Business within the planetary boundaries

The Earth is burning. We are now facing alarming levels of biodiversity loss, global warming, and pollution that are all threatening the life on Earth.

The brutal fact is that nature’s carrying capacity is weakening. The Ocean has absorbed 90% of human caused warming and has started to warm alarmingly fast up to 2000m deep impacting on the marine ecosystems. Earth’s water cycle is changing, which is creating unknown results, shrinking cloud cover, and increasing droughts and floods. We are also facing globally more extreme storms and wildfires. The biodiversity loss is spreading and soil health is declining, and already today, food and water security is an issue in different locations around the world. On top of this, the chemical and plastic pollution is widespread around the globe, influencing increasing ecosystem and human health issues.

All these phenomenons are connected.

Human activity has endangered Earth’s critical and interlinked biophysical processes called the Planetary boundaries that regulate the stability and resilience of the planet. In 2023 six our of nine planetary boundaries had crossed the limit of the safe operating space. But this data has not been visible in the current business metrics or targets.

Visualisation by MATTER from The Stockholm Resilience Center’s materials.

We have looked at nature as an unlimited resource, undervaluing its foundational role for supporting all life.

However, 100% of all human activity is dependent on nature.

Finance and insurance sectors have already calculated that inaction to solve the planetary crisis is and will be more expensive than mitigation and transition efforts. For example, an estimated 50% of the global GDP is directly dependent on nature, and the planetary crisis is disrupting industries worldwide.

Clearly, a transformation is happening in the operating space. Now the question is how much do we try to lead it. While it is important to learn to navigate with the risks, we also need to lead towards opportunities and prosperity.

To thrive within the planetary boundaries demands a change in the world views, business logic, operations and behaviours.

At Matter, we think that businesses will be the key actors in driving the change by creating the solutions that the world really needs. We think that the sustainability transition is full of opportunities, for example:

1. Wise and efficient use of resources with circular economy will generate new business models, innovations, services and value networks.
2. Bioregion and industry level visions and transformative innovations will form new business ecosystems and value networks.
3. Smart and sustainable business with data and digitalisation.
4. Regenerative organisations and operations will increase the ability for fast learning and resilience in change.
5. Solutions and services that will solve carbon capture, pollution and biochemical flow issues.
6. Curating sustainable and healthy behaviours and lifestyles.
7. Innovation, value creation and productisation for what the world needs.
8. Healthy nutrition from sustainable food systems.
9. New services that halt loss of nature by scaling regeneration and restoration of ecosystems, such as marine, soils, forests and wetlands.

Sustainability is becoming an integral element in life and business – transforming us. In the end, this transformation is a lot about humans. How we will organise our strategies, organisations, business operations, collaborate and create value with our networks, and curate life within the planetary boundaries with our products and services.

When we get it right, the results will increase well-being and safety, create more resilient and thriving businesses with happier employees, and secure the life for the future generations.

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Cover photo by NASA on Unsplash.