Beyond lack of water, drought means that expected levels of water availability are not realized, triggering cascading consequences across land, water, biodiversity, climate, and human systems. Drought reflects variation in water availability, including thresholds, frequency, intensity, duration, and spatial synchrony as well as how expectations and anticipation shape human actions. Drought symptoms are linked to local pressures and broader drivers of change and can induce social and ecological responses. This review synthesizes advances in understanding the biophysical and socioeconomic impacts of drought across temporal scales, from seasonal to multi-year and climatic drought, and across subsystem typologies, including meteorological, hydrological, agricultural, ecological, and socioeconomic drought. The review demonstrates how weakened ecological buffers, governance failures, and policy incoherence intensify drought vulnerability. Building drought resilience requires coordinated action across sectors, scales, and institutions to restore the ecological, social, and governance buffers that sustain human well-being and planetary stability. Updated August 19th, 2026
Over the last few decades, electric power systems globally have been undergoing a rapid transition toward carbon-free energy resources, primarily driven by environmental concerns, technological innovations, economic advantages, and shifts in socioeconomic patterns. The integration of carbon-free electricity generators introduces challenges related to complexity, variability, and uncertainty of system operations. With mainstreaming and upscaling of these solutions, stranded assets, social acceptance, geopolitics of critical material security, disaster resilience, resilience to medium- to long-term variations in climate, constraints on availability of land, and end-of-life disposal issues have emerged and are inviting increasing attention. Recognition of these challenges has led to the emergence of an ensemble of electricity system models to plan and track energy transitions by accounting for these constraints. In this article, we review the coevolution of the required decision support and models. We summarize the evolution across key themes and reflect on the gaps in this evolving planning landscape of actors and networks.
Transformations toward sustainability require new ways of producing knowledge that bridge disciplines and sectors. Yet such transdisciplinary processes are shaped by power relations that influence whose knowledge counts, whose interests are represented, and which pathways for change are legitimized. This review maps the global research landscape on power in transdisciplinary and other co-production processes in sustainability research, identifying patterns across regions, sustainability issues, and approaches to knowledge co-production. We distinguish three types of frameworks linking power, knowledge co-production, and transformation: frameworks for analyzing power within co-production processes, frameworks for navigating power dynamics in practice, and frameworks for transforming broader societal power relations through co-production. Reviewing empirical studies, we trace how power manifests in goals, structures, and processes of transdisciplinary research as well as how it intersects with social identities, knowledge hierarchies, and empowerment. We conclude by synthesizing strategies for reflexive and power-aware transdisciplinary and co-productive practice in the context of sustainability transformations.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in agroecosystems is a critical global health challenge driven by the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture, accelerating the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and genes (ARGs) across environments and food chains. To contain this threat, the One Health framework is essential, coordinating surveillance and intervention across human, animal, and environmental sectors. Recent technological advances, particularly biosensor-based monitoring, enhance this integrated approach by enabling the rapid, on-site detection of both antimicrobial residues in food and water and ARGs in the environment, providing crucial real-time data. When aligned with multi-omics integration, AI-driven surveillance, and sustainable remediation strategies like bioremediation and biochar amendments, these tools offer transformative pathways for effective AMR management, strengthening antimicrobial stewardship and safeguarding both food security and public health.
The Upper Guinean Forests of West Africa are globally recognized for their exceptional biodiversity, including many endemic species, yet they are also among the most threatened tropical forest ecosystems globally. This biodiversity hotspot, which encompasses six countries, presents a complex socioeconomic and ecological landscape shaped by Indigenous and colonial legacies, demographic and climatic change, and accelerating pressures on land from multiple economic sectors. This review discusses the histories, ecological trends, and challenges facing the region but also highlights bright spots of socioecological resilience and promising policy pathways forward. Pressures on biodiversity operate within socially complex and culturally diverse landscapes where traditional beliefs and practices, customary land and tree tenure systems, and community forest management continue to play vital roles in conservation. The governance of key remaining biodiversity areas is complicated by the transboundary nature of many problems. We identify many new opportunities for transforming land use, but existing policy approaches fail to account for spillovers, lack enforcement, and do not align with local needs. Opportunities to achieve synergies between biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and social equity will depend on a better understanding of local community interests, greater collaboration, and significantly enhanced funding to overcome lock-ins.
The oil and gas (O&G) industry accounts for over half of global CO 2 emissions, requiring coordinated actions to align with the Net Zero Emissions scenario by 2050. Two major pathways emerge for O&G companies: developing diversified energy portfolios that include renewable energy sources and decarbonizing residual O&G operations. However, both strategies require, to varying degrees, the retrofitting of existing infrastructure and expertise. This critical review examines how the current O&G framework can be repurposed to advance energy transition initiatives of O&G companies, namely by developing renewable energy systems and reducing CO 2 emissions across upstream and downstream operations. The strategies covered herein are based on projections, goals, and ongoing actions reported by the International Energy Agency, the Oil and Gas Climate Institute, and oil companies. In the upstream segment, geological knowledge and reservoir infrastructure can enable geothermal energy development and carbon storage in depleted and active fields. Also, offshore wind, tidal, and solar energy projects may benefit from upstream expertise in working in harsh marine environments. In the downstream segment, refineries can be partially or fully converted into coprocessing refineries and stand-alone biorefineries, respectively. Biofuels, green hydrogen, and synthetic fuels are envisioned in renewable-focused scenarios, whereas low-carbon and drop-in fuels support lower-emission fossil cases. Other integrated actions, such as electrification of operations, integrated energy hubs, and participation in carbon credit markets, can strengthen the decarbonization of the O&G value chain. Overall, the initiatives reviewed illustrate multiple routes through which O&G companies can leverage their infrastructure and expertise to accelerate the energy transition and contribute to a net-zero economy.
Invasion science has matured rapidly into a vibrant interdisciplinary field addressing threats posed by biological invasions to people and nature. Nearly 40,000 species have established alien populations somewhere. For most taxonomic groups, numbers of alien species are increasing faster now than ever before, with introductions driven indirectly by economic development and human movement. Direct drivers (notably climate change and land- and sea-use change) facilitate alien species establishment and spread. Understanding the impacts of alien species has progressed from qualitative descriptions to structured quantification, culminating in the development of global frameworks. Negative impacts of invasive alien species on nature, ecosystem services, and people far outweigh their positive impacts. Many invasive species have been successfully controlled. While there is a notable invasion debt, the issue is tractable, but sustained resources are critical to achieve the coordination, contextual understanding, and outcome-based goal setting needed for Target 6 of the Global Biodiversity Framework.
This review focuses on the challenges of adapting engineering and economics training, seeking to integrate different tools related to energy transformation and transition. Academic training must incorporate multi- and interdisciplinary knowledge associated with energy transformation and transition issues, such as alternative non–fossil fuel raw materials, biofuels, and other fields based on climate sciences, engineering, economics, and environmental regulation. We highlight the main areas of knowledge so that new professionals can deal with the different dimensions—technological, economic, environmental, political, and institutional—associated with the goals of energy transformation and transition. To this end, we review methods known in the literature as problem-based learning and project-based learning. To illustrate these issues, this review examines the progress and limitations of Brazil's Human Resources Program, managed by a federal regulatory body, the National Petroleum Agency.
Cities face escalating climate risks, yet their resilience efforts remain fragmented and poorly measured. Our systematic review of 161 studies and 1,064 indicators provides a taxonomy of indicators and reveals critical gaps. While 96.6% of indicators are quantitative, nearly all lack time-bound targets, which are essential for tracking progress. More concerning, only one-third explicitly address climate change, with mitigation strategies underrepresented. Current indicators and assessment frameworks emphasize technical infrastructure while neglecting governance processes and equity considerations, both of which are vital to inclusive adaptation. Geographic disparities compound these limitations, as African, South American, and Oceanian cities remain largely invisible despite facing acute climate vulnerabilities. A promising path forward emerges through indicators that integrate co-benefits across adaptation, mitigation, and social equity. We propose hybrid frameworks combining universal metrics and indicators with context-sensitive ones, embedded within participatory governance structures. Without such integration, cities risk optimizing for measurable outcomes while missing opportunities for transformative urban resilience.
The world confronts a growing number of “long problems,” such as climate change, demographic shifts, or building and maintaining critical infrastructure, which span more than one human generation. This article reviews how scholars of governance from a range of disciplines have thought about such problems and their solutions. It considers three questions. How are long-term governance challenges conceptualized? What barriers to effective governance do they present? What tools and strategies may help address those challenges, and how and under what conditions might they be effective? The literature has paid significant, but uneven, attention to these issues, highlighting the need to build the theoretical and empirical evidence base around the challenges long problems present and how they can be addressed.
Bamboo is a widely distributed, renewable resource that can deliver a broad range of green products and ecosystem services while supporting rural livelihoods. It has been increasingly acknowledged as a nature-based solution for mitigating climate change, promoting sustainable development, and facilitating the transition to a circular economy. This review synthesizes current knowledge of the global distribution of bamboo and its ecological functions, product innovations, and emerging role in carbon finance. It identifies major barriers, including those in life-cycle assessments, product standards, and carbon accounting frameworks, that limit bamboo's integration into climate policy. Drawing on previous experience, this review underscores the importance of green technologies, value chain development, and policy mainstreaming. It outlines future pathways to advance sustainable bamboo forest management, enhance bamboo's role in carbon policy frameworks, and promote inclusive income opportunities, particularly in regions with abundant but underutilized bamboo resources. Realizing bamboo's full potential for sustainability will require coordinated efforts across science, governance, and industry.
Agrivoltaic systems represent a promising alternative for integrated land use. However, considerable heterogeneity exists among systems. In this article, we conduct a systematic review with meta-analysis to provide evidence-based support for agrivoltaic systems, particularly in evaluating their performance regarding the Land Equivalent Ratio (LER), agricultural performance, and microclimate. The search identified 7,474 articles, of which 66 were included. The studies addressed monofacial, bifacial, or translucent panels installed vertically, tilted horizontally, or with tracking systems. The results demonstrated greater crop development in agrivoltaic systems and lower soil temperatures under bifacial modules and modules with higher inclination angles. Medicinal plants, grains, and seeds exhibited higher mean LER values, which may be associated with the shading tolerance of species within these groups. Tilted horizontal configurations and semitransparent modules showed better integrated performance, reinforcing the importance of structural and agronomic adjustments to maximize benefits.
The policy recognition that peace and sustainability are intrinsically linked has led to increased scholarly attention on their nexus. In this systematic review, we focus on the indicators of positive peace and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to provide a fine-grained analysis of their co-benefits, trade-offs, and mediating factors. The literature landscape shows an increasing conceptual integration of environmental, social, and economic issues, with the SDGs serving as the central organizing paradigm. Our content analysis also reveals that positive peace acts as the mediating factor, enabling the conditions or moderating the inadvertent consequences of sustainable development. In this age of multiple, interconnected, and fast-moving crises, advancing our understanding of the peace–sustainability nexus becomes more pressing than ever. This comprehensive assessment of the pathways between positive peace and sustainable development presents a synthesis of the dominant themes and identifies the knowledge gaps in the literature, thereby informing future research and policy directions.
Global water crises are, finally, near the top of the agendas at the United Nations and at multilateral initiatives and organizations. A social sciences– and humanities-informed emerging literature that we call Heterodox Thinking offers alternatives to much of the current decision-making on water. Rooted in water economics, values, and governance, Heterodox Thinking comprises developments in nonmarket valuation, systems thinking, risk assessments and mitigation, infrastructure investments, and understanding injustices and relationality. It is characterized by the Three Ps: People (e.g., who has voice and power and who does not), Place (e.g., locally informed and justice-based), and Planet (e.g., system interconnections, risks, and ecological and nonhuman considerations). At its best, Heterodox Thinking is informed by on-the-ground evidence and multiple disciplines and knowledge, and it seeks to value water, expose power imbalances, support human rights and well-being, and mitigate systemic risks. If effectively operationalized, it can deliver more equitable, risk-mitigated, and sustainable responses to the many different and localized water crises.
In recent decades, the availability and accessibility of biodiversity data and the profusion of portals, tools, and platforms through which to utilize them have increased rapidly. This reflects the extensive variety of challenges biodiversity data are being used to address and the need to enhance decision-making by different stakeholder groups. Although this has provided unprecedented opportunities for those outside mainstream academia to contribute to and benefit from these resources, it can create confusion in navigating biodiversity data within a highly saturated landscape. We present a new database of 698 global, more than 200 regional, and at least 1,400 national web-based data systems. We then apply both a newly developed typology for online biodiversity data systems and the DPSR+B (drivers, pressure, state, response, benefits) framework to categorize them. We also consider whether target groups are well-defined for these systems. Our analysis shows delivery gaps in systems and data for nature's benefits, agricultural- and wildlife-related supply chains, and specific pressures such as illegal and unsustainable use. Moreover, users’ inability to find the right systems, or interpret them accurately, may lead to poorer conservation outcomes. We make recommendations regarding next-generation online systems that reduce redundancy, lower costs, and improve delivery of information for decision-making.
Limited progress with mitigation makes it almost inevitable that global warming of 1.5°C will be exceeded. This realization confronts Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with a choice either to stabilize warming above but as close as possible to 1.5°C or to reverse global warming back to this level. We review core concepts and current knowledge relating to overshoot: an exceedance and subsequent decline back below a specified global warming level. We clarify the concept and origins of overshoot in science and climate policy, discuss the key drivers of climate-related risks and how they might evolve under overshoot trajectories to foster more systematic research into those risks, and consider the role of adaptation. We then consider the feasibility of overshoot in terms of mitigation across the six feasibility dimensions introduced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its sixth Assessment Report. We conclude by discussing critical barriers, challenges, and knowledge gaps related to overshoot.
To date, international diplomacy and policy development around emissions reduction focus largely on the difference between high-emitting and low-emitting countries. Overwhelming evidence across several countries shows a strong relationship between income, wealth, and emissions within countries. A nuanced exploration of emissions shows evidence of a great disparity across classes and income within high-, middle-, and low-income countries. As the window for opportunity to limit warming to 1.5°C closes, addressing luxury emissions may represent a high-impact mitigation strategy for two reasons: They represent a substantive proportion of emissions, and they serve as an aspirational model for other consumption classes, thus amplifying their destructive effect on emissions and the planet. However, there is limited understanding of the patterns of luxury consumption and thus the policies and regulations that can directly target these behaviors. This review leverages best available literature to explore the following questions: ( a ) What are the patterns of consumption between income classes within and across regions—are there commonalities in luxury consumption of the richest populations across regions? ( b ) Is there evidence of policies or instruments that have targeted reducing emissions-intensive consumption? ( c ) What are the initiatives or policies that shift such consumption toward less emission-intensive ones? Here, we identify four types of actions: ( a ) economy-wide actions and policies, including ambitious taxes and pricing instruments that address emissions-intensive consumption and investments; ( b ) measures targeting specific luxury consumption associated with higher income and wealth, such as flights or meat consumption; ( c ) measures that educate and encourage behavior change among individuals that can influence change (as investors, individual consumers, or influencing role models); and ( d ) societal measures to reduce inequality and promote well-being. Constraints to adopting these include lack of political will due to fear of public resistance, power structures within society, and resistance of the elites to changing the status quo. Other barriers include cultural norms, ideology, and habits that can often supersede environmental concerns, making it difficult to achieve success in the short run. However, emerging evidence shows countries and organizations are implementing a range of measures, including taxes, bans, guidelines, and information instruments, toward addressing high-emissions activities. While it is early to comment on their success in reducing luxury emissions, some of these measures do seem to show evidence of a shift in consumption patterns.
Researchers’ and decision-makers’ demand for climate information has outpaced the ability of computationally intensive Earth system models (ESMs) to provide targeted climate projections, particularly when specific output for specific needs is required. Emulators of ESMs—significantly more efficient computationally—aim to produce such information and have seen an accelerated period of development. Emulators’ latest generation greatly varies in method, complexity, requirements, and outputs. Some emulators produce only patterns of average quantities, targeting climate responses to anthropogenic forcings. Others simulate quantities at high temporal and spatial frequency, accounting for the climate system internal variability. We survey and categorize different methods; their advantages and limitations, including statistical approaches of various complexity; and machine learning methods. We discuss how a choice of emulator, based on different methods, inputs, and outputs available, might be or not be fit for purpose, for climate and sustainability science. We identify gaps and research needs informing future developments.
Expanding demand for precious, rare earth, and other minerals has reinvigorated interest in mining the deep abyssal seafloor for polymetallic (manganese or ferromanganese) nodules, hydrothermal vents for polymetallic sulfides, and seamounts for cobalt-rich crusts, raising questions regarding the environmental sustainability of such activities. In this review, we consider the current state of knowledge regarding mining and its potential impacts and conclude that the limited and variable observations currently available point to a clear need for further study prior to launching commercial mining in any of these habitats. To this end, we identify critical gaps that limit our ability to predict long-term mining impacts as well as potential strategies to address those gaps.
Energy systems are increasingly vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather events, particularly as reliance on renewable sources grows. This systematic review analyzes 65 scientific articles to assess future climate change impacts on the energy system of Brazil, a global leader in renewable energy. The review reveals that climate change may have strong negative and some mild positive impacts, varying by energy system component, location, climate variable, climate model, emissions scenario, and methodology. Significant threats to energy security in Brazil include managing space-cooling demand and adapting the hydropower sector. Solar energy faces uncertainties in the South while biofuels may struggle in the Northeast. In contrast, wind energy could enhance energy security in the Northeast, Southeast, and South. These findings highlight the need for adaptive energy planning to mitigate climate impacts and serve as a crucial resource for policymakers aiming to enhance energy resilience in the Global South.
