COVID-19 Delayed Earth Overshoot Day 2020 | UPSC

Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year.

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

• The Ecological Footprint is the most comprehensive biological resource accounting metric available.

• Currently, carbon emissions from burning fossil fuel make up 60 percent of humanity’s Ecological Footprint.

WHO COLLECTS THE DATA?

• To include the impacts from the coronavirus pandemic this year, Global Footprint Network combined the most reliable data.

WHAT IS THE DATA?

• This forms the most reasonable assumptions to assess humanity’s current resource situation.
• Changes in carbon emissions, forest harvest, food demand, and other factors that could impact the Ecological Footprint from January 1 to Earth Overshoot Day are evaluated.

CALCULATION OF EARTH OVERSHOOT

• To determine the date of Earth Overshoot Day, we need to calculate the number of days of that year that Earth’s biocapacity suffices to provide for humanity’s Ecological Footprint.
• The remainder of the year corresponds to global overshoot.
• A country’s overshoot day is the date on which Earth Overshoot Day would fall if all of humanity consumed like the people in this country.

• Therefore, country overshoot days for 2020 are based on the 2019 edition.

SOURCES : GFN

REAL-TIME CALCULATION

Let’s take Switzerland’s 2020 overshoot day, for example:

• The Ecological Footprint for Switzerland is 64 gha per person (in 2016)
• Global biocapacity is 63 gha per person (in 2016)

OR

The 129th day of 2020 is the 8th of May, Switzerland’s Overshoot Day.

IMPORTANT NOTE

• Not all countries will have an overshoot day.

• Countries whose Ecological Footprint per person are less than global biocapacity per person (1.63 gha) and do not have an overshoot day are therefore not included in the list .
• In leap years, it is compare the date against 366 days of the year, rather than the usual 365.