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The most critical question for climate research is no longer about the problem, but about how to facilitate the transformative changes necessary to avoid catastrophic climate-induced change. Addressing this question, however, will require massive upscaling of research that can rapidly enhance learning about transformations. Ten essentials for guiding action-oriented transformation and energy research are therefore presented, framed in relation to second-order science. They include: (1) Focus on transformations to low-carbon, resilient living; (2) Focus on solution processes; (3) Focus on ‘how to’ practical knowledge; (4) Approach research as occurring from within the system being intervened; (5) Work with normative aspects; (6) Seek to transcend current thinking; (7) Take a multi-faceted approach to understand and shape change; (8) Acknowledge the value of alternative roles of researchers; (9) Encourage second-order experimentation; and (10) Be reflexive. Joint application of the essentials would create highly adaptive, reflexive, collaborative and impact-oriented research able to enhance capacity to respond to the climate challenge. At present, however, the practice of such approaches is limited and constrained by dominance of other approaches. For wider transformations to low carbon living and energy systems to occur, transformations will therefore also be needed in the way in which knowledge is produced and used.

Sustainability science can roughly be differentiated into two distinct research streams – a “descriptive-analytical” and a “transformational” one. While the former is primarily concerned with describing and analyzing sustainability problems, the latter aims at developing evidence-supported solution options to solve these problems. This chapter presents relevant methodological guidelines and requirements as well as five exemplary research frameworks for transformational sustainability research. The frameworks are for (1) complex problem-handling, (2) transition management and governance, (3) backcasting, (4) integrated planning research, and (5) the transformational sustainability research (TRANSFORM framework). The TRANSFORM framework aims at synthesizing key components of the other frameworks. The frameworks provide guidelines for transformational sustainability research; yet, willingness and capacity of academic, governmental, private, and nonprofit organizations to use them for knowledge-generating operations are still fairly low. To truly support sustainability transformations, much more of this solution-oriented sustainability research is needed.

Universities hold a crucial responsibility and role to contribute to sustainable development, also in their education task. The concept of competencies for sustainable development and the idea of using real-world sustainability issues in education are promising approaches to transform sustainability programmes at universities into student-centred learning environments. Especially the educational formats of problem-based learning and project-based learning foster such a process of educational innovation towards student-centred learning. Moreover, hybrid forms of problem-based and project-based learning offer added value, but challenges for PPBL courses in sustainability remain salient.

Sustainability assessments can play several critical roles in initiatives that support real-world problem solving and system transformations towards sustainability (Wiek et al., 2012; Miller et al., 2014). Various approaches to sustainability assessment emphasize different functions and associated procedures (e.g., Devuyst, 1999; Pope, Annandale and Morrison-Saunders, 2004; Gibson, 2006a; Weaver and Rotmans, 2006; Ness et al., 2007). Most often, the products of sustainability assessments act as normative reference points for planning, decision making and actions. They provide guidance on what to address (problem), what to achieve (vision), what the distance to target is and/or what the best course of action (set of interventions) is.

The future of the American West depends on sustainable water resource governance. A variety of uncertainties associated with limited freshwater supplies, population growth, land use change, drought, and climate change impacts present substantial challenges. To inform decision making, managers are adopting new techniques such as scenario planning to understand how water resources might change and what practices can support economic, environmental, and social sustainability. Scenario planning can be informed by understanding the normative future preferences of a variety of stakeholders, including decision makers, who influence water governance. This article presents a survey of central Arizona decision makers to understand their visions for a desirable future for the water system in terms of supply, delivery, demand, outflow, and crosscutting activities. Principle components analysis is used to identify patterns underlying responses about preferences for each domain of the system and correlation analysis is used to evaluate associations between themes across the domains. The results reveal two distinct visions for water in central Arizona—one in which water experts and policy makers pursue supply augmentation to serve metropolitan development, and another in which broadened public engagement is used in conjunction with policy tools to reduce water consumption, restore ecosystem services, and limit metropolitan expansion. The results of this survey will inform the development of a set of normative scenarios for use in exploratory modeling and anticipatory governance activities.

