In reality, these companies present a strong value proposition, as failing to prepare for a predictable future of climate change and resource constraints is against their self-interest. Additionally, a company’s contribution to global overshoot is measurable. After three decades of providing robust country overshoot data, a similar approach is now needed for companies.

The key question is: How much does a company reduce global overshoot per million dollars market capitalization? In other words, if the company did not exist, where would global overshoot stand per million dollars market capitalization?

For most companies, due to their existence, global overshoot increases, and hence Earth Overshoot Day arrives sooner. But some companies—circular businesses—reduce global overshoot as they grow. Here is one example. If you want to get even more inspiration, check out the Power of Possibility with over 100 examples.

This is also relevant to investors. Because, once the question can be answered for companies, it becomes possible to measure as well for a portfolio how much it moves global overshoot per million dollars investment. We still have not seen an impact investment portfolio that has tracked its impact on global overshoot, let alone one that actually reduced global overshoot. Should they then even be called impact funds?

Even conventional portfolios: Would they not be better off having, at least as a hedge, companies in their mix that will maintain value in a future of climate change and resource constraints?

Additional Resources:

• Power of Possibility examples
• Overshoot impact of companies: How to assess
• Analytical insights such assessments enable
• Whitepaper on one planet prosperity
• Overshoot: is there good news?

The post Companies’ value creation in times of overshoot appeared first on Global Footprint Network.

By comparing the Ecological Footprint with the planet’s biocapacity, it tells us when each year’s Earth Overshoot Day occurs. Falling on August 1^st means that humanity is currently using nature 1.7 times faster than our planet’s ecosystems can regenerate. It is like using 1.7 Earths. Overshoot is possible because we can overuse and deplete our natural capital. This compromises humanity’s resource security. The costs of this global ecological overspending are becoming increasingly evident in the form of deforestation, soil erosion, biodiversity loss, and the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The latter leads to climate change, more frequent extreme weather events and lower food production.

Earth Overshoot Day held steady for nearly a decade. It already occurs just after 7 months of the year have passed. The remainder of the year represents the overuse which adds depletion and loss to the biosphere. Even as the date holds steady, the pressure on the planet keeps increasing. This is making the situation ever riskier, since damage from overshoot accumulates over time.

Overshoot will end. The question is how: by design or by disaster. The preferable option is through deliberate efforts.

It takes focus, innovation, and effort to succeed, as athletes have demonstrated in every Olympics. For instance, Jesse Owens, the fastest runner of the 1936 Olympics, powerfully highlighted the menace of racism. Back then, humanity may have used about 0.6 Earths. Dick Fosbury revolutionized the high jump at the 1968 Olympics, when humanity used little under one Earth. By 1988, when Olympian sailor Lawrence Lemieux stopped from his lead position to rescue two capsized competitors, humanity already used 1.3 Earths. In 1992, when the US basketball team won gold, humanity’s demand went down again to 1.2 Earths. In 2008, as Usain Bolt started to break Olympic records, human use had grown to 1.6 Earths. Will we have the resolve to move out of overshoot at record speed?

Solutions that #MoveTheDate are available and financially advantageous. Significant opportunities are to be found in five key areas: Cities, Energy, Food, Population, and Planet. The Power of Possibility highlights options that move Earth Overshoot Day. For instance, cutting CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel burning by 50% would #MoveTheDate by three months. There are also businesses that #MoveTheDate as they expand. Such businesses may be the ones best positioned to gain value in a future of climate change and resource constraints.

For Media Contact: media@footprintnetwork.org

The post Earth Overshoot Day 2024 approaching appeared first on Global Footprint Network.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – 14 SEPTEMBER – New research coordinated by Global Footprint Network’s sustainability scientists in collaboration with food system experts published the article “EU-27 Ecological Footprint was primarily driven by food consumption and exceeded regional biocapacity from 2004 to 2014” today in Nature Food. The way food is provided to and consumed by Europeans represents the largest share of their Ecological Footprint at around 30 percent. The study points to the need for designing, implementing and enforcing policies across each stage of the food supply chain to advance towards the EU Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategy.

From farm to fork, food systems generate many pressures on ecosystems including land use and land use change, water depletion and pollution, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gas emissions. “People in Europe are eating beyond their means in terms of imports, carbon emissions, and land and water use,” explains article author Professor Roberta Sonnino, Centre for Environment and Sustainability and Fellow of the Institute for Sustainability at the University of Surrey. “The tendency to intervene either on the supply or on the demand side isn’t working. Rather, we need a systemic approach to address them together, as well as looking at trade policies. Instead of taking a scattergun approach, national governments must implement holistic food policies based on evidence – the sort of evidence contained within this research,” Sonnino affirms.

