New report warns of mounting planetary crises — and pathways to hope
A global U.N. report released Dec. 9 warns that the planet is on track for deeper climate shocks, accelerating biodiversity loss, worsening land degradation and deadly pollution — unless countries drastically transform how economies are powered, fed and governed.
The 7th edition of the Global Environment Outlook (GEO-7), produced by 287 scientists from 82 countries, finds that environmental decline is costing trillions of dollars annually and that pollution contributes to about 9 million premature deaths annually. Greenhouse gas emissions have risen 1.5% per year since 1990, 20-40% of global land is degraded and 1 million species face extinction if current trends continue.
The previous report published in 2019 sounded a stark alarm about a deteriorating environment and a rapidly closing window for action. This year’s analysis goes further by mapping concrete transformation pathways across five key systems and estimating that investing in planetary health could generate at least $20 trillion in annual economic gains by 2070.
