A new report launched today by UNU-CPR, Frontiers Policy Labs and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research sets out concrete pathways to address the accelerating planetary crisis, drawing directly on the work of leading scientists recognized by the Frontiers Planet Prize – an international scientific competition that awards three prizes of $1 million to scientists who accomplish breakthrough research advancing planetary health solutions.
From Science to Policy: Planetary Solutions in Action synthesizes insights from 25 fourth edition champions of the 2026 Frontiers Planet Prize, selected from over 730 institutions across 69 countries. The Prize is chaired by Professor Johan Rockström, an internationally recognized scientist on global sustainability and Earth resilience.
Released in the context of intensifying environmental pressures – including the crossing of seven of nine planetary boundaries – the report highlights both the scale of the challenge and the opportunity for coordinated policy action. It identifies four priority pillars for immediate and achievable intervention: decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors, managing increasingly volatile water systems, protecting biodiversity within productive landscapes, and driving economic and institutional transformation for sustainability.
An accompanying foreword from Tshilidzi Marwala, Rector of the United Nations University and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, underscores both the urgency of the challenge and the imperative to act: “The challenge is no longer identifying solutions but deploying them at scale, with precision, and without delay.”
The report underscores a critical gap between scientific knowledge and policy implementation. First, it shows that environmental risks are often underestimated, with current policy frameworks failing to account for rapidly evolving dynamics such as methane emissions, hydrological instability and ocean acidification. Second, it highlights the growing availability of advanced analytical tools – from spatial mapping to emissions tracking – that enable more precise and cost-effective interventions.
A central message emerging from the analysis is that the primary barrier to progress is no longer technological. While viable solutions already exist across multiple sectors, their deployment is constrained by fragmented governance, misaligned incentives, market dynamics and institutional inertia. Realigning policy frameworks, regulatory systems and economic incentives is therefore essential to unlocking existing solutions at scale.
Read From Science to Policy: Planetary Solutions in Action here.
