Covid 19 Paving The Way For A More Sustainable World

This book gathers and disseminates opinions, viewpoints, studies, forecasts, and practical projects which illustrate the various pathways sustainability research and practice may follow in the future, as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and prepares itself to the possibilities of having to cope with similar crisis, a product of the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP) https://www.haw-hamburg.de/en/ftz-nk/programmes/iusdrp.html and the European School of Sustainability Science and Research (ESSSR) https://esssr.eu/. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to severe human suffering, and to substantial damages to economies around the globe, affecting both rich countries and developing ones. The aftermath of the epidemic is also expected to be felt for sometime. This will also include a wide range of impacts in the ways sustainable development is perceived, and how the principles of sustainability are practised. There is now a pressing need to generate new literature on the connections between COVID-19 and sustainability. This is so for two main reasons. Firstly, the world crisis triggered by COVID-19 has severely damaged the world economy, worsening poverty, causing hardships, and endangering livelihoods. Together, these impacts may negatively influence the implementation of sustainable development as a whole, and of the UN Sustainable Development Goals in particular. These potential and expected impacts need to be better understood and quantified, hence providing a support basis for future recovery efforts. Secondly, the shutdown caused by COVID-19 has also been having a severe impact on teaching and research, especially –but not only – on matters related to sustainability. This may also open new opportunities (e.g. less travel, more Internet-based learning), which should be explored further, especially in the case of future pandemics, a scenario which cannot be excluded. The book meets these perceived needs.

Humanity will have to cope with many problems in the coming decades: for instance, the world population is likely grow to to 8,8 billion people by 2035. Also, changing climate conditions are negatively affecting the livelihoods of millions of people. In particular, environmental disasters are causing substantial damages to properties. From a social perspective, the inequalities between rich and poor nations are becoming even deeper, and in many countries, conflicts between national and international interest groups are intensifying.The above state of affairs suggest that a broader understanding of the trends which may lead to a more sustainable world is needed, especially those which may pave the way for future developments. In other words, we need to pave the way for sustainable futures.Consistent with this reality, the proposed Encyclopedia of Sustainability Futures aims to identify, document and disseminate ideas, experiences and visions from scientists, member of nongovernmental organisations, decision-makers industry representatives and citizens, on themes and issues which will be important in pursuing sustainable future scenarios. In particular, the publication will focus on scientific aspects, as well as on social and economic ones, also considering matters related to financing and infra-structures, which are important in pursuing a sustainable future.The Encyclopedia of Sustainability Futures will involve the contributing authors in line with theprinciple of co-generation, from across a wide range of disciplines, e.g. education and social sciences, natural sciences, engineering, the arts, languages etc, with papers adopting a long-term sustainability perspective, with a time horizon until 2050. The focus will be on themes which are felt as important in the future, and the chapters are expected to interest and motivate a world audience.This book is part of the "100 papers to accelerate the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals initiative"!

This book highlights the impact of COVID-19 on environmental sustainability and SDG’s, using various case studies. The year 2020 was a historical year mainly due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19 and it influenced or affected the global economy, business models and the industrial sectors, thus impacting sustainability in various ways. Given that sustainability has many faces and facets, it is worthwhile to deal with the relation (or impact) of COVID-19 on various elements of sustainability. This book presents how COVID-19 has influenced Environmental Sustainability along with the SDG’s.

COVID-19 has demanded management innovations across all sectors. As urban systems are made more sustainable, and our focus shifts towards the Circular Economy, this timely book sheds new light on emerging issues.

The world-wide transition towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) results in profound changes to business practices. Hence, this crucial Handbook adopts a global perspective to review key CSR issues and their implications for the future evolution of corporate governance.

This book presents a systemic view of the global environmental economy under the conditions of climate change from the positions of Sustainable Development Goals. The purpose of the book is to study the current problems of the global environmental economy under the conditions of climate change and to determine the prospects of its sustainable development (systemic support for the SDGs). This goal predetermines the logic and structure of the book, which is comprised of five parts. Part I presents the authors’ novel view of the global environmental economy under the conditions of climate change from the positions of the SDGs. It reflects the contradiction and describes the path of preserving economic growth during the implementation of SDG 13. The COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis are considered as the result of the reduction of biodiversity under the conditions of climate change from the positions of SDG 3. Responsible innovations, eco-friendly products, and green trade are presented as trends of the environmental economy under the conditions of climate change to support SDG 12. Green jobs are analyzed in the environmental economy under the conditions of climate change during the implementation of SDG 8. The significance of social inclusivity and reduction of the inequality of the environmental economy under the conditions of climate change to support SDG 10 is noted. Part II elaborates on the sectoral specifics of the influence of climate change on the environmental economy: energetics, finance, industry, state management, and agriculture. Part III presents and discusses the international experience of development of the environmental economy under the conditions of climate change given the specifics of developed and developing countries and based on the case experience of Central Asia, the EAEU, and Russia. In Part IV, technological transition (Fourth Industrial Revolution) is offered as a perspective response of the global economic policy to climate change. Scenarios of the fight against climate change in the Decade of Action depending on the scale of the technological transition are described: digital economy vs Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0. The perspectives of the technological transition at the level of companies (creation of cyber-physical systems of Industry 4.0; green digital innovations and smart ESG finance) and regions (smart region as a socio-economic environment with large adaptability to climate change) are described.

This book looks to cover the issues related to advances in higher education for sustainable development goals. Nowadays, sustainable development is an important concept in higher education. One of the most widely recognized definitions is based in the Brundtland report as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." The three core pillars of sustainable development are environment, society and economy. Currently, higher education in the context of sustainable development goals (SDGs) is a great challenge. The information about higher education for sustainable development presents great interest to improve communication between professors, researches and students in universities, institutes, colleges, etc. This research book covers all aspects of higher education for sustainable development goals, namely, no poverty, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation, and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace, justice and strong institutions and partnerships.

This book reformulates Christian education as an interdisciplinary and interdenominational vocation for professionals and practitioners. It speaks directly to a range of contemporary contexts with the aim of encouraging conceptual, empirical and practice-informed innovation to build the field of Christian education research. The book invites readers to probe questions concerning epistemologies, ethics, pedagogies and curricula, using multidisciplinary research approaches. By helping thinkers to believe and believers to think, the book seeks to stimulate constructive dialogue about what it means to innovate Christian education research today.Chapters are organised into three main sections. Following an introduction to the volume's guiding framework and intended contribution (Chapter 1), Part 1 features conceptual perspectives and comprises research that develops theological, philosophical and theoretical discussion of Christian education (Chapters 2-13). Part 2 encompasses empirical research that examines data to test theory, answer big questions and develop our understanding of Christian education (Chapters 14-18). Finally, Part 3 reflects on contemporary practice contexts and showcases examples of emerging research agendas in Christian education (Chapters 19-24).