One of the ten successful projects of the prestigious GACR EXPRO competition is the project "Pathways to Environmental Sustainability" by Jan Weinzettel, head of the Environmental Footprint Laboratory at our Centre. EXPRO projects aim to promote scientific excellence through superior conditions and are intended for experienced scientists with a groundbreaking idea. The evaluation process is carried out exclusively by international scientists.
Project abstract
Human society risks exceeding the capacity of several Earth system processes, with the potential to cause irreversible environmental change. Nine planetary boundaries have been suggested to quantify this risk, which might in turn been “downscaled” to a national level to motivate political action. However, there is no systematic allocation of responsibility of nations, no insights into how fast we are approaching the boundaries, and limited foresight into actions that affect multiple earth system processes. In this project, we will explore a range of mitigation options by changing production technology and consumption on a global level. We will focus on the transgressed planetary boundaries from the consumer responsibility perspective. We will further develop state-of-the-art enviroeconomic models, and scenarios of future development. The outcomes will be policy relevant scenarios of potential future development of production technology and consumption within the capacity of the Earth systems and an insight into trade-offs and synergies of potential technical and behavioral changes.
Project objectives
Determine the potential scenarios of future development in technology and consumption, which will ensure national footprints of all countries to be within the downscaled planetary boundaries.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
