Humanity currently faces Covid-19, a large global pandemic comparable to the 1918-1920 influenza, which according to some sources was a main underlying factor ending the First World War. This is an example of a pandemic with indirect long-term outcomes affecting global historical development. In parallel, the ongoing pandemic may contribute to the transition to a sustainable society developing within planetary boundaries. While possible, action is required to mitigate and adapt to climate change, to combat biodiversity loss, to secure long-term sustainable food production, and to protect functional and more equitable societies, to mention just some issues related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Essentially, a large global transition is required. Different serious measures have been taken to protect human health from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and we still (as of June 2020) do not know the direct outcomes on human health and their long-term consequences for globally interconnected production and consumption systems, or the economy. Different authors point to possible established and potential links between actions to limit the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and sustainability transitions (Mazzucato 2020, Sterner et al. 2020). Will the on-going pandemic, and the associated actions of various kinds, be possible levers for a transition in the complex adaptive systems of global production and consumption? Under what conditions are Covid-19-associated measures leading to the fulfillment of SDGs, and when not? Are institutions, which have been guiding the development of the present Anthropocene global problem, likely to shift in a more sustainable direction due to the outcomes and handling of the pandemic? What are the possible lessons from the handling of the pandemic regarding institutional arrangements and power? Can we learn about the global interconnectedness – both its vulnerability and its resilience – and its connections to fulfilling SDGs? Scientific evidence related to larger long-term shifts should acknowledge the limited possibilities in terms of comparing situations in multifactorial nested and open systems. The Anthropocene, with the unprecedented size of the human population, technological possibilities for production, transport and communication, and increasing resource constraints, together with the societal challenges, poses a set of difficult questions, challenging scholars to both look back, trying to learn from evidence and systemic patterns, and to look forward cautiously using evidence, models, and values, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, to try to advise on the change of current unsustainable development paths (Reyers et al. 2018). Industrial development in the energy sector started before the virus appeared, and this, together with societal learning that has changed habits temporarily or permanently, provide a combination of opportunities not previously seen. The Special Issue intends to provide original articles, smaller reviews containing important contributions, together with historical examples of possible links between the pandemic and sustainability transitions from a multidisciplinary perspective, thus providing critical perspectives and selected evidence pro et contra the suggested linkages between pandemic(s) and sustainability. The Special Issue aims to  bring together a set of papers that can give readers an overview of the important interfaces in the socio-technical-ecological system connecting short-term large events with long-term structural changes.
Keywords: economic recovery policy; sustainable development; energy transition; globalization; sustainability transitions; socio-technical-ecological systems.