Human consumption of the Earth's resources 'fell sharply' in 2020

The rate at which humanity is consuming the Earth’s resources declined sharply this year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to researchers.

Consequently, Earth Overshoot Day, the point at which human consumption exceeds the amount nature can regenerate in a year, has moved back by over three weeks from 29 July in 2019 to 22 August this year, The Guardian reports citing the studies.

According to research conducted by Global Footprint Network, an international research organisation, coronavirus-induced lockdowns led to a 9.3% reduction in humanity’s ecological footprint compared with the same period last year. However, in order to keep consuming ecological resources at our current rate we would still need the equivalent of 1.6 Earths.

“Earth Overshoot Day is a way to illustrate the scale of the biological challenge we face,” said Mathis Wackernagel, president of Global Footprint Network. Although Wackernagel said this year’s data was encouraging, he called for further progress to be made “by design not by disaster”.