Earth Target Exceed Day fell on July 28 this year. How does this date come?

The National footprint and vital capacity accounts Demonstrate how much productive space is needed to replenish the amount of products and services humans demand from nature. It concerns the following:

Food, fiber and wood

– Spaces for roads and buildings

– energy production, and

Absorbing waste, including carbon dioxide₂ From the production of fossil fuels or cement.

The unit of measurement used is global hectares, which is a Hectares of land produce the global average of environmental resources.

He. She Global Footprint Network The date of Earth Overshoot Day is calculated by dividing the amount of environmental resources that Earth could generate in that year (the biological capacity of the planet) by the ecological footprint of humanity. This number is multiplied by 365, the number of days in a year. The resulting number is the day of the year on which the biological capacity is used.

In 2022, Earth Overshoot Day was calculated on July 28, 209^The day of the year. Humankind’s demand for resources between January 1 and July 28 was equal to what the Earth could generate in an entire year. The Earth’s biological capacity in 2022 is estimated to be 1.5 global hectares per capita. The ecological footprint of humanity is 2.7 hectares per person. This means that as humans we will need more than 1.7 Earths in 2022 to meet our demand.

Footprint and biocapacity calculations use the latest data from United Nations statistics. Collection and processing of that data is delayed for several years. For example, they had full data at the beginning of 2022 through the end of 2018. That is why the data is projected for the current year using the so-called Nowcast technology. Nowcasting is different from forecasting or forecasting. Forecasts are made using models that draw trend lines into the future. Their progress depends on assumptions about the evolution of the factor to be expected.

On the other hand, streaming uses real data, but it may be incomplete or from less official sources. For example, the carbon footprint now uses data on carbon dioxide₂IEA emissions and ocean carbon storage data from the Global Carbon Project. More recent data on footprint and vital capacity, such as vehicle use, electricity density, and changes in available housing, may be above or below the trend line in recent years. In this case, the trendlines of previous years will be replaced by data, and this will adjust the path in 2022.

If you look at the media last year, you’ll often see a different day to overtake the Earth goal than what’s on this year’s schedule. Here’s how: To stay consistent, the carbon footprint of all past years since 1961 is also recalculated every year so that the progress is comparable. Improved historical data and new scientific findings are making little difference to the footprint. Even a change of a few percentage points can push the date of Earth Overshoot Day significantly.

Results of national footprint and biocapacity calculations are available on the open data platform at data.footprintnetwork.org.