Humanity’s demand for biological resources and ecosystem services far exceeds the planet’s capacity to regenerate biological resources and sequester carbon dioxide emissions, as shown by the progression of Earth Overshoot Day. Similarly, and for the data analysed in the study, the Ecological Footprint of EU-27 residents constantly exceeded the region’s biocapacity and depended upon resources from outside the region to meet EU lifestyle demands.

“The EU Green Deal and the Farm to Fork strategy position the EU as a global leader in the transition towards more sustainable food systems and societies. However, as nearly 25 percent of the biocapacity needed to support the diets of EU-27 residents originates from non-EU countries, our analysis suggests that solely applying Farm to Fork objectives to the domestic agricultural sector will not be sufficient to meet the EU decarbonization targets and instead shifts environmental impacts to non-EU countries,” states lead author and coordinator of the research Alessandro Galli, Ph.D., Director for Mediterranean and MENA Regions, Global Footprint Network.

“Supply-side changes alone are likely insufficient to make the EU-27 food system sustainable in the terms described by the Farm to Fork Strategy. Including both nutritional and sustainability perspectives into national food-based dietary guidelines, changes in food consumption and behaviour trends can be triggered for the benefit of both planetary and human health,” elucidates author Marta Antonelli, Ph.D., Food Systems Project Lead, Global Footprint Network.

Media Contact

Alessandro@footprintnetwork.org
media@footprintnetwork.org

Additional information

NEW Nature Food paper
Interactive Ecological Footprint and biocapacity data platform
Food Footprint Platform
Earth Overshoot Day’s Power of Possibility

About Global Footprint Network

Global Footprint Network is an international sustainability organisation dedicated to creating a world where all can thrive within the Earth’s means. This includes responding to climate change, biodiversity decline, and unmet human needs. Since 2003 we’ve engaged with more than 30 cities, 50 countries, and 70 global partners to improve their resource security by delivering scientific insights relevant for high-impact policy and investment decisions. www.footprintnetwork.org

The post New research published by Nature Food reveals food is primary driver of the EU-27’s outsized Ecological Footprint appeared first on Global Footprint Network.

The side-event will be held on Tuesday 3rd of December, 18h-19h, at Sala Sirena, Castel dell’Ovo in Naples and will spotlight recent outcomes, tools, and lessons learned around the topic of Mediterranean maritime and coastal sustainable tourism.

This event will share novel approaches and lessons related to sustainable blue tourism and its role in supporting biodiversity conservation and territorial development around the Mediterranean coast. It will also highlight recent opportunities and gaps identified in governance, policy-making, impact monitoring and management, while sharing innovative perspectives on how recent achievements can be capitalized and scaled to broader Mediterranean context in the framework of the Barcelona Convention and other multilateral or voluntary environmental agreements and commitments at global, regional, national or local scale.

Alessandro Galli, Ph.D, Global Footprint Network Director of Mediterranean and MENA Regions, will address the Ecological Footprint and ecotourism. The Ecotourism Footprint Calculator is now available to measure the Ecological Footprint of ecotourism itineraries and create a proven sustainable experience.

Register for the side-event here.

The post Sustainable Coastal and Maritime Tourism to Tackle Environmental and Development Challenges in the Mediterranean Region appeared first on Global Footprint Network.

Riding horses in Camargue, France

OAKLAND, CA, USA — OCTOBER 22, 2019 — Protected Areas and tour operators can now use an industry-specific online calculator to assess and manage the Ecological Footprint of ecotourism packages. Unveiled today at an event in Rome, the Ecotourism Footprint Calculator was developed by the DestiMED Project consortium, building on Global Footprint Network’s data and methodology.

For two decades, Global Footprint Network has been providing annual metrics on natural resource demand and availability (National Footprint & Biocapacity Accounts.) Its personal Ecological Footprint calculator has been used by more than 14 million people worldwide since it launched in 2007.

“We always say that we can’t manage what we can’t measure. We are happy to bring our natural resource accounting approach to the tourism industry, with a view to empowering managers of Protected Areas, in particular, to support the conservation of natural ecosystems via sustainably unlocking their economic value” said Alessandro Galli, Director Mediterranean and MENA Region at Global Footprint Network.

