Pub Date : 2025-10-01Epub Date: 2025-08-26DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101558
Fernando Ortiz-Moya , Marco Reggiani
Achieving the 2030 Agenda requires comprehensive follow-up and review across all levels of government. Although local governments play a critical role in implementing the sustainable development goals (SDGs), their current follow-up and review architecture — conceived from a global perspective and tailored to national reporting — ignores local actors. Understanding follow-up and review as a relational process, grounded in dynamic interactions across levels, can help ensure that no place is left behind. Advancing such a system involves three key shifts: repositioning follow-up and review as a strategic governance tool, aligning global goals with local priorities, and developing context-specific indicators. Drawing on emerging local practices, we show how relational approaches bridge the gap between global ambitions and on-the-ground realities by fostering adaptive policymaking, embedding the SDGs into strategic planning, and enabling context-sensitive implementation. This approach supports a more inclusive architecture for sustainable development, rooted in the strengths and agency of local actors.
{"title":"Relational follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda: accelerating the implementation of the sustainable development goals","authors":"Fernando Ortiz-Moya , Marco Reggiani","doi":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101558","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101558","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Achieving the 2030 Agenda requires comprehensive follow-up and review across all levels of government. Although local governments play a critical role in implementing the sustainable development goals (SDGs), their current follow-up and review architecture — conceived from a global perspective and tailored to national reporting — ignores local actors. Understanding follow-up and review as a relational process, grounded in dynamic interactions across levels, can help ensure that no place is left behind. Advancing such a system involves three key shifts: repositioning follow-up and review as a strategic governance tool, aligning global goals with local priorities, and developing context-specific indicators. Drawing on emerging local practices, we show how relational approaches bridge the gap between global ambitions and on-the-ground realities by fostering adaptive policymaking, embedding the SDGs into strategic planning, and enabling context-sensitive implementation. This approach supports a more inclusive architecture for sustainable development, rooted in the strengths and agency of local actors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":294,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101558"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144903675","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-01Epub Date: 2025-08-29DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101567
Danielle S Spence , Maureen G Reed , James P Robson , Bianca Currie , Eureta Rosenberg , Marlis Merry , Jana Gengelbach
In this paper, we emphasize the value of an intercultural network of researchers, students, and practitioners engaged in co-creating and delivering transdisciplinary sustainability learning opportunities. The network, the Transdisciplinary Education Collaboration for Transformations in Sustainability (TRANSECTS), is a north–south partnership with hub universities in Canada, Germany, and South Africa. Here, we introduce one pathway for learning — Transdisciplinary International Learning Labs (TILLs) — which are immersive learning experiences that take place in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization (UNESCO)-designated Biosphere Reserves/Regions. We describe preliminary lessons learned through collaborating across national and disciplinary boundaries to design, deliver, and evaluate this novel sustainability educational format. Drawing on a framework for transformative transdisciplinary learning, we explain how TILLs have contributed to single, double, and triple loop learning by students and the academics and practitioners who co-design and implement them. We share these lessons to inform other lab models that seek to provide transformative sustainability education.
