A planetary boundary for green water

Wang‐Erlandsson, Lan; Tobian, Arne; Ent, Ruud J. van der; Fetzer, Ingo; Wierik, Sofie te; Porkka, Miina; Staal, Arie; Jaramillo, Fernando; Dahlmann, Heindriken; Singh, Chandrakant; Greve, Peter; Gerten, Dieter; Keys, Patrick; Gleeson, Tom; Cornell, Sarah; Steffen, Will; Bai, Xuemei; Rockström, Johan

doi:10.1038/s43017-022-00287-8

Cited by 163 publications

(150 citation statements)

References 210 publications

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“…In comparing historical and pre-industrial states of the freshwater cycle, we followed the general approach of Wang-Erlandsson et al (20) with certain changes related to data and methodology. First, instead of custom runs using the global dynamic vegetation model LPJmL 5.1 forced with bias-corrected and downscaled CMIP6 climate data (20), we used the ISIMIP 2b global hydrological model outputs that are forced with bias-corrected climate data from CMIP5 (39). Second, we chose to define the grid cell scale local pre-industrial bounds strictly cell-wise and performed annual aggregation by monthly averaging.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To acknowledge these limitations, recent studies have proposed sub-dividing the freshwater PB into blue and green water components and adopting a bottom-up, area-based approach (1,11,20). Recently, a provisional analysis of Wang-Erlandsson et al (20) proposed that the freshwater PB should describe change rather than use, and found a likely transgression of the green water component. Yet, previous works have not assessed how the blue and green water components coevolve, or where the geographical hotspots of change are located.…”

Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although it is likely that buffers in the Earth system allow for greater variability in the water cycle compared to the pre-industrial period, the precautionary principle of the PB framework (8) motivates a conservative placement of the new PB for freshwater change at the lower level of scientific uncertainty. We consider this to be at the upper end (95 th percentile) of pre-industrial variability range, which can be regarded as highly precautionaryalthough an even stricter boundary placement could also be justified, due to signs of weakened Earth system resilience (20) and the complex interactions between freshwater and other PBs (35).…”

Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to different and sometimes competing functions of different elements of the water cycle, we divided the freshwater change analysis into green and blue water components. For green water, we followed Wang-Erlandsson et al (20) who suggested, after an extensive literature review, that root-zone soil moisture is the most suitable control variable for representing the Earth system functions of green water. For blue water, we selected river streamflow as the control variable to represent its Earth system functions.…”

Section: Control Variables and Baselines Of Freshwater Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…S1a, b). The definition of local pre-industrial bounds differs from Wang-Erlandsson et al (20) who drew the 5 th and 95 th percentiles from the values in a grid cell and its eight neighboring grid cells. We chose to be stricter in this definition because using a neighborhood in determining the local pre-industrial bounds can potentially set them unrealistically wideespecially in the case of streamflow.…”

Section: Identifying Local Deviationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Global water cycle shifts far beyond pre-industrial conditions – planetary boundary for freshwater change transgressed

Porkka¹,

Virkki²,

Wang‐Erlandsson³

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Human actions compromise the many life-supporting functions of the global freshwater cycle. Yet, an encompassing analysis of humanity’s aggregate impact on the freshwater cycle is still missing. We compare the current state of the freshwater cycle against a stable reference state by estimating the global area experiencing streamflow and soil moisture deviations beyond pre-industrial variability range. We propose replacing the current freshwater use planetary boundary (PB) with our thus-defined freshwater change PB. Our analysis indicates unprecedented change: locally, the impacts of e.g. climate change, land use, and dams, are clearly visible. Globally, we find 70% and 44% increases in areas experiencing streamflow and soil moisture deviations. This suggests a transgression of the PB, calling for urgent actions to reduce human disturbance of the freshwater cycle.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Control Variables and Baselines Of Freshwater Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Identifying Local Deviationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Global water cycle shifts far beyond pre-industrial conditions – planetary boundary for freshwater change transgressed

Porkka¹,

Virkki²,

Wang‐Erlandsson³

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Managing and accounting for corporate biodiversity contributions. Mapping the field

2022

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Biodiversity loss has been assessed by natural scientists as the key sustainability problem where planetary boundaries are exceeded most dramatically. In contrast to these findings, surveys among companies find that biodiversity receives least priority among all sustainability issues. This raises the question about barriers for corporate biodiversity management, available accounting and management approaches and the role of research to overcome these barriers as well as to motivate managers and enable change. This conceptual paper maps biodiversity management as an emerging research field and highlights the importance of management accounting to support effective corporate biodiversity management. We propose a framework for managers to assess what their impact is on biodiversity and what the impact is of biodiversity on their businesses. The framework helps managers to identify how their businesses are impacted by biodiversity and how they can contribute to stopping biodiversity loss and to regenerating biodiversity. The paper discusses key levers for corporate biodiversity contributions and deducts conclusions for research and practice.

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Business accountability in the Anthropocene

Grabs

2023

Env Pol Gov

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The arrival of the Anthropocene requires a profound rethinking of business accountability. A central challenge in this age is the possibility of pushing past planetary boundaries, which may irreversibly propel the Earth system into a new equilibrium that is less hospitable for human civilization. Businesses drive many of the processes contributing to such boundaries, and are powerful political actors who may shape or obstruct the necessary transformations to our socio‐economic systems. We therefore need to reconsider their accountability, focused on the following guiding question: Who (in business) should be accountable to whom for what? The answer to this question has important implications for environmental policy and governance. Drawing on a range of recent conceptual and policy developments, I present four major lines of thinking for reconsidering business accountability in the Anthropocene context: to rethink the purpose of business; to acknowledge companies' expanded but shared accountability for productive activities; to heighten collective and individual liability for past and future actions linked to overshooting planetary boundaries; and to recognize business accountability for influencing political and societal processes. Each of these lines of thinking imply policy changes related to, inter alia, corporate governance, due diligence, liability, and lobbying laws. I further call on businesses to actively participate in the large‐scale transformation necessary to keep within planetary boundaries by changing not only their production processes, but also product portfolios, business models, legal forms, and political and societal engagement; and highlight avenues for future research.

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A planetary boundary for green water

Abstract: Important note To cite this publication, please use the final published version (if applicable).Please check the document version above.

Cited by 163 publications

References 210 publications

Global water cycle shifts far beyond pre-industrial conditions – planetary boundary for freshwater change transgressed

Global water cycle shifts far beyond pre-industrial conditions – planetary boundary for freshwater change transgressed

Managing and accounting for corporate biodiversity contributions. Mapping the field

Business accountability in the Anthropocene

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