Humanity’s global demand for ecological resources this year has already exceeded those that the Earth can regenerate in 12 months, according to researchers.
The point in time has been dubbed Earth Overshoot Day, which changes each year depending on consumption.
The day is identified by Global Footprint Network, an international research organisation that has recommend a range of tools that already exist that would push the date back.
It has also calculated country overshoot days, which is the date on which Earth Overshoot Day would fall if all of humanity consumed like the people in a given country.
If the world lived like the UK, this year it would have reached overshoot day by 19 May.
If the world consumed in the equivalent way to Qatar, it would overshoot its ecological resources by 9 February.
The researchers calculate a county’s overshoot day by tallying up the supply available in the form of its biologically productive land and sea.
They also measure the population’s demand for resources, such as food, agriculture, forest and other products, and its capacity to absorb its carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change.
Countries have an overshoot day if the ecological footprint per person, measured in hectares, is greater than global biocapacity per person.
So not all countries will have an overshoot day.
Global Footprint Network has also recommended tools to “help the human economy operate within Earth’s ecological limits”, thereby pushing back the overshoot day.
The tools they recommend include things like boosting resource efficiency in food production, highlighting the fact that animal calories are significantly more resource intensive than plant calories to produce.
They say a nutritionally balanced, vegetarian diet generates an ecological footprint 2.5 times lower than a diet comprising mostly animal-based proteins.
If we cut food waste in half worldwide, we would delay Earth Overshoot Day by 13 days, they said.
We could push it back a further 13 days by cutting our global footprint from driving by 50%, assuming one third of car miles were replaced by public transport and the rest by biking and walking.
Deploying commercial technologies for buildings, industrial processes, and electricity production, which already exist and are ready to go, could postpone Earth Overshoot Day at least 21 days, without any loss in productivity or comfort, according to their analysis.
List of all countries with an overshoot day in 2021
Qatar – 9 February
Luxembourg – 15 February
United Arab Emirates – 7 March
Bahrain – 9 March
Trinidad and Tobago – 12 March
Canada – 14 March
Mongolia – 14 March
US – 14 March
Kuwait – 14 March
Bermuda – 14 March
Oman – 22 March
Australia – 22 March
Estonia – 23 March
Denmark – 26 March
Aruba – 29 March
Belgium – 30 March
South Korea – 5 April
Latvia – 6 April
Sweden – 6 April
Austria – 7 April
Brunei Darussalam – 8 April
Kazakhstan – 8 April
Lithuania – 10 April
Cayman Islands – 10 April
Finland – 10 April
Norway – 12 April
Saudi Arabia – 12 April
Malta – 13 April
Israel – 16 April
Russia – 17 April
Czech Republic – 17 April
Turkmenistan – 22 April
Netherlands – 27 April
Ireland – 27 April
Slovenia – 30 April
Poland – 4 May
Germany – 5 May
Reunion – 5 May
Japan – 6 May
France – 7 May
Switzerland – 11 May
Montserrat – 11 May
Slovakia – 13 May
Italy – 13 May
Portugal – 13 May
Bhutan – 14 May
New Zealand – 15 May
Martinique – 16 May
Chile – 17 May
Antigua and Barbuda – 17 May
Belarus – 19 May
UK – 19 May
Greece – 22 May
Montenegro – 23 May
Guadeloupe – 25 May
Spain – 25 May
Malaysia – 30 May
Cyprus – 31 May
French Polynesia – 1 June
Barbados – 6 June
Croatia – 6 June
China – 7 June
Hungary – 8 June
Bulgaria – 10 June
Bahamas – 10 June
Turkey – 16 June
Bosnia and Herzegovina – 17 June
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya – 18 June
British Virgin Islands – 19 June
Romania – 21 June
Lebanon – 25 June
Argentina – 26 June
Tonga – 30 June
Iran – 30 June
South Africa – 4 July
Paraguay – 8 July
Bolivia – 9 July
Guyana – 10 July
Mauritius – 10 July
North Macedonia – 10 July
Brazil – 27 July
Fiji – 27 July
Suriname – 31 July
Grenada – 31 July
Serbia 31 – July
Botswana – 1 August
Ukraine – 8 August
Mexico – 11 August
Thailand – 15 August
Costa Rica – 16 August
Samoa – 20 August
Saint Lucia – 22 August
French Guiana – 8 September
Mauritania – 10 September
Algeria – 11 September
Dominica – 12 September
Venezuela – 13 September
Panama – 14 September
Djibouti – 16 September
Viet Nam – 18 September
Georgia – 25 September
Gabon – 26 September
Tunisia – 28 September
Peru – 29 September
Namibia – 5 October
Albania – 12 October
Ghana – 13 October
Lao People’s Democratic Republic – 20 October
Uzbekistan – 20 October
El Salvador – 21 October
Azerbaijan – 23 October
Jordan – 30 October
Colombia – 2 November
Eswatini – 6 November
Moldova – 9 November
Papua New Guinea – 16 November
Cuba – 17 November
Jamaica – 19 November
Iraq – 20 November
Equatorial Guinea – 20 November
Armenia – 21 November
Guatemala – 24 November
Egypt – 24 November
Morocco – 26 November
Dominican Republic – 29 November
Nicaragua – 2 December
Cabo Verde – 6 December
Ecuador – 7 December
Myanmar – 8 December
Guinea – 14 December
Chad – 16 December
Indonesia – 18 December
Sao Tome and Principe – 27 December
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