Democratising Planetary Boundaries

The text addresses criticisms that the planetary boundaries framework lacks democratic legitimacy due to its expert-driven nature. It proposes a model of 'evaluative labour' where experts provide risk warnings while citizens and policy-makers engage in deliberative contestation over the value judgments involved in responding to earth-system risks.

• The planetary boundaries framework has faced criticism for suggesting an expert-led approach to managing global environmental risks that lacks democratic legitimacy.
• Democratic legitimacy in earth system governance can be achieved by using iterative and dialogic processes to establish planetary boundaries and targets, creating a shared division of labor among experts, citizens, and policy-makers.
• A functional democratic approach to earth-system risks requires balancing the expert's role in warning of unacceptable risks with the public's ability to debate the value judgments underlying collective responses.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2019). Democratising Planetary Boundaries. https://www.sei.org/publications/democratising-planetary-boundaries/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Democratising Planetary Boundaries. 2019. https://www.sei.org/publications/democratising-planetary-boundaries/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Democratising Planetary Boundaries |date=5 November 2019 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/democratising-planetary-boundaries/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2019democratising, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Democratising Planetary Boundaries}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2019}, month = nov, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/democratising-planetary-boundaries/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }