Policy relevant sustainability research : requirements profiles for research funding agencies, researchers and policymakers regarding improving and ensuring quality of research : a guide / by Thomas Jahn (Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE) GmbH, Frankfurt / Main), Florian Keil (keep it balanced, Berlin) ; in collaboration with Ulrich Petschow (Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) GmbH, Berlin), Klaus Jacob (Environmental Policy Research Center, Freie Universität Berlin) ; on behalf of the Federal Environment Agency (Germany) ; project execution: Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE) GmbH, Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) GmbH, Environmental Policy Research Center, Freie Universität Berlin ; technical supervision: Jörg Mayer-Ries and Florian Raecke (German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Department ZG III 1 "General and Strategic Aspects of Environmental Policy, Environmental Protection and Sustainability Strategies"), Kerstin Döscher (Federal Environment Agency, Central Steering)

Abstract

"Sustainability Research" or "Sustainability Science" has become a common term, one found in the names of research programs, research institutions and specialist journals. But just like the term "sustainability" itself, "sustainability research" is not clearly defined. One finds included under it activities as diverse as, among others, investigating arctic ice cores for understanding climate change and devising concepts for sustainable municipal public transportation and traffic systems.