Operating within Planetary Boundaries without compromising well-being? A Data Envelopment Analysis approach

As humanity's impact on the environment continues to increase, it brings with it an increased risk of abrupt and irreversible changes at the global scale. The Planetary Boundaries (PBs) framework, introduced in 2009, identifies a safe operating space for several processes deemed critical to the continued stability of the Earth system. At a national level, countries face the challenge of limiting their environmental impact while enabling their inhabitants to lead happy lives. Different economies of various types and stages of development exhibit varying emissions and resource needs, yet they all exert pressure on the same Earth system processes. Considering this broad context, here we apply Data Envelopment Analysis to assess the efficiency of nations in “converting” their environmental impact into a happy populace, or, in other words, the environmental efficiency of well-being. We further calculate aspirational improvement targets for countries violating one or more PBs and identify trends within income categories as defined by the World Bank. We found that only around one third of the 151 countries analysed operate efficiently, with only 12 of them doing so within PBs. Following best practices, most countries could meet PBs while increasing their happiness level at the same time. Conversely, reductions in well-being would be required for most high-income countries to operate within PBs, though none by more than 18%. Overall, this work highlights both the differences and similarities between nations concerning how they provide well-being while providing high-level targets towards the global goal of conserving the Earth system without compromising our well-being.