Systems Thinking in Sustainability

What is Systems Thinking?

Systems thinking is a holistic approach to understanding and addressing complex challenges by recognising that components of a system are interconnected, interdependent and dynamically evolving. Instead of treating problems in isolation, systems thinking emphasises structures, feedback loops, and time delays that drive behaviour. It is an analytical approach that views the world as a network of interdependent parts. Instead of examining issues in isolation, systems thinking focuses on relationships, structures, and feedback processes that shape behavior over time. This perspective is essential when working on sustainable development, where policies in one area often create ripple effects across others, sometimes reinforcing progress and sometimes creating unintended conseuences.

The ambitious 2030 Agenda for the SDGs is a global guide to tackling our most pressing challenges, from poverty to environmental sustainability. However, becoming effective implementers requires more than just understanding the goals; it demands key competencies like systems thinking, integrated problem-solving, and strategic collaboration. This is where quantitative modeling becomes essential. To address this, Alireza, director of PathWay2050, will present on the urgent need to engage students—the key drivers of societal action—in these conversations. He will explain global warming and its climate consequences with some basic and scientific facts. He introduces how Systems Thinking as a holistic approach can help us understand the complexity of the topic. This technique is perfect for navigating conflicts of interest, understanding goal interlinkages, and evaluating policies for sustainability. Then a powerful tool developed by Climate Interactive and MIT that uses a system dynamics approach to predict the global temperature in a long term will be presented which will allow you to propose real climate solutions—from renewable energy and carbon pricing to reducing deforestation. The facilitator will then test your ideas using the simulation, letting everyone observe the impacts on global temperatures and other factors.

From the Classroom to the Climate