− ESG-Agency scholars are at the forefront of exploring novel forms of agency within changing global governance architectures, such as the emergence of transnational and private governance, over the last decade. − Agency and architecture influence each other in a range of ways, underpinning processes of change in institutions, governance, and politics.− Greater focus is required concerning causal mechanisms of agency-architecture interplay, and their role in producing reflexivity and transformations in governance systems under pressure.

− ESG–Agency scholars have identified 20 environmental governance functions performed by agents in earth system governance, with most scholarly attention focused on rule-making and regulation; convening and facilitating participation; and knowledge generation, provision, and sharing. − Forms of governance and multilevel/multiscalar dynamics serve as structural factors that that enable or constrain the performance of agency in earth system governance. − ESG–Agency scholarship over the past decade confirms that the state remains a key agent of earth system governance, despite expectations that the state’s role would diminish with the rise of nonstate actors and the reconfiguration of authority in world politics.

− ESG–Agency scholars frequently use power as an explanatory variable, but often without definition or theoretical conceptualization. − Reflections on power in earth system governance research are divided between agency-centered (power to) and structure-centered (power over) perspectives, which mirrors the historic schism between liberal and critical International Relations scholars. − In the future, more comprehensive conceptualizations of power will strengthen the persuasiveness of normative arguments in ESG–Agency scholarship.

− ESG–Agency scholarship reveals that diverse forms of agency are crucial to cultivating adaptiveness of governance systems within complex and changing contexts. − ESG–Agency scholars are well-positioned to apply extensive insights to major emerging questions in the social sciences about adaptiveness and renewal of political and governance systems across many spheres of society. − Greater focus is required concerning the effects of agency on adaptiveness of environmental governance systems in several ways: materially, normatively, and temporally.