CSR Professor Örjan Sjöberg will take part in the panel discussion on sustainability and city life on October 26.

If "Cirkulära Öster" ("The Circular East") can lead to that the people of Nyköping are consuming less, and that less goods are being produced, it’s good for the environment, according to a researcher. And that may lead to new job opportunities as well.

With a background rooted in urban planning and sustainability from the Royal Institute of Technology and a specialization in management from Karolinska Institute, Ph.D student Saman Amir’s work at SSE revolves around sustainability with focus on the circular economy. She is passionate about sustainability both from the environmental and socio-economic justice standpoint and is now investigating the circular supply chains from a sustainability, business strategy and operations perspective.

CSR’s Director and Associate Professor Lin Lerpold has together with Professor Örjan Sjöberg published research which examines the sustainability of urban living, as urban areas are often portrayed as an opportunity to reduce environmental impacts. Highlighting amongst other things that the very nature of the agglomeration economies that allow for economising on natural resources may result in higher levels of consumption. They further explain the issue of 'ontological cityism' (the inter-urban issues of boundary drawing for measurement) when considering a city’s sustainability.

By its very nature the informal sector includes economic activity that lies outside the government regulation or taxation. The environmental degradation produced within the informal sector activities thus present additional challenges. Nearly 35 (15) percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in low and middle income (advanced) economies is generated within the informal sector. According to the ILO more than 6 workers in 10 and 4 enterprises out of 5 in the world operate in the informal economy. CSR's Ranjula Bali Swain and University of Reading’s Uma Kambhampati have recently published a book on this theme.

Sophie Nachemson-Ekwall has recently written a third report on the market for social bonds and social outcome contracts and is looking forward to continuing her research in socially labelled financing. She appreciates the development of the social sustainability labelled financial market in the Nordic countries and is hoping for an even greater interest.

Affiliated researcher Max Jerneck has a background in sociology but has also studied literature and journalism. At SIR and SSE, his research focus has been on the climate transition, and how to develop low carbon industries, where he has been looking at solar energy in particular. His main project now, however, is immigrant integration and the Swedish hospitality industry.

"Our politicians must take the crisis seriously and lead the transition to a future society within the limits of the planet. The research shows that such a future is possible." Today, an urgent call for action written by 1,944 researchers and employees from 45 Swedish universities and research institutes has been published, and the message is clear: What does it take for Swedish politicians to take the research and the climate crisis seriously? 24 faculty members at SSE have signed the petition.

Our researchers Sven-Olof Junker and Lars-Gunnar Mattsson recently published a debate article about how a climate tax credit can speed up the expansion of wind power and compensate people affected by wind power's negative impact.

After being requested by people with reading disabilities who can not read printed text, the book "CSR and sustainable business" is now available as a special audio book in Swedish. It is a book that is read under special copyright exemption rules to make it easier for people with reading disabilities. It’s a further development of books in tactile alphabet or braille and are produced and provided on similar terms.