Because while the world may feel divided, there remains a shared yearning — for security, for fairness, for a planet that can sustain us all.

The external environment in which we all work has grown more complex, and more consequential. As our statement on the US presidency in November mentioned, people want change. Geopolitical tensions are fracturing long-standing alliances. 

Economic systems are under pressure from inflation, inequality, and unsustainable growth models. Political shifts are reshaping how nations cooperate — or don’t — on the most urgent issues of our time.

For a climate and nature network like the Global Commons Alliance, this is not just background noise. These changes deeply impact our ability to drive forward systems change for a safe and just future for all. As global institutions falter, new networks of trust are emerging.

This is a time not just of disruption, but of reconfiguration. This presents our movement with great threat, however there is also an opportunity now, which we must take, for old systems to be renewed and replaced.

Spurred by these changes in the external environment and following a deep assessment with the wider ecosystem which is seeking to build a just world on a safe planet, the Global Commons Alliance is adapting and transforming.

Despite progress achieved by the original members of the Alliance and many others, major barriers remain:

• Earth-system science appears complex and hard to engage with for non-scientific audiences. 
• Powerful actors lack incentives to act on scientific warnings.
• Economic and financial systems remain largely unchanged.
• Policy influence is too weak at both national and global levels.
• Culture wars are leading to sections of society becoming antagonistic towards the solutions we need and even to the values which underlie our ambition for a just world on a safe planet.
• There’s too little philanthropic funding: climate mitigation, for example, gets less than 2% of all giving. Nature-focused support is but a fraction of that.
• Systems-level change is critical but seen as too complex which leads to many organizations focusing attention within ‘silos’. 

At the root of these challenges is a deeper issue: the systems-change ecosystem itself — spanning civil society, philanthropy, business, media, and public institutions — is fragmented, misaligned, and underpowered.

The Alliance is reshaping to bring together diverse partners across sectors, geographies, and worldviews united by a shared vision of a just world on a safe planet. A lean secretariat will help create alignment and shared purpose, put together and facilitate partnerships, strengthen collaboration and enable collective learning.

This evolution reflects our belief that no single organization can solve the crises we face. Only collective action, rooted in science and solidarity, will do.

To drive the systems change needed for a just world on a safe planet, we need collective stewardship and coordinated action. That’s why the Alliance is bringing together more diverse actors —  from civil society, philanthropy, business, and government around a shared mission — to safeguard and restore Earth’s life-support systems, equitably, now.

Rooted in science, the Alliance will be facilitated by a nimble secretariat across sectors, issues, and roles. It will provide guidance and connections to the scientific community to help translate and apply Safe and Just boundaries, as well as safeguard the vital Earth systems in different contexts. The Alliance will facilitate shared analysis and strategy, and build trust and coordination mechanisms. And it will align each member’s unique strengths with the collective effort. 

The Alliance’s primary focus and value add will be through the levers of change outlined below, that cut across sectors, addressing systems like finance and economics or governance, where it will convene ‘communities of practice’ and more focused ‘working groups’.

• Synthesize & Translate the ‘Safe and Just’ Science: Operationalize safe and just boundaries and interrelated scientific concepts for ‘laymen audiences’ and build ‘commons literacy’.

• Build a Powerful Commons Narrative & Cultural Shift: Make global commons governance an aspirational norm that we all share responsibility for—like democracy or human rights.

• Establish New Governance, Policy & Legal Frameworks: Integrate safe and just boundaries and Earth System Justice into policy and governance from the local to the global levels.

• Change Economic & Financial Systems and Incentives: Align economic interests with global commons governance.

The Alliance will complement the many existing focused coalitions that drive change within systems and sectors — such as the energy or food systems transitions — highlighting the interconnections and interdependencies between Earth system domains and sectors.

There is a clear need to boost philanthropic investment in these systemic transformations. The Global Commons Alliance Secretariat and wider membership will work with our philanthropic networks to bolster their support for such efforts and to build enthusiasm for such approaches amongst wider philanthropic funders — increasing the funds available for systems change programs which seek to build a just world on a safe planet.

This work will remain grounded in the best available science. The Earth Commission’s Safe and Just Space provides the clearest picture yet of what a liveable future looks like and is regularly being updated and deepened. That science is now shaping real-world policy and investment — from companies setting science-based targets for nature, to countries aligning national budgets with planetary boundaries.

Our role is to help these insights move faster, reach further, and be implemented in ways that center justice and equity. The Science-Based Targets Network is helping the corporate world turn scientific thresholds into action. The Accountability Accelerator is ensuring that ambition is matched by credibility. Initiatives like Systems Change Lab are tracking the global transitions needed — across energy, food, finance, and more. Transformational shifts require mass public support. Earth HQ continues to play a key role. shifting public perceptions and beliefs on these issues

We are not powerless. By working together, real change will happen – even in the face of geopolitics.

The seeds of a Safe and Just world are being planted everywhere, we need to ensure our ecosystem flourishes to bring that world into reality.

This is our invitation: join us.

As a member of the Global Commons Alliance you can play a critical role, as part of a growing alliance, building the systems, institutions, and relationships that can hold humanity and nature in balance.

Because no matter who is in power, or how the world shifts politically, the scientific facts cannot be ignored: the shared responsibility to safeguard Earth’s vital life-support systems remains and gets ever more urgent.

To drive the systems change needed for a just world on a safe planet, we need collective stewardship and coordinated action. As a growing Alliance we celebrate those who are protecting and restoring the global commons for all people, now.

Explore the systems-change ecosystem which is already accelerating this work in the next chapter.