Media Coverage Archives - Global Footprint Network

TUSKER CLUB: Fostering a Fair Debate on Sustainability

Amanda Diep — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 22:50:32 +0000

Tusker Club – Your experience making the case for sustainability has led you to work with governments, the private sector, and now civil society. What do you take away from this unique exposure?

Steven Tebbe – In many instances, I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. I led CDP in Europe when market-based mechanisms helped trigger policy responses. As a leading non-financial information disclosure platform, CDP was instrumental in facilitating support for the Paris Agreement at COP21 and paved the way for game-changing legislation at the EU level.

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FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Wie Unternehmen ihren Fußabdruck verkleinern

Amanda Diep — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 22:22:00 +0000

Sebastiaan Krol könnte es sich einfach machen. Als Vertreter der Kreislaufwirtschaft hat der Geschäftsführer von Interzero ohnehin einen Nachhaltigkeitsaufkleber auf der Stirn. Sein Unternehmen, das der gebürtige Niederländer seit Anfang 2022 führt, unterstützt andere Hersteller dabei, ihre Stoffströme zu schließen. Verpackungen in Form von Papier, Folien und Plastik, IT-Equipment wie Schaltanlagen oder Zwölf-Gang-Getriebe in der Autoindustrie: In diesen Feldern versprechen Krol und seine Mitarbeiter Fortschritt für Kunden.

Dabei besitzt Interzero Circular Solutions, das spezialisierte Geschäft von Interzero, das Krol als Vorstandsvorsitzender führt, selbst kaum Anlagen. Stattdessen kauft es Anlagekapazitäten anderswo hinzu und stellt aus den Reststoffen wieder Produkte her, die für die Wertschöpfung anderer relevant sind. 2 Millionen Tonnen Rohstoffe führt das Unternehmen, das über die Holding auch mit dem Entsorger Alba verbunden ist, in den Kreislauf zurück. Darunter ist ein Drittel der insgesamt 2,8 Millionen Tonnen Abfall aus dem Gelben Sack. Also wie gesagt, einen Nachhaltigkeitsaufkleber hat Krol ohnehin auf der Stirn.

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THE ECONOMIST: Humans tip into an ecological overdraft

Amanda Diep — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 22:34:33 +0000

Wednesday marks Earth Overshoot Day, the day on the calendar on which humans have used more resources than ecosystems can generate for the whole year. From now until January 1st 2024 humanity will be using more natural resources – including fish stocks, fibres and medicines provided by plants and the ability of forests to sequester carbon, among many other things – than the planet can supply this year.

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FORBES: Why Earth Overshoot Day Is The Most Serious Deficit We’re Facing

Amanda Diep — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 22:25:31 +0000

We all know the feeling of living beyond our means: That big night on the town on July 30 was one we’ll remember for weeks but can send us into crisis on August 1 when the rent is due. We wind up going into debt to maintain our lifestyles, a cycle that can lead us further into crisis.

For the past 50 years years, Earth has been in an ecological debt cycle. Humans routinely “spend” more than nature provides us on an annual basis. How do we know this? The Global Footprint Network draws an annual calculation: “Earth Overshoot Day is computed by dividing the planet’s biocapacity (the amount of ecological resources Earth is able to generate that year) by humanity’s Ecological Footprint (humanity’s demand for that year), and multiplying by 365, the number of days in a year.”

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RAI NEWS: Italia in overshoot day

Michelle Shaffer — Mon, 15 May 2023 14:53:11 +0000

Acqua, cibo e anche legno o gas. La lista delle risorse naturali è lunghissima e l’umanità le consuma a un ritmo impressionante. Il giorno in cui l’umanità esaurisce le risorse che il Pianeta è in grado di rigenerare nel corso dell’anno si chiama Overshoot day. La data cambia di anno in anno. A effettuare il bilancio ecologico per il mondo e per ogni singolo paese è l’organizzazione internazionale Gfn, Global footprint network tramite la metodologia dell’impronta ecologica.

