Research priorities for managing the impacts and dependencies of business upon food, energy, water and the environment

Green, Jonathan M.H.; Cranston, Gemma R.; Sutherland, William J.; Tranter, Hannah R.; Bell, Sarah J.; Benton, Tim G.; Blixt, Eva; Bowe, Colm; Broadley, Sarah; Brown, Andrew; Brown, Chris; Burns, Neil; Butler, David; Collins, Hannah; Crowley, Helen; DeKoszmovszky, Justin; Firbank, Les G.; Fulford, Brett; Gardner, Toby A.; Hails, Rosemary S.; Halvorson, Sharla; Jack, Michael; Kerrison, Ben; Koh, Lenny S.C.; Lang, Steven C.; McKenzie, Emily J.; Monsivais, Pablo; O’Riordan, Timothy; Osborn, Jeremy; Oswald, Stephen; Price Thomas, Emma; Raffaelli, David; Reyers, Belinda; Srai, Jagjit S.; Strassburg, Bernardo B.N.; Webster, David; Welters, Ruth; Whiteman, Gail; Wilsdon, James; Vira, Bhaskar. 2017 Research priorities for managing the impacts and dependencies of business upon food, energy, water and the environment. Sustainability Science, 12 (2). 319-331. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-016-0402-4

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11625-016-0402-4

Abstract/Summary

Delivering access to sufficient food, energy and water resources to ensure human wellbeing is a major concern for governments worldwide. However, it is crucial to account for the ‘nexus’ of interactions between these natural resources and the consequent implications for human wellbeing. The private sector has a critical role in driving positive change towards more sustainable nexus management and could reap considerable benefits from collaboration with researchers to devise solutions to some of the foremost sustainability challenges of today. Yet opportunities are missed because the private sector is rarely involved in the formulation of deliverable research priorities. We convened senior research scientists and influential business leaders to collaboratively identify the top forty questions that, if answered, would best help companies understand and manage their food-energy-water-environment nexus dependencies and impacts. Codification of the top order nexus themes highlighted research priorities around development of pragmatic yet credible tools that allow businesses to incorporate nexus interactions into their decision-making; demonstration of the business case for more sustainable nexus management; identification of the most effective levers for behaviour change; and understanding incentives or circumstances that allow individuals and businesses to take a leadership stance. Greater investment in the complex but productive relations between the private sector and research community will create deeper and more meaningful collaboration and cooperation.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-016-0402-4
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Directors, SCs
ISSN:	1862-4065
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.
Additional Keywords:	corporate sustainability, nexus interactions, environment, food security, energy security, water security
NORA Subject Terms:	General > Science Policy
Date made live:	31 Jan 2017 17:13 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/516094

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-016-0402-4

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Directors, SCs

ISSN:

1862-4065

Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:

Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.

Additional Keywords:

corporate sustainability, nexus interactions, environment, food security, energy security, water security