Sustainability Strategies: What's in a Name? A Conceptual Restatement of Fundamental Mechanisms Toward Sustainability

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

Efficiency, consistency, and sufficiency are repeatedly discussed under the umbrella term sustainability strategies. However, their use is rather intuitive yet vague, lacking a conceptual foundation. This is particularly problematic as sustainability challenges necessitate effective and fast implementation of all strategies at hand. A deep conceptual understanding of such strategies is necessary but not yet provided by existing research. Therefore, this paper introduces a framework of sustainability strategies, founded on an explicated working conception of sustainability. On this basis, five intergenerational sustainability strategies targeting environmental impacts are discussed (population reduction, sufficiency, efficiency increase, consistency increase, regeneration expansion). Additionally, the paper introduces five intragenerational sustainability strategies targeting the intragenerational dimension of justice inherent in sustainability (capability empowerment, equalization, eco-efficiency increase, impact expansion, population reduction). For each strategy, potential contributions, limitations, and examples for practical implementation are briefly sketched. The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of a conceptually grounded framework of sustainability strategies. The framework may motivate further empirical studies regarding the importance of sustainability strategies in diverse contexts, as well as the practical implementation of all feasible strategies to face recent sustainability crises.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbersd.3443
JournalSustainable Development
Volume33
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)5983-5997
Number of pages15
ISSN0968-0802
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 08.2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Author(s). Sustainable Development published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

DOI

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Discovering Cooperation
  2. Strong or weak synergy?
  3. Generation "Kautschukmann"
  4. Social and Ecological Elements for a Perspective Approach to Citizen Science on the Beach
  5. Direct production of lactic acid based on simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of mixed restaurant food waste
  6. Concentrations and sources of methylxanthines in a Northern German river system
  7. Microstructure investigation of Mg-10Gd-1La containing alloy subjected to fatigue deformation
  8. Legitimation strategies of corporate elites in the field of labor regulation
  9. The social construction of perceived fairness of performance evaluations
  10. Organizing Sustainably: Introduction to the Special Issue
  11. Conflicting demands of chemistry and inclusive teaching—a video‐based case study
  12. Do Women on board of directors have an impact on corporate governance quality and firm performance?
  13. Fremdsprachendidaktiker im Furioso
  14. Finale - Prüfungstraining Realschulabschluss Hessen
  15. The issue of micropollutants in urban water management
  16. Arzneimittel in der Umwelt
  17. Critical Stances
  18. § 290 Verzinsung des Wertersatzes
  19. Prosodie und Zeichensetzung
  20. Representation of dissolved organic carbon in the JULES land surface model (vn4.4-JULES-DOCM)
  21. Measuring and Comparing Party Ideology in Nonindustrialized Societies: Taking Party Manifesto Research to Africa
  22. Teaching Games for Understanding – Ein vernachlässigter Ansatz in der deutschsprachigen Sportpädagogik?
  23. „Michelet“ („Michelet par lui-même“)
  24. Regional renewable energy
  25. Education for a sustainable development – European Approaches
  26. Landschaften im Wandel
  27. Bildung für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung
  28. Non-native Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) promotes sentinel prey attack rates in Central European forests
  29. Mainstreaming von Klimarisiken und -chancen im Finanzsektor