Humanity’s demand for biological resources has outpaced our planet’s ability to regenerate resources since the 1970s (1). The persistence of this overshoot has led to tensions. Shocks in supply chains associated with the global pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have revealed that our resource situation is far more fragile than generally recognized. They have also [...]
By Leo Wambersie, research associate, David Lin, Ph.D., chief science officer, and Mathis Wackernagel, Ph.D., founder and president The Ukraine invasion comes with heart-breaking human suffering. It will also impact people far away from the war as global supply chains for food and energy are crippled. The price shocks they cause may well lead to [...]
Global Footprint Network and its partners characterize the food dilemma through a set of ten tough challenges we call the “impossible imperatives.” The imperative to use no more fossil fuels. The food system, and particularly farms, will have to produce all the food while rapidly phasing out fossil fuels or its derivatives, from farm to fork. Humanity, if [...]
72% of the world population live in countries faced with a precarious situation. These countries both (1) run a biological resource deficit (where demand for biological resources exceeds regeneration) and (2) generate less than world-average income, limiting their ability to purchase resources from elsewhere. These findings were released in “The Importance of Resource Security for Poverty Eradication,” [...]
The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review was released February 1st after two years of extensive research. Overall, we are extremely pleased with the outcome. Published by the UK government, the report is a strong reference piece for grounding economics on an ecological foundation. It confirms the significance of ecological overshoot and helps build the bridge [...]
We sat down (virtually, of course) with David Lin, our Chief Science Officer and Eric Miller, Director, Ecological Footprint Initiative, York University in Toronto, to discuss the new 2021 edition of the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts. First, can you spell out for us what the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts (NFAs) are? Eric: The [...]
Join Global Footprint Network, Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), MN, and DEGROOF Petercam on 30 May for a comprehensive exploration of climate strategies for sovereign bond investors – including the use of a dashboard of indicators to identify and manage carbon transition and climate risks. Until now carbon disclosure has focused mostly on listed equities and to a lesser extent corporate [...]
The US per capita Ecological Footprint dropped nearly 20% during the last eight years of available data (2005 and 2013), a total reduction that matches the entire Footprint of Germany. OAKLAND, CA, April 5, 2017—Ecological Footprint data for over 200 countries is now freely available, searchable and usable at Ecological Footprint Explorer, the new open [...]
A new report by Global Footprint Network, Carbon Disclosure and Climate Risk in Sovereign Bonds, outlines a methodology for investors to disclose and manage carbon exposure in their sovereign bond holdings. Please join Global Footprint Network and South Pole Group for a webinar on the report on Tuesday, January 10, at 4 p.m. CET/10 a.m. [...]
For years, many mainstream investors have been on the fence about climate change, often dismissing the topic as a “long-term issue.” But as the potential investment risks of not acting on climate change have come into clearer focus, all that has changed. In just a few short years, the finance community has not only begun to [...]
