The recent Event in the Austrian Parliament on Strategic Resilience, hosted by the Center for Risk and Crisis Management Austria, underscored a critical shift in global risk management: resilience is no longer just a "nice-to-have" sustainability goal; it is a collective and fundamental mandate for survival in an era of polycrisis. Modern societies are currently hyper-dependent on fragile global supply chains and fossil fuels. An abrupt halt in international oil flows or logi

The False Promise of Deindustrialization In today’s sustainability discourse, a powerful narrative has taken hold: that industry, capitalism, and growth are inherently destruct ive. That the ethical path forward is to consume less, produce less, and expect less. This worldview frames contraction as virtue and equates restraint with responsibility. But history, economics, and systems science tell a different story. Societies do not regenerate by dismantling their productive in

Over the past few years, one statement has become increasingly popular in sustainability discussions: “Circular economy is not recycling.” Conceptually, this statement is correct.Practically, it is often misunderstood — and increasingly detached from how material systems actually function. A circular economy is about designing systems that minimize material loss, extend product lifecycles, and keep resources in productive use for as long as possible. Reuse, repair, remanufact