EU runs out of resources for this year on Tuesday

The planet's resources available for this year would run out on Tuesday if all the people in the world consumed as much as those in the European Union (EU), according to data from the international organization “Global Footprint Network”.

According to the organization's calculations, the EU will reach the so-called "Earth Overshoot Day" on Tuesday, the day from which it will be consuming on credit resources that it should only use next year.

Last year, the day on which Europeans had already consumed their entire year's resources was May 3. On that day, environmental organizations considered the situation “unsustainable and irresponsible”.

At the time, more than 300 civil society organizations called on policymakers, in an open letter, to work towards a climate-neutral and nature-positive economy.

A year later, the EU has not improved, it has even gotten worse, falling back five days on the excessive consumption map.

Although the EU represents just 7% of the world's population, it would take three planets to meet demand if everyone on Earth lived like Europeans, the organisations said.

According to the “Global Footprint Network” map, Portugal will reach the end of its resources for this year next Monday , which means that if everyone on the planet lived like the Portuguese, the resources for this year would run out on May 5th.

This also means that the Portuguese are consuming the resources allocated to them more quickly. In 2024, Portugal ran out of resources on May 28, 23 days behind this year.

According to the “Global Footprint Network”, the first country to exhaust its resources this year was Qatar , on February 6th. Last year it was also the first, but on February 11th.

Luxembourg appears again in second place, consuming everything on February 17, and in third place Singapore, on February 26.

The United States exhausted its resources on March 13 , Denmark and Australia on the 19th, the Russian Federation on April 6 and France on the 19th. Spain will only exhaust its resources on the 23rd.

On the other side of the map, Uruguay stands out among the countries that manage to save the most resources, as it only uses up the resources allocated to it on December 17th.

Indonesia runs out on November 18, Nicaragua on the 11th and Ecuador on October 31.

The Global Footprint Network is an international research organization that provides decision-makers with tools to help the human economy operate within Earth’s ecological limits. Calculations to estimate overshoot days are based on the most recent data.

On June 5, World Environment Day, the organization announces the date of “Earth Overshoot Day” , the moment when Humanity's need for resources and environmental services exceeds Planet Earth's capacity to regenerate those same resources.

Planet Overshoot Day 2024 was on August 1, one day earlier than the previous year.