Earth System Governance Project

Picture of tree tops against the sky. Text: Earth System Governance Project Monthy Newsletter. Advancing interdisciplinary research on global environmental change and governance.

📬 The October edition of the Earth System Governance Newsletter is here! Packed with community news, key announcements, and opportunities across the ESG network.

Read it here: mailchi.mp/earthsystemg...

Multi-level salmon governance and adaptation to institutional change in Indigenous fishing communities in Kamchatka, Russia

🐟 How do Indigenous and state systems coexist in governing salmon?

Tatiana Degai et al. co-develop an analysis with Indigenous fishers & scholars on how Kamchatka’s communities navigate top-down Russian governance while sustaining traditional salmon practices.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Sustainability transitions in corporations: The influence of the sustainable development goals on corporate financial performance Scholarly, there is growing interest in corporations transitioning towards adopting SDGs. However, there is still a gap in understanding how the SDGs …

📊 How do the #SDGs shape corporate behavior?

Xue Ruo Ng et al. show how Malaysian firms’ voluntary disclosure of SDG 13 efforts links to stronger financial performance: narrowing info gaps, boosting investor confidence, & driving sustainability efforts.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

YouTube video by Transformations Community TC/ESG 2025: Johannesburg Conference Recap

🎥 #TCESG25 in 3 Minutes
In August, we gathered in Johannesburg to reimagine how transformation happens.
Imagination. Inquiry. Expression. Community.
Nothing captures the energy like this film 👇
▶️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA8I...
More from the gathering:
🌍 transformationscommunity.org/tc-esg-2025-...

Thank you to everyone who contributed so far! @rakhyunkim.bsky.social
@yixiansun.bsky.social
@jfmorin.bsky.social
@mariellepm.bsky.social
@amandine-orsini.bsky.social
@jhollway.bsky.social

📊 Launch of the Earth System Governance Data Directory

A living and collaborative open-access resource to help researchers and practitioners find and share existing and upcoming datasets relevant to global environmental governance.

🔗 www.earthsystemgovernance.org/news/launch-...

What space for justice? The just energy transition partnership with South Africa Energy transformations not only reveal multi-dimensional claims for just distribution, recognition, and procedures, but also how justice claims depend…

⚖️ What notions of justice shape #SouthAfrica’s #EnergyTransition?

Konrad Gürtler analyses debates on the #JETP. Interviews show claims to address past injustices, focus on international talks, and rising subnational concerns over infrastructure and ownership
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Of time, whales, and other assets This Perspective offers some reflections on how multiple times are entangled in the current moment of living on a planet pushed beyond its limits and …

🐋 What does it mean to turn whales into assets?

📑 Valbona Muzaka reflects on the “whale bond,” a strange product of "speculative delirium". She highlights the fallacy of seeking escape by turning life and ecosystem services into asset forms.

🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Advising decision-makers: a new typology of scientific bodies in global environmental governance

🔬 Scientific advice in global environmental governance: how do bodies differ?

Bridging epistemic communities & STS literatures, Veronique Fournier develops a new 4-type typology based on interaction & diversity, categorizing 14 MEA advisory bodies.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Beyond depoliticization and divisive antagonism: Rethinking fear, anger, and anxiety in environmental politics Negative eco-emotions such as fear, anger, and anxiety are becoming increasingly widespread as the consequences of the ongoing climate crisis are gett…

🍃 Fear, anger & anxiety are often seen as harmful in climate politics. Kristin Hällmark argues they can instead foster democratic engagement: fear re-politicizes debate, anger builds identities, and anxiety roots belonging in ecological interconnectedness.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

@tlemosribeiro.bsky.social

Report from webinar “Global International Relations and Earth System Governance: A South-South Initiative” Report from webinar “Global International Relations and Earth System Governance: A South-South Initiative” | Earth System Governance

💡Global International Relations & #EarthSystemGovernance

How can South-South perspectives reshape global governance & strengthen research networks?

Report from the South-South Initiative webinar that gathered scholars and students from India & Brazil 🔗 www.earthsystemgovernance.org/news/report-...

💡 Our newsletter comes out once per month and is filled with opportunities across career stages. Want to receive it directly in your inbox? Subscribe here: lnkd.in/de2uiNKZ

Looking for your next position in #EarthSystemGovernance?

Our September newsletter is filled with
🔹11 PhD and 7+18 Postdoc positions
🔹13 Teaching and Senior roles
... and a myriad of other opportunities for #ECR and researchers across career stages

Find them here 🔗 mailchi.mp/earthsystemg...

🌡️The ESG Project has partnered with the CLIMES 2026 interdisciplinary conference on "Climate impacts in a changing world" taking place 9-11 March in Uppsala, Sweden.

The call for abstracts is open now until 2 November: www.climes.se/event/impact...

📬 The September edition of the Earth System Governance Newsletter is here! Packed with community news, key announcements, and opportunities across the ESG Project network.

Read it here: mailchi.mp/earthsystemg...

Sign up here: earthsystemgovernance.us12.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=...

