Cornwall, Andrea. "Buzzwords and Fuzzwords: Deconstructing Development Discourse". Development in Practice. https://www.researchgate.net/...
There are sustainable cities, economics, construction, destruction, investing, operation, and, inevitably, consultants – “There is nothing, it seems, that cannot be called ‘sustainable’”. A correct understanding of the term is important in the processes of policy-making and socioeconomic development as it has become a boundary term used for identification. Its widespread misuse to further the political and financial objectives of the counterproductive and unsustainable development of our communities and societies across the world has become a major concern to all socioeconomic stakeholders. Concern about the misuse of the term was being voiced well before this article's appearance in 2007.
Posted on 07/05/24
Recent Abstracts
- Wallace-Wells, David. "When Will Climate Change Make the Earth Too Hot For Humans?".
New York Magazine.
(July 10, 2017).
https://nymag.com/...
This essay is the result of numerous interviews, decades of scientific research, and abstract mathematics of climate change about the possible end of the world as we know it. We’re told that it’s worse than we could possibly imagine and whatever we fear, we’re “barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible”. While acknowledging that ongoing global warming will “eventually” have “very severe consequences”, the Climate Feedback blog argues that the concept of Earth becoming uninhabitable within anywhere near the timescales suggested in the article are scientifically dubious and “pure hyperbole”, disregarding the latest foreboding IPCC report.Posted on 10/08/23
- Kotzé, Louis J., and Sam Adelman. "Environmental Law and the Unsustainability of Sustainable Development: A Tale of Disenchantment and of Hope".
Law Critique.
(September 08, 2022).
https://doi.org/... (Contributed by G. Autin).
The sustainable development principle drives environmentally destructive neoliberal economic growth that exploits and degrades the local ecology. Despite well-meaning intentions behind sustainable development, it facilitates exploitative economic development activities that exacerbate systemic inequalities and injustices and the global “market-is-king” model of capitalism. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cannot be adopted as a global sustainability objective for all societies. Instead, they must be applied in a way that is community-centric, ecologically-balanced and culturally-sensitive. Like 𝘣𝘶𝘦𝘯 𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘳, they must offer the potential to critically rethink how societies could re-orientate to radically different locally beneficial socio-ecological sustainabilityPosted on 07/08/23
- Our World in Data team. "Sustainable Development Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure".
Our World in Data.
July 18, 2023.
https://ourworldindata.org/...
Sustainable Development Goal 9 is to “build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”, according to the United Nations. For SDG 9, the UN has defined 8 targets that specify the goals and 12 indicators that represent the metrics by which the world aims to track whether these targets are achieved. This toolkit provided by Our World in Data presents the global perspective on where the world stands today and how it has changed over time. It quotes the original text of the targets and shows the data on the agreed indicators, to build SDG-targeted infrastructure.Posted on 03/08/23
- Schulev-Steindl, Eva, and Barbara Goby. "Rechtliche Optionen zur Verbesserung des Zugangs zu Gerichten im österreichischen Umweltrecht gemäß der Aarhus-Konvention (Artikel 9 Absatz 3)".
Institut für Rechtswissenschaften Universität für Bodenkultur Wien.
https://www.bmk.gv.at/...
„Der Natur und Umwelt eine Stimme geben!“ – So oder ähnlich könnte man das Anliegen der 1998 unter der Schirmherrschaft der UNECE geschlossenen Aarhus-Konvention umschreiben. Auch Österreich ist diesem internationalen Abkommen beigetreten, das es sich zum Ziel gesetzt hat, die Durchsetzung des Umweltrechts mit Hilfe der Bürgerinnen und Bürger sowie der Umweltorganisationen zu verbessern. Dazu sieht die Konvention drei Säulen vor: das Recht auf Umweltinformation, die Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung an umweltrelevanten Entscheidungsverfahren und den Zugang zu Gerichten in Umweltangelegenheiten. Österreich hat die Vorgaben der Konvention in den verschiedensten Bereichen des Umweltrechts umgesetzt; zu verweisen ist dabei vor allem auf das Umweltinformationsgesetz sowie die Bürgerbeteiligung.Posted on 03/08/23
- Epstein, Yaffa. "Access to Justice: Remedies – Article 9.4 of the Aarhus Convention and the Requirement for Adequate and Effective Remedies, Including Injunctive Relief".
