Living in the ‘doughnut’: Reconsidering the boundaries via composite indicators

The concept of planetary boundaries (Rockström et al., 2009) and the need for social minima were integrated by Raworth (2012, 2017) into a ’doughnut-shaped’ framework, representing a ’safe and just space’ for humanity. Empirical assessments have revealed that no country currently falls within this ’doughnut’. However, to what extent do the results depend on the methodological assumptions, and could a less stringent metric, allowing trade-offs between indicators, improve these outcomes? Preserving the core of Raworth's theoretical framework, we address these questions by constructing two separate sets of composite indicators for the social and environmental dimensions. Following an uncertainty-based approach, we obtain the two sets by combining alternative normalisation, weighting, and aggregation techniques. This approach yields a new, easily communicable, and robust metric for the ‘safe and just space’. Our analysis strengthens previous findings, showing that even with less stringent criteria, no country currently falls within the doughnut, underscoring the substantial gap to be addressed in both social and environmental policies.