{"title":"Intercultural networks deepen learning for transformative sustainability education: lessons from co-designing transdisciplinary international learning labs","authors":"Danielle S Spence , Maureen G Reed , James P Robson , Bianca Currie , Eureta Rosenberg , Marlis Merry , Jana Gengelbach","doi":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101567","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101567","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this paper, we emphasize the value of an intercultural network of researchers, students, and practitioners engaged in co-creating and delivering transdisciplinary sustainability learning opportunities. The network, the <em>Trans</em>disciplinary <em>E</em>ducation <em>C</em>ollaboration for <em>T</em>ransformations in <em>S</em>ustainability (TRANSECTS), is a north–south partnership with hub universities in Canada, Germany, and South Africa. Here, we introduce one pathway for learning — Transdisciplinary International Learning Labs (TILLs) — which are immersive learning experiences that take place in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization (UNESCO)-designated Biosphere Reserves/Regions. We describe preliminary lessons learned through collaborating across national and disciplinary boundaries to design, deliver, and evaluate this novel sustainability educational format. Drawing on a framework for transformative transdisciplinary learning, we explain how TILLs have contributed to single, double, and triple loop learning by students and the academics and practitioners who co-design and implement them. We share these lessons to inform other lab models that seek to provide transformative sustainability education.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":294,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101567"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144917617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01Epub Date: 2025-05-27DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101541
Jesper Svensson, Julia Mao, Nils Droste
Tackling biodiversity loss requires not only scaling up financial resources but also improving the governance of how such resources are mobilized, allocated, and accounted for. This paper reviews recent peer-reviewed literature (2019–2023) on biodiversity finance governance, focusing on three interrelated themes: financial instruments and mechanisms, governance structures, and critical and normative perspectives on biodiversity finance. Across these themes, we identify property rights as a key yet underexplored issue. Property rights shape who can access, control, and benefit from biodiversity-related finance. By synthesizing current research, we show how questions of ownership, access, and responsibility are central to the governance of biodiversity finance and propose that the politics of property rights constitutes a critical research frontier in this emerging field.
{"title":"What do we (not) know about biodiversity finance governance?","authors":"Jesper Svensson, Julia Mao, Nils Droste","doi":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101541","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101541","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tackling biodiversity loss requires not only scaling up financial resources but also improving the governance of how such resources are mobilized, allocated, and accounted for. This paper reviews recent peer-reviewed literature (2019–2023) on biodiversity finance governance, focusing on three interrelated themes: financial instruments and mechanisms, governance structures, and critical and normative perspectives on biodiversity finance. Across these themes, we identify property rights as a key yet underexplored issue. Property rights shape who can access, control, and benefit from biodiversity-related finance. By synthesizing current research, we show how questions of ownership, access, and responsibility are central to the governance of biodiversity finance and propose that the politics of property rights constitutes a critical research frontier in this emerging field.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":294,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101541"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144147981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01Epub Date: 2025-06-10DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101543
Camilla Sandström , Irina Mancheva , Hjalmar Laudon
Addressing the intertwined challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change requires rapid, intentional societal shifts. UNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BRs), established as interdisciplinary learning hubs for sustainable development, offer significant potential to bridge global commitments and local action. However, their effectiveness is hampered by structural, institutional, and perceptional/ideational challenges. This review identifies and categorizes these challenges, highlighting issues such as socioeconomic inequalities, governance constraints, and narrative complexities. Our analysis of 42 recent studies reveals that while BRs could serve as ‘living labs’ for transformative change, their impact is limited by these challenges. There are numerous indications that the development of BRs is at a critical juncture. If the identified challenges are not addressed, there is a risk that the role of BRs will be marginalized in the future, rather than evolving into key arenas that contribute to the transformative change we urgently need.
{"title":"Unlocking the potential of biosphere reserves: a review of structural, institutional, and ideational challenges to transformational learning","authors":"Camilla Sandström , Irina Mancheva , Hjalmar Laudon","doi":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101543","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101543","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Addressing the intertwined challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change requires rapid, intentional societal shifts. UNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BRs), established as interdisciplinary learning hubs for sustainable development, offer significant potential to bridge global commitments and local action. However, their effectiveness is hampered by structural, institutional, and perceptional/ideational challenges. This review identifies and categorizes these challenges, highlighting issues such as socioeconomic inequalities, governance constraints, and narrative complexities. Our analysis of 42 recent studies reveals that while BRs could serve as ‘living labs’ for transformative change, their impact is limited by these challenges. There are numerous indications that the development of BRs is at a critical juncture. If the identified challenges are not addressed, there is a risk that the role of BRs will be marginalized in the future, rather than evolving into key arenas that contribute to the transformative change we urgently need.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":294,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101543"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144254997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01Epub Date: 2025-05-22DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101539
Janne K Thomsen , Inger E Måren , Jarrod Cusens
Ecosystem services provide an integral lens to study nature and people, which is central to UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme. Our thematic review of studies applying the ecosystem services framework in Biosphere Reserves reveals a diversity of biophysical, monetary and sociocultural valuation approaches. Despite numerous studies that assess, value and map ecosystem services, few draw specific implications for Biosphere Reserve governance and management of ecosystem services. This hampers the implementation of knowledge-based action and constrains meaningful knowledge transfer within the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Highlighting Biosphere Reserves’ potential as bridging organizations and the role of ecosystem services as a boundary object, we suggest that context-sensitive, transdisciplinary and process-oriented ecosystem service research is crucial for generating actionable knowledge. In addition, network-based guidance and facilitation are needed to ensure that ecosystem services research in Biosphere Reserves contributes to their core functions.