Food and beverages

The DestiMED Project was funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the InterregMED programme. Together with project partners, Global Footprint Network’s team adapted the Ecological Footprint methodology to assess the environmental impact of pilot ecotourism packages in 13 Mediterranean protected areas. Specific components taken into consideration are listed in four categories: meals, accommodations, transports, and activities. Results from the monitoring phase indicate that food and beverages have the strongest ecological impact, especially in those packages that are highly reliant on fish and meat products.

This assessment focuses on tourists’ Ecological Footprint during their stay. To evaluate the Footprint of travel options to and from the tourist destination, people can consult the personal Footprint Calculator.

“DestiMED’s Ecological Footprint methodology helped both managers of protected areas and tour operators involved in the project understand where their packages are excelling and where there is room for improvement. Moreover, new business opportunities that support local sustainable development were identified”, pointed out Carla Danelutti, DestiMED project coordinator for IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation (IUCN-Med).

Available online, the free Ecotourism Footprint Calculator is not just an awareness building or education tool. It is first and foremost a software application designed to help ecotourism professionals shape high-quality offerings with a low Footprint. The options made available to users are specifically tailored for Protected Areas.

Proof of concept to be expanded

“With this project, we focused on developing a proof of concept with ecotourism as the obvious target. Going forward, sustainability in tourism cannot be confined to the ecotourism niche, however, and will need to be expanded to the whole tourism industry,” Alessandro Galli said.

The Ecotourism Footprint Calculator is hosted and managed by the MEET Network, an association of Mediterranean protected areas developing high-quality ecotourism products that benefit conservation.

The Ecotourism Footprint Calculator and the main outcomes of DestiMED are unveiled today and tomorrow in Rome in the presence of all partners: Lazio Region (leading partner, Italy), Federparchi Association (Italy), MedPAN Network (France), the National Agency for Protected Areas (NAPA, Albania), WWF Adria (Croatia), WWF Mediterranean, and IUCN Med (International Union for Conservation of Nature Center for Mediterranean Cooperation).

Additional resources

October 22-23 final DestiMED Project event

Ecotourism Footprint Calculator

DestiMED project

DestiMED Footprint methodology

Personal Footprint Calculator

Footprint Explorer (open data platform with Footprint and biocapacity data on all countries)

About the Ecological Footprint

The Ecological Footprint is the most comprehensive biological resource accounting metric available. It adds up all of people’s competing demands for biologically productive areas – food, timber, fibers, carbon sequestration, and accommodation of infrastructure. Currently, carbon emissions from burning fossil fuel make up 60 percent of humanity’s Ecological Footprint.

The book “Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget,” published last month, provides an in-depth introduction, drawing on the Footprint’s 30-year experience fighting ecological bankruptcy with robust resource accounting. Excerpts available for publication.

About Global Footprint Network

Global Footprint Network is an international sustainability organization that is helping the world live within the Earth’s means and respond to climate change. Since 2003 we’ve engaged with more than 50 countries, 30 cities, and 70 global partners to deliver scientific insights that have driven high-impact policy and investment decisions. Together, we’re creating a future where all of us can thrive within the limits of our one planet.
www.footprintnetwork.org

Media contacts

media@footprintnetwork.org

The post Ecotourism Footprint Calculator launches today appeared first on Global Footprint Network.

OAKLAND, CA, USA — JULY 23, 2019 — On July 29, humanity will have used nature’s resource budget for the entire year, according to Global Footprint Network, an international sustainability organization that has pioneered the Ecological Footprint. It is Earth Overshoot Day. Its date has moved up two months over the past 20 years to the 29th of July this year, the earliest date ever.

Earth Overshoot Day falling on July 29^th means that humanity is currently using nature 1.75 times faster than our planet’s ecosystems can regenerate. This is akin to using 1.75 Earths. Overshoot is possible because we are depleting our natural capital – which compromises humanity’s future resource security. The costs of this global ecological overspending are becoming increasingly evident in the form of deforestation, soil erosion, biodiversity loss, or the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The latter leads to climate change and more frequent extreme weather events.

“We have only got one Earth – this is the ultimately defining context for human existence. We can’t use 1.75 without destructive consequences,” said Mathis Wackernagel, co-inventor of Ecological Footprint accounting and founder of Global Footprint Network.

His just released book, Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget, demonstrates that overshoot can only be temporary. Humanity will eventually have to operate within the means of Earth’s ecological resources, whether that balance is restored by disaster or by design. “Companies and countries that understand and manage the reality of operating in a one-planet context are in a far better position to navigate the challenges of the 21^st century,” Wackernagel writes.

