Earth Overshoot Day arrives as energy companies announce massive profits

Woah, we’re halfway there / Woah, we’re livin’ on a prayer", sang Bon Jovi in his hit song about a couple struggling to make ends meet. But the line also perfectly encapsulates Earth Overshoot Day – we’re just over halfway through the year, we’ve used up our allowance of natural resources, and there’s only a sketchy plan for the future.

This year, Earth Overshoot Day falls on 28 July. The exact definition of the marker is "the date when humanity has used all the biological resources that Earth regenerates during the entire year".

Beyond this point, we’re overusing finite resources and undermining the ecological structures which make life on our planet possible.

The date, which is getting closer to the beginning of the year each year, is a measure of our species’ growing burden on Earth.

In 1971, Earth Overshoot Day was only reached on 25 December. In 2021, Earth Overshoot Day landed on 29 July, making this year’s date one day earlier – and therefore one day worse – than last year.

This year, with grim irony, Earth Overshoot Day coincides with announcements from some of the world’s biggest cliamte polluters of enormous profits, while in the UK, energy bills are set to triple with households facing an “almighty hit” to living standards, economists have warned.

Shell profits hit a record $11.5bn, doubling in one year, British Gas owner Centrica has seen its profits increase five fold to £1.34bn, and Norwegian energy giant Equinor announced a trebling of profits.

Energy bills are set to hit a staggering £500 a month, which will leave millions of British households livin’ on a prayer as they slide into fuel poverty.

The bleak ecological landmark comes as the UN has warned that major structural changes must be implemented by governments around the world to stave off the worst impacts of environmental collapse.

"To preserve a livable climate, greenhouse-gas emissions must be reduced by half by 2030 and to net zero by 2050," the UN said. "Bold, fast, and wide-ranging action needs to be taken by governments and businesses."

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said: "As of Thursday, humankind has used up more natural resources than can be renewed this year.

"We must urgently rethink the way we produce and consume – making sustainable choices that will add up to the change we need."

Earth Overshoot Day is calculated each year by Global Footprint Network.

The organisation said: "This day reminds us that the persistence of overshoot, now for over half a century, has led to huge decline in biodiversity, excess greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and heightened competition for food and energy.

"These symptoms are becoming more prominent with unusual heat waves, forest fires, droughts, and floods."

The research team highlighted how basic improvements by governments can make considerable changes to our use of resources, with efforts to slash food waste, reduce road transport usage by installing bicycle infrastructure, and rolling out more renewable energy projects – particularly onshore wind – can all push the date back in the right direction.