Thank you for the opportunity to speak at this inaugural meeting on the development of the seventh Global Environment Outlook, or GEO, UNEP’s flagship environmental assessment.
It is encouraging to see almost 250 participants, both in person and online. This shows a strong interest in this next edition of the GEO, which we want to take in a new and bold direction.
A direction that leads the world towards understanding and implementing solutions to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.
This solutions-focus of GEO-7 won’t just make it part of the wider evolution of the science-policy interface. If done right, GEO-7 can be the tip of the spear.
Science has done a great job warning us of the triple planetary crisis. We know how and why our planet is changing. But there is a yawning gap between science, policy and action. And through this gap are pouring the dangerous and growing impacts of the triple planetary crisis.
To close the gap, the science-policy interface needs to become more focused on solutions – diverse solutions drawn from different disciplines and experiences. It needs to get these solutions out there, where they matter, in a form that is easily understood and easily actionable. And it needs to get these solutions out quickly, because time is running out to transform economies and societies.
Friends, the proposal is for GEO-7 to zoom in on energy, food and waste systems. There is good reason to tackle these key sectors.
GEO-6 showed that we need to phase out 80 per cent of fossil fuel use to hit the Paris target of holding global warming to 1.5°C this century – a finding that was confirmed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
In food systems, we need to deliver a 70 per cent cut in emissions and 70 per cent in water use if we are to deliver the required 50 per cent more food needed by 2050 without ravaging the planet.
Finally, with resource extraction predicted to double by 2050, we need to dramatically reduce all forms of waste by moving to circularity. If we don’t, we will keep living on a planet where we fill the gaping wounds left by resource extraction - with waste and pollution.
If we tackle these three areas, and tackle them right, we are looking at reducing emissions, protecting nature, building energy security, delivering plentiful and nutritious food, increasing human health and so much more.
We therefore need GEO-7 to deliver real and meaningful findings that will drive transformative change.
It is, essentially, clear what we must do. The debate remains around how to do it, with the least-disruption and greatest benefits. This is where the GEO-7 comes in, by looking at the “how” through a positive, solutions-focused report. A report that identifies the best policies, technologies and behavioural solutions, using the right sequence of steps. We need the scientific community to unite behind this process.
But we also need to throw open the doors of this expert-led GEO process and allow in many other voices.
The GEO has a 25-year history of convening authors and experts, who have all delivered valuable contributions. But the triple planetary crisis is an all-engulfing crisis. It affects all parts of society and comes from all parts of the economy. We cannot fix the crisis without involving everybody.
So, we will need more social and behavioural scientists, more economists, more technology specialists. We must move outside the confines of Western academic spires and open our eyes and ears to the whole globe. We absolutely must listen to and incorporate indigenous and non-traditional knowledge. There is strength in diversity. It allows us to gather ideas and deliver solutions that work with nature, not against it.
Through this broad coalition, we can explore policy shifts that have worked and those that have not. We can bring in new ideas. We can bring in old, yet invaluable, ideas that have been lost or overlooked in our excitable pursuit of technological advances. We can look once more to nature as a solution, rather than something to pave over with our roads or clear for our fields. We can deliver concrete solutions that mesh to create a clear pathway to environmental sustainability.
The process has begun. Dialogues will be held this week on the three targeted sectors, and many of you have responded to a survey on the burning questions GEO-8 must answer. In front of you is the scoping document created from these early steps.
From this scoping document, we must build a process, and a report, that delivers inclusive solutions and guidance on how to implement them. Let’s make GEO-7 the report that sets science off in a new direction: one that answers the questions it has posed over the decades and tells the world exactly how to fix the triple planetary crisis for the benefit of all humanity.
Thank you.
