A new series of peer-reviewed papers is synthesizing the state of knowledge on social transformations to sustainability in order to inform research and practice responding to the massive challenges of global environmental change. The papers will appear regularly in the journal COSUST (Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability) and will also be collected in a virtual special issue on the journal’s homepage on ScienceDirect. The series is a collaboration between the International Science Council (ISC) and COSUST, on the initiative of the ISC Transformations to Sustainability programme (2014-2019), which is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

 The series has started with the inclusion of some existing papers from recent issues of COSUST and will continue with original contributions, drawing on work done within and beyond the ISC Transformations to Sustainability programme. The papers will review the recent literature on social transformations to sustainability in various sustainability contexts and draw out implications for research, practice and policy. Many of the papers will also be used as the basis for shorter, accessible ‘Knowledge briefs’, continuing the series launched with ‘Ten essentials for research that responds to the climate challenge’, which was published in 2018.

The aim of the parallel series of peer-reviewed papers and knowledge briefs is to assemble and make widely available the best of current, solutions-oriented knowledge on social transformations to sustainability.