Accelerate solutions to #MoveTheDate

Moving the date of Earth Overshoot Day back 5 days each year would allow humanity to reach one-planet compatibility before 2050. Solutions that #MoveTheDate are available and financially advantageous. Significant opportunities are to be found in five key areas: cities, energy, food, population, and planet. For instance, cutting CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel burning by 50% would #MoveTheDate by 93 days.

Christiana Figueres, the former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Bertrand Piccard, founder of the Solar Impulse Foundation, and Sandrine Dixson-Declѐve, co-president of the Club of Rome, are among those who took to Twitter in recent weeks, calling to #MoveTheDate in video statements. Shoot your own statement.

Just days ahead of Earth Overshoot Day, Global Footprint Network launched the beta version of the #MoveTheDate Solutions Map where people are invited to champion existing solutions. Users can also connect with each other on the basis of geography and focus of interest, accelerating the implementation of new projects in the real world. Developed with startup Mapotic, the social platform also features solutions identified by partners, starting with Buckminster Fuller Institute award laureates.

The #MoveTheDate Solutions Map is designed to complement the Footprint Calculator. The latter, which enables people to calculate their own Ecological Footprint and their personal Earth Overshoot Day, draws more than 2.5 million users per year and is now available in eight languages, with Chinese and Portuguese most recently added.

The relevance of one-planet compatibility for successful business strategies is explored in a whitepaper by Schneider Electric and Global Footprint Network that was published July 22. Follow the twitter discussion via #SEMoveTheDate. Previous research by both organizations shows that if 100% of the existing building and industry infrastructure were equipped with available energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies from Schneider Electric and partners, the date of Earth Overshoot Day would move back by 21 days at least.

Additional resources

• Whitepaper www.schneider-electric.com/en/download/document/one_planet_prosperity
• #MoveTheDate Solutions Map movethedate.overshootday.org
• Earth Overshoot Day www.overshootday.org
• Infographics www.overshootday.org/newsroom/infographics/
• Ecological Footprint: Managing our Biocapacity Budget (book) www.footprintnetwork.org/2019/07/22/ecological-footprint-book
• Footprint Calculator www.footprintcalculator.org
• Footprint Data for countries data.footprintnetwork.org
• Business-focused press release www.overshootday.org/content/uploads/2019/07/SE_EarthOvershootDay2019_0722_PR_en.pdf 
• June press release www.overshootday.org/newsroom/press-release-june-2019-english/

About the Ecological Footprint

The Ecological Footprint is the most comprehensive biological resource accounting metric available. It adds up all of people’s competing demands for biologically productive areas – food, timber, fibers, carbon sequestration, and accommodation of infrastructure. Currently, carbon emissions from burning fossil fuel make up 60 percent of humanity’s Ecological Footprint.

The book “Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget,” available in September, provides an in-depth introduction, drawing on the Footprint’s 30-year experience fighting ecological bankruptcy with robust resource accounting. Excerpts available for publication.

About Global Footprint Network

Global Footprint Network is an international sustainability organization that is helping the world live within the Earth’s means and respond to climate change. Since 2003 we’ve engaged with more than 50 countries, 30 cities, and 70 global partners to deliver scientific insights that have driven high-impact policy and investment decisions. Together, we’re creating a future where all of us can thrive within the limits of our one planet.
www.footprintnetwork.org

The post Global Footprint Network promotes real-world solutions that #MoveTheDate, accelerating the transition to one-planet prosperity appeared first on Global Footprint Network.

The post The business case for one-planet prosperity appeared first on Global Footprint Network.

OAKLAND, CA, USA — JUNE 26, 2019 — On July 29, humanity will have used nature’s resource budget for the entire year, according to Global Footprint Network, an international sustainability organization that has pioneered the Ecological Footprint. The Ecological Footprint adds up all of people’s competing demands for biologically productive areas – food, timber, fibers, carbon sequestration, and accommodation of infrastructure. Currently, carbon emissions from burning fossil fuel comprise 60% of humanity’s Ecological Footprint.

Some 80 000 people have already signed current petitions to US and EU decision makers to demand that biological resource management be placed at the core of the decision-making process.

Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s annual demand on nature exceeds what Earth’s ecosystems can regenerate in that year. Over the past 20 years, it has moved up three months to July 29, the earliest ever. This means that humanity is currently using nature 1.75 times faster than our planet’s ecosystems can regenerate, equivalent to 1.75 Earths. Humanity first saw ecological deficit in the early 1970s. Overshoot is possible because we are depleting our natural capital, compromising the planet’s future regenerative capacity.

