Bringing EU policy into line with the Planetary Boundaries

This briefing by the Stockholm Environment Institute explores the operationalization of the Planetary Boundaries framework for the European Union. By downscaling global safe operating spaces using an equal-per-capita allocation, the document assesses the EU's environmental performance and suggests entry points for integrating these boundaries into EU policy-making to ensure the region lives within planetary limits.

• The European Union exceeds its equal-per-capita 'fair share' of the global safe operating space for several planetary processes, specifically climate change and biogeochemical flows (nitrogen and phosphorus).
• EU consumption exerts higher pressure on the Planetary Boundaries for climate change, land use, biogeochemical flows, and water use than the global average per capita.
• Regarding climate change, the EU's relative transgression of its downscaled share is the most pronounced of all analyzed boundaries. To stay within an allocated budget of 70 Gt CO2, net emissions must reach zero within a few decades.

APA

Hoff, H., Häyhä, T., Cornell, S., & Lucas, P. (2017). Bringing EU policy into line with the Planetary Boundaries. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-2017-DB-Bringing-EU-policy-v2.pdf

Chicago

Hoff, Holger, Tiina Häyhä, Sarah Cornell, and Paul Lucas. Bringing EU policy into line with the Planetary Boundaries. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2017. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-2017-DB-Bringing-EU-policy-v2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hoff |first1=Holger |last2=Häyhä |first2=Tiina |last3=Cornell |first3=Sarah |last4=Lucas |first4=Paul |title=Bringing EU policy into line with the Planetary Boundaries |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=24 April 2017 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-2017-DB-Bringing-EU-policy-v2.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hoff2017bringing, author = {Hoff, Holger and Häyhä, Tiina and Cornell, Sarah and Lucas, Paul}, title = {{Bringing EU policy into line with the Planetary Boundaries}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2017}, month = apr, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-2017-DB-Bringing-EU-policy-v2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }