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For over half a century, human demands on the planet have exceeded capacity as natural resource stocks have been depleted and waste, primarily in the form of atmospheric CO2, has been accumulated. According to Global Footprint Network, the organisation behind Earth Overshoot Day, 1.75 Earths would be required to match human consumption in 2022. Today’s milestone comes as the consequences of our impact on the planet are increasingly alarming, as heat waves, droughts and floods become ever more frequent.
Earth Overshoot Day marks the day of the year when humanity has used all the biological resources the Earth generates during the entire year, the remainder of the year being the global overshoot.
The bigger the margin by which we outstrip the planet’s rate of regeneration, the earlier in the year the date falls, this year landing on July 28.
At an event to mark the occasion in Quito, Ecuador’s Minister of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, Gustavo Manrique today said: “Earth Overshoot Day demonstrates that the current system of production and consumption is not compatible with the intention to continue to inhabit this planet.
“To better protect our natural resources and manage our demand for them, it is necessary to take concrete joint actions aimed at a new development model based on sustainability and regeneration.”
Earth Overshoot Day 2022 highlights the toll human activity is taking on the planet
Throughout most of human history, humanity used natural resources in construction and food production and released CO2 at rates within Earth’s budget.
The threshold was crossed in the early Seventies, and human consumption has outpaced the planet’s reproduction ever since, such that our accumulated ecological deficit is now equivalent to 19 years worth of planetary regeneration.
In 2018, Earth Overshoot Day slipped forward into July for the first time, meaning the global population consumed an entire year’s worth of resources in under eight months.
In 2020, the reduced emissions from locked-down economies around the world pushed the milestone back three weeks to August 22.
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Established in 2006 by Andrew Simms of the UK think tank New Economics Foundation, in partnership with Global Footprint Network, the date is determined by the ratio of the planet’s biocapacity to humanity’s ecological footprint.
Biocapacity represents the amount of ecological resources the Earth’s forests, grazing lands, cropland and fisheries are able to generate.
Ecological footprint measures the population’s demand for plant-based foods, livestock, timber, livestock, space for urban infrastructure and energy production.
60 percent of our footprint comes from carbon emissions alone, explaining the emphasis placed on net zero targets.
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Sourced from UN datasets, both measures can be expressed in standardised global hectares, so that the calculation comes down to how much biologically productive area is required to renew humanity’s demand for nature’s products.
The total ecological footprint increased by 1.2 percent on the year in 2022, while total biocapacity increased by 0.4 percent.
World biocapacity is now estimated at 1.5 global hectares per person, and humanity’s ecological footprint is 2.7 global hectares per person.
This means human consumption requires the natural resources of 1.75 Earths.
Country overshoot days can also be calculated by working out on which date Earth Overshoot Day would fall if everyone in the world consumed like the people in this country.
In 2022, the UK’s overshoot day was on May 19, meaning 2.6 Earths would be needed to accommodate everyone living like Brits.
Developed countries, especially those with a high population density, tend to exceed their budgets sooner, partially compensated on a global scale by countries with large ecological reserves.
Qatar was worst off, overshooting on February 10, the US doing so on March 13, Germany on May 4 and France on May 5.
India, Rwanda and the Philippines were among 50 countries to be within their ecological means for the year.
The #MoveTheDate campaign aims to push the overshoot date as far back in the year as possible, by encouraging countries to adopt a range of sustainability initiatives.
By making buildings more energy efficient and decarbonizing power Earth Overshoot Day could be set back by 21 days, according to a 2019 report by Global Footprint Network and Schneider Electric.
Cutting food waste in half worldwide could reclaim 13 days, and decreasing humanity’s consumption of meat could move the date back 17 days.
Most impactfully of all, halving global CO2 could save a whole 93 days.
Despite the alarming figures, environmental schemes already in place have helped slow the rate of decline in recent years, with Earth Overshoot Day moving down the calendar by less than one day per year on average compared to around three a year before then.