Section 12. Thematic reviews
12.3. Earth Overshoot Day 2023
Each year, Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when we have used all the biological resources that the Earth can renew during the entire year. In 2023, In 2023, it falls on 2 August. This means that humanity currently uses 75% more than what the planet’s ecosystems can regenerate. From this day until the end of the year, humanity operates on ecological deficit spending.
A Country Overshoot Day reflects the ecological footprint of a country by comparing the population’s demand and the nation’s biocapacity.
On a planetary scale, minimizing ecological footprint necessitates the conservation and restoration of ecosystems.If we prevent food loss and food waste, prefer plant based foods, and choose foods that are grown with agroecological and regenerative practices, we could move Earth Overshoot Day 32 days. If we reduced global meat consumption by 50% and replaced these calories through a vegetarian diet, we would move Overshoot Day 17 days (including 10 days from reduction of methane emissions) as half of Earth’s biocapacity is used to feed us. Reforesting 350 million hectares of forest would move the date of Overshoot Day by 8 days.
If we reduce our Footprint from driving by 50% around the world and assume one-third of car miles are replaced by public transportation and the rest by biking and walking, Earth Overshoot Day would move back 13 days.
Reducing the carbon component of humanity’s Ecological Footprint by 50% would move Earth Overshoot Day by 93 days, or more than three months. Existing off-the-shelf, commercial energy-efficiency technologies for buildings, industrial processes, and electricity production could move Overshoot Day at least 21 days, without any loss in productivity or comfort.
The United Nations projects that between 7.3 to 15.6 billion people will be living on Earth by 2100. Avoiding the population conversation does nothing to address one of the most significant contributors to humanity’s increasing demand on the planet. If every other family had one less child and parenthood was postponed by two years, by 2050 we would move Overshoot Day 49 days.