Seven of nine planetary boundaries breached, Yle reports

Seven of the nine planetary boundaries that measure the state of Earth have been crossed, increasing the risk of irreversible environmental change, Yle reports. The latest boundary to be breached is ocean acidification.

Planetary boundaries describe systems that help keep Earth habitable. Crossing a boundary does not mean that the system has collapsed, but it raises the risk of lasting environmental changes.

The breached boundaries concern climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, land-use change, freshwater, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, human-made chemicals and other new substances, and ocean acidification. The boundaries for ozone depletion and atmospheric fine particles remain within safe limits.

Lassi Linnanen, a professor of environmental economics and management at LUT University in Lappeenranta and chair of Finland’s Sustainability Panel, compares Earth’s condition to that of a person whose health indicators show high risks, even though they are not yet seriously ill.

He says excessive consumption of natural resources and energy is behind the boundary breaches. This year, the world’s Overshoot Day fell in July, meaning humanity had used more resources than Earth can renew in a year. Finland’s Overshoot Day came in April.

Linnanen says regulation and action have helped keep ozone depletion and fine-particle pollution in check. International agreement to phase out ozone-depleting substances used in aerosols and refrigeration systems was reached through the Montreal Protocol in 1987. Regulation has also reduced fine-particle emissions from industry in the Global North, although air pollution remains a problem in some parts of the world.

For the other seven boundaries, Linnanen says, progress has been hampered by a lack of political will and a focus on the wrong priorities. He argues that decision-making should prioritise the wellbeing of people and nature rather than economic growth. In his view, the problem with climate agreements is not a lack of targets but a failure to implement them. Countries agreed to limit global warming under the Paris Agreement more than a decade ago; the United States has since withdrawn.

One climate-related tipping point was reached in 2025, the article says, putting most of the world’s coral reefs at risk of destruction.