Johan

Rockström

PhD

Professor

johan.rockstrom@su.se


+46 8 674 71 83

@jrockstrom


Profile summary

  • Global sustainability
  • Sustainable development
  • Planetary boundaries
  • Public engagement
  • Policy
  • Water resources
  • Natural resource management

Johan Rockström is a professor in environmental science with emphasis on water resources and global Sustainability

Rockström is an internationally recognized scientist for his work on global sustainability issues. He helped lead the internationally renowned team of scientists that presented the planetary boundaries framework, first published in 2009, with an update in 2015. The nine planetary boundaries presented in the framework are argued to be fundamental in maintaining a “safe operating space for humanity.” This framework has been embraced as an approach to sustainable development, and has been used to help guide governments, international organizations, NGOs, and companies considering sustainable development.

Before focusing on the planetary scale, Rockström’s research aimed to address building resilience in water scarce regions, and is an expert on water resources. After completing a PhD at Stockholm University’s Systems Ecology Department in 1997, he spent nearly two decades working on applied water research in tropical regions. He has also published research on with agriculture systems, land use, and ecosystem services.

Aside from his research helping to guide policy, Rockström acts as an advisor to several governments and business networks. He also acts as an advisor for sustainable development issues at noteworthy international meetings, such as the United Nations General Assemblies, World Economic Forums, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conferences (UNFCCC, also known as COP).

He is chair of the steering committee for CGIAR’s Research Program on Water, Land, and Ecosystems; a member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN); as well as a member of several other committees and boards.

Rockström acts as chair of the advisory board for the EAT Foundation, a network that integrates knowledge on food, health, and sustainability to work towards providing environmental limits for healthy diets of the growing global population. He is one of 20 international scientists working on the EAT-Lancet Commission, an assessment of the global food system, and whether a transformation towards healthy and sustainable diets is possible. This assessment is the first systematic analysis of the food system at the global scale, and is due for completion in 2017.

Rockström has published over 100 research articles, including articles in Science and Nature, as well as 20 book chapters. He has also published four books: The Human Quest (2012) and Big World Small Planet (2015) with National Geographic photographer, Mattias Klum; co-authored Water Resilience for Human Prosperity (2014); and Bankrupting Nature (2012) co-authored with Swedish writer and politician, Anders Wijkman.

As a compelling speaker, he engages with popular media on issues relating to sustainable development. Most notably:

Awards and achievements (selected)

  • Laureate, Hillary Institute of International leadership (2017)
  • French distinction Knight of the Legion of Honour (2016)
  • Environmental Award (Deutsche Umweltpreis) (2015)
  • International Cosmos Prize (2015)
  • Zoological Society of London Award for Conservation Innovation (2015)
  • The Woods Hole Research Center's Lawrence Huntington Environmental Prize (2014)
  • Marsh Award for Climate Change Research, British Ecological Society (2013)
  • Agronomist of the Year, Swedish Association of Professional Scientists (2013)
  • Sweden’s Most Influential Person on the Environment, MiljöAktuellt (2012, 2013), and within the top 10 (2010, 2011, 2014)
  • FOKUS magazine Swede of the Year (2009)

Related info

ORCID #: orcid.org/0000-0001-8988-2983

 

Download high-res pictures

Photo credit: M. Axelsson/Azote

Share

Facebook
Twitter
Email

Publications by Rockström, Johan

A planetary boundary for green water

Journal / article | 2022

Wang-Erlandsson, L., Tobian, A., van der Ent, R., Fetzer, I., te Wierik, S., Porkka, M., Staal, A., Jaramillo, F., Dahlmann, H., Singh, C., Greve, P., Gerten, D., Keys, P., Gleeson, T., Cornell, S., Steffen, W., Bai, X., Rockström, J. 2022. A planetary boundary for green water. Nature Reviews Earth and Environment. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00287-8

Green water — terrestrial precipitation, evaporation and soil moisture — is fundamental to Earth system dynamics and is now extensively perturbed by human pressures at continental to planetary scales. However, green water lacks explicit consideration in the existing planetary boundaries framework that demarcates a global safe operating space for humanity. In this Perspective, we propose a green water planetary boundary and es...

Scientific mobilization of keystone actors for biosphere stewardship

Journal / article | 2022

Österblom, H., Folke, C., Rocha, J. et al. Scientific mobilization of keystone actors for biosphere stewardship. Sci Rep 12, 3802 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-07023-8

The biosphere crisis requires changes to existing business practices. We ask how corporations can become sustainability leaders, when constrained by multiple barriers to collaboration for biosphere stewardship. We describe how scientists motivated, inspired and engaged with ten of the world’s largest seafood companies, in a collaborative process aimed to enable science-based and systemic transformations (2015–2021). CEOs face...

Defining a sustainable development target space for 2030 and 2050

Journal / article | 2022

van Vuuren, D.P., Zimm, C., Busch, S., Kriegler, E., et.al. 2022. Defining a sustainable development target space for 2030 and 2050. One Earth, Volume 5, Issue 2, 18 February 2022, Pages 142-156, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2022.01.003

With the establishment of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), countries worldwide agreed to a prosperous, socially inclusive, and environmentally sustainable future for all. This ambition, however, exposes a critical gap in science-based insights, namely on how to achieve the 17 SDGs simultaneously. Quantitative goal-seeking scenario studies could help explore the needed systems' transformations. This requires a clear de...

Human well-being in the Anthropocene: limits to growth

Journal / article | 2021

Collste, D., Cornell, S.E., Randers, J., Rockström, J. & Stoknes, P.E. 2021. Human well-being in the Anthropocene: Limits to growth. Global Sustainability 4 e30, 1–9.

Transformation of the world towards sustainability in line with the 2030 Agenda requires progress on multiple dimensions of human well-being. We track development of relevant indicators for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1–7 against gross domestic product (GDP) per person in seven world regions and the world as a whole. Across the regions, we find uniform development patterns where SDGs 1–7 – and therefore main human nee...