The Earth System Governance (ESG) Project is part of a broader network of international research programmes focused on global change that have evolved since the 1980s. Specifically, the ESG Project traces its origins to 2004, when an earlier project, the Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC) project, led by Oran R. Young, began to end its operations and launch its synthesis process. This process culminated in a major synthesis conference in 2006 in Bali, Indonesia, which formally ended IDGEC’s activities, effectively passing the baton to the newly established ESG Project.
The formation of the ESG Project was led by Frank Biermann, who had previously chaired the “New Directions” group during the IDGEC synthesis phase (2004-2006) and subsequently led the scientific planning committee responsible for developing the ESG framework from 2006 to 2008. In 2007, Biermann published an initial outline of “earth system governance” as a cross-cutting theme in global change research, drawing from a series of earlier conference presentations. The scientific planning committee then developed the first ten-year Science and Implementation Plan for the ESG Project through a comprehensive global consultative process. This plan identified five core analytical problems—Architecture, Agency, Adaptiveness, Accountability, and Allocation and Access—along with four cross-cutting themes, power, knowledge, norms, and scale. It also detailed a strategic approach for implementation. The first Science and Implementation Plan was published in 2009, with a condensed version appearing in 2010 in the journal Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability.
The ESG Project was officially launched on 1 January 2009, as a “core project” of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP). The IHDP operated under the auspices of the International Council for Science and the International Social Science Council, which later merged to form the International Science Council. In October 2008, during a meeting in New Delhi, the IHDP scientific committee endorsed the ESG Science and Implementation Plan and appointed the first scientific steering committee for the ESG Project, with Frank Biermann serving as its chair.
After the dissolution of IHDP in 2014, the ESG Project continued to thrive as an independent network and further expanded its research and collaborative activities. In 2015, it entered a partnership with the research platform “Future Earth” through a memorandum of understanding. This agreement reinforced its long-standing connections with other global research communities and further strengthened its ties with the International Science Council.
Over the years, the ESG Project has significantly bolstered its institutional foundation. It established four major publication series: a book series with MIT Press starting in 2009, a harvesting book series with Cambridge University Press, a series of shorter volumes titled Cambridge Elements in Earth System Governance, and, since 2019, its own flagship journal, Earth System Governance. The journal has rapidly become one of the most influential in political science, international relations, and environmental policy, as evidenced by its high citation scores. In 2014, the project further strengthened its institutional framework by creating a non-profit foundation, which provides the network with a legal entity and helps finance core infrastructure and networking activities. Additionally, the ESG Project launched the Global Alliance of Earth System Governance Research Centres, a network of leading research units and institutions worldwide dedicated to advancing the ESG research agenda.
In 2015, the leadership of the ESG Project embarked on a thorough transition process to position the project for the upcoming decade. This involved selecting new leaders and crafting a new Science and Implementation Plan to steer the project from 2018 onward. The culmination of this effort was presented at the Utrecht Conference on Earth System Governance in 2018, where a new scientific steering committee was also formed. The second Science and Implementation Plan, developed by a diverse team of approximately 40 core members, laid out the project’s agenda through 2028. This new plan was published in the project’s flagship journal, Earth System Governance, in 2019. Since 2019, the ESG Project has been overseen by a team of two co-chairs, who are appointed on a rotating basis from among the members of the scientific steering committee. These co-chairs included Sarah Burch, Aarti Gupta, Cristina Inoue, Agni Kalfagianni, Louis J. Kotzé, James Meadowcroft, James Patterson, Jonathan Pickering, and Kyla Tienhaara.
The core activities of the ESG Project are managed by an International Project Office. Initially based at the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change in Bonn, Germany, and led by executive director Ruben Zondervan, the office was moved in 2011 to the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, where it was significantly expanded. In 2019, the office was relocated—still under leadership of Ruben Zondervan—to Utrecht University’s Faculty of Geosciences. The move to Utrecht was widely supported by the Utrecht community, who organised the 2018 Utrecht Conference on Earth System Governance. The executive directors at the Utrecht office included Gustav Thungren, Jane Butler, and Blake Harvey.
A central aspect of the ESG Project’s community engagement is its annual conferences, which take place at various global locations. Since its inception, the ESG Project has organised conferences in diverse cities around the world, including Amsterdam (2007 and 2009), Colorado (Fort Collins) (2011), Lund (2012 and 2017), Tokyo (2013), Norwich (2014), Canberra (2015), Nairobi (2016), Utrecht (2018), Oaxaca (2019), and a virtual event during the 2020 pandemic. Subsequent conferences were held in Bratislava (2021), Toronto (2022), and Nijmegen (Radboud) (2023). In October 2024, the ESG Project hosts a global online conference. These conferences have served as vital platforms for interdisciplinary research and engagement, fostering connections between researchers and the global academic community.
As the ESG Project approaches its 20th anniversary and prepares to conclude its tenure at Utrecht University, it proudly supports a robust network of over 500 formally affiliated research fellows, senior research fellows, and lead faculty. Additionally, thousands of scholars have engaged with the project through conferences and other activities. This thriving community highlights the ESG Project’s significant growth and its pivotal role in advancing earth system governance research over nearly two decades.