Earth Overshoot Day is an annual event that doesn't have a fixed date, that's because this depends on how fast we consume our resources and it seems like we are doing this at a faster than-ever rate. August 2nd is the date when we used all of our yearly resources for 2023, say experts.

As per Euronews.green, Steven Tebbe, CEO of the Global Footprint Network - the organisation which produces the estimate, said that "persistent overshoot leads to ever more prominent symptoms including unusual heatwaves, forest fires, droughts, and floods with the risk of compromising food production."

The first Overshoot Day was recorded back in 1971 on December 25th and out of all the countries in the world, Jamaica is one of the most conscious. If we all lived like Jamaicans, Overshoot Day would fall way late on December 20th.

Last year, July 28th was designated as World's Overshoot Day, which technically was five days worse than this year's performance. This is probably due, mostly, to the increase in renewable energy projects that have been added between 2022 and 2023.

Which countries consume the most and the least

Experts at the UN calculate Overshoot Day by comparing the rate at which countries are consuming the resources of the planet in relation with its natural ability to replenish them.

The US is one of the most consuming nations on Earth and if all other countries would consume their share of resources at the same rate, Overshoot Day would fall on the 13th of March. For France, for example, that date would be May 5th, while Qatar has the worst performance, on February 10th, although that country has little resources to begin with.

If all people on Earth lived like Romanians, for example, World's Overshoot Day would fall on the 11th of June, not a great improvement, compared to Western countries.

Indonesia, on the other hand, is another good example, as if all the world's population lived like that, Overshoot Day would happen on the 3rd of December, still a little earlier than-ideal, but a great improvement from the current performance of the planet.

Out of all countries in the world, India seems to be the most sustainable when it comes to using Earth's resources. This means that if we all had the same lifestyle of the Indian people, Earth Overshoot Day wouldn't even take place, with just 80% of our yearly resources being used in 365 days.

Experts at the Global Footprint Network suggest that, by increasing the share of renewable power sources, from 39% to 75%, Earth Overshoot Day would be pushed back by 26 days, while halving the generated food waste would do so by another 13 days.

Eight days would be added to the Overshoot calendar if we reforested 350 million hectares of land and 15-minute cities plus a four-day work week would give us another 11 days.