Review of academic research on planetary boundaries, with a particular lens of its applicability to electronics production and use.

Summary

• As companies are beginning to move towards setting science-based sustainability targets, businesses still remain largely focused on their carbon footprint as their primary sustainability measurement

• While carbon emissions (and the resulting climate change) are indeed absolutely important to global environmental sustainability, there are other earth system processes that need to be supported, that are not captured through a carbon-only perspective

• In addition, looking at the earth systems processes themselves allows us to see the “lagging indicators” more directly reflecting the health of the planet

• The planetary boundaries framework—developed originally in 2009 by Rockström et al (and later updated in 2015 by Steffen et al)—remains an important holistic scientific framework for monitoring the resilience and stability of the planet’s ecosystem

• The planetary boundaries framework puts quantitative limits on key variables related to earth system processes that should not be passed, or else we will risk the breakdown of the planetary system, creating conditions inhospitable to human life

• There was no research found specifically focused on electronics and planetary boundaries, however, there are clear links to be made between the two topics