New book: Strategies for Sustainability: Global Perspectives

We are pleased to announce the publication of Strategies for Sustainability: Global Perspectives, recently published by Routledge and edited by Ivana Beveridge.

How can organisations respond to growing environmental expectations while dealing with complex global markets, changing regulations and increasing public scrutiny? Strategies for Sustainability: Global Perspectives explores this question through contributions from researchers and practitioners working across communication, technology, innovation, finance, operations, urban planning, organisational research and international policy.

The book offers a practical and balanced discussion of sustainability and brings together perspectives from different industries, regions and professional fields. It explores promising initiatives and best practices, and examines the gaps between sustainability ambitions, business strategies and what happens in practice. It considers the tensions, paradoxes, competing priorities and difficult decisions involved in creating meaningful change, rather than presenting sustainability as a simple, binary choice.

What the chapters explore

Chapter 1: Communicating Sustainability Amidst Emerging Challenges

Ivana Beveridge, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi

This chapter explores how sustainability communication has developed from a specialist area into a normative expectation. It examines the challenges organisations face when communicating about competing economic, social and environmental priorities, including greenwashing, convoluted terminology, fragmented regulations and binary thinking. The chapter highlights the importance of transparent, accessible and credible communication supported by clear metrics and meaningful dialogue.

Chapter 2: Frugal Innovation as an Enabler of Systemic Sustainability Efforts: Insights from India

Jaideep Prabhu, University of Cambridge

Focusing on jugaad, or frugal innovation, this chapter considers how resourcefulness, ingenuity and local knowledge can support sustainability. It draws on examples from India and beyond, and explores affordable solar lighting, water purification, sustainable agriculture and waste management. The chapter shows how grassroots solutions can contribute to wider systems of sustainability and the circular economy.

Chapter 3: Sustainable Operations Strategy through Digital Technology: Insights from Brazil

David Grudzien, FAE University Center, Edson Pinheiro de Lima, Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná — UTFPR, Brazil, Sergio E. Gouvea da Costa, Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná — UTFPR, Brazil, and Fernando Deschamps, Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), Brazil

This chapter examines the relationship between digital transformation and sustainable operations in Brazil’s automotive sector. It explores how technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, traceability systems and digital error-proofing can support more reliable, efficient and sustainable production. The chapter also considers the practical challenges of investment, technological complexity and workforce adaptation.

Chapter 4: Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Circular Economies

Jannis Angelis, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

This chapter looks at how technology and innovation can support circular-economy models. It discusses product durability, repairability, recycling, remanufacturing and the reuse of electric vehicle batteries. The chapter also explores circular business models, blockchain, smart-home technologies and extended reality, showing how collaboration and trustworthy data can help create more effective circular systems.

Chapter 5: Sustainable Finance and Access to Finance in Emerging Markets

M. Banu Durukan Sali, Dokuz Eylul University, Türkiye, Zeliha Can Ergun, Aydın Adnan Menderes University, Türkiye and Elif Korkmaz Orak, Dokuz Eylul University, Türkiye

Using Türkiye’s Borsa Istanbul and the company Arçelik as examples, this chapter explores the development of sustainable finance in emerging markets. It examines green loans, green bonds, sustainability indices and ESG reporting, while considering how companies can attract investment for sustainability initiatives. The chapter also addresses challenges including data reliability, regulatory fragmentation and market volatility.

Chapter 6: Integration of Urban Planning and Landscape Ecology: Case Study of Rabat, Morocco

Simone Safe, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, Nawal Benabdallah, International University of Rabat, Morocco, and Khalid Arsalan, Botanical Test Gardens, Rabat, Morocco

This chapter examines urban sustainability through the combined perspectives of landscape ecology, spatial analysis and urban planning. Using Rabat as a case study, it explores remote sensing, CO₂ mapping, landscape metrics, green-blue infrastructure, ecological corridors and biodiversity conservation. It highlights the importance of evidence-based planning that addresses both ecological pressures and social inequalities.

Chapter 7: Organisational Compassion – Sustainability from the Inside Out

Nathalie Courtel, Carleton University, Canada

This chapter explores organisational compassion as an internal foundation for sustainable change. It considers how empathy, care and attention to wellbeing can shape organisational culture, leadership and decision-making. Drawing on examples from companies including Patagonia, Unilever and Salesforce, the chapter examines how compassion can support trust, resilience, innovation and more lasting forms of sustainability.

Chapter 8: The Role of International Organisations in Rising Consumer Environmental Awareness

Ivana Beveridge and Larisa Bukharina, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi

This chapter examines how international organisations and global events can influence consumer environmental awareness. It focuses on COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, and considers the role of media campaigns, civil-society partnerships and youth initiatives in communicating climate issues. It also explores the challenges of translating awareness into lasting behavioural change and the importance of connecting global frameworks with local cultural contexts.

Chapter 9: Cross-Disciplinary Technology Innovation for Advancing the Blue Economy

Ivana Beveridge, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, and John Yamokoski, Nauticus Robotics

The final chapter explores how cross-disciplinary innovation can support the blue economy. The chapter focuses on subsea robotics and examines the relationship between ocean sustainability, engineering, science, business and policy. It considers how autonomous systems, artificial intelligence and new operational models could support more efficient and sustainable ocean-resource use while addressing issues such as climate change, illegal fishing and governance gaps.

A global and practical sustainability perspective

Strategies for Sustainability: Global Perspectives brings together perspectives from India, Brazil, Türkiye, Morocco, the UAE and other international contexts. It is designed to encourage readers to question familiar assumptions, look beyond simple sustainability claims and consider how environmental strategies can become more credible, inclusive and effective. The book will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students, educators, practitioners, policymakers and anyone seeking a clear and wide-ranging introduction to the challenges shaping sustainability in business and society.