This Thursday 29 July marks the day when humanity has used as much of the Earth's biological resources as it can regenerate in a year, a day also known as ‘Earth Overshoot Day’, according to the American NGO Global Footprint Network
This means that from Thursday onwards, the world will be living “on credit” until the end of the year – in other words, for just over five months.
In respect of this year, it would take the equivalent of 1.7 planets to sustainably support the world's population.
While this date has moved forward significantly in the calendar (it was estimated to be 29 December in 1970), this year it falls on exactly the same day as in 2019.
Last year, however, overshoot day took place four weeks later, as a result of the containment measures instigated as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The rebound between 2020 and 2021 is explained by both an increase in the global carbon footprint of 6.6%, and a decrease in global forest biocapacity of 0.5%, according to Global Footprint Network. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)