“The diagnosis is unequivocal,” say the authors of the Planetary Health Check 2026 report. Seven of the nine Planetary Boundaries have now been breached, and all seven are at their highest recorded levels of transgression.
The list includes climate change, change in biosphere integrity, land-system change, freshwater change, modification of biogeochemical flows, the introduction of novel entities and ocean acidification.
Only stratospheric ozone depletion and atmospheric aerosol loading show improvement over the past decade, although the authors warn that global progress may conceal unsafe aerosol levels in some regions.
Ocean acidification is the most recent boundary to have been breached, in 2025, and this changes the overall picture. “Pressure is increasing on every Planetary Boundary already outside the safe operating space,” said Boris Sakschewski, the report's lead author. “This means that the risk of large-scale, persistent and potentially irreversible changes is growing, while our margin for error in addressing these problems is shrinking.”
Johan Rockström, PIK director and co-author, adds that humanity does not have the luxury of time, but it does have the knowledge, capacity and solutions to change course. “Accelerating action to return to the safe operating space across all Planetary Boundaries is essential to protect lives and livelihoods, and to fulfil the promise of shared future prosperity,” he noted.
The report follows twelve months of extreme events on land and in the oceans. Human-caused warming intensified several major extreme weather events, while degraded ecosystems, water stress, land-use changes, exposure and social vulnerability often amplified their impacts. The 2025 monsoon floods in Pakistan affected more than 6.9 million people. Ocean heat content reached a new record in 2025, with Hurricane Melissa rapidly strengthening to Category 5 and striking Jamaica after passing over exceptionally warm seas.
From January 2023 to September 2025, bleaching-level heat stress affected about 84.4% of the world's coral reef area, making this the largest global coral bleaching event recorded to date. In 2026, Western Europe experienced its hottest June–July period on record, with drought in France, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom and major fires in Europe and Canada. Record heat was also recorded in Japan, South Korea and parts of the Middle East.
Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, chair of the Planetary Guardians, called for that list to be read again: Pakistan, the Caribbean, Europe, the reefs beneath the oceans. “These are not separate emergencies; the planet is telling us, in every region at once, that it is out of balance,” she said. As she explained, the 2026 report puts data behind what frontline communities already know, and humanity cannot afford to treat these crises separately.
Former Colombian president and vice-chair of the Planetary Guardians, Juan Manuel Santos, stressed that every movement requires patience, trust and the will to keep going even when stopping would be easier. “The report tells us that we need that same collective resolve now, applied to the entire planet. Seven of the nine boundaries have been broken, and no nation can restore them alone; this is a peace process that the whole world must commit to, together, starting now,” he said.
Particular concern is expressed about natural carbon sinks. Vegetation and soils absorb a significant share of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions, but repeated heatwaves, drought, fires and ecosystem degradation can reduce carbon uptake and, in some regions, turn ecosystems from carbon sinks into carbon sources.
This year's report examines whether the models used to calculate the land carbon sink may be overestimating its resilience. “Our path to net-zero emissions depends on functioning carbon sinks. Current observations sound the alarm that our planet may be losing its ability to absorb the pressures we place on it,” Sakschewski concluded.
The Planetary Health Check 2026 report was produced by Planetary Boundaries Science (PBScience) in collaboration with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. The Planetary Guardians, a group of leaders committed to elevating the science of Planetary Boundaries into a framework for measurement and action worldwide, present the findings as a call for collective action.
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