Connecting Social Tipping Points, Adaptation Limits, and Systemic Risk: Conceptual, Methodological, and Empirical Advances

Little is known of how, when, and why societies experience abrupt and fundamental change and what can be done to govern. First, there is the concept of social tipping points that discusses them in a similar vein to physical tipping points that explain abrupt changes in the biophysical systems. Second, there is the concept of climate change adaptation limits, which considers that there are likely limits which cannot be breached in society as climate change impacts intensify, forcing a change in society. Third, the concept of systemic risk has emerged to explain the interconnections between multiple change drivers, and how impacts cascade in society. In turn, these societal impacts influence biophysical systems.

This Research Topic brings together diverse strands of thinking to explore the theoretical foundations and concepts that can be used to identify and explain abrupt and complex societal change, its dynamics, and interdependencies, as well as opportunities for governance. This change is often abrupt but the developments leading up to change often seem surprising because the early warning signals have not been detected or interpreted correctly. These include understanding social tipping points, adaptation limits and systemic risk, which all examine these phenomena.

In this Research Topic, the principles of each concept, their overlap and complementarity as well as contradictions are discussed. Furthermore, we discuss the overall explanatory power of these concepts to capture an overview of what the remaining gaps in the field are. While progress has been made, we consider that significant efforts are further necessary to advance the theory and methods to explain central tenets of theory and test it empirically.

• Theoretical and conceptual contributions that explore the relationship between tipping points, adaptation limits and systemic risk

• Review papers that synthesise the theoretical or empirical literature on abrupt or slow -moving social change and its dynamics

• Research articles that are based on empirical cases that examine social tipping points, adaptation limits, or systemic risk in one or more empirical contexts

• Articles that discuss the governance options for governing complex social change

Keywords: Social tipping points, Climate Change adaptation limits, Systematic risk, Governing social change

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.