To tackle planetary emergencies such as climate change, and the trends and issues shaping today’s and tomorrow’s world, we have to understand their systemic properties, such as tipping points, interconnectedness and resilience. The OECD and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) have expertise and experience in applying systems thinking to propose new approaches to achieving this understanding.

The systems approach can promote cross-sectoral, multidisciplinary collaboration in the process of policy formulation by taking proper account of the crucial linkages between issues generally treated separately within different specialisations and scientific and institutional “silos”. The approach provides a methodology to achieve a better understanding of the non-linear behaviour of complex systems and improve the assessment of the consequences of policy interventions.