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.
The ESRC STEPS Centre (Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) is an interdisciplinary global research and policy engagement centre.
The subject of carbon pricing is rising up the global policy agenda, as countries take action in the aftermath of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Conference of the Parties 26 summit in November 2021. South Africa is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa to have...
In just two decades since the early 2000s, social protection established itself as a vibrant social policy sector in countries across the Global South, from Latin America to sub-Saharan Africa to South Asia. Social protection appeared in several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. Even...
Extensive livestock systems not only support millions of livelihoods, especially for poor and marginalised people, but also offer multiple benefits to the environment. A systems approach can help capture these contributions.
As the climate conference, COP27, kicks of in Sharm el Sheik in Egypt debates about agriculture and land use will be centre stage. And amongst these discussions the role of livestock in the future of food and agricultural systems will be hotly debated.
What motivates property owners to pay taxes in places where state enforcement is weak? Using an online experiment among property owners in Lagos, Nigeria, we evaluate the extent to which different appeals increase respondents’ tax morale, their willingness to pay taxes if there is no...
This report presents the final results of the Building Resilience in Crisis through Education (BRiCE) research project, which is led by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and the Institut Supérieur Pédagogique de Bukavu (ISP Bukavu).
What is the future of multilateralism? The UK's recent Strategy for International Development announced a reduction in funding for the World Bank and other multilateral institutions, instead indicating a move to bilateral spending that will ‘focus funding on UK priorities’. Yet universal...
Sunday (6 Nov) marked the start of the 27th Conference of the Parties, the UN summit known as COP27, which brings together over 190 countries to negotiate international action on climate change. As governments, charities, think tanks, businesses and advocacy groups gather in Egypt over the next...
Last week on November 2, the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front signed a peace agreement in South Africa to cease hostilities, almost two years after the start of the devastating war on November 4 2020. But so far there is little evidence that all hostilities and...
Designing effective interventions requires the inclusion and buy-in of beneficiary communities; however, because of constraints and context, fully participatory research can be challenging. The Afar people of northern Ethiopia live in what can be considered the very definition of 'challenging...
As the world gathers in Egypt to discuss responses to the climate emergency (at the annual Climate Conference of Parties, COP 27), we ask, where is climate action occurring?
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We will explore ‘signs of hope’ in the climate talks –...
This comparative note describes common and distinct practices on capabilities to support the innovation activities of seven national development banks (NDB): BNDES (Brazil), CORFO (Chile), China Development Bank, CDB (China), BANCOLDEX (Colombia), Bpifrance (France), Korean Development Bank, KDB...
4 November 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).