The Planetary Boundaries Science (PBScience) lab at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research published Planetary Health Check 2025: A Scientific Assessment of the State of the Planet (September 2025).
Human Level’s Take:
- The 2025 Planetary Health Check confirms that seven of the nine planetary boundaries have now been crossed, compared to six in 2024. Ocean acidification has newly entered the risk zone. All boundaries show trends of increasing pressure, meaning Earth’s life-support systems are continuing to deteriorate and move further away from the safe operating space for humanity
- Planetary boundaries are intrinsically linked to human rights because they define the conditions for a stable, resilient planet. Crossing these boundaries undermines the right of every person to live on a healthy planet, and drives both slow-onset impacts (e.g., sea level rise, water scarcity) and rapid disruptions (e.g., more frequent and intense extreme weather events)
- Environmental instability does not affect all populations equally. Disasters emerge where physical hazards intersect with exposure and vulnerability, which are socially constructed and unequally distributed. In 2024–25, record heatwaves in regions like South Sudan and India highlighted the severe impacts on marginalized groups, including children, the elderly, women, informal workers, outdoor workers including agricultural and construction labourers, and conflict-affected communities. Vulnerabilities are compounded by poverty, lack of adaptive capacity, and gender inequalities, with women often bearing heavier caregiving and livelihood burdens
- An increasing number of companies are beginning to apply the planetary boundaries framework to their strategies and operations, often through science-based targets for nature. While climate targets are becoming mainstream, alignment with other boundaries (e.g., biodiversity, water, land use) is still limited. The financial sector is also pushing for stronger disclosure and accountability, with frameworks like GRI, CDP, ISSB standards, and TNFD helping to link environmental impacts with business risks and opportunities
- A range of emerging tools are highlighted as supporting companies to measure, disclose, and reduce impacts in alignment with planetary boundaries. These include Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)-based absolute sustainability methods, Essential Environmental Impact Variables (EEIVs) that translate resource use into planetary boundary metrics, the Earth System Impact (ESI) score for location-specific pressure hotspots, the Planetary Risk and Opportunities tool linking risks with SBTi/SBTN, and WWF’s One Planet Business Framework to address climate, resource use, and biodiversity
