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Global household material use is highly unequal: the top 10% drive roughly a third of footprints and most of the overshoot beyond safe limits. Curbing affluent overconsumption, while securing decent material floors, should be a central policy lever to cut material demand quickly and fairly.
River protection in the United States remains scant, with just over one-tenth of river length in the contiguous states protected at viable levels, often by land-based protection measures that fail to capture the full diversity of the nation’s river systems. There is an urgent need for policies that safeguard, strengthen and expand freshwater protections to secure rivers that sustain both people and nature.
Governments worldwide collected US$923 billion in fuel taxes in 2023, revenues at risk with the transition to electric vehicles, especially in lower-income countries. Policymakers should anticipate and assess their own domestic exposure and develop policies to recover enough revenues from electric vehicles as the transition progresses.
