Issue Grounding the post-2030 development agenda in planetary boundaries

Summary

The Sustainable Development Goals, set for 2030, have given the world a shared language for development, poverty reduction and environmental protection. The report proposes that a post-2030 agenda build on this foundation while giving far more weight to the biophysical guardrails that make long-term development possible. As a scientific basis it cites the planetary boundaries and, building on them, the Earth Commission's safe and just Earth system boundaries, the doughnut economics framework and the planetary health diet. Such frameworks can help make future goals physically achievable on a finite planet as well as socially ambitious. The safe and just boundaries, for instance, pair limits on Earth-system change with minimum access levels needed for a dignified life. PIK's new Planetary Boundaries Initiative likewise aims to support global efforts such as the Sustainable Development Goals.