Search

Despite increasing calls for circularity in business, the trending Circular Economy (CE) is not converting into action and the global usage of secondary material is declining. Addressing this gap is vital for our future well-being. Hence, more research is needed on whether and how companies translate broader CE discourses into their future visions. This study employed frame analysis to investigate how the CE's meaning and goals are being envisioned and shaped in companies' external communication to advance their future goals. Drawing empirical insights from documents focused on 41 Finnish self-declared front-runner CE companies from various industries, the paper contributes to current CE literature in two ways. First, five distinct future vision frames were identified – technological utopia, outsourcing circularity, business-as-usual, market leader, and systemic change – that demonstrate how self-described front-runner companies communicated circularity to their stakeholders. Second, the study demonstrates how company-level future visions align with or differ from macro-level CE visions. The study found that even self-described frontrunner CE companies were reluctant to align with strong sustainability in their framing, limiting the transformative potential of CE in business context. The findings have implications for managers regarding how they can assess their future visions from the perspective of weak or strong sustainability.

Hungary relies heavily on fossil and nuclear fuel imports from Russia. An urgent challenge is to develop a more sustainable and more independent energy system. There is a 2019 and a 2023 (draft) version of the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) but they arguably do not follow this direction. However, there are also alternative scenarios for Hungary that propose more comprehensive changes. This paper compares the targets proposed by the Hungarian NECPs to those proposed in two alternative studies: the sufficiency-based European-focused CLEVER (Collaborative Low Energy Vision for the European Region) scenario (created by a research team including 26 partner organisations from 20 European countries), and the de-growth-based “This Way Ahead” (TWA) scenario (which is the result of a Hungarian inter-university research, coordinated by the ELTE University's energy geography research group). A new element of this recent study is the simulation of hourly electricity supply and demand in these scenarios using EnergyPLAN to compare import requirements, potential surplus generation, and self-sufficiency. The review shows that the NECPs need to be reconsidered to increase the share of decentralized renewable electricity supply in a way that allows progress without increasing energy use and environmental burdens. Priority must be given to the rapid expansion of wind energy capacity by at least 10–20 times, which should be complemented by biogas-based flexible energy supply.

The article is devoted to the problem of sustainable development of Ukraine's regions, since competitive regions are a source of balanced and sustainable development of the entire country. It was emphasized that the development of the development management strategy of any region of Ukraine should be based on the environmental safety policy, the current norms and requirements of which must be adapted in accordance with European standards. The subject of the study is the greening of tourist activity as a factor in the sustainable development of the regions of Ukraine. The purpose of the study is to build a model of sustainable development of regional tourism based on the ecosystem restoration of security of the tourist and recreational potential of Ukraine in the post-war period. Tasks that were set to achieve the goal: to investigate the management mechanism of sustainable development of regional tourism; to analyze the impact of military actions on the ecological state of the regions of Ukraine; to propose a program model for the sustainable development of tourism in Ukraine. In accordance with this direction of research, the author chose and applied the following methodological approaches: systemic and institutional when considering the interrelationships of actors at both the national and regional levels. Within the framework of the system approach, the functioning of the tourism industry of Ukraine was investigated within the framework of new ecological realities. Thanks to the institutional approach, the necessary legal framework for the sustainable development of tourism was considered. The following results were obtained. The authors proposed the formation of a model of sustainable development of tourism, which emphasizes the sustainability of ecological, economic, cultural and social spheres, taking into account the ranking of factors of sustainable development depending on the level of sustainability. The proposed model takes into account an important aspect - after the war, it will be necessary to ensure different levels of sustainability for individual regions of Ukraine.

This study conceptually characterizes and theoretically represents the four main sustainability paradigms (strong sustainability, weak sustainability, de-growth, and a-growth) in terms of equality and inequality. It then applies these conditions to developed and less-developed countries (OECD and non-OECD countries) and empirically shows that the change in production technology (∆θ) required by a-growth is impossible and the change in consumption preferences (∆α) required by de-growth is unfeasible. Finally, it combines a-growth and de-growth in a theoretical solution for the relationship between ∆α and ∆θ that meets the conditions required by both strong and weak sustainability (parameters are the world’s population, consumption preferences, and production technologies or concerns for nature and future generations in developed and less-developed countries) and empirically demonstrates that this solution is feasible. In particular, sustainability turns out to be an ethical issue more than a technological issue, and the ethical concern for nature turns out to be more favorable than the ethical concern for future generations. Ethical assumptions and implications of the four main sustainability paradigms are highlighted and ethical assumptions and implications of the combined theoretical model are discussed. In particular, intergenerational efficiency is achieved in terms of welfare, and intergenerational equity is achieved in terms of environmental status.

Abstract Non-technical summary The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are at the core of the development agenda. Despite their wide adoption, it is still unclear the extent to which they can provide insights on environmental sustainability. The paper presents an assessment of the potential of the indicators used in the SDGs to track environmental sustainability. The results show that only a few SDG indicators describe the state of the environment, and those that do so, do not, generally, have science-based targets that describe whether environmental sustainability conditions are met. The latter aspect should be reinforced in framework that will replace the SDGs after 2030. Technical summary The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are at the core of the development agenda. Despite their wide adoption, it is still unclear whether they can be used to monitor environmental sustainability, if this is to be understood from a strong sustainability perspective. The paper presents an assessment of the adequacy of the indicator sets used by United Nations, Eurostat, OECD, and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for strong sustainability monitoring. The results show that most environmental indicators do not have science-based environmental standards that reflect whether natural capital meets environmental sustainability conditions, thereby preventing their use as strong sustainability indicators. While meeting the SDGs would likely contribute to improving environmental performance, on their own they are not adequate to monitor progress toward it. Complementary scientifically grounded metrics are needed to track the underlying state of natural capital that provides non-substitutable functions. The strong sustainability dimension within the SDGs will need to be strengthened in post-2030 sustainable development monitoring framework. Social media summary The Sustainable Development Goals are insufficient to monitor environmental sustainability.

In this article we assess the validity of the elasticity of substitution indicator to evaluate natural resource substitution. After clarifying the importance of the static equilibrium hypothesis for the development of such an indicator, we demonstrate that its application to growth conditions imposes the observation of decreasing inflows of natural resource as a necessary consequence. We derive this result without making any assumptions not recognized by advocates of the neoclassical approach. In addition to refuting the neoclassical substitution model, this result helps clarify the relationship observed since the Industrial Revolution between the physical and economic substitution of natural resources.

After explaining the content coverage and elementary explanation of the basic dimensions of the paradigm of sustainable development, the concept of sustainability is considered in the light of preserving the total amount of capital in the production process, assuming no technological change and population growth. The research task set in this way brought to the fore the extremely complex question of the substitutability of produced and natural capital (stocks of natural resources and carrying capacity of the environment). The answer to it is directly related to the concept of weak and strong sustainability. The concept of poor sustainability allows substitutability between produced and natural capital, provided that the total amount of available capital does not decrease. On the contrary, the concept of strong sustainability implies a special observation of produced and natural capital. It practically eliminates the possibility of replacing one form of capital with another in the production process and from the point of view of the development economy is the only acceptable option in the long run. If unlimited substitution between natural and produced capital is allowed, then natural resources will eventually be depleted due to the creation of produced capital.

The weak and strong sustainable development models are analysed in this paper. The emergence of weak and strong models of sustainable development, the bases and principles that distinguish them from each other, as well as the arguments of the supporters of these approaches are studied. It is noted in this paper that, believing that there can be a smooth replacement of resources, the weak sustainability approach does not see any environmental threat to economic growth. The disadvantage of this approach is that it does not take into account the fact that human life would be unstable if the basic natural resources were depleted without any compensation. From this viewpoint, the arguments of the strong sustainability approach are considered more realistic and accepted as more attractive. A strong approach to sustainable development, which is a more cautious approach to economic growth, emphasises that sustainable development can be achieved through environmental responsibility. Ensuring environmental responsibility is presented as one of the important conditions for economic expediency and social solidarity. Strong sustainability model opposes the possibility that human capital can be replaced by natural capital. Analysing the positions of those scientists, who support strong sustainability, it is concluded that the replacement of development characterised by quantitative growth with qualitative sustainable development to increase welfare is one of the important principles of strong sustainable development.

In the field of economics, the two main branches that deal with the analyses of economy-ecology interactions are Environmental and Resource Economics (ERE) and Ecological Economics (EE). The latter is typically characterized as being fundamentally at odds with ERE’s negligence of biophysical constraints to economic activity. EE has proceeded to develop as a pluralist and trans-disciplinary field whose literature engages in the stipulation of previously overlooked considerations. For some, this pluralism represents the biggest strength: its success hinges on both the acceptance of multiple and incommensurable epistemologies that detect fissures in the dominant epistemology and the debate that arises out of the different delineations of dissent. Others argue that over the course of EE’s existence, pluralism has been insufficiently able to rid the field from mainstream, particularly neoclassical, economic epistemologies and formalisms. The aim of this paper is to provide recommendations for the development of an alternative to the current formal abstractions of ecology-economy configurations. This is done through a reinterpretation of the natural capital concept from an eco-Marxist perspective. After introducing the natural capital concept and discussing how the treatment thereof differs across ERE and EE, we isolate strong sustainability as one of the main attributes of EE when it comes to formalization practices. Strong sustainability’s prescription to treat natural capital as a complementary input in economic production functions has led to the implementation of various strategies concerning natural capital conservation. The bulk of these strategies has subsequently relied on monetary valuation for the purpose of embedding conservation strategies within the broader rationale of the market. In this paper we discuss monetary valuation in light of planetary boundaries, such as atmospheric sink capacities, and ecosystem services such as the habitat provision for endangered species. Critical studies have identified the monetary valuation of biophysical and ecological processes as commodification and we address both the theorized and experienced contradictions it is associated with. In our view, the logic behind the exchange value assessment of ecological processes can easily be traced back to the underlying assumptions of mathematical formalization in EE. In order to dissect these assumptions, we find it fruitful to draw on ecological Marxism. After introducing the reader to the gist of Marx’s ecological insights we discuss the concept of dualism in ecological Marxism and economics. We contend that our explicit focus on mathematical formalization forecloses a complete rejection of dualism since the specification of variables requires a process of conceptual distinction. This is why we adopt the notion of duality; where the separation and opposition between two essential elements is replaced by interdependence. Having positioned ourselves in the eco-Marxist debate on dualism, we then proceed with a discussion of Marx’s labour process theory and Moore’s world-ecology. The labour process is subject to two elements: ‘purpose realisation’ and ‘material metabolism’. The first refers to labour as an imposition of human intention; causing nature to capitulate to humanity’s will. ‘Material metabolism’ describes labour as an exchange or mediation between itself and nature. World-ecology offers an ecological interpretation of capital accumulation over the course of history. One of the concepts used to distinguish historical ecology-economy configurations, or world-ecological regimes, over capitalism’s long-dureé is the ecological surplus. This is a ratio between the system-wide appropriation and capitalization of both human and extra-human inputs. High ecological surpluses allow capital accumulation to proceed by means of labour productivity gains which are facilitated by appropriated labours, entities and processes. Low ecological surpluses hamper accumulation and trigger investments in new sources of appropriation, cheaper capitalized inputs or efficiency increasing technologies. How do these two eco-Marxist insights facilitate a reinterpretation of the assumptions underlying the practice of mathematical formalization in EE? Through the concept of the ecological surplus, world-ecology allows us to consider the commodification of ecological processes as an instance of capitalization. When valuation techniques disclose the benefit of an ecological process in monetary terms, said ecological process can be treated as an input in the production function. But according to world-ecology, an increase in capitalization also diminishes the ecological surplus which subsequently hampers capital accumulation. This begs us to question why the capitalization of ecological processes is a dominant strategy in response to ecological degradations. We argue that capitalization is a fruitful strategy in the face of future constraints to accumulation, such as diminished labour or human-made capital productivity and/or future opportunities for accumulation through for example, greenwashing. Marx’s labour process theory allows us to further argue that the incentives which capitalization aim to foster can be seen as desired alternations to the ‘material metabolism’ element of the labour process. The socially defined set of ‘purpose realisations’ on the other hand remains faithful to “the endowment of natural objects with humanistic forms for the purpose not of use value creation, but exchange value accumulation”. This leads us to conclude that the depiction of economy-ecology configurations by means of natural capital which enters the production function supports the underlying assumption that ecological sustainability is best achieved when capital bargains on behalf of nature. Furthermore, by explicitly focusing on capitalized ecological processes, the status-quo of formal abstraction in EE presumes dualism and is therefore incomplete. We argue that a more comprehensive portrayal requires the consideration of appropriated ecological processes in order to capture reciprocity and the unified management of interdependent flows which reproduce metabolic value. To this end, we introduce a trivial conceptual framework which summarizes the (proposed) mathematical formalization of economy-ecology configurations across ERE, EE and Ecological Marxism. The formal abstraction we propose from an eco-Marxist perspective is not only based on the consideration of appropriated ecological processes but also imposes duality instead of dualism between the ‘societal’ and ‘natural’ elements of production. The contribution of Ecological Marxism in this paper should not be seen as the formulation of an alternative to capitalization. Our proposed formal abstraction is based on the assumption that the ‘purpose realisation’ element of the labour process facilitates the goal of exchange value accumulation. Instead, we hope our contribution has shown that Ecological Marxism provides useful insights which can stretch the current confines of EE’s mathematical formalization; allowing for a more comprehensive portrayal of economy-ecology configurations.

