IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v33y2025i5p7775-7790.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the Role of Democratic Innovations in Environmental Sustainability: A Systematic Literature Review

Author

Listed:
  • José Duarte Ribeiro
  • Roberto Falanga
  • João Moniz

Abstract

Addressing the climate crisis requires innovative governance mechanisms that integrate citizen participation with environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability. While democratic innovations have gained traction in climate governance, their capacity to drive systemic environmental change remains underexplored. This study identifies how they contribute to environmental sustainability by mapping their linkages to specific Sustainable Development Goals. Based on a systematic literature review, the study examines the environmental dimensions of democratic innovations and the policy domains through which they incorporate sustainability goals. Findings reveal that democratic innovations influence public perception and policy, revealing their capacity to reshape governance frameworks and align local priorities with climate policies. However, institutional constraints, fragmented policy uptake, and varying national governance capacities hinder their full potential. Strengthening the political embedding of participatory processes and fostering cross‐sectoral integration is essential to ensure that democratic innovations contribute to long‐term and transformative sustainability transitions.

Suggested Citation

  • José Duarte Ribeiro & Roberto Falanga & João Moniz, 2025. "Assessing the Role of Democratic Innovations in Environmental Sustainability: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(5), pages 7775-7790, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:5:p:7775-7790
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.3545
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3545
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.3545?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:5:p:7775-7790. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.