Humanity is living beyond its means, which results in an environmental dilemma – because it is living at the expense of the Earth. Every year, the consumption of resources outstrips the natural regenerative capacity of our planet. This year's Earth Overshoot Day will be announced on 5 June.
And that means that, in little more than half a year, humanity has already used up nature’s renewable resources. Or to put in another way: in 2023, the average person will have used up the natural resources of around 1.7 Earths.
This dramatically highlights the fact that we have exceeded our planetary boundaries. Sustainable existence would mean an Overshoot Day that falls on 31 December – or even later. In this case, humanity would only require the resources that it can regenerate, or less.
Overshoot Day views the Earth’s resources from the perspective of supply and demand. The supply side equates to the entire biocapacity of Earth – the amount of resources it can provide and the amount of waste and emissions it can absorb. Forests, fields, lakes, seas and other natural ecosystems are key here. Along with these habitats, differing biological productivity plays a decisive part in determining biocapacity.
The demand side equates to the environmental footprint of humanity as a whole – the surface area required for the production of resources that all of us require in a given year.
Once demand outstrips the supply of available resources, you have “overshoot”. The exact formula for determining Earth Overshoot day is:
(biocapacity of Earth/environmental footprint of Earth’s population) * 365 days
Back in the 1970s, Earth Overshoot Day fell in December. Since then it’s steadily shifted to earlier in the year, and it has been arriving in August since the 2010s. There are many different reasons for this trend:
All of this accelerates climate change, which in turn contributes to the loss of natural ecosystems.
The trend is absolutely clear: we are using more resources all the time. If the world’s population continues to grow in line with UN forecasts, there will be 9.7 billion people on the plant by 2050 – and every year they will consume the resources of three Earths. To prevent that, we need to make our lifestyles sustainable.
In 2020, COVID-19 showed us that transformation is possible. Through actions taken to combat the pandemic and the reduction in economic activity, Earth Overshoot Day didn’t fall until 16 August – around two weeks later than the previous year. But this trend didn’t last long; in 2021 it was back to 29 July.
The strategy for a sustainable future is based on three central aspects:
The #MoveTheDate campaign aims to offer specific approaches. It puts the focus on five areas (planet, cities, population, energy and food) to push Earth Overshoot Day back to 31 December.
Ultimately, we can only shift Earth Overshoot Day to later in the year if humanity adopts a way of living that is more sufficient and efficient. This includes each of us reducing our own carbon footprint. What can private individuals do? Find out in our FAQ on meaningful measures for counteracting climate change.
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Sources:
Country Overshoot Days 2024 - Earth Overshoot Day (footprintnetwork.org)
You can find further exciting information on the subject of climate change and climate protection in our climate booklet
