Planetary Health Monitoring Gets a Boost
Potsdam Institute initiative encourages holistic approach combining climate and nature, aiming to reverse planet harms and ensure a sustainable future.
The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) has launched a tool combining Earth science and observation data to quantify the planet’s health and inform solutions to reverse the impact of human activity.
Conceived and reviewed by a team of scientists on the basis of peer-reviewed research, the Planetary Health Check (PHC) – will examine how data is made available and which data is missing, emphasising the need for more advanced Earth observation methods and involvement.
“The PHC is a major leap forward in our collective mission to understand and protect our planet. [Our] scientific update shows that, irrespective of what scale we operate on, all actions need to consider impacts at the planetary scale,” said Johan Rockström, PIK Director and Professor in Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam, who helped developed the Planetary Boundaries Framework.
“Stewardship of the planet is necessary in all sectors of the economy and in societies, for security, prosperity and equity. By quantifying the boundaries for a healthy planet, we provide policy, economics and business with the tools needed to steer away from unmanageable risks,” he added.
The PHC is part of Planetary Boundaries Science (PBScience), an initiative led by Rockström and the PIK and supported by partners including the Planetary Guardians – an independent collective aiming to elevate the science to make planetary boundaries a global measurement framework.
Launched at the end of last year, PBScience addresses critical gaps in the understanding and monitoring of the Earth’s system, with goals to enhance modelling, measurements and assessments.
“The PHC gives a unique, holistic view of the planet’s health serving as a compass for decision-making for nations, companies, multilaterals, and all citizens,” a joint statement from PIK and Planetary Guardians read. “It will evolve with the support of a range of partners into a ‘mission-control centre’ for using the latest satellite data, AI, Indigenous Peoples’ wisdom, and the latest modern science.”
The entities also hope that the PHC will prompt users to act “urgently” and build five-year plans to help humanity change course and get back to a “safe operating space”.
Earth HQ, the media arm and strategic communications platform of the Global Commons Alliance – which aims to empower citizens, cities, companies and countries to become global stewards – helped to build and host the PHC’s online presence.
“If we want to save the planet, governments and policymakers have an instrumental role in mapping a path back to a safe operating zone [and] one of our calls to action is for [them] to adopt the planetary boundaries framework,” said Juan Manuel Santos, Planetary Guardian and former president of Colombia, during a briefing to launch the PHC.
“It will serve as a guide to measure our actions and risks, providing users with data and insights to assess and reduce the impact of their activity on the planet. This is the whole purpose of the initiative, [which we] hope will resonate worldwide.”
Some investors have demonstrated interest in this space. For example, earlier this year, Pictet Alternative Advisors – Pictet Group’s alternative investment business – launched a vehicle focused on environmental technology that will implement the Stockholm Resilience Centre’s Planetary Boundaries Framework into its investment approach.
Elsewhere, French asset manager Eurazeo created a thematic impact buyout fund aiming to reverse or adapt to the overstepping of planetary boundaries – which will also invest in line with the framework.
A new blueprint
The PHC launch was accompanied by its inaugural report, which its authors say represents a “crucial step” in collective efforts to understand and protect the Earth’s stability and resilience. The report will be updated annually in recognition of the planet’s fast-progressing state, representing a “significant advancement” in the provision of consistent insights for stakeholders globally.
It will also encourage a ‘whole Earth’ approach to preserving humanity’s future – arguing that while environmental challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution have typically been addressed separately, they are all interconnected and collectively impact the planet.
“With the Earth’s health in jeopardy, we can no longer afford to treat [climate and nature] as separate issues,” said Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and UN high commissioner for human rights, during the briefing, and incumbent Chair of the The Elders Foundation for human rights.
“Any reasonable person contemplating the kind of crises affecting [us] can see these linkages and the need for a holistic approach by policymakers, business leaders and politicians – guided by the principles of science.”
The inaugural report documents the latest scientific information on planetary boundary processes – defined by the Stockholm Resilience Centre as climate change, biosphere integrity, stratospheric ozone depletion, land-system change, atmospheric aerosol loading, ocean acidification, biogeochemical flows, freshwater change, and novel entities.
“Once a boundary is breached, the risk of permanently damaging Earth’s life-support functions increases, as does the probability of crossing tipping points that cause irreversible changes,” the report noted. “While a boundary transgression is not equivalent to drastic changes happening overnight, they mark entering territory of rising risk.”
With six of the nine planetary boundaries already breached and a seventh breach imminent, the PHC argues that critical Earth system functions are under threat.
“Our updated diagnosis shows that vital organs of the Earth system are weakening, leading to a loss of resilience and rising risks of crossing tipping points,” said Levke Caesar, PIK Scientist and Co-lead of PBScience. “Securing human wellbeing, economic development, and stable societies requires a holistic approach where containment of the planet takes centre stage.”
Identifying a clear trend towards further boundary transgressions, the PHC warned against a deeper movement into a “high-risk zone” that further justifies a ‘Red Alert’ warning.
Boris Sakschewski, Co-lead of PBScience and lead author of the report, insisted on the need to reverse this trend. “We know that all planetary boundary processes act together and each one needs protection to preserve the whole system”, he said. “This interplay will be [our] focus.”
In addition, PBScience will aim to incorporate Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge into the PHC – with a recognition that their stewardship of earthly resources and knowledge of how to live in harmony with the planet are instrumental to the creation of holistic solutions to human impact on the planet’s health.
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