5 actions to set back the clock on Earth Overshoot Day

In 1971, Earth Overshoot Day fell on December 25. In 2024, it is August 1. By this date, humanity will have used up all the natural resources that our planet can provide for the year. Put differently, our consumption habits mean we need 1.7 Earths to sustain our lifestyles. To prevent ecological and economic collapse, global efforts must focus on sustainable practices and biodiversity conservation.

How can we change course to avoid an uninhabitable climate and a human-induced sixth mass extinction? Economies depend on nature, but the top four risks to the global economy in the next 10 years all come from a degraded environment. We risk losing entire industries if we do not reverse course.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) proposes a pragmatic approach to support companies in their transformation planning. Its Business Transformation Framework provides guidance along five key steps:

Step 1: Assess

Sub-steps: Evaluate (1) materiality and traceability, (2) impacts and dependencies, and (3) risks and opportunities.

Step 2: Embed

Sub-steps: Set (1) corporate culture, (2) management systems and capacity, and (3) commitments, strategies and targets.

Step 3: Implement

Sub-steps: Carry out plans in (1) direct operations, (2) adjacent areas and communities, and (3) upstream and downstream value chains.

Step 4: Advocate

Sub-steps: Support and promote (1) industry initiatives, (2) public policy, and (3) public disclosure.

Step 5: Achieve

Sub-steps: Realize targeted outcomes and impacts.

For each step, specific tools, standards, and guidance materials are made available to companies. The standards include science-based targets for nature, from the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), as well as recommendations for reporting and disclosure based on the principles of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).

We cannot keep living on borrowed time. Companies that know what their exposure to nature risk is, who can quantify their impact, and set targets to help us push back the clock on overshooting Earth will be those that thrive in the future.

Further reading:  

Earth Overshoot Day highlights unsustainable trends

The WWF Business Transformation Framework