One Planet Thinking
Companies, financial institutions and governments have been making efforts to address sustainability challenges. However, these efforts rarely consider the finite capacity of the planet. In setting targets, they usually strive for efficiency and rarely consider the finite capacity of the planet. As the world’s population and economic activity continue to grow, the negative impact – in absolute terms - continues to increase. A fundamentally new approach is needed.
Inspired by the planetary boundaries proposed by Johan Rockström, One Planet Thinking is helping companies to define sustainable targets in line with the Earth's capacity, to avoid shifting the negative impact to another ecological boundary.
How can we stay within the ecological boundaries of our planet?
In 2017, Metabolic (a consulting company that uses system-thinking to tackle sustainability challenges) produced a report about the implementation of corporate sustainability targets based on ecological boundaries, titled: "One Planet Approaches: Methodology Mapping and Pathways Forward". The report was commissioned by One Planet Thinking. It provided the theoretical and methodological basis for further development and implementation of the One Planet Thinking program.
Lead the mind-shift
Leading companies have a key role to play in spearheading this effort and defining sustainability targets that are not only safe for the planet but also economically relevant and socially fair. One Planet Thinking proposes a holistic, integrative approach towards defining sustainability targets that are safe and fair for the planet, combining top-down and bottom-up approaches that remain globally and locally relevant.
The program has defined 5 impact areas as priority for agri-food companies: climate change, freshwater use, land-system change, nitrogen biogeochemical cycle, and biodiversity loss.
"Fundamentally we need a mind-shift that reconnects our development
to the biosphere to ensure good and safe lives for all in the future." - Johan Röckstrom
One Planet Thinking was founded by WWF, Eneco and Ecofys and is developed by the WWF network in close cooperation with NGO partners such as IUCN NL.