Transitions to sustainable futures
How do we build a sustainable world?
The world is at a tipping point. The actions we take over the coming years will have a profound impact on the future of our planet. But finding the best way forward can be hard – especially given the scale and complexity of the challenge facing us.
That’s why we need to approach the problem in a new way.
Focusing on transitions
This website is based on a research report jointly created by the R&D Group of Hitachi, Ltd. and Takram, a design innovation studio based in Tokyo, London and New York. The report explains nine transitions we can make toward a more sustainable world.
A transition is a gradual, progressive shift from one state to another. In this context, we’re talking about moving from one social, political, or economic system into another.
The power of transition thinking
It’s hard to imagine a world you don’t yet live in. Before World War II, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, or the modernisation that came with Japan’s Meiji Restoration, few could have imagined what life would be like afterwards.
Thinking in transitions can give us a much fuller picture of how we build a sustainable future. And it gives us practical, concrete steps we can take to help get us there.
— Terry Irwin, Director of the Transition Design Institute‘When you are forecasting a future, you’re thinking within the paradigms that you’re already embedded in. Your social, political, and economic paradigms and current worldviews. All of which are part of the problem, because all of those paradigms are inherently unsustainable in the long term.’
Crises showed us that, when we act together, rapid, multi-dimensional transformation of the way we live is possible.
2020 as a tipping point
2020 was a year of crisis. The coronavirus pandemic caused untold disruption to mental and physical wellbeing, as well as to the global economy. Meanwhile, wildfires, extreme weather, conflicts, famines and political upheaval devastated many corners of the globe. These problems are linked, and illustrate both the scale and the urgency of the challenge we face.
But 2020 also showed us that, when we act together, we can achieve incredible things.
The same is true when it comes to building sustainable futures. Multi-dimensional transformation of the way we live is possible. But if we are to succeed, we need to act decisively at every level – as societies, companies, communities, and individuals.
How we created this report
This report covers:
people and organisations
key frameworks
Detailed interviews and profiles of 12 leaders in sustainability:
Arup, Dan Hill, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Forum for the Future, Human After All, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, IPBES, Kiko Network, Renewable Energy Institute, Terry Irwin, The International Energy Agency, Yoji Yoshimura
Transitions
Centralised → Distributed
Yuji Yoshimura
Can distributing power to communities and people help us achieve more?
Zero-sum → Balanced
ARUP
Is there always a tradeoff between environmental protection and prosperity?
Degenerative → Regenerative
IPBES
We still treat the planet as a resource for humans to exploit. How can we live in a way that allows nature to continually regenerate?
Fossil → Renewable
International Energy Agency
The shift from fossil fuels to renewables has been an urgent priority for decades. How can we finally make it happen?
Profitable → Purposeful
Human After All
Can companies exist to do more than just generate profits?
Zero-sum → Balanced
IGES
Is there always a tradeoff between environmental protection and prosperity?
Mechanistic → Systemic
Forum for the Future
The world is made up of interconnected systems. How should this affect the way we act?
Fast → Slow
Dan Hill
Our economies and cultures rapidly accelerated in the 19th and 20th centuries. What if we embrace a slower way of living in the 21st?
Extractive → Just
Kiko Network
How do we move away from extractive and exploitative practices to build a just society that works for all?
Fossil → Renewable
Renewable Energy Institute
The shift from fossil fuels to renewables has been an urgent priority for decades. How can we finally make it happen?
Linear → Circular
Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Currently under preparation.
Degenerative → Regenerative
Our flora and fauna are in deep crisis. We need to move towards a regenerative society, where the impact we have on the natural world is always reversible.
The organisation
IPBES
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services works to bridge the gap between science and policy, promoting biodiversity, environmental protection and sustainable development.
Globally, biodiversity and ecosystems are deteriorating rapidly – and nature’s ability to support human populations is decreasing in tandem. We need to reverse this decline if we want to build a sustainable world.
— Media Release: Nature’s Dangerous Decline ↗‘Goals for 2030 and beyond may only be achieved through transformative changes across economic, social, political and technological factors.’
