Are you suffering from carbon tunnel vision?

Earth had its first ‘Planetary Health Check‘ last month. Do you think it passed with flying colours? I think most of you would have predicted no – and, unfortunately, you are correct. In fact, our planet is sadly in critical condition: we’re in a triple planetary crisis, and unfortunately, we’re still moving in the wrong direction (I’m not one to sugar coat!). The release of the  2024 state of the climate report and the Living Planet Report (both well worth reading) dish up this stark reality on a plate. 

Let’s look wider than carbon 

Don’t get me wrong, we can’t overinflate the importance of cutting CO2. But let’s park the carbon conversation for a minute.

The reality is that a narrow focus on this aspect alone, in the face of  a whole host of complex interrelated environmental and social issues, isn’t going to facilitate the bold and transformative change needed for a more positive future for our planet. 

Here’s what I think we should be looking out for. 

Recognising the bigger picture

I mentioned the planetary health check – let’s have a look at this in a bit more detail and see what it’s telling us. 

The assessment is based on looking at each of our nine planetary boundaries and how close we are to exceeding the limits within which humanity can safely operate (without causing significant irreversible environmental disruption). 

These ‘planetary boundaries’ are nine different processes and systems scientifically proven to regulate the health of our planet, supporting global stability, resilience and life-support functions (i.e. capable of supporting life and human development). Human activity is the biggest contributor to us breaching these boundaries and we’ve been increasing pressures on all of these processes since the first assessment almost 15 years ago. 

Interrelations galore

The beauty of the planetary boundary framework is that it very clearly shows that our environmental challenges are interconnected,  and collectively impacting our planet. One change in one area can affect the others (for better, and / or for worse) and can also cause feedback loops, yet we still frequently address them as separate issues. 

This is a crucial point for any of us working in a professional environment, with set ESG targets – carbon is often put in pole position, but opening a dialogue with leadership teams on other areas to focus on will allow for a wider, more balanced approach to impact.

Conveniently, the relationship between carbon emissions and other indicators which measure environmental impact do often have a mutual relationship (just look at deforestation and ocean acidification). However, where this link to carbon isn’t there or isn’t so explicit, (for example with pollution, biodiversity or resource scarcity), it’s easy for those kinds of impacts to fall through the cracks with unintended tradeoffs later down the road. 

“The interconnectedness of planetary boundary processes means that addressing one issue, such as limiting global warming to 1.5°C, requires tackling all of them collectively.” —Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research”

FIG 2 [Complex net of planetary boundaries], Source: L. Caesar*, B. Sakschewski*, L. S. Andersen, T. Beringer, J. Braun, D. Dennis, D. Gerten, A. Heilemann, J. Kaiser, N.H. Kitzmann, S. Loriani, W. Lucht, J. Ludescher, M. Martin, S. Mathesius, A. Paolucci, S. te Wierik, J. Rockström, 2024, Planetary Health Check Report 2024. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany. (*equal contributors to this work and designated as co-first authors)

Let’s go above and beyond just carbon

Our transition to low carbon energy sources and new technology is a prime paradoxical example of why we, as retail and logistics professionals, should widen our viewfinders. We’re in desperate need of transitioning away from fossil fuels, but in doing so our demand for critical minerals (for example for battery production) is only going to increase, which means more extraction of cobalt, nickel, lithium, copper, and rare earth elements. This, coupled with the fact that we’re collectively using three times more materials than we did 50 years ago, doesn’t paint a pretty picture for our future with more than 90% of global water stress and land-use-related biodiversity loss being due to raw material processing and extraction.

Resource scarcity, material footprint and our overconsumption habits are easily overlooked when we focus on carbon alone, and in high income countries, this is the main driver behind planetary overshoot and ecological breakdown. The situation demands bold and urgent action to shift to a more circular economy in logistics-land, which is clear when we look at social and environmental factors holistically. 

“In a world with finite resources, unlimited growth is a perilous illusion. We need bold, transformative change: drastically reducing overconsumption and waste, especially by the affluent” – The 2024 State of the Climate report

One of my favourite diagrams captures the reality of being blinkered from thinking more holistically . It’s based on the ‘carbon tunnel vision’ concept, coined by Jan Konietzko a few years ago, and factors in our planetary boundaries too:

FIG 3 [earth crisis blinkers ] https://bridgetmck.medium.com/earth-crisis-blinkers-explained-d04dcf0c2eab FIG 3 [earth crisis blinkers ] https://bridgetmck.medium.com/earth-crisis-blinkers-explained-d04dcf0c2eab

I find this diagram particularly impactful because it also demonstrates the inextricable link between social and environmental issues. This isn’t a new concept by any means; take the Doughnut Economics concept for example, which has been evolving since 2012. Despite this, all too often, the disproportionate environmental impacts on marginalised communities are still overlooked, and we’re perpetuating climate injustice.  

To prevent this , we should therefore be turning our attention more towards intersectional environmentalism.Why? Because we need an inclusive and equitable approach to achieve true environmentalism;  one that advocates for the protection of both people and the planet.

Our regeneration and transformation potential

Fortunately, sustainability and ESG reporting is evolving fast and the regulatory landscape is also changing. Frameworks and standards are becoming all-encompassing, beyond just carbon, across biodiversity, supply chains, water security, and pollution for example, so companies are being gradually pushed to act holistically. If you’re not exposed to these now, chances are that you likely will be in the future, so it’s worth keeping them on your radar.

Nonetheless, it’s not all just about jumping through hoops and a one-size approach never fits all, especially when dealing with nuances across industries and organisations in different stages of the sustainability journey. What I would highlight for now, however, is looking to align with circular economy principles as a strong foundation, and building on these – you can see how these conveniently factor into the planetary boundary web: 

FIG 4 [circular solutions, systems and links] https://www.circularity-gap.world/2024  

I think these concepts are somewhat underestimated and the circular economy is often perceived as just a fancy term for recycling… far from it! For whatever reason, most organisations frequently forget that regeneration, social outcomes, and connections to all of Earth’s key systems, particularly ecological aspects, are crucial to true circularity. Oh, and more often than not these principles will help your business on the emissions front too of course, a win win!  

To that end, I know that this topic and the realities we’re facing are  overwhelming. But you can’t act on what you don’t understand and what you aren’t aware of. I want to emphasise that this blog is coming from a place of empowering others (you!) to make a difference and support successful systemic change through knowledge sharing and staying engaged. Just think how incredible things could be if we could actually pull this off as a collective logistics industry. 

Going back to where we started with our Planetary Health Check, as Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Chair of the Planetary Guardians, describes “We can live a legacy of an even better world for future generations to thrive in partnership with Earth” – that’s what keeps me going and spurs me on to take more action. 

This piece was written by Ella Yarrow, Zedify’s Sustainability Manager. You can follow Ella on Linkedin here, or contact Ella via email at ella.yarrow@zedify.co.uk.