Every year the world observes Earth Overshoot Day. A day to bring awareness of how quickly natural resources are depleted and the true vulnerability of the natural ecosystem. The campaign compels us to focus on the demand our lifestyles and our way of life has on natural resources. Each year the global Earth Overshoot Day is calculated and announced on World Environment Day, before the individual overshoot day for each country is calculated. For 2024, the world observes Earth Overshoot Day on 1st August, at which point humanity has officially used all the natural resources the planet can naturally replenish in a year. However, the UK has already surpassed its overshoot day on 3rd June.
A quick re-cap on how Earth Overshoot Day is calculated
To begin, the Ecological Footprint must be calculated, this is the population’s demand for plant-based food and fibre products, livestock products, space for urban infrastructure and forest for carbon dioxide absorption. Next we calculate the Biocapacity, which is the Earth’s area of biologically productive land and sea, and built-up land. Both the Ecological Footprint and the Biocapacity are measured in global hectares, with one hectare being equivalent to 10,000 square meters.
Once calculated, the Ecological Footprint is compared to the Biocapacity. If a population’s Ecological Footprint – its demand for resources – is greater than the Biocapacity, that region runs into an ecological deficit. At this point, a region starts to import more goods, liquidate its ecological assets (such as overfishing), and emit more carbon dioxide.
On a global scale, the ecological deficit is the overshoot.
The Power of Possibility
Since the first Overshoot campaign in 2006, the day has crept forward by 23 days. However, through the Power of Possibility, individuals, groups, companies, countries, we all have the ability to implement solutions to #MoveTheDate and improve resource security. By generating 75% of electricity from low carbon solutions in conjunction with the adoption of LED lighting would move Earth Overshoot day by 27.8 days, that’s why Greenham procures renewable electricity from REGO-backed sources and has retrofitted LED & PIR sensors throughout their office and warehouse spaces.
Improving emission standards on larger vehicles and transitioning appropriate vehicles to EV can move the date by 3.9 days. Greenham are on a journey to improve the efficiency of their fleet, investing in EV delivery vehicles and retrofitting solar-film matting on vehicles not yet suited for full EV transition. The introduction of EV and hybrid vehicles to the company car list for eligible employees has been a success, seeing a conversion rate of 66% from traditional petrol and diesel cars.
Extending the life of clothing has the possibility to move the date by 5 days. Many of our products within our clothing and glove ranges are certified washable, increasing their longevity whilst maintaining the safety critical structure of the product. Greenham can support their customers in introducing a laundering service to retrieve, wash and safety check products before returning them back to customer sites. For those products that have come to their end of life, Greenham’s PPE recycling service provides the opportunity to give that product as second lease of life by reprocessing into another product.
Other solutions include reimagining what materials are used to develop and manufacture products. Focusing on organic natural fibres, particularly organic cotton, provides a wealth of benefits such as 91% reduction in water consumption, 46% reduction in carbon emissions, and improved biodiversity by preventing top-soil erosion. Recycling reduces the demand for virgin materials. By ‘closing the loop’ and turning waste products into raw materials we reduce the demand for harvesting and mining virgin materials which are energy intensive and often harmful to the local biodiversity. Through the Product Award, Greenham are assessing the sustainability of products to support sustainable decision making and open up discussions around sustainability within the supply chain. Products are assessed against a robust set of criteria aligned with best practice, including the materials used to manufacture the product, and are awarded Bronze, Silver, Gold or left Unawarded. Using the Product Award, we can support customers in finding more sustainable alternatives with the ability to focus on certain criteria such as products made from GRS recycled materials or Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) cotton.
Earth Overshoot Day is a reminder of our reliance on Earth’s natural resources and serves as an opportunity for us to reassess our habits and make impactful changes.
