Three economic systems are driving most of nature’s decline: the energy system that fuels climate change; the global food system that leads to habitat loss and climate change; and the finance system that bankrolls it all. Triggering tipping points in those systems would see them rapidly transform for the better and reduce harm to the climate and nature. Once that threshold is passed, change can happen quickly as knowledge and technology advance, with solutions becoming cheaper and more accessible and as people learn from others. Encouragingly, progress is already under way – not everywhere, and not yet at the scale required – but enough to demonstrate that change is possible.
The world does not lack goals for 2030. What it lacks is the pace of implementation. With the Global Biodiversity Framework, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement in place, governments have already agreed on a pathway. Focusing on implementing these agreements in full will create the conditions for rapid systemic change.
