Rethinking business, society, and territories for the ecological transition

The pursuit of unlimited growth, the subsequent intensive exploitation and use of fossil fuels and mineral resources, intensive agriculture, and livestock farming, as well as unsustainable consumption patterns, have become "geological forces"(Crutzen, 2002) that produce transformative and dramatic impacts on the planet's ecosystem. Global warming serves as an example, representing the devastating consequences of the Anthropocene (Steffen et al., 2007; Kopnina et al., 2018), marked by uncontrolled human activities, widening global inequities, and cultural homogenization within communities. These trends have also led to widespread human rights violations and basic needs. In response to these challenges, institutional bodies, academics, and eco-social movements have embraced "ecological transition" – a multifaceted approach towards fostering a more harmonious and balanced relationship between humanity and nature (Dimitrova et al., 2013). First coined by Bennet (1979) and later emphasized by Robin Hopkins in 2008, this term has gained traction within global policy frameworks, including the COP 21 Paris Agreement and the European Green Deal, which aims for a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and climate neutrality by 2050 (EC, 2024).
Since its formal recognition, research on ecological transition has flourished. Initially focused on urban responses to climate change and peak oil, studies on ecological transition have expanded to encompass a vast array of economic and social issues, including energy transformations, food sovereignty, circular economy principles, and technological advancements for environmental protection (Ghelfi & Papadopolous, 2021). They also explore strategies to inform consumer choices and raise awareness of the environmental impact of consumption. Consumers, conscious of their role as social actors, are striving to align personal needs with broader societal imperatives. This is evidenced by the growing interest in product provenance, supply chain transparency, and ethical labor practices, with consumers willing to look beyond price.
That is why, the need for adopting a stakeholder approach that revolves around human beings’ interactions and relationships represents the core of the debate about sustainable impacts (Jabbour et al., 2019; Scheepens et al., 2016).
Stakeholders, as groups of individuals, can take on various roles depending on their social, cultural, and geographical contexts and can have diverse perceptions of value, which will ultimately affect their level of engagement in solving social and environmental issues. A stakeholder approach to ecological and sustainable transition entails stakeholders’ participation in a broad range of activities, from co-creating and sharing knowledge for implementing the circular economy to fostering innovation within the closed-loop ecosystem, enhancing business frameworks, and changing business models, promoting best practices within communities, forming alliances to accelerate the transition through empowerment projects, collaborating in a cross-cultural logic to foster moral and creative imagination, etc. (Beaurain et al., 2023; Clube and Tennant, 2023)
In this logic, scholars in the field of sustainability management, geography, and sociology, point out that the cultural and social dimensions of sustainability are too often disregarded and overlooked, in the literature as well as in practice (Beaurain et al., 2023; Korhonen et al., 2018).
We aim to cover this lacuna through this Special Issue, welcoming contributions that will investigate the role, interactions, relationships, and actions among and of stakeholders to create the human prerequisite for sustainable outcomes, in their three dimensions simultaneously: social, environmental and economic (Triple Bottom Line - TBL, Elkington, 1994; 2018).
Given that human beings’ actions and interactions are complex (Freeman et al., 2010) and that the impact of sustainable transition varies across countries, companies, and societies (Coenen et al, 2012) we propose an interdisciplinary approach that explores ecological transition through the lens of business, society, and territories (Hansen & Coenen, 2015) and that allows for creative knowledge domains to disentangle and solve ecosystemic problems starting with the reconceptualization of humans interlinked to their ecosystems. That is why, in line with the focus of the Journal of Emerging Perspectives, this Special Issue titled Rethinking business, society, and territories for the Ecological Transition challenges scholars in the fields of management, sociology and geography to come together and contribute to the call for papers by employing a multidisciplinary lens on how a social and cultural approach to sustainability can foster positive impacts on the ecological transition.
In this special issue, we welcome submissions that examine, but are not limited to, the following themes:

References

Beaurain, C., Chembessi, C., & Rajaonson, J. (2023). Investigating the cultural dimension of circular economy: A pragmatist perspective. Journal of Cleaner Production, 417(138012), 138012.
Bennett John (1979). The Ecological Transition: Cultural Anthropology and Human Adaptation. American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 84, No. 5, pp. 1280-1282.
Clube, R. K. M., & Tennant, M. (2023). What would a human-centered ‘social’ Circular Economy look like?
Drawing from Max-Neef’s Human-Scale Development proposal. Journal of Cleaner Production, 383(135455), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.135455
Coenen, L., Benneworth, P., & Truffer, B. (2012). Toward a spatial perspective on sustainability transitions. Research Policy, 41(6), 968–979. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2012.02.014
Crutzen, P. J. (2002). Geology of mankind. Nature, 415(6867), 23.
Dimitrova A. Hollan C., Laster D.C., Reinstaller A., Schratzenstaller M., Walterskirchen E. and Weiss T.(2013), Literature review on fundamental concepts and definitions, objectives and policy goals as well as instruments relevant for socio-ecological transition, Europe Working Paper, No. 40
EC(2024) https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal/finance-and-greendeal/just-transition-mechanism_en
Elkington, J. (1994). Towards the sustainable corporation: Win-win-win business strategies for sustainable development. California Management Review, 36(2), 90–100.
Elkington, J. (2018). 25 years ago I coined the phrase “triple bottom line.” here’s why it’s time to rethink it. Harvard Business Review.
Freeman, R.E. (2010) Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Cambridge University Press.
Ghelfi, A., & Papadopoulos, D. (2021). Ecological transition: What it is and how to do it. Community technoscience and green democracy. Tecnoscienza, 12, 13–38.
Hansen, T., & Coenen, L. (2015). The geography of sustainability transitions: Review, synthesis and reflections on an emergent research field. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 17, 92–109.
Jabbour, A. B., Rojas Luiz, J. V., Rojas Luiz, O., Jabbour, C. J. C., Ndubisi, N. O., Caldeira de Oliveira, J. H., & Junior, F. H. (2019). Circular economy business models and operations management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 235, 1525–1539.
Kopnina, H., Washington, H., Gray, J., & Taylor, B. (2018). “The ‘future of conservation’ debate: Defending ecocentrism and the Nature Needs Half movement.” Biological Conservation, 217, 140–148.
Scheepens, A. E., Vogtländer, J. G., & Brezet, J. C. (2016). Two life cycle assessment (LCA) based methods to analyse and design complex (regional) circular economy systems. Case: making water tourism more sustainable. Journal of Cleaner Production, 114, 257–268.
Steffen, W., Crutzen, J., & McNeill, J. R. (2007). The Anthropocene: are humans now overwhelming the great forces of Nature? Ambio, 36(8), 614–621.

Paper Submission Deadline: June 15, 2024

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