NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 9 – Investing in a stable climate, healthy ecosystems, sustainable land use and a pollution-free planet could unlock trillions in global GDP, save millions of lives and lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and hunger.The finding is contained in the Global Environment Outlook, Seventh Edition: A Future We Choose (GEO-7), launched during the seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) in Nairobi, is the product of 287 multidisciplinary scientists from 82 countries.According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, desertification, pollution and waste are already costing the planet trillions of dollars annually. Staying on current development pathways would sharply escalate these losses according to the report considered the most comprehensive global environmental assessment ever undertaken.However, whole-of-government and whole-of-society transformations—across economic and financial systems, energy, food systems, materials and waste, and environmental governance—could generate global macroeconomic gains of up to US$20 trillion per year by 2070, with benefits continuing to grow thereafter.A key enabler of this shift is moving beyond GDP to indicators that account for human and natural capital, incentivising circularity, clean energy, sustainable agriculture, ecosystem restoration and climate-resilient development.“The Global Environment Outlook lays out a simple choice for humanity: continue down the road to a future devastated by climate change, dwindling nature, degraded land and polluted air, or change direction to secure a healthy planet, healthy people and healthy economies. This is no choice at all,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen.She noted significant progress already made—from global environmental agreements to the rapid expansion of renewable energy, the growth of protected areas and the phase-out of toxic chemicals—and urged nations to accelerate investments in planetary health.GEO-7 presents two transformation pathways: one driven by behavioural change that reduces material consumption, and another centred on technological innovation and efficiency gains. Both predict macroeconomic benefits starting in 2050, rising to US$20 trillion annually by 2070, and surging to US$100 trillion per year beyond that.The pathways also project major human and ecological benefits including nine million premature deaths avoided by 2050 through reduced air pollution.It will also see nearly 200 million people lifted out of undernourishment and more than 100 million people lifted out of extreme poverty.Additionally, UNEP expects reduced exposure to climate risks and a rebound in natural land cover.Achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and adequately funding biodiversity restoration will require about US$8 trillion in annual investments until mid-century—far less than the cost of inaction.The report identifies five areas requiring sweeping changes including economy and finance; materials and waste; energy; food systems; and the environment, urging parallel, integrated policies across all sectors.It highlights the essential role of Indigenous and Local Knowledge in ensuring just transitions that safeguard both human well-being and environmental sustainability.GEO-7 also calls on governments, multilateral institutions, the private sector, civil society, academia and Indigenous Peoples to recognise the urgency of the global environmental crisis and co-design solutions for a sustainable future.The report details the consequences of business-as-usual development models, noting a 1.5 per cent annual increase in greenhouse gas emissions since 1990 reaching a record high in 2024.It also notes the high toll with climate-linked extreme weather events over the past two decades costing US$143 billion each year.Other consequences listed in the report are between 20–40 per cent of global land degradation, affecting more than three billion people, one million of eight million species facing extinction, and nine million deaths annually blamed on pollution, with air pollution alone costing US$8.1 trillion in 2019.Without urgent action, global temperatures could exceed 1.5°C in the early 2030s, surpass 2°C by the 2040s, and continue rising—cutting global GDP by 4 per cent by 2050 and 20% by 2100.Land degradation is projected to continue at current rates, erasing fertile land equivalent to the size of Colombia or Ethiopia annually, while climate impacts threaten to reduce per-capita food availability by 3.4 per cent by 2050.Meanwhile, the world’s 8 billion tonnes of plastic waste will continue to accumulate, driving health-related economic losses of US$1.5 trillion annually from toxic chemical exposure.GEO-7 uses a suite of interconnected models to quantify alternative transformation scenarios, assess environmental risks and evaluate socio-economic outcomes, capturing critical interdependencies across global systems.