Earth Commission

📖 NEW REPORT LAUNCH Co-authored by over sixty leading scholars, led by Earth Commissioners Prof. Joyeeta Gupta, Prof. Xuemei Bai and Prof. Diana Liverman, this new publication, featured in The Lancet Planetary Health, details how it remains possible for all people to escape poverty and be safe from harm caused by Earth system change. 🌏 The paper identifies the #SafeAndJust Space - within which harm to humans and nature can be minimised while everyone can be provided for - and sets out the paths to reach and stay within it. 🌏 We need urgent transformation across three key areas: the economy; the management, sharing and usage of resources; and investment in sustainable and affordable technologies. With future projections to 2050 showing that the #SafeAndJust Space will shrink dramatically, the publication serves as a science-based guide for all actors - especially businesses and cities - to take urgent, transformative action for a #SafeAndJust future. Read more now via the link below: https://lnkd.in/dYfAGjXR Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/d6MHbuib The Earth Commission is hosted by Future Earth and is the scientific cornerstone of the Global Commons Alliance.

In early 2024, the Earth Commission published a study on the translation of #EarthSystemBoundaries for local actors, such as cities and businesses who are often overlooked in sustainability plans. Translation is a two-step process of converting these #SafeAndJust limits into budgets that can then be apportioned to different actors. These budgets must be expressed in units that are meaningful to actors so they can take appropriate action (e.g. in volume of freshwater use per year, or amount of nitrogen fertiliser applied per hectare per year). Read more on the Earth Commission website: https://lnkd.in/dbX757VV

With 2025 now underway, we’re looking ahead to some key moments over the next 12 months. To start us off, later this month our Co-Chair Johan Rockström and Prof. Joyeeta Gupta will be attending The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. As we hit the midway point for the decade, 2025 is set to be a pivotal year for humanity. Our focus remains on assessing the science and communicating how #SafeAndJust Boundaries can and should inform governance frameworks. It’s more important than ever for us to make the necessary strides towards a sustainable future. The Commission and its work will be there to help guide with science to a more safe and just planet.

2024 was an eventful year for the Earth Commission... 🌍 The year kicked off with the renewed Earth Commission convening in Stockholm to start its second assessment cycle. This work includes: - Refining boundaries and examining how they can be translated and used by actors - Exploring transformation pathways to reach the #SafeAndJust Space  - An increased focus on governance and economics. More information on the Earth Commission’s workstreams here 👇 https://lnkd.in/dMNba89c --- 🌍 During the year, several scientific articles were published, for example… 📖 January https://lnkd.in/dthvFcg3 https://lnkd.in/dbX757VV 📖 November https://lnkd.in/eHRPUURJ --- September saw the release of a flagship report, ‘A Just World on a Safe Planet: a Lancet Planetary Health-Earth Commission report on #EarthSystemBoundaries, translations, and transformations’, which was published in The Lancet Planetary Health. More on this key report here: https://lnkd.in/gZTr3qak --- 🌍 Also in September, Earth4All, PIK - Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Planetary Guardians, Future Earth, the Earth Commission, The Earth League, and the International Science Council convened a high-level roundtable to address the essential linkages between planetary stability, inequality, justice, and human well-being. Co-Chairs Johan Rockström and Fatima Denton both attended, as did Prof. Joyeeta Gupta and Wendy Broadgate, Global Hub Director of Future Earth Sweden. --- Thank you for supporting the Earth Commission’s work this year, and make sure to keep following through 2025 for continued efforts to define #SafeAndJust Earth System Boundaries for people and planet. 🌏

Today is #HumanSolidarityDay, a day to celebrate our unity in diversity. It’s also a reminder of the @United Nations’ agenda for sustainable development that seeks to lift all people out of poverty, hunger and disease. Our report, featured in @The Lancet Planetary Health this September, highlights how it’s still possible for all humans to avoid poverty and be safe from harm caused by Earth system change. The challenge is that the planet’s ability to provide and protect is currently being stretched past its limits. The #SafeAndJust Space - the only space rich in opportunities - is going to shrink over time unless urgent transformations take place. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gZTr3qak

The Earth Commission focuses on #EarthSystemBoundaries in its work, but how do these boundaries differ from #PlanetaryBoundaries? And how do they relate to #TippingPoints? The below article from the @World Economic Forum explains three different explanatory frameworks - including Earth System Boundaries. It highlights why these are incredibly important for not only understanding the state of Earth’s natural systems, but also their implications on global economies and societies. Learn more 👇 https://lnkd.in/djvvk6zh #SafeAndJust

Founded as the scientific cornerstone of Global Commons Alliance and hosted by Future Earth, the Earth Commission’s overarching goal is to define #SafeAndJust Earth System Boundaries for people and planet. These should inform the next generation of sustainability targets. This focus on justice, as well as safety, ensures that Earth’s inhabitants don’t just survive, they thrive. Learn more by watching our video through the link below: https://brnw.ch/21wOFL5 #EarthSystemBoundaries

Xuemei Bai, Earth Commissioner and Distinguished Professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society at The Australian National University, argues that achieving future global ambitions will require explicit, actionable targets for cities and businesses. In her Expert Voice piece, published earlier this year in Science Magazine, she writes, “The SDGs successfully highlight where we need to go, but they fall short in specifying who should do what and, importantly, how much, to get us there.” Read more on the Earth Commission website: https://lnkd.in/dnz_GDdD

Earth’s global commons underpin the planet’s life support systems and human wellbeing on Earth. But humans are pushing them out of balance and are at risk of coming close to dangerous tipping points in the Earth system, as Dr David Armstrong McKay explains in the Earth Commission’s introductory video. We are already incredibly close to some of these climate #TippingPoints. And many are in harm’s way because of it. Watch the Earth Commission’s full video on the link below: https://brnw.ch/21wOFL5 #SafeAndJust #EarthSystemBoundaries

Today is #HumanRightsDay, commemorating the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (#UDHR), and the theme for 2024 is “Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now”. The Earth Commission’s work on defining #SafeAndJust Earth System Boundaries is linked to maintaining human rights. In the 2023 paper, ‘Earth system justice needed to identify and live within Earth system boundaries’, researchers argue that Earth System Boundaries must not only ensure the stability of the planet but also protect humans and other species from significant harm. In addition, to ensure a just world, everybody needs access to resources for a life free from poverty. This paper was co-authored by more than 60 Earth Commissioners members of the Secretariat and Working Group, including: Joyeeta Gupta, Diana Liverman, Xuemei Bai, Steven Lade, Tim Lenton, David Obura, Peter Verburg and more. Read more on the Earth Commission website: https://lnkd.in/g4XhGzbg