Seven of nine planetary boundaries now breached

The seven breached planetary boundaries are: Climate Change, Biosphere Integrity, Land System Change, Freshwater Use, Biogeochemical Flows, Novel Entities, and Ocean Acidification (new in 2025). All of these seven boundaries show worsening trends. Only Ozone Depletion and Aerosol Loading remain in the safe zone.

“We are witnessing widespread decline in the health of our planet. But this is not an inevitable outcome. The drop in aerosol pollution and healing of the ozone layer, shows that it is possible to turn the direction of global development. Even if the diagnosis is dire, the window of cure is still open. Failure is not inevitable; failure is a choice. A choice that must and can be avoided,” said Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

Ocean Acidification entering the danger zone

The 2025 Planetary Health Check reveals a stark new development: the Ocean Acidification boundary has now been assessed as breached for the first time. Since the start of the industrial era, the ocean’s surface pH has fallen by around 0.1 units, a 30-40% increase in acidity, pushing marine ecosystems beyond safe limits and degrading the oceans’ ability to act as Earth’s stabiliser.

Marine ecosystems are already feeling the effects. Cold-water corals, tropical coral reefs, and Arctic marine life are especially at risk as acidification continues to spread and intensify. Tiny sea snails known as pteropods, an important food source for many species, are showing signs of shell damage.

“This intensifying acidification stems primarily from fossil fuel emissions, and together with ocean warming and deoxygenation affects everything from coastal fisheries to the open ocean. The consequences ripple outward impacting biodiversity, food security, global climate stability, and human wellbeing,” commented Albert Norström, co-author of the report.

Planetary Boundaries translated into action

The Planetary Health Check has been developed by researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) together with international experts, including Swedish researchers Albert Norström and Tiina Häyhä at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, who authored one of the report’s chapters.

Their contribution gives an overview of emerging practises and actors using the planetary boundaries framework, with examples ranging from national and city levels to applications in the corporate and financial sectors.

"Over the past decade, we have seen a shift from planetary boundaries being mainly a scientific concept to increasingly becoming also a reference point for policy, business, and civil society. While the use and implementation is still attempted and fragmented, this broadening of actors shows how planetary boundaries thinking is gaining momentum across sectors and governance levels" Tina Häyhä says.

She explains that concrete examples of how planetary boundaries are being translated into different contexts are seen around the world.

"One city level example is Amsterdam’s adoption of the so-called doughnut model. The city created a ‘City Portrait’ that links its social and ecological impacts to planetary boundaries and social foundation, guiding long-term strategies towards both social wellbeing and ecological sustainability. At the national scale, countries like New Zealand and many European countries have used the framework to assess their global environmental impacts and sustainability strategies."

Coherent approach needed

In the corporate world, companies are now also starting to experiment with science-based targets for nature, extending the climate target approach to biodiversity, freshwater, and land use within their supply chains,.

"In the financial sector, disclosure frameworks like the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) are pushing investors and businesses to better account for their dependencies and impacts on planetary systems, " she adds.

The next step in translating the framework into action is to move from fragmented efforts to integrated action, aligning climate, biodiversity, and pollution policies into a coherent approach.

"We urgently need stronger accountability mechanisms, so that pledges by governments and companies translate into measurable reductions within planetary boundaries. Equity must also be at the centre—recognising absolute biophysical constraints calls for a societal dialogue about the deep changes needed in our economies, governance, and lifestyles to ensure sustainable and just futures, " Häyhä concludes.