The world is changing

A picture displaying the nine planetary boundaries and their status

Source: Stockholm Resilience Center (https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries.html)

The Planetary Boundaries

Considering the Stockholm Resilience Centre’s framework on Planetary Boundaries  this offers a concept designed to define a safe operating space for humanity. This framework identifies nine critical Earth system processes and their boundaries, which, if crossed, could lead to catastrophic environmental changes. These boundaries include climate change, biodiversity loss, biogeochemical flows, ocean acidification, land-system change, freshwater use, atmospheric aerosol loading, introduction of novel entities, and stratospheric ozone depletion. The goal is to maintain the stability and resilience of Earth’s systems to support human development and well-being. Crossing multiple planetary boundaries can have severe and interconnected implications for the stability and resilience of the aforementioned Earth’s systems. It is our responsibility to address the challenges of preserving and protecting our planetary resources for our own future by acting responsible and doing business respectively.

The Social & Cultural Development

Technological change, globalization and climate change are factors to be considered when analyzing how inequality has changed withing and between countries. In particular, this means that not only the change of technology, global interaction and climate itself stands for an enormous challenge, but also the impact these changes have on society and consequently on social and cultural development. Whereas on the one hand, technological progress or globalization generates wealth among those having access to it or those benefitting from it, on the other hand, these developments widen the prosperity gap. The impact of climate change disproportionately affects the poorest and most vulnerable populations, exacerbating existing inequalities. Different concepts exist to address these challenges like general policy recommendations, social protection efforts, or inclusive growth strategies. Nevertheless, it for sure is a joint effort to overcome this disbalance in social and cultural development, and needs coordinated global action. For companies and businesses, it is of huge interest to also contribute to this important goal and promote a more equitable and sustainable future.

A map showing the climate risk profile of the world, with the highest risk on the african continent

Source: Climate Risk by Country 2017 – World Social Report 2020 | United Nations (https://www.un.org/en/desa/world-social-report-2020)

A picture displaying the 17 sustainable development goals of the united nations

Source: UNITED NATIONS | Department of Economic and Social Affairs (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment) – The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, the United Nations developed and adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was created to address global challenges and promote peace and prosperity for people and the planet. The SDGs build on the success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were established in 2000 with the aim of addressing some of the world’s most pressing issues by 2015 including Environmental Sustainability, Extreme Poverty and Hunger, and Equity & Diversity, mentioning just a few. Unfortunately, only 17% of the SDG targets are on track, while others have minimal or moderate progress or are even regressing. In order to counteract this development companies and governments have given their commitment to include the SDGs into their target setting process. This leads to significant challenges for society and business and changing framing conditions for everything we do.