”Seven of the nine planetary boundaries are broken” – Planetary Health Check 2026
We introduced the first annual Planetary Health Check in June 2025. The annual assessment, produced by the Planetary Boundaries Science Lab at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and authored by more than 60 scientists, tracks the state of nine processes that regulate the stability and resilience of the Earth system. This article is available on the "We Don't Have Time" site (link at the bottom).
To me, these topics are the absolutely most important for mankind today. I still can't understand, that we have "Green" parties in Europe. Environmental topics and Climate Change should be just as serious a topic for ALL political parties in democracies, as topics like the national Budget is...
Seven of the nine Planetary Boundaries are now outside the safe operating space, with all seven at their highest recorded levels of transgression, according to the Planetary Health Check 2026. Last year, there were six of them, this year seeing Ocean Acidification breaching its boundary as well.
The seven transgressed boundaries are climate change, biosphere integrity, land-system change, freshwater change, biogeochemical flows, novel entities and ocean acidification.
Stratospheric ozone depletion and atmospheric aerosol loading are the only two boundaries to have improved over the past decade, according to the report. The researchers note that the global assessment of aerosol loading can mask unsafe levels in some regions.
“Pressure is rising across every Planetary Boundary already outside the safe operating space,” said Boris Sakschewski, lead author of the report. “It means that the risk of large-scale, persistent and potentially irreversible change is increasing.”
”Accelerating action to return to the safe operating space across all Planetary Boundaries is essential to protect lives and livelihoods”, says Johan Rockström, co-author of the report.
Extreme events add to pressures
The report assesses developments during a period of record ocean heat and major floods, droughts, wildfires and heatwaves.
Pakistan’s 2025 monsoon floods affected more than 6.9 million people. Global ocean heat content reached a record in 2025. Between January 2023 and September 2025, bleaching-level heat stress affected about 84.4 percent of the world’s coral reef area, according to the report.
In 2026, Western Europe recorded its hottest June–July period on record, while August was the hottest month ever recorded globally. Drought affected France, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom, and wildfires occurred across parts of Europe and Canada. Record temperatures were also recorded in Japan, South Korea and parts of the Middle East.
The report links some of these impacts to interactions between climate change and other pressures, including ecosystem degradation, water stress and land-use change.
Seven of nine Planetaray Boundaries are transgressed.
Carbon sinks under scrutiny
The assessment also examines the capacity of vegetation and soils to absorb carbon dioxide. Land ecosystems currently absorb a share of human CO₂ emissions, but heat, drought, fire and ecosystem degradation can reduce carbon uptake and, in some cases, turn ecosystems from carbon sinks into carbon sources.
The authors raise the question of whether models used to calculate the land carbon sink may overestimate its resilience.
“Our path to net zero emissions relies on functioning carbon sinks,” Sakschewski said. “Current observations raise the alarm that our planet may be losing its buffering capacity.”
PIK Director and report co-author Johan Rockström said the findings point to the need for action across all nine boundaries.
“We do not have the luxury of time, but we do have the knowledge, capacity and solutions to change course. Accelerating action to return to the safe operating space across all Planetary Boundaries is essential to protect lives and livelihoods, and to deliver on the promise of shared future prosperity,” said Johan Rockström
The Planetary Health Check is published annually to assess changes across the Planetary Boundaries framework and identify shifts in the condition of the Earth system.
5 Key Take-Aways of the 2026 Report
1. The impacts of transgressing Planetary Boundaries are becoming
increasingly clear all around us. Results published in the last year show that climate
change is progressing faster than previously expected, causing unprecedented
heatwaves on land and in the ocean and fueling destructive extreme weather
events. Tropical coral reefs have experienced their most severe mass bleach-
ing event to date, a shutdown of the main Atlantic overturning circulation is
now considered a credible risk even under low- to medium-emission scenar-
ios, and major Antarctic ice masses may have already begun their slide into the
ocean. With seven out of nine boundaries transgressed, we have pushed Earth
outside of its Safe Operating Space – meaning that we are turning Earth from
a safe home into one full of hazards that threaten people across the world.
2. Protecting and restoring nature is necessary to have a chance of a safe cli-
mate landing for humanity. In the recent past, half of our CO2 emissions have
been absorbed by the ocean and nature on land. When scientists chart a path
towards a manageable climate future, their calculations generally assume that
forests, wetlands, and other ecosystems will continue to function as “carbon
sinks” in this way. But today, the land carbon sink is already showing signs
of weakening and stagnation. A new study has confirmed that even a small
amount of additional deforestation in the Amazon would likely push the region
past a tipping point under current climate projections, resulting in the loss of
two-thirds of the remaining forest. The only way to bring Earth below 1.5°C of
global warming is to phase out fossil fuels and, simultaneously, to reverse the
transgression of the other Planetary Boundaries – especially by safeguarding
the integrity of the biosphere.
3. We have to protect the seafloor. The seafloor ecosystems play a significant role
in the Earth system, yet we are destroying them at an alarming rate. Fishing tech-
niques like bottom trawling produce long-lasting damage: Every year, 1-2% of the
seafloor is trawled, with some of the most productive and diverse ocean regions
being targeted most frequently. In addition, nascent seafloor mining activities are
a looming threat to previously untouched regions of the deep ocean, with cur-
rently incalculable impacts on the Earth system. More effective mechanisms to
protect these vital but underexplored ecosystems are urgently needed.
4. Microplastics, forever chemicals, and other chemical pollutants present both
known and yet-unknown dangers. For example, (micro-)plastics contaminate
the whole Planet today, from mountaintops to the deep sea, and forever chem-
icals like PFASs will not disappear from our environment for millennia. But this is
only the tip of the iceberg: Humans are producing tens of thousands of chemi-
cals and mixtures at unprecedented and increasing rates. We are already start-
ing to see the harm these substances cause, from toxic effects on individual
organisms to the disruption of Earth system processes. Even more dangerous
are those effects that we can currently only guess at. Most of the substances
we produce and release are not, or not sufficiently, tested for their impacts on
the Earth system. We are flying blind: By the time we have a full picture of the
danger, it might be too late to avoid it.
5. We still have a chance to turn towards a safer, sustainable future. The impacts
of breached Planetary Boundaries are already all around us, and they will con-
tinue to become more severe. But today, we still have a narrow window of
opportunity. If we manage to bend the curves within this decade, we can put
our societies on a course towards a safer, more just future. We have the tools,
and we have taken steps in this direction, but our current efforts are far from
sufficient. Only by pursuing urgent, ambitious, and decisive action across all
sectors of our societies, can we return to living within the Safe Operating Space
on a healthy Planet.
The Executive Summary of the Report :
The nine Planetary Boundaries situation is briefly explained in this summary
• Climate Change – strongly transgressed.
Climate Change refers to the disruption of Earth’s energy balance, driven mainly by green house-gas emissions from fossil fuels and land use change, alongside other human influences on Earth’s energy balance, including aerosols. Atmospheric carbon dioxide and human-caused radiative forcing, the variables used to measure Climate Change in the Planetary Boundaries framework, have both exceeded their safe levels. The consequences are clearly visible as rising temperatures, extreme weather, ecosystem damage, sea-level rise, and growing risks to health, food, water, infrastructure, and economic stability. Continued warming also increases the likelihood of self reinforcing changes and potentially irreversible tipping points.
• Change in Biosphere Integrity – strongly transgressed.
This describes the diversity and functioning of life across land, freshwater, and ocean ecosystems, which are being degraded by habitat conversion, resource extraction, pollution, climate change, and numerous other stressors. In the Planetary Boundaries framework, Change in Biosphere Integrity is measured through species extinction rates, as well as the share of potential natural plant productivity appropriated by humans; both measures are in the High Risk Zone, far beyond safe levels. Further decline could weaken nature’s capacity to regulate carbon, water, nutrients, soils, and climate, undermining food security, clean water, livelihoods, and ecosystem resilience while increasing the risk of cascading Earth system change.
• Land System Change – transgressed. Land
System Change is driven primarily by the loss and degradation of natural landscapes, especially forests, through agricultural expansion, logging, infrastructure development, and, increasingly, climate-related heat, drought, fire, and pest outbreaks. Remaining forest cover across the assessed forest biomes has fallen below the safe level, reducing carbon storage, moisture recycling, soil protection, biodiversity, and regional cooling. Continued forest loss could intensify water stress, wildfire and flood risks, and raises the possibility of large-scale ecosystem shifts, including in the Amazon.
• Freshwater Change – transgressed.
This boundary covers changes to both freshwater flows in rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and groundwater, and water stored in soils and available to plants. Human-induced disturbances to both measures are beyond safe levels, increasing droughts, floods, ecosystem stress, groundwater depletion, crop losses, and pressure on drinking water and energy systems. Further disruption could weaken carbon storage, increase fire and flood risks, and contribute to large-scale ecosystem decline, as well as threatening drinking water availability and food production.
• Modification of Biogeochemical Flows – strongly transgressed.
Human activity has greatly increased nitrogen and phosphorus flows, mainly through fertilizer use. Both nutrient cycles are in the High-Risk Zone, far beyond safe levels, causing polluted water, algal blooms, oxygen-depleted dead zones, biodiversity loss, and nitrogen-related air pollution. These disruptions damage freshwater and marine ecosystems and create risks for fisheries, drinking water, food systems, and health. Because excess nutrients can remain in soils and groundwater for decades, impacts may persist long after inputs are reduced.
• Ocean Acidification – transgressed.
Ocean acidification occurs as the ocean absorbs human-produced carbon dioxide, changing sea water chemistry and making it harder for many organisms to build and maintain shells and skeletons. The global boundary has now been transgressed, with particularly strong changes
in the Arctic and Southern Oceans. Shell damage and dissolution are already being observed
in pteropods, small planktonic snails that form an important part of marine food webs, while deep-water corals are increasingly exposed to corrosive conditions. Continued acidification could disrupt marine food webs, fisheries, coastal livelihoods, and biodiversity, while also weakening the ocean’s carbon uptake and its role in climate regulation.
• Atmospheric Aerosol Loading – within the Safe Operating Space globally, but with significant regional transgression.
Aerosols are airborne particles from fossil fuel combustion, industry, transport, biomass burning, dust, and smoke that influence sunlight, clouds, rainfall, and atmospheric circulation. The global measure remains within safe limits and has generally improved in recent decades. However, aerosol loading over South Asia exceeds the proposed regional boundary and may disrupt monsoon rainfall. Aerosols also cause severe health impacts, reduce crop productivity, and complicate climate policy because some particles temporarily mask greenhouse-gas warming.
• Stratospheric Ozone Depletion – within the Safe Operating Space.
The stratospheric ozone layer protects life from harmful ultraviolet radiation and has been severely damaged by long-lived human-made chemicals, such as chlorofluorocarbons. International controls have enabled substantial recovery, bringing the global boundary back within safe limits, although ozone levels remain below mid-20th-century conditions and recent recovery may have slowed. Incomplete recovery or emerging pressures could increase risks to human health, crops, ecosystems, and atmospheric circulation.
• Introduction of Novel Entities – strongly transgressed.
Novel Entities comprise a broad and diverse range of chemicals, materials and other
substances associated with human activity, including synthetic chemicals, plastics, pesticides and PFASs, which are released into the Earth system faster than they can be adequately tested, monitored, or regulated. The boundary is transgressed because substances continue to enter the environment without adequate safety assessment while their production, diversity, and release grow rapidly. Many can persist, spread globally, accumulate in organisms, and cause long-lasting or irreversible harm to ecosystems, food and water systems, human health, and other Planetary Boundary processes.
Taken together, the 2026 assessment shows broad and increasing pressure across the Earth system. Seven of the nine Planetary Boundaries are trans- gressed, several control variables lie in the High-Risk Zone, and all seven transgressed boundaries show worsening trends. The farther and longer human pressures move beyond the boundaries, the greater the risk of large-scale and potentially irreversible Earth-system change. Earth’s biological, physical, and chemical resilience still provides an opportunity to reduce these risks and move back towards the Safe Operating Space, but accelerating warming and signs of weakening natural buffers show that this window is closing rapidly
For those interested, please find a link to The "We Don't Have Time" site where I have found this article, as well as a link to the full report. I have extracted the Executive Summary below, as well.
The Full Report :
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