Key concepts
Nature loss
The irreversible loss of biodiversity and habitats.
Anthropogenic
Environmental impacts caused by humans.
Drivers
Forces that directly or indirectly affect our climate or biosphere.
Key frameworks
EXTINCTION IS ACCELERATING
Adapted from Nature’s Dangerous Decline ↗, IPBES (2020)
Extinction is accelerating
IPBES explores the many different ways human activity affects the planet. Its research has shown that extinction rates have increased exponentially over the past 500 years, highlighting the massive impact we have.
DIRECT AND INDIRECT DRIVERS
Adapted from Fig. 9 Transformative change in global sustainability pathways, The global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystems services ↗, IPBES (2020)
Direct and indirect drivers
IPBES describes both direct and indirect drivers of environmental disturbance. These drivers often interact in complex ways, multiplying their effect. For example, human conflicts and technological development can both accelerate climate change.
SPILLOVER EFFECTS
Adapted from The origins and drivers of emerging zoonotic diseases and pandemics, Workshop on Biodiversity and Pandemics ↗, IPBES (2020)
Spillover effects
Coronavirus makes IPBES’ research particularly timely. Spillover – where diseases move from one species to another – becomes more likely when natural environments are disturbed.
Transition in detail
IPBES want to make clear that we are at a crossroads. If nothing is done, irreparable environmental breakdown will become very likely.
— The global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services, 2019 ↗‘Nature can be conserved, restored, and used sustainably while simultaneously meeting other global societal goals through urgent and concerted efforts fostering transformative change.’
Transition pathways
IPBES stresses the need for close cooperation at the global and local level. We need to unlearn our current relationship with the planet, and understand that protecting the natural world is inextricably linked with protecting ourselves.
What you can do
Demand regenerative solutions
Individuals can put pressure on government and companies to move away from environmentally destructive policies and business models.
Reconsider what supports our society
Educating ourselves about nature's role in supporting our society will help us embrace and protect other living beings around us.
Consume food sustainably
Individuals can act on businesses by choosing sustainably sourced food, consuming mindfully and moving away from the wasteful-by-design food system.
What this research tells us
We need to move beyond our current way of thinking
Many of the organisations featured in this report are radically different, and see different pathways towards the future. But there are also several common themes.
Perhaps most importantly, these organisations agree that we must move beyond the status quo in a few important ways:
Addiction to the short-term
Our actions are biased towards immediate or short term effects, whether that’s annual profits or personal convenience. This means we can overlook long term outcomes.
Consuming without consequences
People and companies ignore the external effects of their actions, focusing too narrowly on the ‘bottom line’.
Endless growth narrative
If we pursue growth in all circumstances, it is almost impossible to reduce our impact on the planet.
Faster is better
Some activities need to be fast – but many don’t. Fast behaviour is generally more destructive, especially when we don’t fully understand its consequences.
To build a sustainable world, we have to work together
It’s tempting to look for quick fixes or technological innovations that could make our current way of living more sustainable. But this report shows that there are multiple transitions we need to make, at every level of society.
This research also underscores the vital role consensus-building has. By listening to those who have been ignored in previous conversations about sustainability, and by shifting decision making to local people and communities, we can create a future that everyone owns, and bring fresh ideas and perspectives into the conversation.
Ultimately, a sustainable future will only work if it works for everyone.
What you can do
Frameworks for seeing the world differently
Together, these frameworks help us better understand our world, and the transitions we need to make toward a more sustainable future.
They are not an end in themselves. Rather, they are a starting point for a diverse set of actions, which can be undertaken by individuals, communities, businesses and governments to improve our relationship with the natural world – and with each other.
These ways of thinking can be applied to other complex, multi-faceted problems. They help us make progress on issues that would otherwise feel too big or too difficult to contend with.
By taking the time to understand these frameworks, we can make them second nature, so they drive our choices and actions day to day.
— Terry Irwin, Director of the Transition Design Institute‘If you really want to work on behalf of sustainable transitions, if you want to ignite positive, systems-level change, you have to change many things about yourself. You have to change your posture, you have to change your attitudes toward collaboration. You have to, I think, revise your ideas.’