The Sustainability Working Group has been successfully building continuity in organizing networking events for young scholars at international conferences, such as the COP, both in person and online. Simultaneously, the Working Group is open to new members and their new ideas. Currently, we are a diverse group of economists, researchers, lawyers, social scientists, and practitioners, such as farmers. Our main goal is to make YSI’s mission and vision come true, especially by broadening our understanding of and action in the area of the structural issues on climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Research themes

Exploring the nexus between Sustainability and Inequality on various levels, specifically:  

• Socio-ecological transformation, including its financing
• The political economy of sustainability in the Global South
• Environmental justice and the Geography of racism
• Climate change, gender inequality, and the role of the informal economy
• Intersectional aspects in light of the climate crisis

Conceptualizing economic and legal models for a sustainable (regenerative) society, specifically:

• Alternative economic systems
• Alternatives to the GDP as a measure of economic performance
• Necessary legal & policy frameworks for sustainability
• Sound Public Policy, Sectoral Institutions, and Community Development for achieving SDGs and advancing sustainability
• Regeneration – regenerative economics, regenerative agriculture, regenerative governance models
• Sustainability and the Social Solidarity Economy
• Community-led environmental stewardship
• Sustainability and common goods

Climate action on various levels, specifically: 

• UN Rio Conventions, especially the UNFCCC Climate Process, negotiations and implementation
• Regional Climate Governance frameworks
• Paris Agreement and Post-Paris Agreement 2030 Agenda
• Country-wise climate action and adaptation plans
• Key economic considerations for sustainability in the final decade of SDG action
• Building resilience against environmental shocks (e.g. pandemics)

Research questions

Equity & Justice :

1. How can we achieve a socially and ecologically just world without perpetuating racism or neo-colonialism?
2. What does ‘sustainability’ mean to the marginalized communities suffering most from environmental disasters? How can resulting insights inform public policies
3. How can we make international processes just and participatory?

Economic and legal concepts:

1. What could a socio-ecological transformation look like?
2. How is the climate crisis connected to the capitalist system, and to what extent must the capitalist system be changed to ensure long-term and overall sustainability?
3. What legal framework is necessary to support sustainability?
4. What are the limitations of economic thinking in addressing environmental problems? Can alternative approaches help address the impacts of climate change and potential policies?
5. Between the millennials’ technological breakthroughs and social innovations, what will the cooperative of 2050 be made of?

Climate Action:

1. How does environmental activism challenge the capitalist system, and what methods, limitations, and learning outcomes are involved?
2. How to start and accelerate systemic policy making? Especially on the nexus of climate change and agricultural policy-making.
3. How does the energy transition to a low-carbon society create new and accentuate existing inequalities of energy access, racism, and colonialism?
4. What is the value of soil health in policymaking? EU Soil Mission, CA4SH: Coalition of Action for Soil Health, National Soil Advocate & the Parliamentary Friends of Soil Health – Australia
5. Are Countries Meeting Their Green Energy Pledges? A Multi-Criteria Assessment of National Progress Towards Paris Agreement Goals.

Financing:

1. Putting (private) money to work through the IDBs: International Development Banks
2. How can a socio-ecological transition be financed?
3. What is the role of finance in achieving sustainable development in the Global South?
4. How to finance post-COVID recovery, especially in the Global South?