The civil war raging in Syria at the time of this writing demonstrates the devastating effects of converging extreme drought, population growth and corrupt governance on natural, human and economic systems (Friedman 2013). A recent study on childhood and adult obesity in the United States concludes that prevalence of obesity has not changed significantly over the past ten years, remaining at more than 33 per cent of adults and 17 per cent of youth (Ogden et al. 2014). The detrimental effects of obesity on American society include the cost of individual illnesses, public health and financial burdens, lost worker productivity, and environmental degradation.Climate change has begun to impact cities and regions worldwide through storms and associated flood damages, extensive droughts, sea-level rise, and other disruptions; with impacts expected to increase in frequency and/or severity (Melillo et al. 2014). The above are but a few of the challenges that pertain to sustainability and display features of significant harm, complexity, urgency and contestation. Throughout this chapter,we adhere to the following definition of sustainability (and by exten-sion of sustainable development and sustainability problems) set forth in the literature (e.g. WCED 1987; Kates et al. 2001;Wiek et al. 2012): Sustainability is the collective willingness and ability of a society to reach or maintain its viability, vitality, and integrity over long periods of time, while allowing other societies to reach or maintain their own viability, vitality, and integrity. Sustainability challenges do not seem tractable to business-as-usual solutions; novel approaches are needed, for example, solution-oriented and transformational sustainability research efforts (Lang et al. 2012; Sarewitz et al. 2012;Wiek et al. 2012; Miller et al. 2014). Similarly, a large-scale educational transformation is needed to equip a new generation of professionals (not only sustainability professionals!) to address sustainability challenges through problem-solving approaches that integrate systems thinking, structured anticipation,value-laden deliberation, evidence-supported strategies, and strong collaboration across government, businesses and civil society (Wiek et al. 2011a).

When stakeholders collaborate with researchers in developingsolutions to societal problems, high-quality andimplementable solutions can result. Transdisciplinaryresearch allows researchers, experts, decision makers,and citizens to contribute to solution-oriented research.This research is particularly suitable for complex sustainabilitychallenges, which aff ect the public and requirecollective problem-solving efforts. Transdisciplinaryresearch’s wider adoption depends on the willingness tosecure resources, expertise, and institutional support.

Communication as pivotal part of the human condition plays an essential role in bringing sustainability-related issues onto society’s agenda. Sustainability communication does not represent a somewhat discrete and self-contained theoretical approach, but rather draws on a wide range of disciplines, their bodies of knowledge, and their methodological approaches to illuminate the drivers and barriers of a broader and deeper societal engagement with the idea of sustainability. This chapter introduces students to the study of communication processes in the context of sustainable development. It suggests analyzing sustainability communication using a typology of three different communication modes: communication of, about, and for sustainability. The typology is applied in an illustrative way from the perspectives of two particular subsystems familiar to students, the educational system as well as the media system. The chapter concludes with an overview of relevant literature in the field of sustainability communication. The recommended readings cover three different types of literature highly relevant to students’ future studies in this field: introductory readings, practice-oriented readings, and current research. Communication as pivotal part of the human condition plays an essential role in bringing sustainability-related issues onto society’s agenda. Sustainability communication does not represent a somewhat discrete and self-contained theoretical approach, but rather draws on a wide range of disciplines, their bodies of knowledge, and their methodological approaches to illuminate the drivers and barriers of a broader and deeper societal engagement with the idea of sustainability. This chapter introduces students to the study of communication processes in the context of sustainable development. It suggests analyzing sustainability communication using a typology of three different communication modes: communication of, about, and for sustainability. The typology is applied in an illustrative way from the perspectives of two particular subsystems familiar to students, the educational system as well as the media system. The chapter concludes with an overview of relevant literature in the field of sustainability communication. The recommended readings cover three different types of literature highly relevant to students’ future studies in this field: introductory readings, practice-oriented readings, and current research.

