Emerging from our narrow disciplines: trying to find solutions to carbon neutrality and the world’s multiple other challenges

The world is facing multiple challenges. We are in the midst of climate and nature emergencies, with freshwater security, food security and human health and wellbeing also threatened, yet as scientists, we are trained to focus on narrow disciplines. This is also reflected in the way we address problems globally, often focusing on one issue at a time, and having separate United Nations (UN) bodies, e.g. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platformon Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO), to suggest solutions. In this short perspective article, I outline some of the factors leading to our narrow disciplinary focus and present some outcomes of recent efforts globally to start to work across disciplines which attempt to find solutions that can help address multiple problems at the same time. I will draw on work contributing to the IPCC and IPBES and conclude with the best ways in which such interventions can be implemented.