Sustainability science

Sustainability science first emerged in the 1980s and has become a new academic discipline.[1][2] Similar to agricultural science or health science, it is an applied science defined by the practical problems it addresses. Sustainability science focuses on issues relating to sustainability and sustainable development as core parts of its subject matter.[2] It is "defined by the problems it addresses rather than by the disciplines it employs" and "serves the need for advancing both knowledge and action by creating a dynamic bridge between the two".[3]

Sustainability science draws upon the related but not identical concepts of sustainable development and environmental science.[4] Sustainability science provides a critical framework for sustainability[5] while sustainability measurement provides the evidence-based quantitative data needed to guide sustainability governance.[6]

  1. ^ Bettencourt, LM; Kaur, J (6 December 2011). "Evolution and structure of sustainability science". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 108 (49): 19540–5. doi:10.1073/pnas.1102712108. PMC 3241817. PMID 22114186.
  2. ^ a b Clark, William C.; Harley, Alicia G. (17 October 2020). "Sustainability Science: Toward a Synthesis". Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 45 (1): 331–386. doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-012420-043621. ISSN 1543-5938. S2CID 225344148.
  3. ^ Clark, W. C. (6 February 2007). "Sustainability Science: A room of its own". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 104 (6): 1737–1738. Bibcode:2007PNAS..104.1737C. doi:10.1073/pnas.0611291104. PMC 1794267. PMID 17284615.
  4. ^ Sauvé, Sébastien; Bernard, Sophie; Sloan, Pamela (1 January 2016). "Environmental sciences, sustainable development and circular economy: Alternative concepts for trans-disciplinary research". Environmental Development. 17: 48–56. doi:10.1016/j.envdev.2015.09.002. ISSN 2211-4645.
  5. ^ Komiyama, Hiroshi; Takeuchi, Kazuhiko (25 October 2006). "Sustainability science: building a new discipline". Sustainability Science. 1 (1): 1–6. doi:10.1007/s11625-006-0007-4. S2CID 154730412.
  6. ^ "Sustainability Accounting in UK Local Government". The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Archived from the original on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2008.