THE ORBITAL Tracking the emergent movement for planetary systems governance

Tag

#climate

41 items

News (25)

EnergyNet and the Governance of Local Power

Viable Cities explores how local energy systems can reshape urban climate action — not just as infrastructure, but as participatory governance. The EnergyNet model, tested in Lund, treats energy as a coordinated system involving households, property owners, and municipalities.

Paul Hawken on Curiosity, Soil, and Fire-Triggered Succession

The author of Regeneration and founder of Project Drawdown reflects on what regenerative agriculture actually means — not as branding exercise, but as practice that must be felt, verified, and embodied through direct relationship with land and living systems.

The perverse arithmetic of coral reef recovery

Coral reefs could sustainably yield 9,000 additional meals per square kilometer — but only if communities dependent on fishing accept decades of reduced catch. A stark example of governance as temporal negotiation.

Digital Twins of Earth: Testing Governance Before the Crisis Arrives

ESA's Digital Twin Earth program creates real-time planetary simulations — not just to model floods or fire, but to stress-test governance responses before disaster strikes. It's scenario planning made operational, fed by satellite data and constrained by physics.

Sweden expands city climate coalition beyond pilot group

Viable Cities opens new call to expand beyond its 48-city Climate Neutral Cities 2030 initiative. The expansion tests whether collaborative governance models can scale — a recurring question in transition practice.

Two risk reports map a fracturing governance landscape

The Global Challenges Foundation and World Economic Forum release assessments showing seven of nine planetary boundaries breached, rising geoeconomic confrontation, and institutional erosion — all pointing to what GCF calls the need for governance that recognizes 'planetary commons cannot be negotiated with.'

AI for Sustainability Finds Its Test Ground in Taipei

Researchers, policymakers, and industry practitioners gathered in Taipei to explore how artificial intelligence can serve planetary resilience — examining not just technical potential but governance frameworks for equitable deployment.

Viable Cities opens internships in climate communications

Sweden's Viable Cities seeks communications interns to help 29 cities navigate climate neutrality transitions. The work touches a persistent challenge: how to make systemic change legible and compelling to publics who must ultimately enact it.

Luleå's transition exhibition: governance as public pedagogy

A Swedish industrial city places climate transition in a shopping mall — treating governance not as policy abstraction but as something residents encounter while buying groceries. The experiment tests whether municipal legitimacy can be built through visibility.

Actors (9)

C40 Cities

Cities as real climate governance actors. Mayors > nations.

Climate Justice Alliance

US-based coalition of 90+ frontline community organisations and support groups building a just transition away from extractive systems through community-led governance and regenerative economies.

Climate TRACE

AI + satellite global emissions monitoring. Al Gore-backed.

Global Rewilding Alliance

International alliance coordinating rewilding efforts across continents, advocating for rewilding as climate policy and bridging biodiversity and climate agendas.

Kiss the Ground

Soil health advocacy NGO producing documentary films, running farmer training programmes, and building public awareness of regenerative agriculture as a climate solution.

Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project

A US nonprofit collective rooted in the wisdom of frontline communities, working toward the liberation and restoration of land, labour, and culture through ecological justice. Developed the Resilience-Based Organizing model and the Just Transition framework (co-created with Climate Justice Alliance). Holds the principle that "if we're not prepared to govern, we're not prepared to win."

Superflux

Award-winning speculative design studio creating immersive installations and experiential futures that make abstract challenges like climate change tangible through embodied experience.

Transition Network

A global network of community-led initiatives — Transition Towns — working toward local ecological resilience and low-carbon economies. Founded by Rob Hopkins in Totnes, UK in 2007, the movement has spread to thousands of communities worldwide. Known for bottom-up, imagination-led approaches to community transformation that address climate, economy, and social connection simultaneously.

Viable Cities

Swedish strategic innovation programme for climate-neutral cities by 2030. Collaborates with Dark Matter Labs on System Demonstrators in Lund and Stockholm.

Projects (6)

10 New Insights in Climate Science

Annual publication led by Future Earth Sweden Hub synthesising the most critical new findings in climate science. Led by Erik Pihl at Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Exponential Roadmap

Reports translating complex climate data into actionable insights for halving global emissions every decade.

OpenClimate

Nested carbon accounting system with high verifiability to enable actions limiting global warming to 1.5C. Federated data commons incorporating subnational data into global commons.

Smart Covenants

Platform leveraging smart contracts and distributed ledgers to democratise public investment and recapture land value uplift generated by sustainable infrastructure. Developed with EIT Climate-KIC.

Swedish Citizens' Assembly on Climate

Historic national climate assembly (Medborgarrad om klimatet) convened spring 2024 to generate policy proposals on reducing national greenhouse gas emissions through nine hybrid meetings

Events (1)

Earth System Governance Conference 2026

Annual conference of the Earth System Governance Project, themed "Building just and sustainable futures for planetary integrity." Brings together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners working on the governance of Earth system change.

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