SSRN Electronic Journal.
January 01, 2011.
https://www.researchgate.net/...
To hinder environmental damage and obtain a protective order or injunction in most civil law systems, danger in delay must be asserted for the enforceability of proceedings. To initiate legal proceedings, a 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘦 case must exist, requiring the claimant to present evidence and show the likelihood of success on the merits for the injunction and relief sought. The criterion of danger in delay typically requires evidence of irreparable harm or damage that would be difficult to repair. The latest IPCC reports and other scientific studies on the imminent threats and irreparable harm to our environment must be such irrefutable proof.Posted on 31/07/23
- Berg, Florian, Julian F. Kölbel, and Roberto Rigobon. "Aggregate Confusion: The Divergence of ESG Ratings".
Review of Finance.
(May 23, 2022).
https://doi.org/...
The divergence of ESG ratings creates uncertainty and represents a challenge for decision-makers, including investment managers and regulators. This ESG rating divergence makes it difficult to evaluate the ESG performance of companies, funds, and portfolios, which is their primary purpose. It also decreases companies’ incentives to improve their ESG performance. Companies receive mixed signals from rating agencies about what actions are expected and valued by the market, which will lead to underinvestment in ESG improvement activities. Thus, companies optimize for one rating while underperforming in other ESG dimensions and fail to improve the firm’s sustainability and intrinsic ESG performance.Posted on 25/07/23
- Cris Garcia-Saravia Ortiz-de-Montellano, Pouya Samani, and Yvonne van der Meer. "How can the circular economy support the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? A comprehensive analysis".
Sustainable Production and Consumption.
(July 04, 2023).
https://www.sciencedirect.com/...
As a framework to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), circular economy (CE) can also be a risk. Where CE and the SDGs are misaligned, there is a gap between products, the socioeconomic circumstances of the people that produce and use them, and the environment where the products are extracted and disposed of. CE must deepen its understanding of the stakeholders and their socioeconomic and demographic circumstances to design new strategies that align the CE principles with and contribute to the SDGs. Also, the SDGs must consider the social, economic, and environmental roles that products and materials have in society.Posted on 24/07/23
- OGP Practice Group. "Deliberation – Getting Policy-Making Out From Behind Closed Doors".
Open Government Partnership.
May 2019.
https://www.opengovpartnership.org/...
Governments commonly use deliberation as a part of the policy-making process, but it is usually conducted internally and behind closed doors, which excludes the public. While possibly being supported by public consultation, it typically involves a committee of elected officials and/or a team of policy experts. But, efforts to involve the public in the deliberative stage are quite rare and, for the most part, governments do not have a reliable methodology for this. If governments are to involve the public, difficult questions are raised, such as the rules and principles to guide the deliberation and discussion, the selection and number of participants, decision-making, and conflict resolution. This project aims to provide guidance to engage the public in the process.Posted on 23/07/23
- Baird, John. "Mars, Stephen Hawking and the Selfish Gene: Why Humans Are Programmed to Self-Destruct Wherever We Go".
Newsweek.
(May 27, 2017).
https://www.newsweek.com/...
Speaking for humanity, Bezos claims that we don’t want to live in a “retrograde world” where we’d have to freeze population growth. Elon Musk says colonization on other planets is a necessity to ensure that the human race survives. Richard Branson is again exploiting astronomical business opportunities with commercial space travel. According to Stephen Hawking, “with climate change, overdue asteroid strikes, epidemics and population growth, our own planet is increasingly precarious”. Leaving Earth and sending the species off to colonize other planets will only exacerbate world problems and leave lots of people behind to face whichever disaster comes firstPosted on 20/07/23
- van Zanten, Jan Anton, and Joop Huij. "ESG to SDG: Do Sustainable Investing Ratings Align with the Sustainability Preferences of Investors, Regulators, and Scientists?".
SSRN Electronic Journal.
(November 06, 2022).
https://www.researchgate.net/...