{"title":"Applying the ecosystem services framework in UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves: lessons learned and ways forward","authors":"Janne K Thomsen , Inger E Måren , Jarrod Cusens","doi":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101539","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101539","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ecosystem services provide an integral lens to study nature and people, which is central to UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme. Our thematic review of studies applying the ecosystem services framework in Biosphere Reserves reveals a diversity of biophysical, monetary and sociocultural valuation approaches. Despite numerous studies that assess, value and map ecosystem services, few draw specific implications for Biosphere Reserve governance and management of ecosystem services. This hampers the implementation of knowledge-based action and constrains meaningful knowledge transfer within the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Highlighting Biosphere Reserves’ potential as bridging organizations and the role of ecosystem services as a boundary object, we suggest that context-sensitive, transdisciplinary and process-oriented ecosystem service research is crucial for generating actionable knowledge. In addition, network-based guidance and facilitation are needed to ensure that ecosystem services research in Biosphere Reserves contributes to their core functions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":294,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101539"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144107809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01Epub Date: 2025-05-27DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101542
Sofía Valeria Cortés-Calderón , María D. López-Rodríguez , Amanda Jiménez-Aceituno , Antonio J. Castro , María Mancilla-García
Net-Map, an interview-based network mapping tool, has been applied across various scientific fields and purposes since its inception to study networks of influence. In this article, we first review the general uses and limitations of Net-Map and then share experiential knowledge gained from using Net-Map to develop an action-oriented research process focused on envisioning pathways to sustainable futures in Spanish drylands. Drawing from the literature and reflecting on our experience, we identified four practical contributions of Net-Map that support our action-oriented research process, including: 1) creating socially inclusive participatory spaces that capture a diversity of influential capacities for promoting sustainability transformations, 2) understanding how to articulate transformative changes at multiple scales, 3) anticipating conflicts and managing power imbalances across scales, and 4) building shared agency and capabilities for fostering collective action, while respecting differences between participants’ perspectives. This paper argues how Net-Map can help overcome common barriers in action-oriented research.
{"title":"Contributions of Net-Map to sustainability action research","authors":"Sofía Valeria Cortés-Calderón , María D. López-Rodríguez , Amanda Jiménez-Aceituno , Antonio J. Castro , María Mancilla-García","doi":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101542","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101542","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Net-Map, an interview-based network mapping tool, has been applied across various scientific fields and purposes since its inception to study networks of influence. In this article, we first review the general uses and limitations of Net-Map and then share experiential knowledge gained from using Net-Map to develop an action-oriented research process focused on envisioning pathways to sustainable futures in Spanish drylands. Drawing from the literature and reflecting on our experience, we identified four practical contributions of Net-Map that support our action-oriented research process, including: 1) creating socially inclusive participatory spaces that capture a diversity of influential capacities for promoting sustainability transformations, 2) understanding how to articulate transformative changes at multiple scales, 3) anticipating conflicts and managing power imbalances across scales, and 4) building shared agency and capabilities for fostering collective action, while respecting differences between participants’ perspectives. This paper argues how Net-Map can help overcome common barriers in action-oriented research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":294,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101542"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144147925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01Epub Date: 2025-07-12DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101544
Jens Christiansen , Audrey Irvine-Broque , Jessica Dempsey , Sara Nelson , Elizabeth Shapiro-Garza , Patrick Bigger , Mine Islar
Recent estimates point to dramatic increases in private capital flowing to biodiversity. Examining main sources of this increase — equity investments and debt — this review asks how biodiversity finance is being calculated, and whether private capital flowing to biodiversity action is growing as much as reported. Furthermore, by examining the literature on the standards and metrics, we ask whether these increases are likely to facilitate biodiverse outcomes. Ultimately, some growth can be ascribed to conceptual innovations in measuring biodiversity-related finance. In several cases, the dollar value represented in nominally biodiversity-related transactions does not reflect actual amounts spent on biodiversity. This review points to a risk of overestimating private financing of biodiversity targets, which may generate overconfidence in this approach. Consequently, this review argues that optimism for private capital solutions should be tempered and accompanied by an upscaling of policy alternatives and regulations that address the financial drivers of biodiversity loss.
