We're on a collision course with the planet. But with public support, that can change | Larry Elliott

Smart, activist states could prove as effective at handling the biodiversity crisis as they have at tackling the pandemic

Let's be honest: few government-commissioned reports make a real difference. Often ministers call on an expert to look into a contentious issue in the hope of kicking it into the long grass, and when a weighty tome duly arrives with uncomfortable recommendations, it is quietly ignored.

It is easy to see how the review into the economics of biodiversity by the Cambridge University academic Prof Sir Partha Dasgupta could be one of those that gathers dust in the Treasury, because it has a tough message. Put simply, Dasgupta says humanity - all 7.8 billion of us - is on a collision course with the planet. Our current economic system is unsustainable and endangers the prosperity of current and future generations.

Larry Elliott is the Guardian's economics editor