There is growing global momentum behind innovation for sustainable development. Yet one of the most significant implementation gaps remains our inability to fully mobilise all sciences and all forms of knowledge in support of transformative action towards equitable wellbeing on a healthy planet.

Addressing today’s interconnected challenges calls for the integration of basic and applied sciences, natural and social sciences, and traditional and local knowledge into impact-oriented initiatives that operate at every scale—from villages and provinces to nations, regions and the global community. Only through such an inclusive approach can we work towards equitable wellbeing on a healthy, lively planet at all scales, for a better world—the slogan of the Earth-Humanity Coalition.

Transdisciplinarity means bringing together academic researchers across all scientific disciplines with non-academic partners, including citizens, policymakers, the private sector, NGOs and local communities. Rather than viewing science as something produced in isolation, we see it as a collaborative process that co-creates practical solutions to real-world challenges.

Ultimately, multiple organisations and thousands of transdisciplinary hubs, academics and non-academics alike, should be collaborating, all over the world to implement solutions. This is exactly what the International Science Council calls “flipping the science model”, where scientists, instead of staying in their ivory tower, co-construct the solutions to problems with the citizens who are affected by them.

To create the conditions for this to happen, we must work towards equitable, regenerative and circular economies powered by decarbonised energy systems while strengthening intercultural dialogue and peace.

Equally important is rethinking how we measure progress. Alternatives to GDP, including the UN Human Development Index, the Genuine Progress Indicator inspired by the Club of Rome, and Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index, offer more comprehensive ways of assessing human well-being and should play a much greater role in guiding public policy.

The Earth-Humanity Coalition is already putting this vision into practice through a growing network of partnerships under the umbrella of the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (IDSSD). Together with the World Academy of Art and Science, we are strengthening links between the sciences and the humanities. Through the UNESCO BRIDGES Coalition, we are engaging the social sciences and diverse knowledge systems. With the Club of Rome, we are advancing efforts to reconcile the Earth and humanity. Together with IUPAP, we are organising a global conference on Physics for Equitable Well-being on a Healthy Planet. We are also collaborating with JINR through initiatives that demonstrate how science can bring nations together, building on successful models such as CERN, JINR and SESAME, all of which have long demonstrated the power of scientific cooperation across political boundaries.

One initiative is particularly close to my heart. Together with CERN, we are exploring how Zenodo—the open-access repository supported by CERN and the European Commission—could become a collaborative platform for transdisciplinary hubs around the world. Beyond scientific publications, it could host narratives, reports, audio, video and other knowledge products emerging from local initiatives, with teachers and librarians playing a key role in facilitating exchanges between academic and non-academic communities.

As the IDSSD UNESCO Global Report concludes, we need a platform to translate the momentum towards sustainable development into shared capacity, investing in education, enabling access to infrastructure, and advancing responsible governance so that the scientific future is built on inclusion and trust.

Today, more than ever, we need to reconcile humanity with itself. We need to reconcile progress with humanity. We need to reconcile Earth and humanity.