{"title":"Off the charts? Reasons to be skeptical of the growth in biodiversity finance","authors":"Jens Christiansen , Audrey Irvine-Broque , Jessica Dempsey , Sara Nelson , Elizabeth Shapiro-Garza , Patrick Bigger , Mine Islar","doi":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101544","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101544","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent estimates point to dramatic increases in private capital flowing to biodiversity. Examining main sources of this increase — equity investments and debt — this review asks how biodiversity finance is being calculated, and whether private capital flowing to biodiversity action is growing as much as reported. Furthermore, by examining the literature on the standards and metrics, we ask whether these increases are likely to facilitate biodiverse outcomes. Ultimately, some growth can be ascribed to conceptual innovations in measuring biodiversity-related finance. In several cases, the dollar value represented in nominally biodiversity-related transactions does not reflect actual amounts spent on biodiversity. This review points to a risk of overestimating private financing of biodiversity targets, which may generate overconfidence in this approach. Consequently, this review argues that optimism for private capital solutions should be tempered and accompanied by an upscaling of policy alternatives and regulations that address the financial drivers of biodiversity loss.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":294,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101544"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144606040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01Epub Date: 2025-06-27DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101554
Robert Fletcher , Emiel de Lange , Isabel Felandro , Munib Khanyari , Omar Saif , Jocelyne Sze , Ben West
This article outlines the idea of a Basic Income for Nature and Climate (BINC) as a novel mechanism for funding biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation activities. This proposal responds to two important empirical developments. The first concerns growing discussions around cash transfer programs and universal basic income within international development discussions. While these are increasingly implemented or piloted, they do not usually take into account environmental issues including biodiversity conservation. The second relates to market-based instruments like payments for ecosystem services and REDD+ (reduced emissions through avoided deforestation and forest degradation). In practice, these programs have commonly failed to halt biodiversity loss and alleviate poverty. The BINC proposal aims to integrate and transcend these existing mechanisms as part of a broader program of transformative change in conservation policy and practice that foregrounds concerns for social justice and equity.
{"title":"Cash for conservation? Integrating basic income support into biodiversity and climate finance","authors":"Robert Fletcher , Emiel de Lange , Isabel Felandro , Munib Khanyari , Omar Saif , Jocelyne Sze , Ben West","doi":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101554","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101554","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article outlines the idea of a Basic Income for Nature and Climate (BINC) as a novel mechanism for funding biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation activities. This proposal responds to two important empirical developments. The first concerns growing discussions around cash transfer programs and universal basic income within international development discussions. While these are increasingly implemented or piloted, they do not usually take into account environmental issues including biodiversity conservation. The second relates to market-based instruments like payments for ecosystem services and REDD+ (reduced emissions through avoided deforestation and forest degradation). In practice, these programs have commonly failed to halt biodiversity loss and alleviate poverty. The BINC proposal aims to integrate and transcend these existing mechanisms as part of a broader program of transformative change in conservation policy and practice that foregrounds concerns for social justice and equity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":294,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101554"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144489944","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Circular economy (CE) practices significantly enhance financial performance by increasing resource efficiency, reducing costs, and bolstering corporate reputation. By reducing waste and maximizing resource use, companies can decrease costs and improve operational efficiency, thus directly enhancing their financial health. CE practices such as emission reduction and resource recycling not only lower production costs but also mitigate regulatory and environmental liabilities, leading to a direct decrease in credit risk and an improvement in corporate financial stability. Within this frame, the integration of digital technologies has transformed traditional business models into more agile and efficient circular e-business models. These advancements facilitate real-time resource flow optimization, scaling CE practices effectively across global supply chains, thereby enhancing companies’ Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance and reducing their credit risk by lowering default probability. Moreover, government structures and firm characteristics like size and ownership significantly influence the effectiveness of CE practices. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises often face unique challenges in implementing CE due to their concentrated ownership structures and short-term needs. However, strong governance frameworks can help overcome these barriers by ensuring robust resource management and fostering a culture of sustainability. In conclusion, by adopting CE strategies, such as waste reduction, product life extension, and closed-loop supply chains, firms can significantly enhance their ESG profiles, increasing investor confidence and lowering the cost of capital. Companies with high circularity scores, reflecting comprehensive adherence to CE principles and strong ESG performance, have been shown to have a reduced default probability compared to less sustainable counterparts.