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OPEN: Oggi si festeggia la Giornata della Terra, ma tra un mese l’Italia avrà già finito tutte le risorse naturali del 2023

Michelle Shaffer — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 16:32:30 +0000

Il 22 aprile 1970, il giorno in cui si è celebrata la prima Giornata della Terra, di pianeta ce ne bastava uno solo. Oggi, a 53 anni di distanza, ne servirebbero quasi due per soddisfare i consumi della popolazione mondiale. Le stime sono del Global Footprint Network, una rete di associazioni che si occupa di misurare l’impronta ecologica degli esseri umani. Ogni anno, gli esperti calcolano il cosiddetto Earth Overshoot Day, ossia il giorno in cui la Terra esaurisce le risorse naturali che è in grado di rigenerare nel corso di un anno solare. La data varia continuamente a seconda della rapidità con cui le risorse vengono sfruttate. Eppure, il trend non lascia troppo spazio alle interpretazioni: dagli anni Settanta ad oggi l’overshoot day è stato raggiunto sempre più rapidamente. Nel 1971, il primo anno a essere calcolato, la data è caduta il 25 dicembre. Nel 1980, l’8 novembre. Nel 2000, il 25 settembre. Nel 2022, il 28 luglio. «Dobbiamo ripensare il concetto di benessere e chiederci veramente se la qualità della vita sia determinata sempre e solo dal consumare», spiega a Open Alessandro Galli, senior scientist del Global Footprint Network e responsabile del programma per l’area mediterranea.

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SOCIAL JUSTICE MATTERS: Earth Overshoot Day with Dr. Alessandro Galli

Michelle Shaffer — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 15:02:17 +0000

Tomorrow, April 21st 2023, marks Ireland’s Country Overshoot Day. To explain what that means and Earth Overshoot Day, Dr. Alessandro Galli, Senior Scientist and Director of the Mediterranean-MENA Program with the Global Footprint Network chats with Susanne Rogers about how this date is worked out, Ireland’s country date and some of their policy proposals to help ensure we #movethedate.

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WEF: Special Address by António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations

Michelle Shaffer — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 16:51:20 +0000

The World Economic Forum convened its 53rd Annual Meeting in January to reaffirm the value and imperative of dialogue and public-private cooperation, not only to navigate the current cascading crises but, more importantly, to drive tangible, system-positive change for the long term. Finding ways to reinstitute a collective sense of agency and to turn defensive measures into proactive, vision-driven policies and business strategies was at the heart of the meeting. The magnitude of current crises and the potential of future ones demands no less.

At the meeting, UN Secretary-General António Guterres referred to one of our statistics during his special address, saying that “we are using 1.6 planets, but we have only one planet to use.” However, this statistic was pulled from an outdated study; today, we are using 1.75 planets. Listen in on his mention of this statistic at minute 25:30 in the recording of his special address.

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THE ASAHI SHIMBUN: 8 billion people are straining our Earth to the breaking point

Michelle Shaffer — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 23:54:56 +0000

The world population surpassed 8 billion in November, according to an estimate by the United Nations.

The evolution of human civilization has been the driving growth of the global population. Technological progress has led to increased food production and made more land and resources available for use.

Big waves of innovation such as the beginning of agriculture and the Industrial Revolution have accelerated population expansion.

Optimists may predict a bright future where people can obtain the things they need more efficiently, thanks to a major spurt of technological innovations, while food and energy will be shared more efficiently to sustain a smaller population.

But clearly there are limits to both the biological resources the Earth can produce and the underground resources that can be developed for consumption.

How many people could this planet sustain now?

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朝日新聞: 人口８０億人　地球の限界を考える

Michelle Shaffer — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 23:54:10 +0000

世界の人口が昨年１１月に国連の推計で８０億人を超えた。

人間は文明の発達とともに養える人口を増やしてきた。技術が進歩して食糧を増産し、利用できる土地や資源も広がった。農業や産業革命といった大きな技術革新で急速に増えてきた。

今後、人間が必要とする物資を効率的に得る飛躍的な技術革新が起きたり、人口が減少して食糧やエネルギーを分かち合ったりして暮らしていけば、明るい未来を描けそうだ、といった楽観論もあるかもしれない。

半面、地球が生産できる生物資源も、利用できる地下資源も無限ではない。

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