092 Planetary Boundaries & Health with Mia Heide from WELA

Planetary boundaries, wellbeing & healthcare with Mia Heide (WELA)

What does it actually mean for human health that we’ve now exceeded 7 out of 9 planetary boundaries – up from 6 out of 9 in 2023 – and how should healthcare systems respond?

In this episode, we're joined by Mia Heide, engineer and researcher at WELA – Wellbeing Economy Lab, to unpack the latest science and what it implies for policy, practice, and care pathways. Sustainable Healthcare Podcast …

We talk about:

• What the planetary boundaries framework is – and why it’s about hard limits, not “nice-to-have” goals
• The new 2025 assessment showing we’ve transgressed 7/9 boundaries, and what changed since 2023
  
  
• How to downscale planetary boundaries to a country level (e.g. Denmark) using different sharing principles – equal per capita, capacity to reduce, historical responsibility, and “grandfathering”
  
  
• Why some principles give wealthy countries like Denmark a negative carbon budget, and why “equal” is not the same as “fair”
  
  
• The concept of decent living standards – what’s the minimum energy and material footprint needed to secure basic human needs globally?
  
  
• Health impacts of specific boundaries once we overshoot them, including:
  • Climate change: extreme weather, heat stress, displacement and food security
  • Freshwater change: water scarcity, sanitation breakdown, conflict risk
  • Novel entities (PFAS, microplastics, synthetic chemicals): cancer risk, hormone disruption, fertility impacts – and why this is hugely under-discussed in public health
    
    
• The uncomfortable paradox: we need to meet basic needs and stay within limits – and every tonne of CO₂ still counts
  
  
• Why healthcare decarbonisation must be seen in a two-way relationship:
  • Healthcare activities impact planetary boundaries
  • Overshooting those boundaries, in turn, undermines population health and health system resilience
    
    
• Where Mia still finds motivation and drive in 2025 – and why “a different world is possible” is not just a slogan

About our guest – Mia Heide & WELA
Mia Heide is an engineer and researcher at WELA – Wellbeing Economy Lab, a Danish, independent think tank working for a wellbeing economy where societal progress is measured by the ability to create good lives for all within planetary boundaries – now and for future generations.

Resources & links mentioned

• Mia’s working paper (in Danish)
  “Trivsel inden for de planetære grænser” – WELA working paper on planetary boundaries, wellbeing and health
  👉 WELA publications page: https://www.wellbeingeconomylab.com/udgivelser
• Decent living standards & minimum energy
  Millward-Hopkins et al. (2020): “Providing decent living with minimum energy: A global scenario”
  👉 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378020307512
• Planetary boundaries & latest assessments
  • Richardson et al. (2023) – updated assessment of the planetary boundaries (Stockholm Resilience Centre)
  • Planetary Health Check 2025 – Executive Summary (global status update)
    👉 https://www.planetaryhealthcheck.org/wp-content/uploads/PlanetaryHealthCheck2025_ExecutiveSummary.pdf

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