Covid delays 2020's Earth Overshoot day by a month versus 2019; '1.6 Earths needed'

This year, the Earth Overshoot Day 2020 was reached on August 22. Earth Overshoot Day marks the day for that particular year when the world has used up its resources the Earth has to offer for the year. From that day onwards the world starts consumption in excess of what the Earth has to offer, in turn growing the ecological deficit by drawing down local resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This means that humanity has consumed Earth's resources for the year in 234 days. At this rate, it would take 1.6 Earths to support humanity sustainably.

Stats of 2020 in comparison with last year

In simple terms, Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity exhausts the nature's budget for the year. This year the Earth Overshoot Day arrived nearly a month later than the previous year. Last year it fell on July 19. Experts say this late arrival is due to COVID-19 as the world was under lockdown due to the pandemic, halting commercial activities across the world.

The date, which is calculated by Global Footprint Network (GFN) says the coronavirus outbreak has caused humanity’s “ecological footprint” to fall by 9.3% this year from 2019. The main drivers for the reduction were Carbon Footprints which reduced by 14.5% from 2019 and Forest Product Footprint reduced by 8.4% from 2019 while the Food Footprint remain unchanged.

However, according to International media, the GFN President Mathis Wackernagel said this was not something to celebrate as the achievement of pushing the Earth Overshoot Day to a later date in the year was not done by design but by a disaster.

Countries with Ecological Footprint exceeding Biocapacity

According to data shown on the Global Footprint Network, India's percentage of ecological footprint exceeding biocapacity stands as 173%, while that of the US is 122%, Pakistan 129%. Germany stands at 199% and Sri Lanka at 198%, while China stands at 278%. The UK stands at 301%. Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have alarming levels overshooting above 1,400%. Singapore stands at the top with 9,950%.

Countries with Biocapacity exceeding Ecological Footprint

While countries that have biocapacity exceeding their footprints include Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and a few European nations such as Norway and Sweden and some of the African countries rich in natural resources and biodiversity.

Check the full list of countries here  

One can even check his/her personal overshoot day on http://www.footprintcalculator.org/ to know what date they individually end up using the natural resources the Earth has to offer to them.

The Global Footprint Network also suggests measures to #MoveTheDate which can be checked on their website