− Over the last decade, ESG-Agency scholars have increased their use of social and system dynamic theories, participatory and actorness approaches in agency theories, and justice approaches within critical theories.− Qualitative and multiple qualitative methods are the most widely used approaches in research on agency in earth system governance, with very slowly growing methodological pluralism. − In the future, scholars in this field may benefit from the integration of cross-disciplinary and increasingly complex methods in an effort to foster linking of environmental sciences more broadly into environmental governance research.