Last updated: September 18, 2023
Earth Commission · Global Commons Alliance · Earth HQ
Earth System Boundaries
Earth System Justice is a major emerging framework, addressing inequality and promoting intragenerational, intergenerational, and interspecies justice while ensuring Earth system stability. Emphasising the need to address historical and present injustices within planetary limits, it highlights the importance of meeting sustainable development goals. The Earth Commission report defines ‘safe and just’ Earth System Boundaries, guiding science-based targets for stakeholders addressing climate, biodiversity, and mass extinction threats to the planet’s stability.
Earlier studies, like the Planetary Boundaries, explored the ‘safe’ thresholds of these processes. However, this research is unique in its integration of ‘justice’ into the scientific assessment using consistent units of measurement. This allowed the researchers to pinpoint thresholds beyond which humans could face significant harm due to planetary shifts. In some instances, these ‘just’ limits are more restrictive than the previously identified ‘safe’ limits. Furthermore, the Earth Commission has provided insights into the conditions necessary for individuals to obtain resources essential for a dignified existence.
Our large-format visualisations supported the presentation by Johan Rockström and Joyeeta Gupta at the World Economic Forum 2023, effectively conveying the significance of recognising and addressing, for the first time, both biophysical boundaries (safe) and human well-being and justice (just).
Rockström, J., Gupta, J., Qin, D. et al. Safe and just Earth system boundaries. Nature (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06083-8
Adapted from: Rockström, J., Gupta, J., Qin, D. et al. Safe and just Earth system boundaries. Nature (2023). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06083-8
World Economic Forum 2023 · Plenary Screen | Interconnected Tipping Elements
World Economic Forum 2023 · Plenary Screen | Human Climate Inhospitality by 2070 (RCP8.5)
World Economic Forum 2023 · Plenary Screen | Earth System Boundaries (Safe & Just Boundaries)
Global Risk Landscape — World Economic Forum 2023
GLOBAÏA visualisations presented at the World Economic Forum 2023 in Davos
GLOBAÏA team at the World Economic Forum 2023
Fragile States — Global vulnerability and instability assessment
Connected Earth — Interconnected planetary systems
The Safe and Just Earth System Boundaries framework is the first scientific assessment to quantify 'justice' alongside 'safety' for planetary processes using consistent units of measurement -- revealing that for several boundaries, the threshold for avoiding significant human harm is more restrictive than the threshold for avoiding environmental instability.
The Earth Commission found that even if all planetary boundaries were respected, billions of people could still lack access to the minimum resources required for a dignified existence -- demonstrating that a 'safe' planet is not automatically a 'just' one.
The visualisations created by GLOBAÏA for this project were presented on the plenary screen at the World Economic Forum 2023 in Davos -- a venue where the audience of heads of state, CEOs, and policymakers could collectively alter the trajectory of every boundary discussed.
The concept of intergenerational justice embedded in the framework means that current boundary assessments must account not only for people alive today but for the estimated 100 billion or more humans who may live over the next millennium -- giving future generations a quantifiable stake in present decisions.
Eight control variables across five core planetary processes were identified -- climate, biodiversity, water, nutrients, and aerosols -- and the assessment concluded that justice boundaries for climate and biodiversity have already been transgressed, meaning significant harm to vulnerable populations is no longer a projection but a present reality.