Global environmental governance in times of turbulence

Galaz, V. 2022. Global environmental governance in times of turbulence. One Earth 5(6):582-585.

50 years might not seem long in the history of planet Earth, but the last 50 years have had profound implications for our living planet. 2022 marks the 50th anniversaries of the United Nations Environment Programme and the historic 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. These anniversaries invite us all to reflect on the successes and failures of collective action and global environmental governance.

Proxy voting for the Earth System: Institutional shareholder governance of global tipping elements

Golland, A., V. Galaz, G. Engstrom, and J. Fichtner. 2022. Proxy voting for the Earth System: Institutional shareholder governance of global tipping elements. SSRN Electronic Journal .

Global “tipping elements” such as large forest biomes are critical for climate stability, and are key resource pools for extractive industries – typically, forestry and farming. In recent years the largest global asset managers have begun promoting sustainability policies among their portfolio companies, while evidence suggests that financial institutions can influence change in forest biomes through shareholdings. We explore this potential by studying proxy voting...

Economy and Finance for a Just Future on a Thriving Planet. Report for Stockholm+50

Galaz, V. and D. Collste (eds). 2022. Economy and Finance for a Just Future on a Thriving Planet. Report for Stockholm+50. Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics (Royal Swedish Acad­emy of Sciences) and Stockholm Resilience Centre (Stockholm University)..

A new planetary reality

Galaz, V., G. Daily, C. Folke, S. Levin, M. Ruck­elshaus, W. Steffen, and P. Søgaard Jørgensen. 2022. A new planetary reality. In: Galaz, V. and D. Collste (eds.) Economy and Finance for a Just Future on a Thriving Planet. Report for Stock­holm+50. Beijer Institute of Ecological Eco­nomics (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences) and Stockholm Resilience Centre (Stockholm University), Chapter 1.

Our living planet, with its biosphere and physical climate system, is changing at an unprecedented speed. Changes in the climate system and the biosphere, previously assumed to unfold in a distant future and affect only future generations, are happening now and with increasing speed and force.

The Power of giants

Galaz, V., Crépin, A.-S., Fichtner, J., Hallerby, R., Jonsson, M., Kedward, K., Nessen, M., Ryan-Col­lins, J., Ölcer, D., Österblom, H. 2022. The Power of giants. In: Galaz V. and Collste, D. (eds). Econ­omy and Finance for a Just Future on a Thriving Planet. Report for Stockholm+50. Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics (Royal Swedish Acad­emy of Sciences) and Stockholm Resilience Centre (Stockholm University). Chapter 5.

Not all economic and financial actors are equally influential. Our globalised economies contain a considerable concentration of influence and power, possibly putting Earth’s future in the hands of but a few.

From systemic risks to system opportunities

Galaz, V., D. Collste, A.-S. Crépin, B. Crona, G. Daily, C. Folke, T. Lindahl, P. Olsson, M. Ruck­elshaus, C. Schill, L. Hård af Segerstad, and T. McPhearson. 2022. From systemic risks to system opportunities. In: Galaz, V. and D. Collste (eds.) Economy and Finance for a Just Future on a Thriving Planet. Report for Stockholm+50. Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences) and Stockholm Resilience Centre (Stockholm University), Chapter 7.

The changing planetary reality and our inability to properly grasp its consequences for people and planet pose immense challenges and risks. Yet, a shift towards a prosperous future for all on a thriving planet is possible. Domino-effects that support opportunities for both people and the planet can be triggered in many ways: changing social norms, supporting economic policies and institutions, the “power of giants”, initiatives...

Data mining and pattern recognition

Rocha, J.C. and S. Daume. 2021. Data mining and pattern recognition. In: Biggs, R., A. De Vos, R. Preiser, H. Clements, K. Maciejewski, and M. Schlüter. The Routledge Handbook of Re­search Methods for Social-Ecological Systems. Routledge, London, UK. Pp. 24-251.

On digitalization and sus­tainability transitions

Andersen, A.D., K. Frenken, V. Galaz, F. Kern, L. Klerkx, M. Mouthaan, L. Piscicelli, J.B. Schor, and T. Vaskelainen. 2021. On digitalization and sus­tainability transitions. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 41:96-98.

Artificial intelligence, systemic risks, and sustainability

Galaz, V., M.A. Centeno, P.W. Callahan, A. Causevic, T. Patterson. et al. 2021. Artificial intelligence, systemic risks, and sustainability. Technology in Society 67:101741.

Automated decision making and predictive analytics through artificial intelligence, in combination with rapid progress in technologies such as sensor technology and robotics are likely to change the way individuals, communities, governments and private actors perceive and respond to climate and ecological change. Methods based on various forms of artificial intelligence are already today being applied in a number of research fields related to climate change...

Data Mining and Pattern Recognition

Rocha, C.J., and S. Daume. 2021. Data Mining and Pattern Recognition. In: Biggs, R., de Vos, A., Preiser, R., Clements, H., Maciejewski, K. and M. Schlüter (Eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods for Social-Ecological Systems. Routledge, London, UK. Pp. Chapter 17.

Chapter 17 deals with data mining and pattern recognition, which are methods in data science. A general purpose of data science is pattern discovery from unstructured and heterogeneous sources of data through data mining and machine learning. The chapter discusses data wrangling, clustering analysis, regression trees, neural networks, sentiment analysis and topic models. It goes on to discuss the types of social-ecological systems (SES) problems...