Critical Thinking and Practices in Climate Change and Environmental Policy
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Ecology and Sustainability".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 August 2026 | Viewed by 1726
Special Issue Editor
Interests: sustainability/environmental policy; global, European, national and regional governance; process of transformation and social learning towards more sustainability; theory of justice/human rights on an international, European and national level
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Sustainability—the demand for long-term and globally practicable lifestyles and economies—is increasingly being understood as the central challenge of our time, and it is becoming increasingly clear that democracy, environmental protection, prosperity and peace can only be achieved together—and only with timely, radical post-fossilisation (as I discussed in detail in my new volume “Postfossile Freiheit: Warum Demokratie, Umweltschutz, Wohlstand und Frieden nur gemeinsam gelingen”, in 2025). Even when looking only at ecological challenges, it becomes increasingly apparent that, besides climate change, biodiversity loss, disrupted nutrient cycles and pollution crisis can also only be addressed by overcoming fossil fuels.
Undoubtedly, natural scientific and technical knowledge of problem relationships in dealing with nature, resources and climate is important. However, technical change does not happen on its own. In addition, the ecological challenges are simply too great not to aim for a behavioural change, including structural change as well as technology, given the legally binding 1.5 degrees limit in Article 2 of the Paris Agreement that may require achieving global zero emissions long before 2050. These are the starting points of this Special Issue: critical thinking and practices in climate change and environmental policy.
The goal is to investigate, for example, the conditions for individual and social change, the policy instruments for zero fossil fuel use across all sectors and drastically reduced livestock emissions, as well as normative (ethical and legal) issues. Transdisciplinary approaches—that is, approaches that do not operate from disciplinary boundaries but from questions of content without excessive subordination to established disciplinary dogmas—may play a special role. It is important that the Special Issue stands for pluralism and expressly gives room to uncomfortable, unexpected and heterodox views and methods. We invite qualitative as well as quantitative studies that adhere to high quality standards.
Prof. Dr. Felix Ekardt
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- climate policy
- climate social science
- environmental policy
- climate change and biodiversity
- climate ethics
- climate law
- climate governance
- fossil fuels
- livestock farming
- Paris Agreement
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