During the past 30 years, Human Development Index (HDI) has evolved into a widely accepted proxy of human development. Based on Strong Sustainability and Planetary Boundaries, this paper puts forward Planetary Boundaries–adjusted HDI (PB-HDI). The PB-HDI has made references to Planetary pressures–adjusted HDI proposed by the UNDP. Being simple, transparent and theoretically valid, the PB-HDI incorporates “relative” ecological impacts, i.e. ecological impacts beyond planetary boundaries, into human development evaluation. The PB-HDI is the product of adjusted HDI and Ecological Overshoot Index. The adjusted HDI employs Healthy Life Expectancy at Birth to measure medical and health levels and sets a threshold value of Gross National Income per capita; the Ecological Overshoot Index measures “relative” ecological impacts and is constructed by employing consumption-based CO2 emissions and Material Footprint. Being compatible with intragenerational and intergenerational equity, the PB-HDI advocates achieving higher levels of economic-social development within planetary boundaries. PB-HDI values and ranks of 142 countries in 2015 are different with those of the HDI by a large extent. For the PB-HDI, Costa Rica, Panama, Hungary, Sri Lanka and Argentina perform best and Singapore, Australia, the United States, India and China do not perform well. The paper provides a more scientific and reasonable perspective and index for human development evaluation in the full world and Anthropocene.

Sustainability is related to the coordination of a complex system that constitutes by society, economy, and environment. In particular, environmental factor is frequently considered irreplaceable among them. This paper proposed a framework for regional sustainability assessment by coupling environmental factor and an improved Human Development Index (HDI). The performance of the framework was then analyzed using the 66 counties in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in China as a case study. On this basis, spatio-temporal assessment on the regional sustainability was assessed from the dimensions of society, economy, and environment.Results showed that the proposed framework could capture both socio-economic and environmental dimensions well to reflect the regional sustainability in the YRD. Specifically, it showed that sustainability was continuously improved in the YRD from 2000 to 2015. However, the sustainability revealed large differences among distinct dimensions. For instances, socio-economic sustainability was improved in 78.79% of the counties in the YRD from 2000 to 2015, but their environmental sustainability was declining in the same period. Spatially, the overall sustainability of the YRD showed autocorrelations and diverse aggregation characteristics among counties from 2000 to 2015. It is therefore essential to coordinate environment protection and economic development according to each city’s characteristic to realize sustainable development in future decades.

Although many efforts were taken until now, the fact is that environmental questions are still challenging governments and civil society, what is evidenced by the continuous tendency of pollution´s growth, depletion of resources and loss of biodiversity. Considering that considering that anthropocentric conduct, reflected particularly by capitalism, as economic system, and industrialism, as production method, would have led to this disastrous and generalized level of environmental degradation, Klaus Bosselmann has purposed the Ecological State, a theoric model of State (re)organization, ethically based on ecocentrism. The present work intends to introduce the economic assumptions of the Ecological State, to understand in which way it can contribute to improve the notion of strong sustainability. The study points out that economic modern standards, seen as dogmas, are a difficult obstacle to changes and brings some of Tim Jackson´s purposes to reach prosperity without growth to a democratic transition to an Ecological State. The methodological approach is qualitative, pure and the main source of research is bibliographical.

