Climate change is a planetary emergency - how can we avert disaster?

The author asserts that the Earth has reached several 'tipping points' where ecological destruction and climate change may lead to an uncontrollable collapse of life-support systems. The text identifies unbridled economic growth and consumption as the primary drivers of this existential risk. To avert disaster, the document promotes The Club of Rome's Planetary Emergency Plan, which proposes ten commitments to restore global commons, the creation of a multilateral Planetary Emergency Fund, and ten levers of change to transition toward a circular economy and regenerative energy systems.

• Humanity has already surpassed several critical thresholds in the Earth system, leading to irreversible and catastrophic consequences that are appearing sooner than previous scientific models predicted.
• Natural ecosystems have historically mitigated the impact of fossil-fuel emissions by absorbing nearly half of them, preventing the planet from exceeding 2°C of warming decades ago.
• Current patterns of economic growth, production, and consumption are the drivers of ecological demise and the cause of extreme weather events, including wildfires in the Amazon and Australia, and storms in Mozambique and Barbados.
• The Club of Rome's Planetary Emergency Plan proposes a framework for 2020 and beyond consisting of ten commitments to protect global commons, a multilateral Planetary Emergency Fund for crisis response, and ten levers of change to shift toward a circular economy and just society.

APA

Dixson-Declève, S. (2020). Climate change is a planetary emergency - how can we avert disaster? World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/global-risks/climate-tipping-points-risks/

Chicago

Dixson-Declève, Sandrine. Climate change is a planetary emergency - how can we avert disaster? World Economic Forum, 2020. https://www.weforum.org/stories/global-risks/climate-tipping-points-risks/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Dixson-Declève |first1=Sandrine |title=Climate change is a planetary emergency - how can we avert disaster? |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=15 January 2020 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/global-risks/climate-tipping-points-risks/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{dixsondeclve2020climate, author = {Dixson-Declève, Sandrine}, title = {{Climate change is a planetary emergency - how can we avert disaster?}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2020}, month = jan, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/global-risks/climate-tipping-points-risks/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }