Welcome to the launch of the seventh edition of the Global Environment Outlook, or GEO-7, UNEPs Flagship Report, which UNEP is releasing today, during the seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly.
At this Assembly, nations are looking to take decisions that advance sustainable solutions for a resilient planet. Essentially, solutions that spark stronger, faster action on climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, land degradation, desertification, and pollution and waste.
The GEO-7 report tells us that these environmental challenges have exacted a heavy toll on the planet, people and economies and are already costing trillions of dollars each year. If we choose to continue powering our economies with fossil fuels, extracting virgin resources, destroying nature, and polluting the environment, the damages will stack up. To give just one example from the reports business-as-usual scenario, climate change will cut four per cent off annual global gross domestic product GDP by 2050, claim many lives and increase forced migration. This should serve as motivation for nations to follow up on the progress made at UNFCCC COP 30 by implementing their current climate pledges and finding ways to strengthen them further.
This does not have to be humanitys future, however. The report shows us how much we all stand to gain from investing in a stable climate, healthy nature and land, and a pollution-free planet.
The report makes a compelling case for whole-of-society and whole-of-government approaches to transform the systems of economy and finance, materials and waste, energy, food and the environment. Doing so could, by 2050, avoid nine million pollution-related premature deaths, lift 200 million people out of undernourishment, and move 150 million people out of extreme poverty. Yes, there are up-front costs, but the avoided damages and long-term returns on investment more than make up for the investment: the global macroeconomic benefits of this path appear in 2050, grow to US$20 trillion per year by 2070, and boom thereafter.
Taking this path starts with moving beyond GDP as a measure of economic well-being instead using inclusive indicators that also track the health of human and natural capital. It continues with a transition to circular economy models; a rapid decarbonization of the energy system; a shift towards sustainable diets, reduced waste and improved agricultural practices; and expanding protected areas and restoring degraded ecosystems all backed by behavioural, social and cultural shifts that include respect for Indigenous Knowledge and Local Knowledge.
This sounds like, and indeed is, a massive undertaking. But there is no technical reason why it cannot be done. And let us remember that the world has already made so much progress: from the booming renewables industry to global coverage of protected areas to the recovery of the ozone player and phasing out of toxic chemicals and more. I call on all nations to build on this progress, follow the transformation pathways laid out in GEO-7 report, and drive their economies towards a thriving, sustainable future.
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