The US Hub of Future Earth is proud to launch its Sustainability Science 2.0 roadmap. This planning document provides a collective framework to advance the sustainability of the nation. Expertise from more than 60 US sustainability leaders forms the basis of the roadmap, with input collected at a series of working dialogues hosted in collaboration with the National Academies of Sciences Roundtable. Participants were encouraged to examine the status of sustainability science in the U.S., and identify key investment opportunities for strengthening the country’s Sustainability Science system.

Nine strategic actions arose from the discussion: 

• Move at Scale 
• Engage with Big Data, Information Communications and Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Earth Observation 
• Develop and Champion Sustainability Leadership 
• Organize and Integrate at a National Scale
• Build the Field of Transdisciplinary Research
• Support Science-Business Boundary Spanning
• Make Inclusion and Diversity Core Principles in Sustainability Research
• Build the Economic and Social Architecture into Sustainability Research
• Make it Pop

This charge from the sustainability community will inform activity and targets of the developing Future Earth US National Program. Josh Tewksbury, Director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, former US Global Hub Director for Future Earth, and participant in the dialogues said of the roadmap, “bringing the very best science, from across the US and around the world, to the big sustainability challenges of today, will require a collaborative, cross-sector approach, and it fundamentally needs an anchor organizations – one that can connect across institutions and sectors. Future Earth is that organization.” Maria Uhle, Program Director for International Activities at the National Science Foundation and Co-Chair of the Future Earth Governing Council, echoed that sentiment, saying, “there is significant sustainability research and innovation active in the US, but we will need to work together to meet our national goals. The Sustainability Science 2.0 dialogues really jump started discussion on how we can work together to leverage existing activity, and achieve more than we can individually.”

We would like to thank the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation for their support of this visioning process, and look forward to implementing this roadmap in the months and years to come.