Owen

Gaffney

Director, International media and strategy

Director of international media and strategy

owen.gaffney@su.se

+46 8-674 7426

@owengaffney

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Owen Gaffney is a global sustainability analyst and writer and head of media at the Stockholm Resilience Centre

For almost two decades Gaffney has been involved in Earth system science research and communications. His work focuses on synthesising and assimilating knowledge on the state of the planet. He is interested the the Anthropocene, Earth system and social tipping points, governance, equality, technology and the changing flow of information in the world.

Gaffney is a qualified journalist, filmmaker and writer and trained as an astronautic and aeronautic engineer.

His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the BBC and the world’s leading academic journals Science and Nature. His work with Felix Pharand Deschenes has been shown at the UN Rio+20 Summit and the World Economic Forum, Davos.

In addition to his position at Stockholm Resilience Centre, Gaffney has a position as an analyst and policy advisor at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Berlin. He is a fellow at Future Earth and the Edmund Hillary Foundation, New Zealand. He is a member of faculty at Singularity University. He is former director of communications at Future Earth and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme.

Publications

Nature: Climate tipping points — too risky to bet against

Exponential Roadmap: https://exponentialroadmap.org/

Sustainability: Rules to goals: emergence of new governance strategies for sustainable development

Nature Sustainability: Sustainability and resilience for transformation in the urban century

New Scientist: Quit carbon and quick

WWF, Living Planet Report: https://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/all_publications/living_planet_report_2018/

Sleeping Financial Giants: https://sleepinggiants.earth/publication/read-the-background-report/

Anthropocene Review: The Anthropocene equation

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Publications by Gaffney, Owen

Investment in resilient food systems in the most vulnerable and fragile regions is critical

Journal / article | 2021

Queiroz, C., Norstrom, A.V., Downing, A., Harmackova, Z.V., De Coning, C., Adams, V., Bakarr, M., Baedeker, T., Chitate, A., Gaffney, O., Gordon, L., Hainzelin, E., Howlett, D., Krampe, F., Loboguerrero, A.M., Nel, D., Okollet, C., Rebermark, M., Rockström, J., Smith, M., Wabbes-Candotti, S. & Matthews, N. 2021. Investment in resilient food systems in the most vulnerable and fragile regions is critical. Nature Food 2(8), 546–551.

Reversing the alarming trend of rising food insecurity requires transformations towards just, sustainable and healthy food systems with an explicit focus on the most vulnerable and fragile regions. Global food insecurity fell for decades, but it is steadily rising again 1 . A primary driver of this alarming trend is the double burden of climate shocks and violent conflict in areas that are already food insecure. The recent ...

All options, not silver bullets, needed to limit global warming to 1.5 °C: a scenario appraisal

Journal / article | 2021

Warszawski, L., Kriegler, E., Lenton, T.M., Gaffney, O., Jacob, D., Klingenfeld, D., Koide, R., Costa, M.M., Messner, D., Nakicenovic, N., Schellnhuber, H.J., Schlosser, P., Takeuchi, K., Van Der Leeuw, S., Whiteman, G. & Rockström, J. 2021. All options, not silver bullets, needed to limit global warming to 1.5 °C: A scenario appraisal. Environmental Research Letters 16(6), 064037.

Climate science provides strong evidence of the necessity of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C, in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. The IPCC 1.5 °C special report (SR1.5) presents 414 emissions scenarios modelled for the report, of which around 50 are classified as '1.5 °C scenarios', with no or low temperature overshoot. These emission scenarios differ in their reliance on individual mitigation levers, including reducti...

Our future in the Anthropocene biosphere

Journal / article | 2021

Folke, C., Polasky, S., Rockström, J., Galaz, V., Westley, F., Lamont, M., Scheffer, M., Osterblom, H., Carpenter, S.R., Chapin, F.S., III, Seto, K.C., Weber, E.U., Crona, B., I., Daily, G.C., Dasgupta, P., Gaffney, O., Gordon, L.J., Hoff, H., Levin, S.A., Lubchenco, J., Steffen, W. & Walker, B.H. 2021. Our future in the Anthropocene biosphere. Ambio 50(4, SI), 834–869.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed an interconnected and tightly coupled globalized world in rapid change. This article sets the scientific stage for understanding and responding to such change for global sustainability and resilient societies. We provide a systemic overview of the current situation where people and nature are dynamically intertwined and embedded in the biosphere, placing shocks and extreme events as part of t...

A safe operating space for New Zealand/Aotearoa: Translating the planetary boundaries framework

Policy brief or report | 2020

A safe operating space for New Zealand/Aotearoa: Translating the planetary boundaries framework. 2020. Report by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Stockholm Resilience Centre and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change. Commissioned by New Zealand Ministry for the Environment.

The purpose of the report is to translate the planetary boundaries framework for New Zealand to inform government approaches to environmental stewardship, well-being and economic development. • The planetary boundaries framework provides an international and long-term context for national policy setting. It can be used as a benchmark for measuring progress towards environmental goals. • The framework provides a systems view ...