Too Complex to Fail: The Stability of Global Environmental Governance Beyond Hegemony The recent US disengagement from global governance has revived concerns—first theorized in the 1970s and 1980s—about the vulnerability of international institutions to hegemonic decline. While these ...

🚨 New paper: Will global environmental governance survive Trump?
@rakhyunkim.bsky.social and I argue that its high complexity makes it more resilient than other governance systems. We give hegemonic stability theory a complexity science twist.

📖 Open Access: doi.org/10.1111/1758...

📢 CfA: Two fully funded PhD positions on China’s Science Silk Road and the new geopolitics of knowledge. One on environmental issues🌱, the other on outer space 🚀
🎓 Competitive stipend
🌍 Intl project (Québec–Berlin–Oslo)
Encourage your MA students to apply!
www.cirgom.ulaval.ca/call-applica...

💡Ideas sparked at #TCESG25 are ready to grow!
Special issues are open in Global Sustainability,
Earth Stewardship, COSUST & Earth System Governance
📚Now’s the time to build on the ideas & connections that took shape during the conference!
🌱Explore more transformationscommunity.org/tc-esg25-pub...

TC/ESG25 South Africa Conference - YouTube

#TCESG25 conference throwback - see all plenary sessions online: youtube.com/playlist?lis...

👋 Have something to share with the #EarthSystemGovernance network?

Whether it’s an event, a job opportunity, or a new publication—let us help spread the word!

📩 Send your announcement to ipo@earthsystemgovernance.org to be featured in our September newsletter and connect with our global community.

- Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability Research presentations (presentation only) Presentation only proposals must have a title, an abstract of up to 300 words, and at least three keywords. The Scientific Committee will select six presenta...

🌏ESG Project partners with the Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability for the #NERPS2026 conference: "Harnessing Technologies for Strengthening Multilateralism on Peace and Sustainability"

📍4-7 March 2026, Tokyo, Japan

📆 Call for abstracts: 15 Nov

nerps.org/nerps-2026-c...

TC/ESG 2025 Conference | Transformations Community TC/ESG 2025 Conference Thank you! In August 2025, more than 400 participants from 70 countries came together in Johannesburg for TC/ESG 2025 — our seventh g ...

4 days. 400+ participants. 130+ sessions. 330+ speakers. 70+ countries. #TCESG25 brought science, policy, art & practice into tough but creative conversations on sustainability transformations
✨Highlights: Recordings | Gallery | Program+ arts & wellbeing: transformationscommunity.org/tc-esg-2025-...

The climate atrocity paradigm Unsustainable greenhouse gas emissions threaten countless lives worldwide, yet conventional terminology such as “global warming” or “climate disruptio…

🔥 Should climate harm be reframed as a mass atrocity?

📑 Gaspard Lemaire argues that terms like #GlobalWarming or #ClimateCrisis obscure victims' suffering. He proposes “climate atrocity” instead, clarifying responsibility for governance, law, & advocacy.

🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Long-term programs, short-term effects? How development partners struggle to institutionalize renewable energy solutions in Indonesia This article shows how long-term development programs struggle to institutionalize renewable energy solutions in the Global South. Our contribution is…

🏛️ Under what conditions do development programs institutionalise #RenewableEnergy?

🇮🇩 Jens Marquardt et al. study 3 programs in #Indonesia. They find rhetorical and some policy change, but little organisational uptake or mainstreaming of political practices.

🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Aerial imagery to support participatory landscape decision-making Effective land-use management is crucial for addressing sustainability challenges. Participatory landscape planning can facilitate this by integrating…

🛰️ Can drones improve land-use planning?

🌏 Yilin Huang et al. show in 27 Lao villages that drone imagery supports participatory planning. Nadir images helped identify natural & built features. Oblique views aided self-localisation & contextual understanding.

🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Onshoring low-carbon supply chains: Can subsidies meet the challenge? Framing Chinese dominance in low-carbon supply chains as a strategic threat, Western governments have responded by deploying a range of subsidies to s…

🚗⚡ Can subsidies secure low-carbon #EV supply chains?

🇨🇦 Chris Arsenault, Raphael Deberdt & Philippe Le Billon analyse #Canada’s case and find key challenges: some Indigenous communities' opposition to mining, limited policy understanding, & slowing EV demand

🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

🌾 Can EU biodiversity rules change farming on the ground?

Lucija Pečurlić et al. show that in Croatia 🇭🇷, agri-environmental schemes covered <2% of farmland. Weak institutions, scarce data & low capacity limited uptake, even after CAP reforms.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

University of Bath to host global sustainability conference in 2026 Hundreds of sustainability researchers and experts from across the globe will be hosted by the University of Bath in September 2026.

Hundreds of #sustainability researchers and experts from across the globe will be hosted by the University in September 2026 for the the annual Earth System Governance conference.

https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/university-of-bath-to-host-global-sustainability-conference-in-2026/

@uniofbath.bsky.social @uniofbathnews.bsky.social @yixiansun.bsky.social