How can organizations help to #movethedate of Earth Overshoot Day?

As we live our busy lives, it’s possible to forget the impact we can have as a result of our day-to-day decisions. In 2017, it was estimated that, on average, every single person on earth uses over 11 tonnes of natural resources every year. Earth Overshoot Day is an annual reminder of the amount of natural resources that we consume but also how everyone has an opportunity to address this and help accelerate progress towards a sustainable world.

Society depends on ecosystem services, these are the direct and indirect contributions made by the natural world to support human wellbeing, impacting our survival and quality of life. Ecosystem services provide us with food, water, and shelter. They help to regulate our climate, they provide cultural benefits, and they provide natural life cycles, that enable us to support ourselves. As they directly impact the foundations of our life on earth, ecosystem services and the continued availability of natural resources is critical. However, as the global population expands, those resources will not necessarily do the same, or at the same rate.

Every year Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services exceeds what Earth can regenerate within that year. Calculated by the Global Footprint Network, in 2023 Earth Overshoot Day will be on August 2^nd, meaning that after this date society's demand for natural resources and ecosystems services outweighs Earth’s ability to produce them. In other words, we will be operating in an environmental deficit.

This presents a number of global societal challenges, around the supply and demand of natural resources to maintain our way of life, methods to manage natural resources without further damaging the environment and reducing Earth’s time to regenerate them, and around the potential for natural resource conflict. These are expected to grow as climate change and environmental degradation exacerbate scarcity due to factors such as population growth and increased consumption.

According to the London School of Economics and Political Science, high income countries account for 74% of resource overshoot, primarily driven by the US (27%) and the EU’s 28 high-income countries, including the UK (25%). But the impact varies, and countries have their own overshoot days.

In 2023 the earliest country overshoot day was Qatar on February 10^th; the last will be Jamaica on December 20^th. The divergence comes because different countries have a different biocapacity to begin with (their amount of biologically productive land and water), and face varying resource challenges, influenced by their geography, population, and economy – but ultimately in an interconnected world this is a challenge for us all.

Notably the 2023 overshoot day for the US and Canada was on 13^th March 2023, whilst the UK’s followed on May 19^th. China is estimated to be responsible for 15% of global resource overshoot placing their 2023 overshoot day on June 2nd. Meanwhile the global south such as the low-middle income countries of Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia are responsible for only 8%.

However, action is being taken to address this. In France for example, legislation passed in 2016 aims to cut the national food waste in half, eliminating 5 million tonnes from landfill by 2025. If the rest of the followed suit and cut worldwide food waste in half, we could move the overshoot day back by 13 days. More broadly across Europe as a part of the European Green Deal, the EU biodiversity Strategy commits to planting at least 3 billion addition trees in the EU by 2030. Tree plantations act as carbon sinks to draw carbon from the atmosphere thereby helping to move the overshoot date.

Despite these mediation efforts, earth overshoot day generally moves earlier every year. So, how can organizations further mitigate their impact and support more responsible resource use and help to ensure resource security for all and ultimately accelerate progress towards a sustainable world?

As a purpose driven organization, BSI is focused on accelerating sustainability opportunities throughout our own operations and with our clients. With locations all around the world, BSI have partnered with numerous international organizations to create positive impact for society and the planet.

In 2022, BSI India worked with the Indian Pollution Control Association (IPCA) to collect over 400kg of waste, which was then recycled for use in societal infrastructure such as roads and public park furniture. In the same year, BSI India also conducted a beach clean at Arnala Beach in Mubai and planted 35 trees across the beach side.

In 2023 Malaysia, BSI teamed up with Finance Shared Services and the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) to support their Mangrove tree planting activities for World Environment Day. Likewise, BSI Indonesia also volunteered at a Mangrove restoration project to support important ecosystems that provide essential benefits to both the environment and local communities.  

BSI Middle East and Africa have partnered with Eco-Matcher to plant trees on behalf of their training delegates, providing the delegates with a QR code to track each sapling’s progress. To date they have planted 300 trees. In keeping with the tree planting initiatives, BSI Asia supported the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in 2022 and 2023 to plant 650 Xifu Begonia trees across the two years.

In the UK, BSI are leading a programme for nature investment standards, in partnership with DEFRA, which includes extensive engagement with industry stakeholders. This is designed to help to boost market confidence and increase private sector investment into nature recovery.

Our best practice frameworks can support organizations around the world throughout their sustainability maturity journeys. Whether an organization is looking to mitigate their impact through environmental management systems or benefit from embedding the principles of the circular economy, and whether they are seeking to understand organizational water footprint or advance progress towards net zero, BSI can act as a trusted partner to help them turn their sustainability ambition to action.

BSI are also taking ambitious action to reduce our own emissions with a public commitment to reach Net Zero in our operations by 2030. This target sits 20 years ahead of the UK directive and is reflective of our goals to lead the way in creating a sustainable future. Reducing our carbon footprint involves change in every element of the business. We have given leadership ownership and accountability for this GHG emissions reduction by implementing a Carbon Allowance Model, introducing a carbon budget for each division and function. This supports a comprehensive pathway in 2023 to reach our carbon reduction goal, focussing on the importance of personal engagement.

In the coming months, BSI will also be releasing new research, conducted with Waterwise, to better understand how we can partner to address global water scarcity, usage, and wastage. The findings will be used to raise attention to global water scarcity and identify solutions to progress towards a water secure world.

Since 1971 when Earth Overshoot Day was first calculated, the date has happened increasingly earlier, moving from December 25^th to August 2^nd. Yet while addressing resource scarcity can seem an overwhelming prospect, small efforts can help drive global change.

There are actions organizations can take to drive positive impact and help to #movethedate. By partnering for progress, organizations and governments can use their policies and strategies to the benefit of our finite planet. And by implementing solutions at scale and realising the #powerofpossibility, we can all contribute to #movethedate to the benefit of the planet and society.