Deadline for Initial Submission is January 1, 2023

Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy invites submissions for a special issue devoted to the theme of “Sustainability and the Post-2030 Agenda.” With the convening of Stockholm+50 in June 2022 the global community had an opportunity to take stock and reflect on progress over the past half century advancing a global understanding of sustainability. The coming months and years will now see attention shift to how to build upon the current Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to formulate strategies with which to chart a course for the next decade and beyond.

Stockholm+50 reiterated the urgency for meaningful action to address climate change, to reduce threats of declining biodiversity, and to curtail environmental pollution. Yet despite vocal expressions for bold and deliberate initiatives, progress continues to be held back by weaknesses in the multilateral system, wavering resolve by national governments, and inadequate financial resources. In many respects, progress over the past five decades has been fraught, difficult, and, above all, slow and insufficient.

At the same time, new awareness is developing that ambitions must be elevated and established conceptual frameworks need to be dramatically enhanced. These transformations will require new measures of human and societal well-being, infrastructures that support unfolding processes of digitalization, re-envisioned arrangements for provisioning goods and services, and elimination of fossil fuels from current and future energy portfolios. Moreover, these objectives will need to be pursued through strategies that prioritize global equity, honor commitments to just transition, and consider new realities triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

SSPP welcomes contributions that seek to clarify and advance the post-2030 agenda. Priority will be given to papers that aim to foster dialogue between scientists, policy makers, and practitioners and a range of formats is encouraged: research articles, brief reports, commentaries, and reflective essays (see the journal’s Aims and Scope section for further information).

This special issue is being published in collaboration with the Future Earth Knowledge-Action Network on Systems of Sustainable Consumption and Production.

Please note that an Article Publishing Charge will be applied to accepted articles, but SSPP’s Editor, Maurie Cohen (mcohen@njit.edu), is available to advise in this regard. Refer also to our Open Access author services page for details. A copy of this announcement is available on the SSPP website.