The international conference „Making the planetary boundaries concept work“, held April 24-25, 2017 in Berlin, Germany, followed on from conferences on planetary boundaries held in Geneva in 2013 and Brussels in 2015, and reflected on the progress made since then. The main aim of the conference was to bring together two groups of individuals: scientists engaged in developing and refining the concept of „planetary boundaries“, and policymakers and practitioners from all sectors of society who apply the concept in their activities („making the concept work“). From that encounter, new ideas, agendas and networks were to be formed. This conference documentation summarizes the main results as well as presents roadmaps for the scientific community, the political and the private sector.