sample of 128 circular start-ups identified in three major CE ecosystems in Europe: the Randstad region in the Netherlands, Berlin and London. Based on this data, a novel typology of circular start-ups is proposed, distinguishing between five circular start-up archetypes: design-based, waste-based, platform-based, service-based and nature-based start-ups. The results also show that circular start-ups tend to embrace strategies corresponding to higher levels of circularity than those of incumbents. This preliminarily suggests that circular start-ups can indeed make major contributions to transitioning towards CE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]