The Trans-Formative with Trans-Parency: Untapping Ground-up Environmental Information and New Technologies for Sustainability

Per M. Stromberg () and Claudia Ituarte-Lima ()
Additional contact information
Per M. Stromberg: Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
Claudia Ituarte-Lima: Stockholm University

Chapter Chapter 10 in Sustainable Consumption and Production, Volume I, 2021, pp 181-208 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract In this chapter we address two research questions: (a) Does top-down transparency/information disclosure contribute or not to addressing the social-ecological challenges emerging from supply chains? (b) Do distinct types of transparency, top-down versus ground-up, differ in the way they can contribute to address these challenges and thereby to the enjoyment of the right to a healthy environment? To assess these questions, we use the mining industry as a case study, which faces increasing social-ecological challenges. First, we build on Ituarte-Lima and Stromberg (2018a), identifying the sustainability challenges of the sector. We then unpack information: from the common focus on accuracy and precision which we hold are necessary but insufficient for reaching positive socio-ecological outcomes, into seven sub-characteristics that we argue are sufficient for contributing to what we qualify as effective transparency. Thereafter we apply these characteristics to contrast how current top-down approaches versus emerging ground-up approaches contribute to effective transparency. This highlights ways in which recent technological advances make ground-up approaches necessary for delivering effective transparency that is conducive to circular and, above all, sustainable commodity chains.

Keywords: Citizen science; Information disclosure; Human right to a healthy environment; Right to information; Sustainability transformations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-030-56371-4_10

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783030563714

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-56371-4_10

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().