Earth has already exceeded 2024 annual ecological limits

Humanity has exceeded its sustainable consumption limit for 2024, according to the US-based environment NGO Global Footprint Network.

According to its calculations, if we continue to carry on using up our natural resources at this level, we would need the equivalent of 1.7 Earths to provide enough resources to accommodate our consumption.

So-called overshoot days occur when a country's demand for ecological resources and services in a given year, the biocapacity, exceeds what the planet can regenerate in that year.

Countries hit that limit at different times throughout the year. The worst offenders, such as Qatar and Luxembourg, already exceeded their limits in February. Other countries, such as Cambodia and Madagascar, will likely stay well below their limits and not overshoot.

Germany exceeded its sustainable consumption limits for 2024 on May 2 — meaning that if everyone in the world lived like the Germans, humanity would need three Earths to provide enough resources to sustainably accommodate their consumption.

Overshoot Day as a chance to reform

However, there is some good news. After increasing almost every year for decades, the global overshoot date appears to have stabilized, indicating the world may have reached a turning point, said Christoph Bals, policy director at environmental NGO Germanwatch.

"There are many indications that that the overconsumption will soon decrease," he said in a statement when Germany hit its Overshoot Day in May. In 2023, Earth Overshoot Day fell on August 2. However, Bals warned climate and environmental protection measures would still need to be "greatly accelerated in order to avoid irreversible climate tipping points and massive further losses of species."

"Earth Overshoot Day is a reminder to change the underlying conditions in all sectors now so that sustainable behavior becomes the new normal," said Aylin Lehnert, education officer at Germanwatch, back in May.

According to Germanwatch, meat production and consumption  in Germany is one of the main drivers of its overuse of Earth's resources. About 60% of its agricultural land is used for animal feed production, and millions of tons are imported from overseas. 

Germany's total imports led to the destruction of 138,000 hectares (341,005 acres) of tropical forest worldwide from 2016 to 2018, according to the international development agency GIZ.

The Global South, which largely lives within sustainable limits, shoulders much of the burden of overconsumption through environmental destruction and climate change damage.

When Germany hit its overshoot day in May, Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) criticized the country's reckless use of soil, water and raw materials.

"Our Earth is overloaded," said BUND Chairman Olaf Bandt. "A country that consumes as many resources as we do is operating poorly and recklessly."

BUND has called on the German government to introduce a resource protection law for soil and land, arable and pasture land, fishing grounds, ground and surface water, forests and wood.

More consumption does not mean more happiness

According to the Happy Planet Index, released earlier this year, all this overconsumption doesn't necessarily lead to better lives for its citizens.

The index, compiled by the Hot or Cool Institute, a Berlin-based public interest think tank, combines data on well-being, life expectancy and carbon footprint to assess how well countries are caring for their citizens without overtaxing the planet.

For example, Sweden and Germany have very similar levels of general well-being and life expectancy, but Sweden achieved that quality of life with 16% fewer emissions per capita than Germany and less than half the per capita footprint of the United States.

Costa Rica had comparable figures for life expectancy and well-being, but almost half the environmental impact of Germany.

What are the countries with the best balance?

Vanuatu, Sweden, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Nicaragua all topped the list for balancing good lives with low impact. 

The index, which also breaks down income levels within countries, found that the top 10% of earners globally are responsible for nearly half of all emissions but have almost no gains in well-being and health over low emitters.

A good example of this is air travel. People who fly a lot emit far more carbon than people who don't fly, but they don't show a significant increase in well-being compared to those who fly less. In the United States, a 2020 study revealed that wealthier homes have 25% larger energy footprints than low-income homes but equal levels of life satisfaction. 

Lewis Akenji, executive director of the Hot or Cool Institute, called for countries to rethink their priorities.

"We need to focus on wasteful consumption and inequality, which is making the planetary crisis worse," he said in a statement.

Martin Kuebler contributed reporting.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker, Sarah Steffen

This article was originally published on May 2 to coincide with Overshoot Day in Germany. It was updated on August 1, Earth Overshoot Day.