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Dear Planetary Steward, dear friend of the Global Commons Alliance,
Tomorrow is World Environment Day. It’s a reminder that the global commons—like the ocean, rainforests, freshwater and climate—that keep our living planet stable, are shared treasures. Safeguarding them is one of the greatest opportunities of our time. But physics will not wait for us. The World Meteorological Organization has just warned that we’re likely to regularly exceed 1.5°C in global temperature rise within the next five years. While “1.5” may be an abstract number to some of us, to billions of people already impacted by the climate and nature crisis, it means everything we love unraveling. Over the past year, about half of the world’s population has already experienced an additional month of extreme heat due to human-caused climate change. This has caused deaths and illnesses, put even more pressure on energy and healthcare systems, and damaged food crops. For those in the Western hemisphere, less directly impacted so far, the risks creep forward. In the UK for example, crops are beginning to show signs of reduced yields and farmers are preparing for a tough harvest.
Meanwhile, momentum is building ahead of the UN COP30 climate conference in November, with UNFCCC convened talks due to start next week in Bonn. COP presidencies Brazil, Azerbaijan and the UAE declared that climate change is “no longer a future risk but a present global emergency” in their latest joint statement. But systems change to secure a Safe and Just future will only happen at the pace and scale required if it’s supported by all sectors of society. Later this month we will join an important part of this coordinated action at London Climate Action Week (LCAW) as well as the UN Ocean Conference in Nice next week.
At LCAW, the GCA Accountability Accelerator will bring together partners, NGOs, financial institutions and other stakeholders for workshops on corporate capacity-building, the future of mining in the energy transition, and integrating nature into financial accounting. The GCA Earth HQ and New Zero World’s Earth Public Information Collaborative (EPIC) will share its narrative ‘Blueprint’, which aims to unify how we talk about science in the media to inspire collective action from the public. Representatives from the Science Based Targets Network—which has just launched new learning resources for setting science-based targets for nature—will be busy at both events, and several experts from the Earth Commission will be on the ground in Nice, participating in events for the UN Ocean Conference. Connect with us at either event.
Without urgent, cross-sector action rooted in Earth system science, the chance of stabilizing our global commons to create a Just world on a Safe planet will slip out of reach. There is no question that the road ahead is complex—but it is not hopeless. We’re proud to stand with our partners and wider network in grasping this extraordinary opportunity to safeguard what we love. Now.
With all our best,
Will Tucker, Director of Communications and Resource Mobilization Sebastian Schienle, Director of Partnerships and Programs
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