The negative impact of the dominant socioeconomic paradigm on the biosphere, on the climate, and on societies themselves is acute. Yet, the success of countries is measured by indicators known to be limited because they target a socially attractive but environmentally unsustainable model of society. A myriad of indicators have been proposed to address this lack of relevant measurements that assess the real social achievements of countries. At the same time, the impacts of human societies on life and climate have become increasingly well monitored and have shown the ecological deadlock of the dominant development model. Although social and environmental thresholds have been highlighted, combined indices that allow countries to track their trajectories toward greater social justice without exceeding biophysical thresholds are still lacking. A combined socio-environmental index (SEI) is constructed here to fill this gap. The relationship between SEI and gross domestic product (GDP), population density and sustainable development index (SDI) is then analyzed. This allows for a re-examination of the Easterlin paradox from a social and environmental perspective. In addition, considering population density allows to test the influence of population on the country’s sustainability success. It is shown that combining social and environmental thresholds into a combined index is not only feasible but provides a useful complementary tool to detailed and specific social or environmental indicators. SEI highlights and quantifies the limits, already exceeded in many countries, beyond which economic development is clearly related to a decline in social achievements and a crossing of biophysical thresholds. Unlike GDP, population density and population growth were not found as being related to the current unsustainable development model. Therefore, the results call for a degrowth in the environmental impact of high-income countries, which may result in social improvements and yield room of maneuver for the development of social foundations in other countries. All of these transformations require new narratives, goals, and measurement tools that can be partly provided by SEI.

The crisis of environment degradation is one of factors that have raised the problem of how to make development sustainable while considering limitations. Trying to solve this problem itself, however, raises another problem: out of the two fields of economics and ecology which one should determine the policy-making for sustainable development. At last, thinking about this led me to the question whether sustainability constrains development, and if yes how. The aim of the research reflected in this paper was to find the answers to these problems and questions in the course of explaining the context of their emergence. The method was to analyze, explain, and infer implications of the theories and comparing them: firstly, the concepts or criteria of sustainability in some important expert fields of knowledge were analyzed and explained so that the status of the ecological concept of sustainability in the mainstream sustainable development becomes clear; secondly, I turned to drawing the implications of important theories in ecology –climax theory, ecosystem theory, permissive ecology theory– for sustainability criterion, and comparing them; finally the recent economic theories of sustainability were analyzed and explained and their consequences for sustainability were inferred. Through all these stages I sought to answer the question whether sustainability constrains development, if yes how, and different criteria were compared in this regard. This study made it clear that (1) in the context of sustainable development, two fields of knowledge have been the most decisive fields in determining the criterion of sustainability: ecology and economics; (2) the sustainability that resulted from ecosystem theory constrains development; (3) but permissive ecology theory cannot regard nature as a norm or criterion for development; (4) permissive ecology’s diluted concept of sustainability leaves development primarily unconstrained; (5) in sustainable development sustainability now has become mainly an economic concept; (6) while strong sustainability has considerable capacity for constraining development, weak sustainability is lacking in this regard.

Abstract The aim of the paper is to present and discuss, using a fieldwork approach, the pillars and the outcomes of sustainable business models in the tourism sector. After having traced the theoretical framework, which combines the literature strands of sustainable tourism and sustainable business model, the work is centered on the analysis of an exemplary case-study. On the basis of an action-research approach, it focuses on the experience of Costa Edutainment Spa, Italian leader in the management of public and private structures dedicated to recreational, cultural and educational activities. Findings show that that the CSR and sustainability orientation which affects the business model lies on both the culture and the identity of the company which is characterized since its foundation by a deep socio-economic involvement. Promoted by the entrepreneurial family. Moreover, the set of key values (responsibility towards people, the environment and the society) and external factors affecting the cultural and touristic sector the company belongs to, favour the development of educational projects addressed to stakeholders (customers, suppliers, scientific community, research centres) aimed at building up innovative paths of sustainability.

Este artículo muestra la relación entre las políticas económicas que han promovido al sector cañicultor y su impacto sobre el uso del agua en Colombia, haciendo énfasis en el Valle del Cauca, tanto en su función abastecedora como en la asimiladora. Además, examina la capacidad de soporte del territorio en el valle del río Cauca, asociado a la dinámica futura del cultivo de caña como resultado de las nuevas políticas de apoyo a los agrocombustibles.This work shows the relationship amongst economic policies that have promoted the sugar cane sector and its impact on the water resources supply and assimilatory functions in Colombia, with emphasis on the Valle del Cauca. Furthermore, it examines the land support capacity in the Cauca river valley related to the future dynamics of sugar cane crops as a result of the new policies supporting biofuels production.