Ecological overspending costs are becoming increasingly evident: deforestation, soil erosion, biodiversity loss, and the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leading to climate change and more frequent extreme weather events.

“Ultimately, human activity will be brought in balance with Earth’s ecological resources. The question is whether we choose to get there by disaster or by design – one-planet misery or one-planet prosperity,” said Mathis Wackernagel, co-inventor of Ecological Footprint accounting and founder of Global Footprint Network.

#MoveTheDate toward one-planet compatibility

If we move the date of Earth Overshoot Day back 5 days annually, humanity can reach one-planet compatibility before 2050. Global Footprint Network highlights opportunities for action that are available today and assesses their impact on the date of Earth Overshoot Day. For instance, replacing 50% of meat consumption with vegetarian food would move the date of Overshoot Day 15 days (10 days for the reduction of methane emissions from livestock alone); reducing the carbon component of the global Ecological Footprint by 50% would move the date 93 days.

Elements of the 2019 campaign

• The Ecological Footprint Calculator is now available in Hindi, English, Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian. To date, more than 15 million people have calculated their Ecological Footprint and personal Earth Overshoot Day.
• Global Footprint Network and its partners invite the public to explore “Steps to #MoveTheDate” supporting the global movement towards one-planet compatibility, connected to energy, food, cities, population, and planet. Opportunities for action include starting a population conversation, launching workplace programs like food waste reduction, and petitioning governments to manage natural resources responsibly.

Additional resources

About solutions to #MoveTheDate : www.overshootday.org/solutions

Infographics in multiple languages : https://www.overshootday.org/newsroom/infographics/

About Earth Overshoot Day: www.overshootday.org

Calculate your own Footprint : www.footprintcalculator.org

Explore all countries’ Ecological Footprint and biocapacity : data.footprintnetwork.org

New book about Ecological Footprint accounting, with excerpts available for publication: https://www.newsociety.com/Books/E/Ecological-Footprint

About Global Footprint Network

Global Footprint Network, the host of Earth Overshoot Day, is an international sustainability organization that is helping the world to better manage its natural resources and respond to climate change. Since 2003 we’ve engaged with more than 50 countries, 30 cities, and 70 global partners to deliver scientific insights that have driven high-impact policy and investment decisions. Together, we’re creating a future where all of us can thrive within the limits of our one planet.
www.footprintnetwork.org

The post Earth Overshoot Day 2019 is July 29th, the earliest ever appeared first on Global Footprint Network.

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, APRIL 25, 2019—The 2019 edition of the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts tracks the Ecological Footprint and biocapacity of all countries, using U.N. data, from 1961 to 2016. This is two years further than last year’s edition, since U.N. data is becoming available more rapidly.

One finding is that humanity’s carbon Footprint dropped 1.4 percent between 2014 and 2016, bringing the total Ecological Footprint—a measure of global human demand for biological resources—down 0.5 percent over the same period. Recent data pointing to significant increases in carbon emissions throughout 2017 and 2018 suggest that this trend was short-lived, however.

Because carbon emissions require land covered with forests to be absorbed, they are counted as a competing human demand on the planet in the Ecological Footprint accounts. They compete for land area with demands for food, forest products, fibers, or infrastructure needs such as roads and buildings. In fact, the carbon Footprint accounts for 60 percent of the current Ecological Footprint of humanity. Overall, humanity’s demand for goods and services from ecological systems is currently 75 percent higher than what the planet can renew today.

“Our data show that we use as much from nature as if we lived on 1.75 Earths, yet we only have one. This is not a judgement, just a measurement. In this context, bringing human activity back within the ecological budget of our one planet is not about doing the noble thing or easing our guilty conscience. It is about choosing self-interest and what works. We will move out of ecological overshoot. Why choose to get there by disaster rather than by design?” —DR. MATHIS WACKERNAGEL, Founder and President of Global Footprint Network

All the Footprint and biocapacity data up to 2016 is freely available on the Ecological Footprint Explorer open data platform at data.footprintnetwork.org. Additionally, “nowcasting” capabilities to forecast results to 2019 and licenses for more detail on countries’ demand by consumer activities are available for a fee.

The shrinking of the total global Ecological Footprint in 2016, the latest year with a complete U.N. data set, is mostly due to a 1.4 percent drop in the carbon Footprint over the 2014-2016 period. This led to an average per-person Ecological Footprint worldwide of 2.8 global hectares (gha), compared to 1.6 gha per person of available biocapacity. (Biocapacity represents the productivity of the Earth’s ecological assets; a global hectare is a biologically productive hectare with world average productivity.)

