"Now is the chance to connect the global understanding with the whole FSSD framework and really translate that operationally so we can start this journey of the grand transformation."
Professor Johan Rockström
Stockholm Resilience Centre

THE FRAMEWORK FOR STRATEGIC SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The MSLS Programme approaches sustainability through the lens of the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD). The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) comprises the following main features (Broman and Robèrt, 2016) :
  • A funnel metaphor facilitating an understanding of thesustainability challenge and the self-benefit of competent proactivity. 
  • A five-level structuring and inter-relational model distinguishing and clarifying the inter-relationships between phenomena of fundamentally different character.
  • A principled definition of sustainability useful as boundary conditions for backcasting planning and redesign for sustainability.
  • An operational procedure for creative co-creation of strategic transitions towards sustainability.
Based on systems thinking, the FSSD is a science-based, structured approach to working systematically and strategically with the complex sustainability challenge society faces. It is designed to facilitate analysis, planning, decision-making and strategic collaborative action towards sustainability across disciplines and sectors at any scale, in any context. It is a non-prescriptive framework supporting any person or organization to create a vision of their own sustainable future within their specific context. It stimulates ideas for what steps might be taken to move towards that vision, and supports prioritization of these possible steps into an economically viable change plan. The FSSD also guides selection, development and a coordinated use of supplementary concepts, methods, tools and other forms of support for strategic sustainable development.

The FSSD has been successfully applied by companies, municipalities, regional governments, and other organizations around the world to take tangible strategic steps towards sustainability.
 
For more on both the theoretical background, and several examples of application, see Broman and Robèrt, 2016.

THE SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGE & THE FUNNEL METAPHOR

The systematic decline in the ecological and social systems’ potential to support the fulfillment of human needs, in combination with the growing human population, can metaphorically be illustrated as human civilization entering deeper and deeper into a funnel.

The walls of the funnel are getting closer and closer over time, limiting the room for Individuals, organizations and society to maneuver without ‘hitting the walls of the funnel’ – manifesting in large scale systemic breakdowns; ecosystem collapse, financial crisis’ etc.
 
The Sustainability Challenge can be summarized as the need to undertake efforts at all levels of society to shift the basic mode of operation onto a sustainable path thus widening the walls of the funnel and stabilizing our ecological and social systems.

In order to change course from our current unsustainable reality, a critical question becomes - how do we clearly define sustainability in a way that enables us to take tangible, strategic action in that direction?

DEFINING SUCCESS
THE EIGHT SUSTAINABILITY PRINCIPLES
The eight Sustainability Principles provide a clear operational definition of sustainability that can be adopted by any organization in combination with their existing purpose, values and goals to define organizational success in a way that enables strategic action to be taken in that direction.

These eight principles are as follows:

In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing...
1) ...concentrations of substances from the earths crust (e.g. fossil fuels) into the biosphere.
2) ...concentrations of substances from society (e.g. pcb's) into the biosphere.
3) ...levels of physical degradation (e.g. deforestation)

In a sustainable society, people are not subject to structural obstacles to...
4) ...health
5) ...influence
6) ...learning
7) ...impartiality
8) ...meaning making

APPLICATION
BACKCASTING & THE ABCD PROCESS

The FSSD uses a principle based backcasting approach to enable organizations operationalize the sustainability principles and their organizational vision in order to take strategic steps towards success.

This backcasting approach is implemented through an ABCD strategic planning process that allows organizations to ask - Where do we want to go? Where do we stand today regarding that vision? And, what are the next strategic steps we can take in that direction that can generate ROI and catalyze future actions?

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FSSD & ITS APPLICATION

VIDEOS

Professor Göran Broman explains the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development.
Anna Borgeryd, owner and chairman, Polarbröd AB outlines how the FSSD is powering her companies transition towards sustainability.
Professor Johan Rockström gives a overview to the sustainability challenge why the FSSD is a critical tool in the transition towards sustainable societies.

RESEARCH AT BTH

Ongoing research around the FSSD at BTH focuses on methodological support for companies, municipalities and other organizations that want to work strategically with sustainable development, that is, organizations that want to contribute to society’s transition towards sustainability in a way that strengthens the organization.