To better navigate current and future uncertainty and disruptive change, the strategic foresight initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) aims to put in place an institutionalised approach to foresight and horizon scanning. As part of this effort, UNEP and the International Science Council convened a Foresight Expert Panel who met in September 2023 to collectively interpret emerging signals of change distilled from a global survey. Four scenarios were developed at the global level, representing four possible visions of the world in 2050. The scenarios are neither “utopian” or “dystopian” visions, but rather, representations of possible futures used to facilitate discussions on issues, pathways and interventions which may affect planetary health and human well-being in the future.