The importance of conceptual innovation to all scientific disciplines may seem self-evident. Theory and concepts must be developed and adapted in response to changing circumstances, emerging questions and, of course, new findings. In this essay, we seek to go beyond the obvious though by asking how concepts not only reflect but indeed shape our world – discursively and materially? We ask why conceptual innovation in environmental sociology of particular importance now and what priorities ought to be identified for new kinds of thinking in environmental sociology?