As of 2016, eighty-six percent of the world’s population lives in a country with an ecological deficit. A country runs an ecological deficit when its residents demand more from nature than the country’s own ecosystems can regenerate. Seventy-one percent of the world’s population lives in a country with an ecological deficit and below world-average income, and therefore are unlikely to be able to buy their way out of the resource crunch.

Highlights of the new Footprint data and tools

• Last year, the United Nations’ persistent efforts to improve access to pertinent data resulted in shortening the delay in available data from three to two years. Not only did this change give researchers access to two years worth of data (2015, 2016) since last year’s edition, but this one-year gain in data availability delay brings the accurate assessment of countries’ Ecological Footprint and biocapacity that much closer to the current time, improving researchers’ ability to describe the recent reality and to assess current trends.
• The 2019 edition of the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts was produced, for the very first time, under the close observation of the team at York University’s Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES) who is part of the Ecological Footprint Initiative. Going forward, the Ecological Footprint Initiative team in Toronto will be entrusted with producing National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts data with the support of Global Footprint Network, in the context of the partnership created in 2018 by both organizations with a view to ensuring ever more robust and transparent data in the future.

“Our faculty and students continue to appreciate and use global data on the Ecological Footprint and biocapacity of countries. These remain the best metrics for calculating human demand on the environment. We look forward to continuing the important work of producing the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts and leading a global research network committed to its application by policy-makers and the public.” —DR. ALICE J. HOVORKA, Dean & Professor of the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University

Some country trends worth watching

All the results shown in this section reflect the perspective of a country’s consumption. This perspective tracks what is produced within the country plus the Footprint of trade (imports minus exports).

Venezuela

Venezuela’s total Ecological Footprint dropped 20 percent between 2014 and 2016, reflecting the dramatic deterioration of the country’s economy over the same period. The largest driver is the 50 percent decrease of the national cropland Footprint, due to a 58 percent collapse in Ecological Footprint of imports of agricultural products and a whopping 34 percent decline in local agricultural output. The carbon Footprint closely follows behind with a 12.8 percent decrease caused by the severe economic recession. Overall, the Ecological Footprint and GDP trends are closely aligned in this case. Rampant inflation began in 2015. By 2016, President Maduro declared economic emergency.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom’s carbon Footprint dropped 11.7 percent between 2014 and 2016, driving the country’s total Ecological Footprint down 8.8 percent. The U.K.’s total carbon Footprint has decreased by 29 percent since its 2007 peak and by around 26 percent since 1990, faster than any other major high-income country. These trends continue into 2017, largely driven by a significant decline in coal use, according to Carbon Brief: “The most significant factors include a cleaner electricity mix based on gas and renewables instead of coal, as well as falling demand for energy across homes, businesses and industry.” Remarkably, the U.K. is one of 19 countries to have significantly lowered their fossil fuel emissions over the past decade without decreasing their GDP. The “decoupling” of GDP and Ecological Footprint is certainly a hot trend to watch for the in the years to come.

On a different note, lower crop yields in 2016 cause the cropland Footprint of the U.K. to decline by 13 percent. According to the U.K.’s farming statistics, wheat and barley yields dropped 12 percent and 11 percent respectively after a couple of years of peak performance but they remain in line with longer term averages. Meanwhile, blackgrass and other weeds, poor drainage and disease caused oilseed rape yields to drop 21 percent.

Europe

Many countries in Europe, including France and Germany, are showing a trend in decoupling of GDP and Ecological Footprint that echoes the trend in the U.K.. Europe’s carbon Footprint, which contributes to 60 percent of the region’s total Ecological Footprint, has decreased by 21 percent since 2007, including 3.7 percent between 2014 and 2016. This decline has been a major driver is drawing Europe’s Ecological Footprint down by 15 percent over the same period, lowering the ecological deficit by about 34 percent. Europe still uses 35 percent more goods and services from nature than its own natural ecosystems can renew.

Note that from 1991 on, the Europe region data set includes the breakaway countries from former Yugoslavia, the Baltic States, Belarus, Moldova, and Russia.

United States

The USA’s total Ecological Footprint has decreased over the past decade, largely driven by an 18 percent decrease in its carbon Footprint between 2005 and 2016. This is due to competition from natural gas and renewables, which have displaced coal-fired power as a cheaper option for electricity production. However, this trend was reversed in 2017 and 2018, according to more recent US data that the National Footprint Accounts will start taking into account in its next edition as 2017 U.N. data is made available. America’s carbon dioxide emissions rose by 3.4 percent in 2018, the biggest increase in eight years. Colder winters in the Northeast have spiked the use of oil and gas for heating. Hotter summers around the country have increased power usage for cooling, boosting emissions. Other factors include a boost in manufacturing and a relative expansion of the national economy, leading to higher emissions from factories, trucks and air travel. The U.S. has yet to find its path toward decoupling its carbon Footprint from economic growth.

