The Planetary Boundaries framework establishes the biophysical constraints necessary for a stable human habitat. This model tracks nine key Earth system processes.
Alarmingly, by 2025, seven—including climate change, biosphere integrity, land-system change, freshwater change, biogeochemical flows, novel entities, and the recently breached ocean acidification—have exceeded their "safe operating space."
The current challenge is that these breaches compound, with one threshold crossing triggering irreversible shifts in others.
To maintain global stability, we must urgently shift from extraction-based growth to a circular economy that aprioritizes regenerative resilience within these biophysical limits.