Abstract Background Human impacts on the environment are so great that we are at risk of changing the state of the planet from one that is hospitable to one that is hostile to humanity. Scientists have proposed nine Planetary Boundaries, global environmental limits within which the risk of changing the state of the planet is low, but already, four have been exceeded. Policy makers and scientists want to use the Planetary Boundaries as a tool for global environmental management. However, the Boundaries were intended as a gauge of the magnitude and urgency of the situation, not as a guide to resolving it. They are not easily applied to personal or policy action that is measurable or scalable. Here we show how the Planetary Boundaries can be translated into a framework for the management of the global environment, the Planetary Accounting Framework. Results The Planetary Accounting Framework is a new approach to environmental accounting in which environmental impacts are compared to global limits, the Planetary Quotas. The Planetary Quotas are limits for human activity, derived from the Planetary Boundaries. Each Quota is a limit for an “environmental currency” such as carbon dioxide emissions, or reforestation that can be scaled and compared to human activity using existing environmental assessment frameworks. The Quotas and Framework were developed by combining three key theories. Management theory shows that a multi-level, poly-scalar approach is needed to manage the global environment. Accounting theory highlights the importance of accounting against limits if a realistic approach to achieving change is sought. Environmental accounting theory demonstrates that there are different categories of indicators, and that only if indicators are uniformly in the pressure category can human activity be related to a limit and scaled accordingly. Conclusions The Planetary Accounting Framework shows how individual actions, strategies by firms, city level infrastructure, and national policies can be expressed in terms of the Planetary Boundaries. Decisions can now be made at different levels or sectors regarding policy, planning, technology, business operations, legislation, and behaviour in the context of global environmental limits. It enables the practical application and communication of the Planetary Boundaries to different scales of human activity. Additional file 1:Video abstract. (MP4 600 kb)