Russia

The continuous 12 percent slide of Russia’s Ecological Footprint since 2011 has mainly been driven by the 18 percent decrease of its carbon Footprint. Rather than a “decoupling” phenomenon between GDP growth and lower carbon emissions, however, this decrease reflects the economic difficulties that Russia struggled with over that period. Factors include the continued downward momentum of oil prices since their 2012 peak, and the sanctions imposed by the United States, the 28-nation European Union, Norway, Canada, and Australia in retaliation for Russia’s interference in Ukraine. The weak ruble and changes in state support programs which make beef imports too expensive for most potential buyers in Russia, compounded in 2014 by Russia’s retaliatory ban on food products from those same countries, including meat, are reflected in the 38 percent drop of the grazing Footprint between 2012 and 2016.

Russia has also enjoyed a 51 percent growth of its total cropland biocapacity (+50 percent per person) since its momentous 2012 grain harvest failure due to the exceptional drought in its Eastern agricultural regions. While expanding farmland areas account for 3 percent of this increase (or 1.58 million global hectares), improved yields make up the rest. Since 2011, Russia has grown its total ecological reserve by 85 percent (86 percent per person) despite losing 1.6 percent of its forest biocapacity over the same period.

China

Unlike European countries, China’s total carbon Footprint soared in the post economic recession era. It increased by 39 percent from 2007 to 2014, reaching its peak in 2014. Since then, it has decreased by 2 percent thanks to a significantly reduced use of coal. From 2014 to 2016, expanded renewable and nuclear power generation was able to cover the slow growth in overall electricity consumption, according to Carbon Brief. This led to a slight decline in coal-fired power generation. However, 2017 and 2018 energy data point to a trend reversal. Electricity demand grew so fast in those two recent years – driven by growth in heavy manufacturing as well as contributions from household use and the service sector – that new low-carbon sources could not keep up. According to the Global Carbon Project, emissions grew by 2.3 percent from 2017 to 2018 due to more coal consumption for electricity production.

Since 2004, China, not unlike Russia, has grown its total cropland biocapacity by a whopping 19.3 percent (20 percent per person) – including 3.5 percent between 2014 and 2016 alone – increasing total biocapacity by 13 percent over the same period. Much of this upward trend is due to policies and government spending designed to improve agricultural sciences and practices in order to improve crop yield stability and performance, fending off the specter of feeding a large population from a relatively small area of available farmland. In addition, China has been expanding its total forested land by 32 percent since 1990.

Cuba

Cuba’s ecological deficit per person dropped 22.4 percent between 2010 and 2016, as its Ecological Footprint per person decreased by 10 percent and its biocapacity per person grew by 13 percent. The 23 percent decrease in the carbon Footprint per person is the main driver of the Ecological Footprint’s slide. Whether this trend continues hinges on the country’s commitment, in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, to generate 24 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2030. Cuba’s new Constitution, which was approved by referendum in February 2019, includes amendments directing Cuba to “promote the conservation of the environment and the fight against climate change, which threatens the survival of the human species.”

Between 2010 and 2016, Cuba increased its biocapacity per person by 13 percent (or 15 percent total) thanks to a 9 percent expansion of its total forested areas and a 28 percent boost of its total cropland biocapacity. The latter was made possible through agricultural transformation policies and programs designed, since 2007, to increase the country’s agricultural food self-sufficiency and biofuels capacity, reduce its dependence on imports, and possibly boost exports. However, the trend is expected to register a severe slow down, if not a halt, past 2016 due to extreme weather events, including Hurricane Irma in 2017, and the impact of the Venezuelan crisis on the Cuban economy.

For additional information

Check out our recent paper: Defying the Footprint Oracle: Implications of Country Resource Trends which focuses on lower-income countries. The article is based on the 2018 edition.

National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts 2019 edition results will inform Mathis Wackernagel and Bert Beyer’s upcoming book, Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget, available for presale.

