By Abbas Nazil
Seven of the nine critical planetary boundaries that define Earth’s safe operating space for humanity have now been breached, according to a new report by the Planetary Boundaries Science Lab at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
The report, released in the 2025 Planetary Health Check, shows that Ocean Acidification has for the first time been classified as breached, joining Climate Change, Biosphere Integrity, Land System Change, Freshwater Use, Biogeochemical Flows, and Novel Entities.
Experts warn that this development marks a dangerous shift as the oceans, long regarded as Earth’s stabiliser, are losing their capacity to absorb carbon and sustain marine life.
The report highlights how ocean acidification, driven by fossil fuel emissions, deforestation, and land-use change, has increased acidity levels by 30 to 40 percent since the industrial era.
Marine ecosystems, including corals, Arctic life, and tiny sea snails known as pteropods, are already showing damage, with consequences rippling through food chains and fisheries that support millions of people.
Scientists say this seventh breach signals an intensifying global risk of destabilisation, compounding threats to food security, climate stability, and human wellbeing.
Johan Rockström, director of PIK, described the findings as a flashing red warning light, stressing that more than three-quarters of Earth’s life-support systems are now beyond safe zones.
Despite the dire diagnosis, experts note that two boundaries—stratospheric ozone and aerosol loading—remain within safe limits thanks to global agreements such as the Montreal Protocol.
This, they argue, demonstrates that coordinated policies and international cooperation can reverse dangerous trends.
Planetary Guardians and leading scientists are calling for urgent global action, uniting science, policy, business, and Indigenous knowledge to safeguard ecosystems and prevent irreversible tipping points.
Failure, they warn, is a choice humanity cannot afford to make.