Improving collaborative knowledge production for climate change mitigation: lessons from EU Horizon 2020 experiences

A successful global transition to net-zero emissions requires complex transformational change involving stakeholders from across society. Traditionally, stakeholder engagement has been debated predominantly from a pragmatic, functionalist and instrumental perspective. Recent approaches in business communication, sustainability, energy and environmental management show that meaningful and ‘sustainable’ stakeholder engagement is helpful in maintaining an organisation’s social licence to operate. We problematise the notion of participation in deliberative processes and analyse whether the outcomes of an online Australian citizens’ panel are truly representative of all participants or whether specific cultural and demographic factors, particularly gender, influence participation, potentially shaping the outcome. The study shows how gender need to be considered and managed as part of a legitimate deliberation process. Applying Gastil’s input-process-outcome model as a framework, we examine the engagement achieved through deliberations conducted on Zoom. We focus on gender as a variable and the role of the facilitator in managing participation. The results suggest that participants’ contributions to discussions vary based on gender of both participants and facilitators. Based on findings, the challenges of achieving equality in participatory processes are identified. The facilitator’s role is re-defined as a curator of the stakeholder engagement processes, complementing existing theory on stakeholder participation and engagement.

Objective This study aimed to 1) investigate the psychometric properties of the Climate Change Anxiety Scale or CCAS (Clayton & Karazsia, 2020) and 2) examine the mediating role of climate change anxiety on the link between experience of climate change and behavioural engagement in climate mitigation in Filipino youth. Method A total of 452 Filipino adolescents responded to the survey (Mean Age = 19.18, SD = .99). Results A modified two-factor model of the CCAS displayed superior fit relative to the other three models tested. Confirmatory factor analysis in Phase 1 yielded a stable two-factor structure with strong factor loadings and good internal consistency. In Phase 2, cognitive-emotional, but not the functional impairment component of climate anxiety, showed a mediating effect on the relationship between experience of climate change and behavioural engagement in climate mitigation. Conclusions This study is the first to demonstrate that CCAS subscales have distinct mediating roles in linking Filipino adolescents’ experience of climate change and mitigation behaviours. Further validation of the CCAS is recommended, as well as further research on the factors that can promote environment-friendly behaviours in Filipino youth. KEY POINTS What is already known about this topic: (1) Only two studies to date examined the psychometric properties of the Climate Change Anxiety Scale (CCAS), which both used samples from WEIRD countries. (2) There is a dearth of studies on climate change anxiety in a non-WEIRD country such as the Philippines. (3) Those who experienced the consequences of climate change are more likely to engage in actions that help mitigate it. What this topic adds: (1) As a psychometrically sound tool, the Climate Change Anxiety Scale can be used to measure climate anxiety in Filipino youth. (2) Psychologists should be prepared to address the negative impacts of the climate crisis on youth mental health. (3) The study provides meaningful insights that can be used in educating the younger generations in mitigating climate change.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) describe a course of action to address poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all (https://sdgs.un.org/goals). More specifically, SDG 6 clarifies how water quality, quantity and access are crucial to human well-being, and yet human activities are compromising water resources through over-exploitation, pollution, as well as contributing to the spread of disease. Globally aquatic ecosystems are highly threatened and concerted efforts by governments and civil society to ‘turn the situation around’ are simply not working. Human-created problems require human-centred solutions and these require different ways of thinking and acting to those behaviour patterns that are contributing to the challenges. In this paper, we first consider causal approaches to attitude change and behaviour modification that are simply not working as intended. We then explore enabling responses such as citizen science and co-engaged action learning as more tenable alternatives. SDG 6 has a focus on clean water and sanitation for all. The SDGs further clarify how the extent to which this goal can be realized depends, to a large extent, on stakeholder engagements and education. Through stakeholder engagements and educational processes, people can contribute towards SDG 6 and the specific indicator and target in SDG 6.b – Stakeholder participation. Following a three-year research process, that investigated a wide range of participatory tools, this paper explores how the Stream Assessment Scoring System (miniSASS; www.minisass.org) can enable members of the public to engage in water quality monitoring at a local level. The paper continues to demonstrate how miniSASS can contribute to the monitoring of progress towards Sustainable Development Goal Target 6.3, by providing a mechanism for data collection indicator 6.3.2. miniSASS is proving popular in southern Africa as a methodology for engaging stakeholder participation in water quality monitoring and management. The technique costs very little to implement and can be applied by children and scientists alike. As a biomonitoring approach, it is based on families of macroinvertebrates that are present in most perennial rivers of the world. The paper concludes by describing how useful the miniSASS technique can be for addressing data gaps for SDG 6.3.2 reporting, and that it can be applied in most regions of the world.

