Earth Overshoot Day 2020 lands on August 22. The date is three weeks later than in 2019 due to the impact from coronavirus-induced lockdowns around the world. This is a far cry from the intentional changes we strive for. We envision a world where humanity lives on our planet’s ecological budget by design rather than by disaster, so that all thrive within the means of Earth.

To assess humanity’s current resource situation and determine this year’s Earth Overshoot Day, our researchers combined the most reliable data and formed the most reasonable assumptions. We estimate an overall 9.3% reduction in humanity’s Ecological Footprint from January 1st to Earth Overshoot Day. The main drivers are the carbon Footprint (reduced 14.5% from 2019) and the forest products Footprint (reduced 8.4% from 2019).

From the Global Footprint Network