The Lancet Planetary Health Journal and the Earth Commission (a global team of scientists with the mission to define a safe and just corridor for people and the planet) published A Just World on a Safe Planet (September 2024). The report defines safe Earth-system boundaries and minimum access to natural resources to ensure human dignity and reduce poverty.
Human Level’s Take: Exceeding our planetary boundaries threatens human life and human rights. A new framework developed by the Lancet Planetary Health Journal and Earth Commission identifies eight safe and just Earth-system boundaries (ESBs) that are essential for maintaining the planet's stability and human well-being. But, the authors caution, merely staying within these boundaries does not guarantee protection or equitable resource access. This is why we also need to stay within a “safe and just corridor”—a pathway to a more equitable way of staying within our planetary boundaries and rebalancing the costs and benefits of ecosystem services. To stay in this corridor, action is needed from the global to the local level. The report calls for four transformative changes that should be led by the biggest users of resources—businesses and cities. These are (1) reducing consumption while ensuring equitable access to resources; (2) rethinking economic systems for sustainability; (3) expanding affordable green technologies; and (4) improving governance to support responsible practices. The authors also call on businesses to adopt sustainable practices and support science-based targets for other types of environmental impacts beyond just greenhouse gas emissions. All of this needs to be underpinned by transparency and access to information for informed decision-making.
Key points from the report:
- Eight safe and just Earth-system boundaries: The report identifies eight Earth-system boundaries (ESBs)—the boundaries beyond which the stability and resilience of the planet is at risk, threatening the well-being of humans. However, inequalities in resource use and access to natural resources means that even staying within ESBs is not enough to ensure that all people will benefit or be protected from harm. Therefore the report adds on a layer of “safe and just” ESBs, which maintain the stability of the earth system over time and minimise the risk of significant harm to present and future generations. The eight safe and just ESBs sit within five domains: climate, the biosphere, nutrient cycles, freshwater and aerosols. Within the climate domain, a safe and just ESB is reaching a maximum of 1°C of global warming (which is below the boundary of 1.5°C for a safe climate). Within the biosphere, we should aim to maintain a majority of natural ecosystems intact and the functional integrity (i.e., natural or semi-natural vegetation) of at least 20-25% per square km. Other safe and just ESBs include ensuring sufficient nutrients within the phosphorous and nitrogen cycles, ensuring sufficient surface water and groundwater, and minimising aerosols. Seven of these ESBs have in fact already been passed, meaning that action is urgent. The study authors put forward the concept of a “safe and just corridor” as the pathway to stay within the bounds of our planet’s systems while also ensuring that Earth’s finite resources (like energy, nutrients, water and land) are shared equitably.
- Translating the safe and just corridor into action for business and cities: Remaining within the safe and just corridor requires action across all levels—from global to local. Businesses and cities are two key actors the study focuses on because of their tremendous resource use and responsibility for environmental pressures across all of the ESBs. Some of the ways in which businesses in particular can reduce their environmental impacts include enhancing efficiency of production and distribution, adopting technological innovations and circular economy business models, and putting in place new modes of management, policy and planning. Another important need identified by the authors is establishing a system of science-based targets for ESBs, besides greenhouse gas emissions. Having a robust, standardised and transparent way for companies and cities to set and disclose targets to stay within planetary boundaries could help bring about meaningful change and reduce greenwashing. Government action to set regulatory frameworks, incentives and policies will need to drive this forward, but businesses can play an important role in advocating for efforts to translate ESBs into measurable targets.
- Four systems transformations needed for a safe and just future: The report calls for a broad societal transformation to ensure companies and cities take on their “fair share” of responsibility. The authors define four fundamental, interrelated transformations they believe will be needed: (1) Reducing and reallocating consumption while ensuring minimum access, both on an individual (including individual households, companies and governments) and on a societal scale. (2) Transforming economic and financial systems for sustainability and justice. This could be addressed by policies that require externalities to be priced into goods and services; mandating decent working conditions and fair pay; and monitoring investment, subsidies and trade, which can impact the planet on a macro scale. Impacts of the financial system can be transformed through consistent, transparent private sector reporting of environmental risks, increasing finance for environmental protection, facilitating access to credit for poor populations and developing countries, and avoiding subsidies and investment that lead to more environmental degradation and inequality. (3) Expanding sustainable and affordable technologies, like solar and wind energy, battery storage, electric vehicles, efficiency advances, building retrofits, alternatives to cement, and tech that enables sustainable agricultural practices. (4) Transforming governance to foster responsible consumption, economics and technology and to enable healthy living within the safe and just corridor. Businesses have a role to play in advancing this type of governance, alongside other actors. Existing levers to transform governance (like legal, economic, political, technological, cultural, and informational levers) need to be deployed at a greater scale. The report also underscores that access to information is a cross-cutting priority in transformations, as it allows more informed choices and understanding of the risks of exceeding Earth-system boundaries.