Integrating stakeholder perspectives is increasingly important in environmental science as a growing number of research projects are justified with a “solutions” orientation prioritizing societal relevance. In earth systems modeling, there is potential for model developers to engage with stakeholders who may use modeling results to inform decisions about resource management and policy. Challenges associated with stakeholder engagement relate to how researchers perceive the role of stakeholders and how they view the utility of integrating knowledge and perspectives from outside academia in model development. This study analyzes researchers’ perceptions of stakeholder engagement within BioEarth, a large collaborative regional earth systems modeling project designed to integrate input from agriculture and forestry sector decision-makers. The project addresses the impact of climate change on water, nitrogen and carbon cycling in the US Pacific Northwest. Surveys and semi-structured interviews were conducted to assess perceptions of stakeholder engagement among the 18principal investigators (PIs). Results reveal that PIs have varying perceptions of the role of stakeholders in earth systems modeling and diverse assessments of the optimal type and timing of stakeholder engagement. As funding agencies and research institutions promote increased collaboration with stakeholders from outside academia, these findings demonstrate fundamental differences of opinion among environmental scientists regarding the value of stakeholder engagement. This research has implications for transdisciplinary research projects that seek to address sustainability challenges by involving stakeholders in technical academic modeling. Facilitating learning opportunities for researchers who are new to stakeholder engagement is essential, as is close collaboration among researchers with different levels of prior stakeholder engagement experiences.

Biobanking has become a global activity of growing relevance to research. The African continent is part of this global effort to collect, store and re-use samples and data. International research and capacity development efforts such as the Human Health and Heredity Africa (H3 Africa) project seek to empower African researchers and research participants alike. Given that African genetic diversity is a unique global resource, retaining samples and data on the continent is critical to building trust in communities who have been historically exploited in the name of research. Diverse and multiple stakeholders are involved in biobanking. Engaging authentically with these various stakeholder groups is a pre-requisite to building trust. Likewise, establishing legitimacy of biobanks also contributes to development of trust in communities. This paper reflects on the concepts of trust, legitimacy and stakeholder engagement. Empirical research conducted on researchers in South Africa as well as on research participants and Community Advisory Board (CAB) members is briefly presented. The development of educational pamphlets on genetics, genomics and biobanking and an educational video on biobanking in conjunction with CAB members is described. These tools were used to engage research participants and CAB members in discussions around biobanking. Establishing biobanks in African settings is challenging. However, efforts must be made to engage with relevant stakeholders on the basis of mutual respect and trust.

The city of Turku is located in southwest Finland, in Northern Europe. Founded in 1229, it is the country’s oldest city. It is situated around the Aura River, which flows into the Baltic Sea, making it an ideal location for its 184,000 inhabitants and 20,000 enterprises. In June 2018, the city unveiled an ambitious climate plan to be carbon neutral by 2029. This plan was prepared according to the common model of the European Union (EU) (SECAP, Sustainable energy and climate action plan) with key milestones for years 2021, 2025, and 2029. It focuses on both adaptation and mitigation strategies with six measures outlined as necessary to meet the targets, two of which directly target citizen outreach and engagement. These two measures focus on mobilizing communities as partners in the climate plan and on raising awareness of climate change. Given its significance to the plan, this paper examines stakeholder engagement in the City of Turku’s climate policies from a governance perspective. It asks the question, how does stakeholder participation materialize in the City of Turku’s carbon neutral planning process? It aims to give a snapshot of baseline stakeholder participation in the city’s carbon neutral aspirations. It has found that whilst the plan contains ambitions for stakeholder participation, it is not fully implemented. It recommends a citizen facilitated public participation steering group that aims to inspire citizens towards taking action and engaging in the decision-making process for a carbon neutral 2029.

This paper examines the interconnection among stakeholder engagement, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and corporate governance in Southeast Asia's evolving institutional environment, focusing on Malaysia. Drawing on institutional theory and stakeholder management schools of thought, this research develops a model that considers corporate governance as an evolving system. By employing a mixed-methods approach combining qualitative institutional surveys with quantitative performance indicators collected between 2019 and 2023, this research analyzes the complicated relationship between institutional frameworks, company performance, and stakeholder engagement. The findings demonstrate that effective governance hinges on an adaptive equilibrium between formal systems and informal cultural values, enabled by real-time feedback mechanisms. Three key contributions emerge: (1) a dynamic stakeholder engagement model, (2) a holistic performance reporting framework, and (3) cybernetic governance principles for societal and technological challenges. Placing Southeast Asian contexts within the shareholder activism research matrix, this research fills significant theory gaps and offers practical lessons for corporations, policymakers, and civil society organizations to enhance corporate governance practice in the region.

Objective: To identify processes to engage stakeholders in healthcare Simulation Modeling (SM), and the impacts of this engagement on model design, model implementation, and stakeholder participants. To investigate how engagement process may lead to specific impacts.Data Sources: English-language articles on health SM engaging stakeholders in the MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science and Business Source Complete databases published from inception to February 2020.Study Design: A systematic review of the literature based on a priori protocol and reported according to PRISMA guidelines.Extraction Methods: Eligible articles were SM studies with a health outcome which engaged stakeholders in model design. Data were extracted using a data extraction form adapted to be specific for stakeholder engagement in SM studies. Data were analyzed using summary statistics, deductive and inductive content analysis, and narrative synthesis.Principal Findings: Thirty-two articles met inclusion criteria. Processes used to engage stakeholders in healthcare SM are heterogenous and often based on intuition rather than clear methodological frameworks. These processes most commonly involve stakeholders across multiple SM stages via discussion/dialogue, interviews, workshops and meetings. Key reported impacts of stakeholder engagement included improved model quality/accuracy, implementation, and stakeholder decision-making. However, for all but four studies, these reports represented author perceptions rather than formal evaluations incorporating stakeholder perspectives. Possible process enablers of impact included the use of models as “boundary objects” and structured facilitation via storytelling to promote effective communication and mutual understanding between stakeholders and modelers.Conclusions: There is a large gap in the current literature of formal evaluation of SM stakeholder engagement, and a lack of consensus about the processes required for effective SM stakeholder engagement. The adoption and clear reporting of structured engagement and process evaluation methodologies/frameworks are required to advance the field and produce evidence of impact.

Aquatic ecosystems provide services essential to human health and economies. Therefore, resource management programs aim to ensure the sustainable flow of these services. Stakeholder engagement is often a critical tool in learning what services are of priority to the public and may be integral to the success of aquatic ecosystem management because public participation in planning and decision making can generate broader support, e.g., financial, intellectual, and labor, for the management plan. The collection of such information may even be statutorily mandated, such as in the Clean Water Act of the United States, which requires that water bodies be classified for the beneficial uses, e.g., fisheries, drinking water, or recreation, they provide. Past evaluations of stakeholder engagement with aquatic ecosystems have considered a wide range of factors influencing engagement. We conducted a critical review of the literature on characteristics of stakeholders and characteristics of the environment that influence stakeholder engagement and participation with aquatic ecosystems. Our objective was to identify factors that should be considered in the creation of surveys to help encourage the inclusion of ecological and social beneficial uses data in large-scale water monitoring programs. Factors identified in our review were, extent and influence of place-based knowledge; proximity to, and frequency of visitation of the resource(s) being considered; basic demographics such as age, gender, education, and income; home community type; aesthetic appeal of the resource; and primary reason for engagement with the resource. We propose these factors, with subfactors, as a template for survey development.

