Index Values in Environmental Reports: The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2024
The 2024 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) global average score is 49.5 out of 100, measured in 2024, indicating that the world is far from…
Topic archive
Planetary Boundaries
Core framework outlining safe operating limits for Earth’s systems.
Ocean Acidification vs Ocean Warming: Key Differences and Combined Impacts
Ocean acidification and ocean warming are two distinct but interconnected consequences of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide. Acidification refers to the chemical change in seawater…
Sustainable Development Within Planetary Boundaries
Learn how sustainable development can meet human needs while respecting planetary boundaries, balancing economic prosperity, social equity, and Earth-system resilience.
Food Systems and Planetary Boundaries
Learn how food systems affect climate, biodiversity, freshwater, land, nutrients, and the planetary boundaries—and how sustainable food systems can nourish people and the planet.
Ocean Acidification: Causes, Evidence and Ecological Consequences
Learn what ocean acidification is, how rising CO₂ changes seawater chemistry, its impacts on marine life, and why it has become a planetary boundary.
Novel Entities Explained: Chemicals, Plastics and Planetary Risk
Learn what novel entities are, why chemicals, plastics, PFAS, pesticides, and other synthetic substances are a planetary boundary, and how they threaten Earth's life-support…
Nitrogen and Phosphorus Cycles: The Hidden Planetary Crisis
Learn how human disruption of the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles affects climate, freshwater, biodiversity, food production, and Earth's planetary boundaries.
Land-System Change: Agriculture, Forests and Earth’s Resilience
Learn how agriculture, deforestation, and land-use change affect climate, biodiversity, freshwater, and Earth's resilience through the land-system change planetary boundary.
Freshwater Change: Understanding the Planet’s Changing Water Cycle
Learn how freshwater change affects rivers, groundwater, soil moisture, climate, ecosystems, and why the global water cycle is a planetary boundary.
Biodiversity and Biosphere Integrity: Why Living Systems Matter
Learn why biodiversity and biosphere integrity are essential for Earth system stability, ecosystem resilience, climate regulation, and human well-being.