Waves of grief and hope
20/08/2025
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Dear Planetary Steward, dear friend of the Global Commons Alliance,
Since we last wrote to you, the world has continued to witness waves of both hope and grief. From the ICJ’s historic advisory opinion on states’ legal duty to prevent significant climate harm, to the bleakly dubbed “Devastation Bill” approved by Brazil’s Congress that dismantles decades of environmental progress. Then last week another blow, as the Plastics Treaty INC-5.2 ended in Geneva with no clear agreement on a path forward due to a handful of oil and plastic-producing countries obstructing the process.
Emerging from the two-week negotiations, civil society campaign Break Free From Plastic urged world leaders to keep persevering toward a strong, legally binding treaty that cuts plastic production and protects health, human rights, and the environment. Because that’s what humans do. We carry on in the face of formidable challenges. Despite this global setback, local communities around the world will continue to chip away at the tidal wave of plastic use through committed, on the ground action.
The same can be done for other daunting challenges, such as AI. While countries must urgently power data centers with clean energy to make AI less carbon intensive, individuals and workplaces can also clean up their use through the world’s first AI prompt to reduce carbon emissions. Launched by Earth HQ’s Earth Public Information Collaborative (EPIC) and IMPACT BBDO, Prompt Zero is a single prompt you can copy and paste into any AI chatbot such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, that is designed to reduce energy use.
You can catch more from the wider alliance at Climate Week NYC next month, where the Global Commons Alliance, the Earth Commission, the Science Based Targets Network, Accountability Accelerator, Earth HQ and Systems Change Lab will be sharing the latest insights on their work and impact. If you are in New York we’re hosting two key sessions on September 24: the launch of the annual Planetary Health Check (invite only), and an SBTN event in the UN Global Compact Hub spotlighting corporate progress on science-based targets for nature. We will share more details soon.
Whatever setbacks or giant leaps are on the horizon, we look forward to tackling it all with you as we work toward our shared mission — to safeguard and restore Earth’s life-support systems, for all people, now.
With all our best,
Sebastian Schienle, Director of Partnerships and Programs, and Will Tucker, Director of Communications and Resource Mobilization
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