Decades of insufficient action (despite multiple scientific warnings) have heightened risks of irreversible tipping points in the Earth systems. Urgent and critical actions are needed to avert societal collapse. Phase-2 of the Transformations within Reach (TwR) is intended to provide an action-oriented synthesis for catalyzing societal transformations toward sustainability.
The Transformations within Reach (TwR-I) initiative was first launched in early 2020 as a joint initiative between the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the International Science Council (ISC) under the heading Consultative Science Platform: Bouncing Forward Sustainably: Pathways to a post-COVID-19 world with the objective to glean lessons from the COVID-19 crisis for the future of society. The initiative brought together over 200 experts from various disciplines and every region of the world through a series of consultations in order to provide recommendations on what should be done to move towards a more sustainable world that would be more prepared for negative shocks. TwR-I produced a synthesis and four thematic reports which were widely disseminated.
Building on the success of and positive response to TwR-I, IIASA launched TwR-II which continues to work with the community of scientists and practitioners operating under the guidance by the Advisory Board chaired by the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Chair of The Elders, H.E. Mary Robinson and the patronage of Ban Ki-Moon, the 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations (2007-2016).
TwR-II asserts that the key to sustainability transformation is a better societal decision-making and governance systems. Therefore, TwR-II aims to put forward recommendations on how decision-making systems and processes can be improved to catalyze sustainability transformations and identify effective levers of change for this.
Further information on TwR II can be found on the website of the initiative: https://transformationswithinreach.org/
Ban Ki-Moon - Patron of the Transformations Within Reach Project
PROGRESS
Advisory Board meeting for the Transformations Within Reach - Phase 2 took place online on 11 April 2022.
First Workshop of the Community of Science and Practice was conducted on 27 October 2022.
OUTREACH
20 January 2022: Leena Srivastava presented at NIES Japan Coference: Societal transformation towards global sustainability
PUBLICATIONS
Sperling, F., Havlik, P. , Denis, M., Valin, H. , Palazzo, A. , Gaupp, F., & Visconti, P. (2022). Toward resilient food systems after COVID-19. Current Research in Environmental Sustainability 4 e100110. 10.1016/j.crsust.2021.100110.
Andersen, I., Ishii, N., Brooks, T., Cummis, C., Fonseca, G., Hillers, A., Macfarlane, N., Nakicenovic, N. , Moss, K., Rockström, J., Steer, A., Waughray, D., & Zimm, C. (2021). Defining “Science-based Targets”. National Science Review 8 (7) nwaa186. 10.1093/nsr/nwaa186.
Żebrowski, P. , Dieckmann, U. , Brännström, Å., Franklin, O. , & Rovenskaya, E. (2022). Sharing the Burdens of Climate Mitigation and Adaptation: Incorporating Fairness Perspectives into Policy Optimization Models. Sustainability 14 (7) e3737. 10.3390/su14073737.
Komendantova, N. , Neumueller, S., & Nkoana, E. (2022). Co-creating Policies on Societal Transformations as a Factor of Resilience of Modern Society. In: Energy Transition in the Baltic Sea Region: Understanding Stakeholder Engagement and Community Acceptance. Eds. Karimi, F. & Rodi, M., Routledge. ISBN 9781032003085
Gluckman, P., Quirion, R., Sachs, J., & van Jaarsveld, A.S. (2022). Scientific diplomacy keeps reason alight in dark times. Nature 604 (7906) p. 425. 10.1038/d41586-022-01060-z.
Zakeri, B. , Paulavets, K., Barreto-Gomez, L., Gomez Echeverri, L., Pachauri, S. , Boza-Kiss, B. , Zimm, C. , Rogelj, J. , Creutzig, F., Ürge-Vorsatz, D., Victor, D., Bazilian, M., Fritz, S. , Gielen, D., McCollum, D., Srivastava, L., Hunt, J. , & Pouya, S. (2022). Pandemic, War, and Global Energy Transitions. Energies 15 (17) e6114. 10.3390/en15176114.
Patil, P. (2022). Transformations Within Reach: Synchronizing Resilience and Agility for Sustainable Development (TwR). In: Systems Analysis for Reducing Footprints and Enhancing Resilience, 16-17 November, 2022, Vienna, Austria.
Patil, P. , Rovenskaya, E. , Srivastava, L., Gomez Echeverri, L., & Fath, B. (2022). First Background Paper for Transformations within Reach (Phase-2). Framework for Catalyzing Societal Transformations. IIASA , Laxenburg.
News
06 November 2023
IIASA provides input to the G20 on multilateralism reforms
The G20 is a global platform for the discussion of cooperation, policy, and governance pathways aligned with the common interests of its member states, which include the world’s largest economies. This year, to support the G20 process, IIASA produced four policy papers providing insight into the complexities of potential multilateral institutional reforms.
27 September 2023
Synergy solutions for a world in crisis
IIASA scientists contributed to a new UN report focusing on the importance and potential benefit from synergistic action with regard to climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The report highlights potential knowledge barriers and major political and economic challenges and provides recommendations to address them.
14 August 2023
IIASA Director General's mission to India: paving the way for sustainable growth and collaborative partnerships
IIASA Director General, Albert van Jaarsveld, visited New Delhi from 27 to 29 July 2023. This trip marked a momentous opportunity for IIASA to strengthen its ties with India and global partners, as well as contribute to the advancement of the Green and Sustainable Growth Agenda for the Global Economy.
Events
Online and Austrian Academy of Sciences (Doktor-Ignaz-Seipel-Platz 2, Vienna)
Human Agency to Navigate the Anthropocene
Virtual consultation