Germany overshoots natural resources two months ahead of global average
Clean Energy Wire
The natural resources humans can consume sustainably this year will be used up by Monday 29 July, according to calculations by the Global Footprint Network. If all the world’s population lived as resource-intensive as people in Germany do, they would have already consumed the annual budget more than two months ago, on 3 May - one day later than Germany reached its “overshoot day” last year. Globally, Earth Overshoot Day has fallen earlier each year since it was first calculated in 1970.
Germany's development minister Gerd Müller said the fact that the global overshoot day occurs ever earlier each year showed the lack of sustainable thinking in the world. "Environmental and climate action are questions of human survival," Müller said, arguing that the current heat waves in Europe were still much less severe than what people in developing countries had to endure due to global warming. Müller called for additional funds to facilitate the spread of clean technologies in development countries. "Especially Africa has to become a green continent of renewable energy", he said.
