Abstract
The Sustainable Development Goals aim to improve access to resources and services, reduce environmental degradation, eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. However, the magnitude of the environmental burden that would arise from meeting the needs of the poorest is under debate—especially when compared to much larger burdens from the rich. We show that the ‘Great Acceleration’ of human impacts was characterized by a ‘Great Inequality’ in using and damaging the environment. We then operationalize ‘just access’ to minimum energy, water, food and infrastructure. We show that achieving just access in 2018, with existing inequalities, technologies and behaviours, would have produced 2–26% additional impacts on the Earth’s natural systems of climate, water, land and nutrients—thus further crossing planetary boundaries. These hypothetical impacts, caused by about a third of humanity, equalled those caused by the wealthiest 1–4%. Technological and behavioural changes thus far, while important, did not deliver just access within a stable Earth system. Achieving these goals therefore calls for a radical redistribution of resources.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 212-221 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Nature Sustainability |
Volume | 6 |
Issue number | 2 |
Early online date | 10 Nov 2022 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Feb 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The Earth Commission is hosted by Future Earth and is the science component of the Global Commons Alliance. The Global Commons Alliance is a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, with support from Oak Foundation, MAVA, Porticus, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Herlin Foundation and the Global Environment Facility. The Earth Commission is also supported by the Global Challenges Foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. We also thank A. Beekman and L. Kollár for their assistance in preparing this paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
Funding
The Earth Commission is hosted by Future Earth and is the science component of the Global Commons Alliance. The Global Commons Alliance is a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, with support from Oak Foundation, MAVA, Porticus, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Herlin Foundation and the Global Environment Facility. The Earth Commission is also supported by the Global Challenges Foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. We also thank A. Beekman and L. Kollár for their assistance in preparing this paper.