Billed by the organizers as a ‘moment of reflection; a time to focus on the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss’, what did Stockholm+50 manage to achieve in concrete terms? And how can the science community contribute to the momentum?

Future Earth engaged heavily in the event via the Earth Commission, our CODES project and in convening scholarly voices in partnership with the International Science Council, Stockholm Environment Institute. We also contributed to the S+50 commissioned future finance report led by the Stockholm Resilience Centre. Our engagement objectives were nuanced, but all centered under the umbrella of underlining the importance of evidence-based policymaking as a cornerstone of good governance.

Ten key recommendations emerged from Member States and delegates in the outcome document, Agenda for Action, Renewal and Trust.  The conference synthesis emphasizes the need to adopt evidence-based policymaking including enhanced collaboration between academic disciplines and sources of knowledge. 

‘‘We are pleased that messages from science influenced the official conference outcomes, including placing human well-being at the center of work towards a healthy planet. But gaps remain,” said Wendy Broadgate, Global Hub Director, Future Earth Sweden. “In order to accelerate at the speed and scale required during the remaining eight years of the UN Decade of Action, Science-based-targets for the global commons need to be integrated into policies and supported by concrete multilateral accountability mechanisms,’’ Broadgate continued.

The Earth Commission is defining Earth system boundaries (ESBs) for a stable and just planet and in early 2023 will publish these findings. These boundaries will be translated for operationalisation into science-based-targets for countries, cities and companies and will be championed by Future Earth and the Global Commons Alliance at multilateral processes.

Stockholm+50 Momentum

Additional pathways for engagement following S+50 are highlighted by Ligia Noronha, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Head of UNEP in her round up blog here. The Future Earth collaboration launched at the conference, CODES Action Plan for a Sustainable Planet in the Digital Age is pointed to by Noronha as an engagement initiative that can be transformational, help build trust, scale actions and leapfrog forward action.

Future Earth launched the CODES action plan at S+50 with partners including United Nations Environment Programme, International Science Council and more than 1,000 stakeholders from over 100 countries. The project goal is to utilize digitalization to help transform society and business models to a more sustainable and equitable world. Following the launch, Eliane Ubalijoro, Canada Global Hub Director for Future Earth, Executive Director, Sustainability in the Digital Age and CODES co-champion said, ”As co-champions, we look forward to implementation of impact initiatives in line with the three shifts we see essential to drive a sustainable digital future: 1. Aligning digitalisation with sustainable development; 2. Mitigating negative impacts with sustainable digitalization; 3. Accelerating digital innovations for our sustainability goals.”

Sign up for more information on CODES here

Access recordings of S+50 Future Earth activities here

Find out more about the Earth Commission here