Sustainability

Our interdisciplinary research explores how pathways to sustainability, green transformations and equitable access to resources such as land, water and food can be achieved and help us meet the environmental as well as human development-related goals of the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.

Our work builds on a long tradition of critical social science engagement with environmental issues and resource politics in collaboration with partners globally. It explores how pathways to sustainability are shaped by political-economic and social processes, and understands how they are driven by technology, markets, states and citizens.  Our research sheds new light on how we can achieve green transformations that move us from fossil fuel to renewable energy, from throw-away to circular economies. It addresses the politics of sustainability, and understands how transformations occur at local levels as well as global, in both rural and urban settings, and be led by citizens as well as national governments. In doing so, it shines a light on how sustainable resource use, consumption and production is shaped by issues such as gender, livelihoods and politics.

People

Melissa Leach

Emeritus Fellow

Lyla Mehta

Professorial Fellow

Ian Scoones

Professorial Fellow

Amber Huff

Research Fellow

Jeremy Allouche

Professorial Fellow

Lars Otto Naess

Research Fellow

Wei Shen

Resource Politics and Environmental Change Cluster Lead and Research Fellow

Shilpi Srivastava

Resource Politics and Environmental Change Cluster Lead and Research Fellow

Programmes and centres

Recent work

Filter results by

Showing 1405–1416 of 15343 results

Journal

Reframing Climate and Environmental Justice

IDS Bulletin 53.4

Despite a growing focus on the justice dimensions of climate and environmental change, this issue of the IDS Bulletin argues that there are still ‘blind spots’ in dominant mainstream approaches to climate and environmental justice. These approaches share a tendency to place growth, not...

12 December 2022

Working Paper

An Introduction to Digital Tax Payment Systems in Low-and Middle-Income Countries

ICTD Working Paper; 152

National tax administrations are increasingly investing in the digital facilities needed to make it possible for taxpayers to go online both to file their routine tax returns (e-filing) and remit the tax payments due (e-payment). These facilities potentially benefit both taxpayers and tax...

9 December 2022

Opinion

Pastoralists as vital allies in biodiversity conservation

Pastoralists have often been pitted against conservationists. A colonial vision of ‘forests’ continues to enclose certain areas and exclude local pastoralists from accessing their habitats. Take the example of the Rabari pastoralists in India evicted from the Gir National Park or the recent...

9 December 2022

Brief

Understanding the Political Economy of South Africa’s Carbon Tax

ICTD Research in Brief; 79

South Africa is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa to have enacted a carbon tax to date. Although the country was ahead of the curve when it began considering the tax’s implementation in 2010, it took until 2019 for the Carbon Tax Act to be passed (RSA 2019). By this time 58 carbon taxes...

Lucy Baker

8 December 2022

Publication

Data Management at the Senegalese Tax Authority: Insights from a Long-term Research Collaboration

African Tax Administration Paper; 27

As they increasingly adopt digital infrastructure, public administrations worldwide are increasingly collecting, generating and managing data. Empirical researchers are, at the same time, collaborating more and more with administrations, accessing vast amounts of data, and setting new research...

Leo Czajka

& 3 others

8 December 2022

Past Event

Art, environnement et activisme en Afrique

How can the arts be used in environmental communication and dialogue? We present experiences using arts-led deliberation from across Africa. Citizens, researchers, activists, policy actors, artists and others are welcome. Watch now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Q-wul9fjU Activists and...

8 December 2022

News

Why pastoralism matters for debates on biodiversity at COP15

Between 7-19 December, delegates from nearly 200 countries will gather in Montreal for Biodiversity COP15, the first UN conference on biodiversity since 2018. Touted as a ‘make or break’ moment following the failure to meet any of the Aichi targets on biodiversity between 2011-2020,...

7 December 2022

Why learn with us.

In an extraordinary time of challenge and change, we use more than 50 years of expertise to transform development approaches that create more equitable and sustainable futures. The work you do with us will help make progressive change towards universal development; to build and connect solidarities for collective action, locally and globally. The University of Sussex has been ranked 1st in the world for Development Studies for the past five years (QS World University Rankings by Subject).

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.