It is now less than one month until the United Nations Stockholm+50 conference kicks off in Sweden, where world leaders will meet to discuss the state of our only home – Planet Earth – and how to rebalance our relationship with nature. With just weeks left, pressure is mounting, and stakes are high. To safeguard the young people of today and future generations, the Stockholm+50 conference needs to deliver on its promises, go beyond empty words and greenwashing – and become a real turning point for our common future on this planet.
50 years ago, world leaders came together for the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden. This landmark conference set the foundation for international cooperation on environment and sustainability, with governments promising to work together to stop environmental degradation, promote human development and ensure a livable planet for future generations.
50 years later, the evidence speaks a clear language: our leaders have utterly failed us and broken their promises. Whilst some progress has been made, economic growth has largely benefitted a small share of the population at the cost of immense environmental destruction. Since the 1970s, we have seen a 70% decline in wildlife populations, CO2 emissions have doubled and four out of nine planetary boundaries have already been breached. The triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, all point to the pressing fact that we need to fundamentally redesign our societies to deliver on the long-term well-being of people across the world. Or else, our common future on this planet looks increasingly bleak.
As world leaders will now be traveling back to Sweden for the Stockholm+50 international meeting in June to follow-up on their broken promises and discuss the actions ahead, it is imperative that this becomes a real turning point towards a healthy relationship with our planet. We urgently need to move beyond empty pledges and meetings perpetuating the status quo, towards transformative policies and actions which ensures a better, more sustainable future for all.
First of all, we need a complete shift in our economies. This entails moving beyond our linear consumption and production patterns, towards an inclusive, circular economy that can deliver on safe, accessible and sustainable food, water, housing and energy for everyone. One in which equitable human development is prioritized above blind GDP growth. One in which polluters have to pay for the damage they do, and all harmful fossil fuel subsidies are fully removed. One in which our forests, oceans and other ecosystems are protected, and large-scale environmental destruction, ecocide, is criminalized under international law.
Secondly, we need to urgently halve our greenhouse gas emissions until 2030. The recent IPCC report made it very clear: we can no longer accept any new investments in fossil fuel infrastructure, whether it’s coal, oil or gas, as it will inevitably lead to carbon-lock in effects, stranded assets and human, economic and environmental devastation. To halt the expansion and utilization of fossil fuels and facilitate the transition to a renewable energy future, an international fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty should be established. In addition, developed countries need to promptly scale up their international climate financing to ensure a fair and just global transition for the benefit of all.
Finally, Stockholm+50 needs to set youth at the top of the agenda. As young people, we will be the ones having to deal with the future consequences of the decisions taken by world leaders, businesses and individuals today. Comprising over 40 percent of the global population, we have a crucial role to play in developing, implementing and shaping transformative actions for sustainable development. This requires innovative decision-making, expanded environmental education, financial support to youth organizations and the protection of young activists across the world. For Stockholm+50, this means ensuring an inclusive process where youth & children are given adequate space, where the voices of marginalized groups are meaningfully strengthened, and the outcomes reflect the ambition needed to save us from environmental breakdown.
Because we cannot accept more broken promises. We cannot let this be another conference of greenwashing and empty words. We cannot let another 50 years of planetary destruction continue. So let us all come together in Stockholm to ensure that, when our children look back at this moment in 2072, they will be proud of the future we shaped.
It is time to turn the tide.
About the author:
Björn is a 25-year-old sustainability advocate from Sweden and part of the Stockholm+50 Youth Task Force. He has previously led several civil-society organizations, represented Swedish youth at the United Nations, worked as a sustainability strategy advisor in the private sector and as a Climate Change Specialist at the UNFCCC in Asia-Pacific. He is currently a master’s student in Global Economic Governance and Public Affairs, based in France.
