Impact Framework
Momentum
The planetary boundaries concept presents a set of nine planetary boundaries within which humanity can continue to develop and thrive for generations to come.
In September 2023, a team of scientists quantified, for the first time, all nine processes that regulate the stability and resilience of the Earth system.
These nine planetary boundaries were first proposed by former centre director Johan Rockström and a group of 28 internationally renowned scientists in 2009.
Since then, their framework has been revised several times. Now the latest update not only quantified all boundaries, it also concludes that six of the nine boundaries have been transgressed.
In parallel, the planetary boundaries concept confirms climate change is happening as projected in the World3 model due to natural as well as anthropocene increased carbon emission stemming from the fossil-fuel-fed frenzy for extractive growth.
The IPCC is now recommending climate adaptation and the European commission has developed Climate-ADAPT to share information on vulnerabilities and preventive measures.
Finite resources, as well as geopolitical rivalries are increasing volatility of and inflating energy prices. The energy return on energy invested at extraction and energy available per capita are determining factors for social contract and structure.
As a consequence we are at a critical juncture experiencing a creative destruction moment in which business models reliant on fossil fuels have begun to lose their competitive edge. The market is transforming and old asset classes are starting to decline in returns due to energy inflation or consumer rejection.
A great deal of the global economy is directly dependent on abundant oil, and be it because of climate change or geopolitical rivalries, we foresee a great need to reshape the economic infrastructure of our societies.
As this concerns the vast majority of current economic activity, data-driven entrepreneurs hope and work to be at the forefront of which changes will be required and address market demand effectively while benefiting a premium for anticipating the first mover advantage.
Taken together this is contributing to a growing but decisive momentum towards steering attention and investments in futureproof cleantech.
