Eco-Social Contracts for Sustainable and Just Futures: Mobilising Collective Power to Deal with the 21st Century Polycrisis

This groundbreaking open access volume introduces eco-social contracts as a bold and actionable vision for addressing the major, interconnected crises of our time--climate change, biodiversity loss, rising inequality, and the erosion of public trust and democratic legitimacy.

At its heart lies a fundamental realization that can no longer be ignored: the social contract has been broken for billions of people. As a result, the bonds between people, planet, and power must be rewoven.

Increasingly recognized by the UN, global assessments such as the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment, and by a growing international community of civil society leaders, youth movements, and NGOs, eco-social contracts call for renewed solidarity, systemic equity across generations and communities, inclusive governance, and a fundamental transformation of economic systems.

They challenge dominant economic paradigms and present a holistic and compelling alternative--one that rebalances our relationships with nature, institutions, and one another. This book captures that momentum, blending visionary thinking and grounded inspiration with hard-won lessons on unlocking and mobilising collective agency.

Rooted in diverse knowledge systems--from Indigenous cosmologies and feminist and care-based economics to regenerative development and post-growth thought--it brings together contributions from leading scholars, practitioners, artists, and activists across the globe. Bridging theory and practice, it offers vital insights into how regenerative, inclusive, and just futures can be co-created.

For changemakers, students, and all those seeking hope, direction, and clarity in a time of global uncertainty, this book is both a call to action and a guide for transformation--inviting readers to imagine and co-create sustainable and just futures our hearts and minds know are possible.

Selected Endorsements

Inger Andersen - Executive Director, UNEP: ＂This volume is a progressive and constructive contribution to building societies in harmony with nature.＂

Mary Robinson - The Elders, and Former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner: ＂This book makes clear that a new eco-social contract must be built on structural justice, intergenerational equity, and inclusive governance.＂

Jayati Ghosh - Club of Rome, and UN High-Level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs: ＂An incredibly timely and significant book that could not be more relevant for our current planetary emergency. Some light in the seeming darkness!＂

Kumi Naidoo - President, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative: ＂This book convincingly shows why and how we must transition from systems that devalue life to economies that cherish well-being and shared prosperity.＂

Karen O’Brien - Co-Chair, IPBES Transformative Change Assessment: ＂This book shows how we can recognize ourselves as agents of change. When we do, new realities become thinkable and actionable.＂

Daan Zieren, Chair Youth Climate Movement (The Netherlands), part of the We Are Tomorrow Global Partnership (WAT-GP): ＂Young people feel the urgency of the climate crisis, but they lack the perspective of a structural solution. For a shared vision of the future, we need new forms of involvement. The eco-social contract offers an inspiring example of how we can build a sustainable future together.＂

Patrick Huntjens is Professor of Social Innovation and Sustainability Transitions at Inholland University of Applied Sciences and member of the Global Research and Action Network for a New Eco-Social Contract (GRAN-ESC). An award-winning scholar and practitioner, he received the 2022 Nautilus Book Award (Gold Medal) for Towards a Natural Social Contract and was named Professor of the Year in the Netherlands (2021). His academic journey bridges disciplines, with degrees in Biology and Ecology (MSc), Political Science and International Relations (MSc, Cum Laude), and a PhD in Complex System Sciences and Policy Sciences (Magna Cum Laude), supervised by Nobel Laureate Prof. Elinor Ostrom. This multidisciplinary foundation enables him to approach complex challenges from a holistic perspective, integrating systems thinking, governance, ecology, economics, sociology and social psychology. With over 25 years of global experience across academia, policy, and practice, Patrick focuses on eco-social contracts, regenerative economies, sustainability governance, and transformative change, with a strong commitment to social and environmental justice. He is a lead author for IPBES, whose globally recognized work received the 2022 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity and the 2024 Blue Planet Prize. Patrick has also served as a lead mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian water conflict and advised institutions including the World Bank, United Nations, and European Union.

Najma Mohamed leads UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre’s work on nature-based solutions and is a Senior Atlantic Fellow in Social and Economic Equity and member of the Africa Europe Foundation’s Women Leaders Network. Her work focuses on ideas and solutions that address climate change, fight inequality and restore nature to achieve systemic change. She has over two decades of experience translating knowledge into practice through research, advocacy, engagement and influence strategies in international development. From her early work on environmental justice in post-apartheid South Africa, she has maintained her long-standing interest working on nature, climate and equity, including transformative and inclusive approaches to governance, policy and practice.

Katja Hujo is head of the UNRISD Bonn office and leads the Transformative Social Policy Programme. Katja’s academic work focuses on social policy, poverty and inequality, as well as socioeconomic development and the sustainability transition. She studied economics and political science at Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen, Freie Universität Berlin (FUB) and National University of Córdoba, Argentina, and holds a doctoral degree in economics from FUB. At UNRISD, she is lead author and coordinator of the 2022 flagship report Crises of Inequality: Shifting Power for a New Eco-Social Contract and co-editor of Between Fault Lines and Front Lines: Shifting Power in an Unequal World (Bloomsbury June 2022). In partnership with the Green Economy Coalition, she represents UNRISD as co-convenor of the Global Research and Action Network for a New Eco-Social Contract (GRAN-ESC).

Manisha Desai is the Executive Director of Center for Changing Systems of Power and the Empowerment Trust Endowed Professor of Global Citizenship at Stony Brook University and part of the Global Network for Research and Action for a new eco-social contract. Her areas of research and teaching include gender and globalization/development, transnational feminisms, global justice, particularly climate justice movements and human rights. She is the recipient of multiple awards, including the Sociologist for Women in Society’s 2015 Distinguished Feminist Award and the 2016 Faculty Mentor Award from the Compact for Faculty Diversity in the U.S. She has served in many leadership capacities including as President of Sociologists for Women in Society.