Making planetary boundaries science accessible and actionable: insights from the Planetary Boundaries Fresco workshop.

Recent assessments show that seven of the nine planetary boundaries have been crossed and are under increasing pressure. With Earth’s life-support systems weakening, the need for urgent action is clear: to secure a safe and just future for all, we need a whole-Earth approach that reduces the pressures on our planet and guides humanity back to the safe operating space. This is a major challenge that not only requires further developments in Earth system science but also complementary approaches that raise awareness and empower informed action across various domains.

With this contribution, we present the Planetary Boundaries Fresco, a participatory workshop designed to break down the complexities of Earth system science and carry it into the hearts of people and into the policies that shape our future. By combining storytelling, group exercises, guided discussions, and an interactive card game, the workshop format turns complex scientific concepts into an accessible, fun and action-oriented learning experience.

We share insights from the international development and scaling of the workshop, and discuss how it has supported engagement across education, business, policy and community levels. Drawing on facilitation and training experience, we highlight learnings of how participatory workshops and serious games can foster systems thinking, improve understanding of human pressures on the Earth system, and create space for reflection on uncertainty, trade-offs and collective responsibility. We argue that such experiences are key to support action across sectors and scales.