Where sustainable investors aim to invest in companies that contribute to sustainable development, there is disagreement on how best to measure their sustainability performance. While ESG and SDG are complementary, they cannot be used interchangeably to identify the sustainability of companies and their contribution to social development and the planet. Unlike ESG ratings, SDG scores capture investors’ revealed sustainability preferences, align with the EU taxonomy regulation, and support climate change mitigation. Whereas the ESG ratings have low construct validity, SDG ratings perform well in measuring companies’ positive and negative impacts on the well-being of people and the Earth.Posted on 18/07/23
- Athias Neto, Marcos. "Why ESG is Failing Sustainable Development".
Sustainable Finance Hub.
"n.d."
https://sdgfinance.undp.org/...
Financial markets are the principal means for financing socioeconomic activity and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Governments and financial market regulators define the parameters and incentives within which market participants make investment and financing decisions and operate, while the providers of capital decide on capital allocation and influence business behavior. Seeking infinite rewards, our finite economic system aims to maximize financial value and confuses ESG financing with serving society’s needs. To meet their ESG strategy, the stakeholders must instead understand the urgent need to achieve the SDGs and facilitate the SDG-targeted financing of the transition for socioeconomic sustainability.Posted on 16/07/23
- WorldGBC. "Beyond the Business Case".
World Green Building Council.
November 04, 2021.
https://worldgbc.org/...
The building and construction industry has a critical role to play in achieving global sustainability goals, especially in tackling the global climate crisis, as one of the largest economic ecosystems worldwide. The scope and breadth of sustainability encompass the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Meeting equivalent levels of SDG for sustainable building performance leads to the creation of better quality and higher value assets as well as compliance with incoming building regulations and market and consumer expectations. The SDGs in constructing buildings and infrastructure consider all stages of the building and construction lifecycle of the built environment components.Posted on 13/07/23
- Motesharrei, Safa, Jorge Rivas, and Eugenia Kalnay. "Human and Nature Dynamics (HANDY): Modeling Inequality and Use of Resources in the Collapse or Sustainability of Societies".
Ecological Economics.
(April 2014).
https://doi.org/...
The over-exploitation and depletion of nature and natural resources and the strong economic stratification of society into the rich elites and the poor commoners are the two features evident in all historical societal collapses. Either one of these two features can independently result in full socioeconomic collapse. Collapse can be avoided and Earth’s human population can reach equilibrium only through a major reduction in the per capita rate of resource depletion to a sustainable level and population growth and if resources are distributed in a reasonably equitable fashion. Major policy changes are needed to avoid the complete collapse of society.Posted on 12/07/23
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Sustainable Fitch.
"Sustainable Fitch: Climate Scenario Limitations Are Surfacing as Usage Rises". April 26, 2023.
https://www.sustainablefitch.com/...
Climate scenario analysis is a key tool for evaluating complex physical and transition risks of companies and communities. This raises questions about the credibility of transition plans and long-term risk management processes that do not apply the scenarios. Limited standardization and transparency make it difficult to compare results across entities. There is increasing recognition of the ESG rating limitations, notwithstanding their ignoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Current models exclude or underestimate significant risks from climate tipping points or macroeconomic and financial second-order effects. This suggests that scenario analysis must be adjusted to better inform supervisory and regulatory actions.Posted on 02/07/23
- Blum, N.U., M. Haupt, and C.R. Bening. "Why ‘Circular’ Doesn’t Always Mean ‘Sustainable’".
Resources, Conservation and Recycling.
(
https://doi.org/...
Material circularity (MC) develops positively when material is circulated through reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture or recycling at its highest quality, it usually measured through material flow analysis (MFA). When economic value is generated as commonly measured through life cycle costing (LCC), economic sustainability (EconSus) is positive. Environmental sustainability (EnvSus) develops positively as the environment suffers less harm through product systems, where life cycle assessment (LCA) is used for assessing their life-cycle environmental impacts. Social sustainability (SocSus) develops positively if social conditions improve for all people, which is tricky to measure. Where these four dimensions overlap, a sustainable circular economy (SCE) occurs.Posted on 30/06/23
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