GNV News, February 28, 2025

As early as February 26, 2025, Singapore reached its Overshoot Day. Overshoot Day refers to the date on which, if everyone on Earth consumed at the same level as a given region, “human demand (Ecological Footprint)” exceeds “the amount of resources ecosystems can regenerate in that year (biocapacity) (※1).” In other words, it marks the day we begin dipping into the “savings” of ecological resources and start unsustainable consumption. Qatar (February 6) and Luxembourg (February 17) have already reached their Overshoot Days, showing that these countries have high ecological resource use per unit area. Globally, in 2024, Overshoot Day fell on August 1. This date has been arriving earlier year by year, raising concerns about the degradation and depletion of ecological resources on Earth.

In addition to Overshoot Day, there is also the concept of an Overdeficit (ecological deficit) Day. This is the date on which a country’s residents begin demanding more resources than that country’s ecosystems can provide in a year. It indicates that the country is tapping into its own “savings” or relying on other countries’ ecological resources, consuming beyond its domestic ecological capacity. In 2025, Japan has already reached its Overdeficit Day on February 24.

※1 Biocapacity indicates how much renewable resource can be produced and how much waste can be absorbed, and is measured primarily by biologically productive surface area such as forests, cropland, and productive seas.

Learn more about Overshoot Day and Qatar → “The reality hidden behind the expectations for the Qatar World Cup”

Learn more about efforts to protect forests, one of the ecological resources → “World: What is the new fund TFFF for protecting forests?”

Singapore, with high energy consumption relative to its land area (Photo: Jimmy McIntyre / Flickr［CC BY-SA 2.0］)