− ESG–Agency scholars focus on the question of how knowledge can be a source of authority for a diverse set of state and nonstate actors, allowing them to influence environmental decision-making. − Key themes in the literature on agency in earth system governance over the past decade include the knowledge-based agency of scientists and local or indigenous actors, learning, and the link between knowledge and power.− ESG–Agency scholarship contributes to larger debates in the social sciences concerning the growing importance of participatory processes of knowledge co-production, moving beyond the conventional primacy of scientific expertise in environmental governance and elevating the role of nonscientific knowledge holders.