Hypothetical Examples of Key Challenges

• Fos­sil fuel-based ener­gy devel­op­ment in Chi­na con­tributes sig­nif­i­cant­ly to CO2 emis­sions, dri­ving cli­mate change that threat­ens bio­di­ver­si­ty glob­al­ly, and dri­ving air pol­lu­tion in mega-cities, sig­nif­i­cant­ly ele­vat­ing res­pi­ra­to­ry disease.
• Poor man­age­ment and glob­al­iza­tion of South­west Pacif­ic fish­eries endan­gers crit­i­cal fish pop­u­la­tions and low­ers access to local food sup­ply and income for local communities.
• Lim­it­ed sup­ply chain con­trol by large food com­pa­nies hin­ders cor­po­rate sus­tain­abil­i­ty and pro­motes defor­esta­tion and unsus­tain­able agri­cul­ture prac­tices that threat­en the major­i­ty of ter­res­tri­al trop­i­cal species in decline.
• Poor access to san­i­ta­tion in India con­t­a­m­i­nates rivers, dri­ving threat­ened endem­ic species declines, con­t­a­m­i­nat­ing drink­ing water sup­plies, and dri­ving high child mal­nu­tri­tion rates.
• Lax build­ing codes in Wash­ing­ton DC pro­mote high imper­vi­ous sur­face area, high and con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed stormwa­ter runoff that con­tributes to com­bined sew­er over­flow and pol­lu­tion of the Potomac Riv­er, dam­ag­ing fresh­wa­ter habi­tat and restrict­ing recre­ation­al swim­ming and fish­ing use of the river.
• Lim­it­ed reg­u­la­tion on sit­ing of renew­able ener­gy infra­struc­ture in East­ern Africa dri­ves habi­tat con­ver­sion in crit­i­cal areas and takes key agri­cul­tur­al lands out of pro­duc­tion, reduc­ing local access to food and employment.