Groundwater depletion threatens global freshwater resources, necessitating urgent water management and policies to meet current and future needs. However, existing data-intensive approaches to assessments do not fully account for the complex human, climate, and water interactions within transboundary groundwater systems. Here, we present the design of and findings from a pilot participatory modeling workshop aiming to advance understanding of the hydrologic–human–climate feedback loops underpinning groundwater systems. Using participatory modeling tools and methods from the system dynamics tradition, we captured the mental models of researchers from water, social, data, and systems sciences. A total of 54 feedback loops were identified, demonstrating the potential of this methodology to adequately capture the complexity of groundwater systems. Based on the workshop outcomes, as an illustrative example, we discuss the value of participatory system modeling as a conceptualization tool, bridging perspectives across disciplinary silos. We further discuss how outcomes may inform future research on existing knowledge gaps around groundwater issues, and in doing so, advance interdisciplinary, use-inspired research for water decision-making more broadly.

Sustainable development indicators are an important tool in the management of cities and regions, whose use allows the baselining of current performance, the setting of targets and the measurement of progress over time. Large numbers of sustainable development indicator suites are used internationally and further suites have been developed at the individual city and region scale. This can lead to confusion over what measurements should be prioritised. Stakeholder participation in sustainable development practice is well established; however, in order to be successful there is a need to develop a structured process of participation that results in tangible outputs. This work presents a case study of stakeholder engagement aimed at developing a shared vision of sustainable development for the Dublin region. Interviews and workshops were used to develop a sense of co-ownership of the project and integrated top-down indicators suites with bottom-up measures. A set of 38 headline sustainable development indicators was identified that examine all aspects of the city region's development and include all stakeholders in the coordinated movement towards the vision of a more sustainable Dublin. A number of issues were identified throughout the process such as data gaps and a lack of established indicators to measure specific issues relevant at a regional scale. The indicators identified have been integrated into the Dublin region Sustainability Report and will inform future development plans for the region. While this method was tested in the Dublin region, it could easily be utilised by other city regions to identify their own suite of indicators.

Invasive alien species are major driver of socio-ecological changes, and pose threats to protected areas (PAs) and native biodiversity globally. To reduce their impacts, management effort should be timely, and guided through stakeholder engagement. This study investigated the level of community awareness, and documented perceptions and stakeholder participation in management of invasive alien plant species (IAPS) in ten of Nepal's twenty PAs (five from each Tarai-Siwalik and Mountain regions). It draws on focus group discussions (n = 60) and key informant interviews (n = 47). We found that people had substantial local knowledge of IAPS and had been substantially impacted by them without having knowledge of their exotic nature. Reported impacts included native species loss, increased weeding time, crop loss, reduced forage availability, and reduced forest regeneration. Lantana camara, Mikania micrantha, Ageratina adenophora and Ageratum houstonianum were the most problematic IAPS causing both ecological and socio-economic impacts. Management efforts were sporadic, inadequate and rarely guided by formal plans or programs. Regional analysis showed that the PAs located in the Tarai-Siwalik regions (southern lowland) experienced greater invasion impacts but received marginally more management than the mountain PAs. While efforts have been made to control IAPS both by local communities and PA authorities at few locations in the Tarai-Siwalik region, the lack of such efforts despite growing problems in the mountain PAs with unique biodiversity is a matter of great conservation concern. Overall, limited participation among stakeholders, along with very low resource mobilization are the key barriers to effective management of IAPS in Nepal's PAs.

