Year after year, we consume more resources than our planet has available. The population is growing and with it the need for consumer goods. As a result, we are emitting more and more CO2 emissions, especially in wealthy industrialised countries.
What are your plans for 6 April 2023?
In Austria, we mark our national Overshoot day. It is the day, on which we have statistically used up all the renewable resources available to us for the whole year. Sadly, Austria is far ahead of the global average. The International Earth Overshoot Day does not take place until 27 July. If the earth was a climate sin cake, the distribution would be very uneven: the industrialised countries enjoy the fat pieces of cake and the developing countries only get crumbs. For example, Qatar, Luxembourg, Canada, the USA and the United Arab Emirates used up their resources right at the beginning of the year in February and March, while Bangladesh, Cambodia and Haiti do not even have an Overshoot Day because they carefully manage their resources.
The greatest potential for saving CO2 emissions
CO2 emissions account for over 60% of the human ecological footprint. In order to move Overshoot days further back in the future, emissions must therefore be avoided and reduced altogether, with unavoidable emissions at least compensated for. In the last step, it is important to make sure that the certificates are transparent and qualitative, create a real impact and support the financing of climate protection projects.
Our CEO, Niclas Schmiedmaier, puts it in a nutshell:
"It's going to get pretty uncomfortable for us humans on Earth if we don't radically rethink how we treat our planet. CO2 emissions have no return address. We need to work on a global level to reduce and offset our emissions. Companies should rethink our economic system and we as individuals should rethink our consumption patterns and take responsibility for our climate!"