Operationalising Sustainability: A Structured Approach to Systemic Transformation
摘要
Many sustainability transitions have failed due to technocratic overreach, moralising narratives, and state-centric governance. These barriers often trigger societal resistance, political backlash, and implementation gaps. Drawing on current transition research and insights from the 2025 IÖW Report, this chapter introduces the Burger Model—a structured framework designed to overcome these failures by integrating ecological, systemic, and economic dimensions. At its foundation lie non-negotiable ecological boundaries that define the safe operating space for humanity (Rockström et al. 2009; Richardson et al. 2023). Surrounding a central cultural catalyst, systemic enablers—ranging from policy and governance to innovation, research, education, and social justice—provide the structural and institutional conditions for change. At the top of the model lies economic viability, not understood as short-term profit maximisation, but as the capacity of agri-food systems to remain competitive, resilient, and sustainable over the long term. Economic viability functions as a bridging condition between sustainability theory and practical implementation. Only if transformation measures are economically feasible and compatible with market structures will they scale and achieve real-world impact—especially in contested policy fields such as agriculture. The Burger Model advances conceptual frameworks like Planetary Boundaries and Doughnut Economics by translating abstract goals into actionable strategies. It emphasises strategic principles—efficiency, consistency, and sufficiency—and highlights the need for adaptive, participatory governance. As such, it offers a pragmatic compass for stakeholders in science, policy, and practice seeking to enable just, ecologically sound, and economically robust sustainability transitions.