Road infrastructure is the backbone of Guyana’s socio-economic development, serving as a critical enabler of trade, healthcare delivery, educational access, and regional integration. Despite significant investments supported by oil revenues and international donors, road projects in Guyana continue to face inefficiencies, cost overruns, delays, and weak sustainability safeguards. This paper critically assesses the current state of Guyana’s road infrastructure with a specific focus on governance, funding allocation, institutional capacity, and stakeholder engagement. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study draws on surveys of 213 community representatives, 38 contractors, 12 suppliers, 41 engineers, 18 project managers, and 12 policymakers; semi-structured interviews; and direct on-site observations across Georgetown, East Bank Demerara, and East Coast Demerara. Findings indicate areas for improvement in procurement processes, imbalances in resource allocation between urban and rural areas, and delays associated with administrative procedures and monitoring mechanisms. Stakeholder participation appears uneven, with communities sometimes less involved in decision-making, and sustainability safeguards are not yet consistently applied across projects. These insights point to opportunities for strengthening institutional arrangements, refining governance frameworks, and promoting more balanced funding mechanisms to support equitable development. The paper contributes to both scholarship and practice by presenting Guyana as a case study for infrastructure development in small, resource-rich developing economies and offers practical recommendations to enhance regulatory oversight, broaden participatory planning, and integrate sustainability principles into infrastructure delivery.

This review on ecotourism in Malaysia, Southeast (SE) Asia examines the motivations and satisfaction levels of major stakeholders, aiming to fill a gap in understanding their participation. Royal Belum State Park (RBSP) is known for its rich biodiversity, cultural significance and Indigenous communities, making it an ideal destination for ecotourism. Protected areas such as RBSP, play an important role in providing ecosystem services, preserving biodiversity and offering spaces for local communities. Accordingly, ecotourism at RBSP should balance the biodiversity conservation with needs of the locals. This requires active stakeholder participation, where the interests and rights of all involved parties are recognized and integrated into ecotourism management and decision-making. The study focuses on tourists’, local community and other important stakeholders’ motivations, particularly their desire to experience nature and how this insight can inform more effective management policies and promote sustainability in tourism activities. The review highlights a gap in ecotourism research especially in SE Asia, regarding the use of social theories and mixed methods. It emphasizes that the underutilization of mixed methods limits the understanding of stakeholder dynamics and hinders comprehensive research. The study advocates for integrating both qualitative and quantitative methods to improve the reliability of findings and better address the needs of various stakeholders. The ultimate goal is to enhance ecotourism sustainability and stakeholder engagement at RBSP by informing management policies that balance conservation with local development. By improving understanding of tourist preferences, the study seeks to support responsible tourism practices that benefit both the environment and local communities.

Introduction: Sustainability in higher education has gained global significance, with universities playing a crucial role in fostering sustainable practices through curriculum integration, campus operations, and stakeholder engagement. Purpose: This review examines the trends, challenges, gaps, and prospects of sustainability in Indian higher education institutions (HEIs). Methodology: The study employs a systematic literature review methodology, utilizing the PRISMA framework to identify, screen, and analyze 46 relevant studies published in peer-reviewed journals and policy reports over the past 10–15 years. Key areas explored include the integration of sustainability in academic curricula, institutional governance policies, operational sustainability measures, and the role of faculty and students in promoting sustainability initiatives. Findings reveal that while Indian universities have made progress in sustainability education and campus greening programs, challenges persist, including financial constraints, inadequate policy enforcement, and limited stakeholder engagement. The study identifies a critical gap in research on stakeholder participation, industry-academia collaboration, and the inclusion of marginalized communities in sustainability discourse. Future research should focus on participatory governance models, leveraging technology for sustainability tracking, and enhancing cross-sector partnerships. The findings contribute to sustainability and stakeholder theory by emphasizing the importance of inclusive, multi-stakeholder engagement in higher education sustainability initiatives.