Wind is the most used renewable energy source (RES) in the European Union and Poland. Due to the legal changes in the scope of RES in Poland, there are plans to develop offshore wind farms at the expense of onshore ones. On the other hand, the success of an offshore wind farm is primarily determined by its location. Therefore, the aim of this study is to select offshore wind farm locations in Poland, based on sustainability assessment, which is an inherent aspect of RES decision-making issues. To accomplish the objectives of this research, PROSA (PROMETHEE for Sustainability Assessment) method, a new multi-criteria method is proposed. Like PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment Evaluation), PROSA is transparent for decision makers and is easy to use; moreover, it provides the analytical tools available in PROMETHEE, i.e., the sensitivity and GAIA (Geometrical Analysis for Interactive Assistance) analyses. However, PROSA is characterized by a lower degree of criteria compensation than PROMETHEE. Thus, it adheres in a higher degree to the strong sustainability paradigm. The study also compared the solutions of the decision problem obtained with the use of PROSA and PROMETHEE methods. The compared methods demonstrated a high concurrence of the recommended decision-making variant of location selection, from methodological and practical points of view. At the same time, the conducted research allowed to confirm that the PROSA method recommends more sustainable decision-making variants, and that the ranking it builds is less sensitive to changes in criteria weights. Therefore, it is more stable than the PROMETHEE-based ranking.

The debate between strong and weak sustainability was often described by the environmental ethicists as a debate between economists to which they didn’t want to participate in. When criticizing the anthropocentric notion of « natural capital », environmental philosophers have defended that the goals of nature preservation needed to go far beyond the question of the sustainability of human societies. However, this criticism didn’t prevent some environmental ethicists from proposing a philosophical approach of ecological sustainability. We particularly analyse here some relational environmental ethics through the lenses of the debate on sustainability in order to define an ecocentric approach of strong sustainability.

The notion of "strong sustainability" is being reassessed in different disciplines of the humanities and social sciences such as history (Quenet, 2016), geography (Chartier, 2016), but also ethics and political science. It obviously raises important epistemological questions about the integration of environmental issues into social sciences (Blanc et al., 2017). However, the distinction between "weak" and "strong" sustainability first emerged in ecological economics in the mid-1990s. Strong sustainability immediately became part of the interplay of actors and conflicts of legitimacy that still weigh on its heuristic scope, as well as on its ability to nurture the plurality of representations of social relations with the environment.

This paper introduces the Special section entitled “Disciplinary Perspectives and Critical aspects on Strong Sustainability in Social Sciences and Humanities". It asks about the theoretical significance of the notion of strong sustainability in the fields of economics, philosophy and political science. This introduction aims at presenting the theoretical debates on this notion and to draw a brief overview of its anchoring and influence in social sciences and humanities. It highlights some of the strengths and limits of this notion, since the accentuation and acceleration of global environmental disturbances, question the capacity of social sciences and humanities to study the economic, social and political consequences of the finiteness of nature. Scientific works mobilizing strong sustainability have also focused on solutions to get out of this situation.

Strong sustainability is a concept that originates from the fields of ecological economics and environmental ethics. The pragmatist currents of environmental ethics and ecological economics have deepened what could be a conception of sustainability, taking into account thresholds of irreversibility and the finiteness of nature in the process of knowledge production. The concept of strong sustainability has therefore been formalized by bridging the gap between theory and environmental policy practice. However, the term “strong sustainability” has never been used as such in environmental public policies. The purpose of this article is to analyze the ontological and epistemic consideration of the concept of strong sustainability and its modes of embeddedness in environmental policies. We will study the consequences of scientific logics and the political effects of strong sustainability.

The notion of "strong sustainability" is being reassessed in different disciplines of the humanities and social sciences such as history (Quenet, 2016), geography (Chartier, 2016), but also ethics and political science. It obviously raises important epistemological questions about the integration of environmental issues into social sciences (Blanc et al., 2017). However, the distinction between "weak" and "strong" sustainability first emerged in ecological economics in the mid-1990s. Strong sustainability immediately became part of the interplay of actors and conflicts of legitimacy that still weigh on its heuristic scope, as well as on its ability to nurture the plurality of representations of social relations with the environment.