Georgie Burgess
10 December 2025: A new snapshot into the state of the present and future environment has been published with the seventh edition of the Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-7) released today, with the University of Canberra’s Professor Sotiris Vardoulakis coordinating a chapter of the report.
Professor Vardoulakis is the Director of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Healthy Environments And Lives (HEAL) National Research Network. He is currently investigating how to turn community centres into shelters for communities facing heatwaves and bushfire smoke in Australia, and was the coordinating lead author for the chapter on air.
He says that the latest GEO-7 report is the most comprehensive scientific assessment of the global environment to date.
“The report assesses not just the state of the environment, but also the trends we are seeing across the globe and how we can address the Triple Planetary Crisis,” he said.
“When we talk about that crisis it means climate change, environmental pollution, biodiversity loss and land degradation.
“So, it is a complex and multidimensional crisis that has serious implications for human health and well-being. It impacts everybody.”
The report was created by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and is released every five years. Almost 300 experts from 82 countries have provided their insights to create this latest version – 800 reviewers also assisted with getting the study ready for publication.
Professor Vardoulakis said he was proud to be part of a body of work that represents a truly global assessment, which is reflected in the authorship of the report.
“It brings together not just Western science and data but also Indigenous knowledge from groups with different traditions and systems – the report really takes a more holistic approach to address the environmental problems we are facing, which is very timely and important.”
Professor Vardoulakis said that the Global Environmental Outlook report, first published in 1995, is now much closer to the end game of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), planned to be completed by the end of the decade.
“We’re getting very close to the deadline for implementation and that is reflected in this report and how much it is focused on action,” he said.
“It is about how we can implement the Sustainable Development Goals, to make life healthier by reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions across multiple sectors of the society and the economy.”
Focused largely on decarbonisation, particularly in the energy sector, the report has provided several recommendations in relation to different sectors, including the transport industry and the circular economy, as well as addressing biodiversity loss and the effects of climate change on food systems on the global stage.
“What we try to do with the report is to accelerate the pathway to implementation for international as well as local solutions that aim to protect the environment and human health,” Professor Vardoulakis said.
“Here in Australia, we are moving in the right direction for decarbonisation with the release of the first National Climate Risk Assessment, the National Adaptation Plan, and the Net Zero Plan earlier in the year – but this report sets the global scene and helps provide a range of solutions which are relevant, and will reinforce policies that already exist, and instigate new policies.”
The full report can be accessed via the link here.
