Hope as an Enabling Force of Transformative Change

Hope is increasingly recognized as a critical but underexplored dimension of sustainability transformations. While the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment (TCA) does not explicitly theorize hope, instead it identified six broad approaches to transformative change that (all) implicitly refer to hope as an enabling mechanism for triggering interactions between them. The six approaches around systems, structural, inner transformation, empowerment, knowledge co-creation, and science & technology approaches highlight different entry points, actors and actions to promote, accelerate and scale transformative change. Amidst these social dynamics, hope becomes an important force for weaving these transformative change approaches into possible context specific social dynamics. This paper synthesizes how hope operates across these six approaches, drawing on empirical insights from the IPBES TCA case study database and uses examples from specific place-based social-ecological research to illustrate its mechanisms.

The insights emphasise the need to combine the approaches as they provide complementary mechanisms, entry points, and actor dynamics and hence practical means for navigating complexity and uncertainty. Consequently, systems approaches generate hope by revealing leverage points and demonstrating that entrenched dynamics are malleable. Structural approaches cultivate hope through the possibility of redesigning institutions, governance arrangements, and societal rules toward justice. Inner transformation approaches position hope as an inner capacity rooted in mindsets, values, and worldviews that nurture care, reconnection, and transformative imagination. Empowerment approaches anchor hope in collective agency, particularly for marginalized groups striving to reshape power relations and assert rights. Knowledge co-creation approaches foster hope in the generative potential of collaboration across knowledge systems, creating shared visions and new solution pathways. Finally, science and technology approaches provide instrumental hope in innovation, discovery, and the problem-solving capabilities of science.

Together, these approaches show that hope is not merely an emotion but a distributed enabling condition woven throughout processes of transformative change. Understanding hope as a multi-dimensional driver expands the conceptual and practical repertoire for designing transformations that are grounded, inclusive, and capable of sustaining long-term engagement toward just and sustainable futures.