Germany has already exceeded its annual ecological limits

Just over four months into the year, Germany has already exceeded sustainable consumption limits for the year, according to the US-based environment NGO Global Footprint Network.

According to its calculations, if everybody in the world behaved like the Germans, humanity would need three Earths to provide enough resources to sustainably accommodate their consumption. 

So-called overshoot days occur when a country's demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what the planet can regenerate in that year.

The worst offenders, such as Qatar and Luxembourg, already exceeded their limits in February. Other countries, such as Cambodia and Madagascar, will likely stay well below their limits and not overshoot.

Last year, Germany overshot its limit on May 4 — one day later than 2024, taking into account the leap year difference.

Overshoot Day as a chance to reform

"The German Earth Overshoot Day is a reminder to change the underlying conditions in all sectors now so that sustainable behavior becomes the new normal," Aylin Lehnert, education officer at German environmental NGO Germanwatch, said in a press release. "We need a new debt brake, a debt brake in relation to the overloading of the Earth."

According to Greenwatch, meat production and consumption  in Germany is one of the main drivers of its overuse of Earth's resources. About 60% of its agricultural land is used for animal feed production, and millions of tons are imported from overseas. 

Germany's total imports led to the destruction of 138,000 hectares (341,005 acres) of tropical forest worldwide from 2016 to 2018, according to the international development agency GIZ.

The Global South, which largely lives within sustainable limits, shoulders much of the burden of overconsumption through environmental destruction and climate change damage.

On Tuesday, Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) criticized the country's reckless use of soil, water and raw materials.

Meat consumption is one of the main factors behind Germany's sustainability overshootImage: INA FASSBENDER/AFP

BUND Chairman Olaf Bandt said in a statement, "Our Earth is overloaded. A country that consumes as many resources as we do is operating poorly and recklessly."

BUND is calling on the German government to introduce a resource protection law for soil and land, arable and pasture land, fishing grounds, ground and surface water, forests and wood.

More consumption does not mean more happiness

According to the Happy Planet Index (HPI) released on Thursday, all this overconsumption doesn't necessarily lead to better lives for its citizens.

The index, compiled by the Hot or Cool Institute, a Berlin-based public interest think tank, combines data on well-being, life expectancy and carbon footprint to assess how well countries are caring for their citizens without overtaxing the planet.

For example, Sweden and Germany have very similar levels of general well-being and life expectancy, but Sweden achieved that quality of life with 16% fewer emissions per capita than Germany and less than half the per capita footprint in the United States.

Costa Rica had comparable figures for life expectancy and well-being but almost half the environmental impact of Germany.

The countries with the best balance

Vanuatu, Sweden, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Nicaragua all topped the list for balancing good lives with low impact. 

The index, which also breaks down income levels within countries, found that the top 10% of earners globally are responsible for nearly half of all emissions but have almost no gains in well-being and health over low-emitters.

A good example of this is air travel. People who fly a lot emit far more carbon than people who do not, but they do not show a significant increase in well-being compared to those who fly less. In the United States, a 2020 study revealed that wealthier homes have 25% larger energy footprints than low-income homes but equal levels of life satisfaction. 

Lewis Akenji, managing director of the Hot or Cool Institute, called for countries to rethink their priorities.

"We need to focus on wasteful consumption and inequality, which is making the planetary crisis worse," Akenji said in a statement.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker

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