A perspective on the role of uncertainty in sustainability science and engineering

U Diwekar; A Amekudzi-Kennedy; B Bakshi; R Baumgartner; R Boumans; P Burger; H Cabezas; M Egler; J Farley; B Fath; T Gleason; Y Huang; A Karunanithi; V Khanna; A Mangan; A L Mayer; R Mukherjee; G Mullally; V Rico-Ramirez; D Shonnard; M Svanström; T Theis

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105140

A perspective on the role of uncertainty in sustainability science and engineering

Resour Conserv Recycl. 2021 Jan:164:105140. doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105140. Epub 2020 Sep 9.

Authors

U Diwekar¹, A Amekudzi-Kennedy², B Bakshi³, R Baumgartner⁴, R Boumans⁵, P Burger⁶, H Cabezas⁷, M Egler⁸, J Farley⁸, B Fath^{9

10}, T Gleason¹¹, Y Huang¹², A Karunanithi¹³, V Khanna¹⁴, A Mangan¹⁵, A L Mayer¹⁶, R Mukherjee^{1

17}, G Mullally¹⁸, V Rico-Ramirez¹⁹, D Shonnard¹⁶, M Svanström²⁰, T Theis²¹

Affiliations

¹ Vishwamitra Research Institute, Crystal Lake, IL 60012, United States.
² Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States.
³ The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, United States.
⁴ University of Graz, Merangasse 18/I, 8010, Graz, Austria.
⁵ AFORDable Futures LLC, Charlotte, VT, United States.
⁶ University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
⁷ University of Miskolc, Miskolc, Hungary.
⁸ University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States.
⁹ Towson University, Towson, MD, United States.
¹⁰ Advanced Systems Analysis Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria.
¹¹ USA Environmental Protection Agency, Narragansett, Rhode Island 02882, United States.
¹² Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48202, United States.
¹³ University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, 80217, United States.
¹⁴ University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
¹⁵ United States Business Council for Sustainable Development, Austin, Texas, United States.
¹⁶ Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, United States.
¹⁷ The University of Texas Permian Basin, Odessa, TX, 79762, United States.
¹⁸ University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
¹⁹ Instituto Tecnologico de Celaya, Celaya, Guanajuato 38010, Mexico.
²⁰ Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.
²¹ The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60612, United States.

Abstract

The Trans-Atlantic Research and Development Interchange on Sustainability Workshop (TARDIS) is a meeting on scientific topics related to sustainability. The 2019 workshop theme was "On the Role of Uncertainty in Managing the Earth for Global Sustainability." This paper presents the perspectives on this topic derived from talks and discussions at the 2019 TARDIS workshop. There are four kinds of uncertainties encountered in sustainability ranging from clear enough futures to true surprises. The current state-of-the-art in assessing and mitigating these uncertainties is discussed.

Keywords: Deep uncertainty; Precautionary principle; Stochastic; Sustainability; Time-dependent uncertainty.

Publication types

Review