The debate about sustainability can be traced back into the eighteenth century. It was revived following the publication of the Brundtland Report “Our Common Future” (1987) and the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro (1992). Since then, interest has been focused on developing new concepts between the seemingly opposing paradigms of strong and weak sustainable development as well as on their application in practice. Moreover, sustainable development entails normative implications that affect inter- and intragenerational justice.

A major target of strategies toward a more sustainable resource use must be to find ways of remaining within the planetary boundaries, not only by reducing overall resource use but also through keeping within the system what we are already using. This makes it necessary to take a systemic perspective and look at the whole life cycle of joint product systems, raw material inputs, and respective emissions. Knowing and understanding the dynamics of material stocks and flows may be a first step toward managing them. In the context of society, this approach is known as socioeconomic metabolism and is increasingly applied especially in regional and urban contexts. Here, we introduce material flow analysis as a possible method for constructing and evaluating material and energy flows to gain an insight into the flows of specific substances within the anthropogenic system. We show the main characteristics and applications as well as possible limitations of such a modeling approach and conclude with implications for a further development of such methods to enable a shift from analysis to assessment and strategy building that reflects sustainability principles and goes beyond efficiency.

Maintenance of human well-being is highly dependent on nature. The natural environment provides a source of both directly used goods and services that support human livelihoods and an intrinsic value that contributes to human flourishing. Today, much of the planet is influenced or even transformed by human activity, and natural ecosystems are increasingly under threat. Ecology and conservation biology are crucial for understanding and quantifying changes in ecological systems. Moreover, ecology in conjunction with other branches of science provides key insights to enable management options for supporting a sustainable future for our planet. Here, we give an overview of the relationship between biodiversity, ecosystems, and sustainability. First, we introduce the notion of biodiversity, then we present the links between biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and services, in which ecosystem services are the benefits people derive from ecosystems. Finally, we outline the current threats to ecological integrity and provide a brief overview of the links between ecology and other disciplines within sustainability science. Maintenance of human well-being is highly dependent on nature. The natural environment provides a source of both directly used goods and services that support human livelihoods and an intrinsic value that contributes to human flourishing. Today, much of the planet is influenced or even transformed by human activity, and natural ecosystems are increasingly under threat. Ecology and conservation biology are crucial for understanding and quantifying changes in ecological systems. Moreover, ecology in conjunction with other branches of science provides key insights to enable management options for supporting a sustainable future for our planet. Here, we give an overview of the relationship between biodiversity, ecosystems, and sustainability. First, we introduce the notion of biodiversity, then we present the links between biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and services, in which ecosystem services are the benefits people derive from ecosystems. Finally, we outline the current threats to ecological integrity and provide a brief overview of the links between ecology and other disciplines within sustainability science.

This textbook provides a comprehensive compilation of conceptual perspectives, methodological approaches and empirical insights of inter- and transdisciplinary sustainability science. Written by an international team of authors from leading sustainability institutions, the textbook covers key perspectives and topics of the scientific discourse on sustainable development. More than two decades after conceptualizing sustainability as societal guiding vision and regulative idea the necessity of concretizing and realizing sustainability in societal praxis is bigger than ever. Sharply improved individual and societal sustainable decision-making and action is necessary for a better future of humankind and the planet. On that account problem- and solution-oriented perspectives and competencies are crucial. The different chapters assemble an encompassing view of essential foundations and specific areas of research and action in sustainability science and practice. The textbook aims at fostering the further establishment of sustainability science in higher education and to enable the next generation of sustainability experts to tackle the challenging and exciting topic of sustainable development.

The article gives an overview of global sustainability policy and politics. It is shown how international policy making on sustainable development has progressed from environmental policy toward recent approaches of Earth system governance. Key challenges of international sustainability politics are discussed, and institutional and instrumental options to improve sustainability policy are presented. The article ends with an outlook of the need for cosmopolitan policy making on sustainable development.