Exploring positive tipping points
The climate and nature crisis demands speed. Without a dramatic shift in pace, we won’t meet global targets for nature and climate. But what if some of the biggest breakthroughs don’t come from massive investments or decades-long plans—but from carefully placed nudges that tip whole systems into self-sustaining change?
The CBA’s Chief Programmes Officer Talia Smith was a speaker at the Global Tipping Point conference at the University of Exeter on 3 July.
The conference explored the latest breakthroughs in understanding both negative and positive tipping points. Talia’s session focused on positive tipping points in nature-based sectors, such as food, agriculture, fisheries and land use. Positive tipping points are moments when change becomes contagious – for example the rapid shift from coal to renewables in the UK, or the electric vehicle boom in Norway. At some point, momentum builds, barriers fall, and what was once niche becomes the new normal.
“Crucially, these tipping points don’t just happen in energy or transport, but can happen in nature recovery too”, Talia pointed out. For those working on nature regeneration, peatland restoration, regenerative farming, or rewilding, the idea of positive tipping points could be transformational – a forthcoming academic paper offers a new framework and process for nature-based solutions.
Other speakers in the session included CBA Trustee Tanya Steele, author George Monbiot and other leading experts.