{"title":"The role of circular economy in reducing corporate default probability: insights from recent research","authors":"Beatrice Bertelli , Ulpiana Kocollari , Laura Merzi , Costanza Torricelli","doi":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101555","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101555","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Circular economy (CE) practices significantly enhance financial performance by increasing resource efficiency, reducing costs, and bolstering corporate reputation. By reducing waste and maximizing resource use, companies can decrease costs and improve operational efficiency, thus directly enhancing their financial health. CE practices such as emission reduction and resource recycling not only lower production costs but also mitigate regulatory and environmental liabilities, leading to a direct decrease in credit risk and an improvement in corporate financial stability. Within this frame, the integration of digital technologies has transformed traditional business models into more agile and efficient circular e-business models. These advancements facilitate real-time resource flow optimization, scaling CE practices effectively across global supply chains, thereby enhancing companies’ Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance and reducing their credit risk by lowering default probability. Moreover, government structures and firm characteristics like size and ownership significantly influence the effectiveness of CE practices. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises often face unique challenges in implementing CE due to their concentrated ownership structures and short-term needs. However, strong governance frameworks can help overcome these barriers by ensuring robust resource management and fostering a culture of sustainability. In conclusion, by adopting CE strategies, such as waste reduction, product life extension, and closed-loop supply chains, firms can significantly enhance their ESG profiles, increasing investor confidence and lowering the cost of capital. Companies with high circularity scores, reflecting comprehensive adherence to CE principles and strong ESG performance, have been shown to have a reduced default probability compared to less sustainable counterparts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":294,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101555"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144500850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01Epub Date: 2025-07-15DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101556
Yaohui Wang, Yang Qiu
In the current decade, civil society organizations (CSOs) have become more deeply integrated into global environmental governance networks, playing a pivotal role in addressing urgent environmental challenges. Acting as key drivers of sustainable development, CSOs navigate complex political landscapes to collaborate with government entities, even in the face of less hospitable political climates found in many Global South states. A growing body of literature has recently begun to examine the strategies that have enabled CSOs in the Global South to foster meaningful partnerships with policymakers, thereby advancing effective environmental governance. By participating in multiple stages of policy processes, namely, formulation, implementation, and supervision, Global South CSOs effectively mitigate political risks while encouraging governments to design and enforce policies aligned with global environmental values.
{"title":"How civil society organizations influence environmental governance in the Global South","authors":"Yaohui Wang, Yang Qiu","doi":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101556","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101556","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the current decade, civil society organizations (CSOs) have become more deeply integrated into global environmental governance networks, playing a pivotal role in addressing urgent environmental challenges. Acting as key drivers of sustainable development, CSOs navigate complex political landscapes to collaborate with government entities, even in the face of less hospitable political climates found in many Global South states. A growing body of literature has recently begun to examine the strategies that have enabled CSOs in the Global South to foster meaningful partnerships with policymakers, thereby advancing effective environmental governance. By participating in multiple stages of policy processes, namely, formulation, implementation, and supervision, Global South CSOs effectively mitigate political risks while encouraging governments to design and enforce policies aligned with global environmental values.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":294,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101556"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144633313","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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