The degree and complexity of the coming changes in human society is mindboggling. This is not a situation that responds well to detailed top-down planning. The framework should be the minimum necessary to allow a balance to emerge between social need and respect for the environment whilst running stable economies. The detail has to be worked out within communities where there is the commitment to act and the willingness to compromise to reach solutions. The biggest effective community is the nation state. The fundamental basis of effective world policy must, therefore, adhere to the principle of subsidiarity. Global coordination and control should apply only in areas where solutions cannot be found at national level or where global coordination is more effective than national action.