More resources

Launch Event Livestream: youtu.be/egcA0SXJFzA
Ecological Footprint Explorer Open Data Platform: data.footprintnetwork.org
Public Data package: www.footprintnetwork.org/public
Footprint Calculator: www.footprintcalculator.org
Country Work: www.footprintnetwork.org/countries
National Footprint Accounts Video: youtu.be/_T5M3MiPfW4

The post Humanity’s Ecological Footprint contracted between 2014-2016 appeared first on Global Footprint Network.

On September 11, Global Footprint Network Senior Scientist Alessandro Galli and Slovenian sustainable development expert Jernej Stritih presented their preliminary report on Slovenia’s Ecological Footprint at a public event hosted by the Slovenian Environment Agency in Ljubljana. Jernej Stritih spoke to us from Bovec, where he runs his consulting agency, and shared his insights about the process his country has embarked on.

What are Slovenia’s goals for sustainable development?

In 2017 the government made a commitment to reducing Slovenia’s Ecological Footprint 20% by 2030. Slovenia is also bound by the European Union’s goal, under the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, to reduce carbon emissions 40% by 2030. The two targets are obviously connected. We’re currently in the process of studying that interplay and identifying the policies that can help us achieve both.

Why did Slovenia choose the Ecological Footprint while planning for policies related to sustainable development?

The Paris Accord mentions only carbon emissions. But we feel that this alone is too narrow, because reporting our national emissions omits a large part of the total emissions that our consumption is responsible for. Consuming imported goods is tantamount to exporting emissions to countries that produce what we consume. More and more sustainability experts and activists in Slovenia have been advocating for the Ecological Footprint because we see it as a fair metric that takes trade into account. It makes it possible to track and report accurately all the resource use Slovenians are responsible for around the world.

What did the preliminary report on Slovenia’s Ecological Footprint bring to light?

We are working as consultants commissioned by the Ministry of Environment looking at three major sets of measures presenting opportunities for reducing the Ecological Footprint and for sustainable development: transportation, energy, and forest management. More specifically, we’re looking at promoting the use of electric vehicles in conjunction with decentralized solar power generation and battery storage , and ensuring energy efficiency for commercial buildings. We already achieved a 50% reduction of carbon emissions from residential buildings between 2000 and 2015, in large part thanks to improved insulation triggered by subsidies. Gazole and gas were also substituted by firewood – a policy that has relied on the tradition of sustainable forest management. Most of the biocapacity in Slovenia is provided by sustainably managed forests and we are analysing how the productivity of forests can be further increased. This is complicated by the emerging negative impacts of climate change in terms of extreme weather, drought and bark beetle expansion, leading to increased sanitary harvesting in the recent years. More active silviculture will be required to improve the resilience and carbon sequestration of the forests.

What are the next steps?

We’re still working on finalizing calculations to quantify the expected impact of the measures. We expect the completed report with accurate data to be available before the end of this year. Then the Ministry of Environment will begin the measures-design phase in partnership with us, relying on our findings to push for regulatory action and for channeling investment of the funds dedicated to combating climate change. I expect this work will take a couple of years. Eventually, the Ministry will be in charge of implementing those measures. We’re also going to develop a network of experts, including within the government – I’m thinking especially of the Office of Statistics – who understand thoroughly how data is to be collected and reported. Indeed, the work will be meaningless if we can’t track impact and progress accurately. We can reasonably expect to start seeing impact within five years from now.

What are the hurdles?

The energy lobby is a powerful force. They’ve been pushing for a new nuclear plant and fighting against decentralized solar. They muddy the waters, spreading the myth that the net Foootprint of solar is higher than that of nuclear because of the panels’ lifecycle. Fortunately, they’re losing the cost argument these days. The road infrastructure lobby is another one we’re going to have to contend with. Last but not least, it will come to political will: can the government make sustainability a priority over the long-term? The current Minister of the Environment Jure Leben has a 15-year career as a sustainable development professional. In fact, I hired him as a young expert, back in 2009 when I was leading the Climate Change Office in the government. But governments are prone to change, especially when they rely on a coalition of five political parties as is the case today in Slovenia.

What are some encouraging signs?

Slovenians are strongly in favour of environmental protection. They are interested in reliable information, such as what the Ecological Footprint brings. They’re also more and more familiar with the Ecological Footprint: this year’s Earth Overshoot Day has been a huge media event in Slovenia, thanks in part to the great efforts of the nascent WWF office in the region and other NGOs. This month’s meeting was open to journalists and received very good media coverage. I was even interviewed on national television to talk about the Ecological Footprint and how it is the metric we need to achieve our development goals!

The post “The Ecological Footprint is a fair metric for Slovenia to achieve its climate goals.” appeared first on Global Footprint Network.