One Planet Living®
Imagine a world where everyone, everywhere lives happy, healthy lives within the limits of the planet, leaving space for nature. We call this One Planet Living, and we believe it’s achievable.
But globally we are living as if we have more than one planet. In fact, ecological footprinting shows that if everyone in the world consumed as much as the average person in western Europe, we’d need three planets to support us.
Our One Planet Living® framework
Using our learning from the BedZED eco-village, Bioregional created the One Planet Living sustainability framework – comprising ten simple principles and detailed goals and guidance – and developed it together with WWF.
Backed by science and many years of hands-on experience, it’s a highly flexible framework that is helping organisations around the world to achieve their vision of a brighter, better future.
The ten One Planet Living® principles:
Health and happiness
Encouraging active, social, meaningful lives to promote
good health and wellbeing
Equity and local economy
Creating safe, equitable places to live and work which
support local prosperity and international fair trade
Culture and community
Nurturing local identity and heritage, empowering
communities and promoting a culture of sustainable
living
Land and nature
Protecting and restoring land for the benefit of people
and wildlife
Sustainable water
Using water efficiently, protecting local water resources
and reducing flooding and drought
Local and sustainable food
Promoting sustainable, humane farming and healthy
diets high in local, seasonal organic food and vegetable
protein
Travel and transport
Reducing the need to travel, encouraging walking,
cycling and low carbon transport
Materials and products
Using materials from sustainable sources and promoting
products that help people reduce consumption
Zero waste
Reducing consumption, reusing and recycling to achieve
zero waste and zero pollution
Zero carbon energy
Making buildings and manufacturing energy-efficient
and supplying all energy with renewables
One Planet Living is our vision of a world where we can live happily within the Earth’s resources, and a straightforward framework to achieve this
Find out more
Who can use One Planet Living?
Anyone can use our One Planet Living framework - it's helped a range of different audiences achieve their sustainability ambitions, including:
- developers and housebuilders
- businesses
- local authorities
- tourist resorts and destinations
- schools and community groups.
If you are an individual, check out our actions for achieving One Planet Living.
If you are a local authority or community group that wants to use One Planet Living to create a better, more sustainable future for your local area check out how we can help.
How does it work?
The One Planet Living framework is designed to support you to create a 'One Planet Action Plan' that acts as a route map towards a more sustainable future for your organisation. It comprises:
- ten simple principles that cover all aspects of social, environmental and economic sustainability
- Detailed goals and guidance documents – these provide advice and ideas on the goals, actions, targets and indicators you could set for your 'One Planet Action Plan' - this is your plan to achieve One Planet Living.
We can give you support, tools and training to create a One Planet Action Plan, and we will endorse the best plans. Find out how to get started.
One Planet Living is different from other sustainability frameworks because:
- It puts people first – it’s grounded in the reality of how people live their lives rather than box ticking
- It’s holistic – nothing will drop through the gaps with our 10 principles
- It’s about true sustainability – there’s no greenwashing
- It reaches hearts as well as minds - One Planet Living is used to inspire people across the world to get involved in sustainable change.
There are now 1.4 million people around the world living in, working at or visiting organisations and communities with a deep commitment to One Planet Living.
Since the inception of the project, One Planet Living has helped us design and fine-tune a unique concept for a tourism resort based upon sustainability.
Marie Balmain, CSR and Foundation Director at Group Pierre & Vacances Center Parcs
What’s really exciting about One Planet Living is its ability to change hearts as well as minds. It’s a fantastic tool for making sustainability accessible to all.
Kevin Hydes, CEO of Integral Group and former chair of the World Green Building Council
Calculate your impact with the Global Footprint Calculator