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If we know we need to take action on climate change, why aren\u2019t we doing it? That\u2019s the fundamental question posed by a new UN report which offers a theory of why change is so difficult.<\/p>\n
2025\u2019s Interconnected Disaster Risks report<\/strong><\/a> from the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) finds that our systems are no longer serving us.<\/p>\n When it comes to climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and other big environmental crises, its authors say many of today\u2019s solutions are superficial fixes that can even impede real change.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSociety is at a crossroads,\u201d says Professor Shen Xiaomeng, director of UNU-EHS. \u201cFor years scientists have warned us about the damage we\u2019re doing to our planet, and how to stop it. But we aren\u2019t taking meaningful actions.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the consequences of climate change intensifying, fossil fuel emissions are still reaching new heights<\/strong><\/a>. Species<\/strong><\/a> are going extinct at unprecedented rates, yet humans continue to plunder ecosystems. Though the waste crisis is already apparent, household waste is projected to double by 2050.<\/p>\n \u201cTime and again, we see the danger ahead, yet we keep moving towards it. In many cases, we see the abyss, we know how to turn around, and yet we confidently keep walking towards it. Why?\u201d asks Prof Xiaomeng.<\/p>\n The UN experts take a more holistic view of human behaviour to answer this and propose five areas where deep systemic changes are urgently needed.<\/p>\n What is the theory of deep change?<\/p>\n Having made the links between disasters and highlighted planetary tipping points<\/strong><\/a> in previous editions, this year\u2019s report presents a path forward: the theory of deep change (ToDC).\u00a0<\/p>\n It looks to the root cause of problems, identifying the structures and assumptions in society that allow those problems to persist.<\/p>\n Picture a river clogged with plastic<\/strong><\/a>, for example. While our immediate response might be to bemoan the waste management system and lack of recycling, the ToDC points to the mass production systems and proliferation of single-use plastics upstream<\/strong><\/a> that lead to so much waste in the first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n Deeper still, it locates the assumptions that led to the creation of those systems, such as people’s belief that \u2018new is better\u2019 or that material production and consumption are signs of progress.<\/p>\n Rotten roots produce rotten fruits, the scientists say. So it\u2019s the roots we need to focus on to really produce better outcomes for the planet.<\/p>\n \u201cOur report shows that many of the actions we take, as well-intentioned as they are, won\u2019t work as long as there is a whole system working against us,\u201d says Caitlyn Eberle, lead author of the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n New analysis<\/strong><\/a> from the World Resources Institute (WRI) bears this out, too. It finds that efforts focused exclusively on changing personal behaviours – and not the overarching systems – only achieve around one-tenth of the emissions-reduction potential that changes for the climate could have. It\u2019s much easier to go carless if your city has a good public transport system, for example.<\/p>\n The UN report sets out five changes we need to make on a deeper level to avoid climate catastrophe and design a better world, looking at some positive examples that are already working around the world.<\/p>\n Two billion tonnes of household waste is produced globally every year – enough to fill a line of shipping containers wrapped around the equator 25 times.<\/p>\n This plant-squeezing amount is clearly unsustainable, and the report calls for shifting to a circular economy<\/strong><\/a> that prioritises durability, repair and reuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n It praises Kamikatsu in Japan, a town that has achieved a recycling rate four times above the national average by embracing circular strategies such as composting, upcycling and clothing exchanges.<\/p>\n Centuries of seeing the natural world as something to be exploited have led to deforestation, species extinction and ecosystem collapse, the report states, eroding our own vital resources.<\/p>\n The report gives the example of the Kissimmee River in Florida, US, which was channelised in the 1960s to try and control future floods<\/strong><\/a>. This dried out 160 square kilometres of wetlands, led to a massive decline of species, and actually made flooding worse for downstream communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n Happily, it has now been restored; species have returned, and the wetlands are again serving as a sponge, storing billions of gallons of water to help prevent flooding during storms.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Earth is shared by 8.2 billion people, but the use of resources and the burden of climate change are extremely far from being equal. The poorest half of the population suffers 75 per cent of relative income losses due to climate change, despite being responsible for just 12 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n This unjust situation is giving rise to ever more contorted \u2018solutions\u2019 such as carbon offsetting, according to the report. Rich countries are avoiding ambitious climate goals by neutralising their emissions with tree planting in other parts of the world. Meanwhile, the climate-wrecking emissions continue.<\/p>\n The Montreal Protocol<\/strong><\/a> of 1987 – which successfully reduced ozone-depleting substances by 98 per cent – is held up as a model of genuine international cooperation that overlooked national borders.\u00a0<\/p>\n We know that short-term thinking dominates decision-making and can create long-term problems for future generations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nuclear energy, for example, is often considered a clean alternative to fossil fuels, but it produces radioactive waste with a lifespan of over 10,000 years – beyond our current capability to dispose of.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the opposite end of the spectrum, an example of a positive legacy is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault<\/strong><\/a>, which preserves the world’s crop seeds from war, disease and other catastrophes, protecting biodiversity for future generations.<\/p>\n Finland<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s Committee for the Future, meanwhile, advises on policies with multi-generational impacts.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Close](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/icon-cross-10x10-grey-6.svg.svg+xml\"){kind=icon}
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