Global Footprint Network

Global Footprint Network, founded in 2003, is an independent think tank based in the United States, Belgium and Switzerland. It is established as a charitable not-for-profit organization in each of those three countries.

Global Footprint Network develops and promotes tools for advancing sustainability, including the Ecological Footprint and biocapacity, which measure the amount of resources we use and how much we have. These tools aim at bringing ecological limits to the center of decision-making.

Visual representation of the National Footprint Network ecological footprint and biocapacity rates.

Work

Global Footprint Network's goal is to create a future where all humans can live well, within the means of one planet Earth. The organization is headquartered in Oakland, California, but also has offices in Geneva and Brussels.[1] The Network brings together over 70 partner organizations,[2] including WWF International, Bank Sarasin, Pictet Group, the New Economics Foundation, the UK consultancy Best Foot Forward and the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative.

Earth Overshoot Day

Also known as Ecological Debt Day, Earth Overshoot Day is the day when humanity has exhausted nature's budget for the year. For the rest of the year, society operates in ecological overshoot by drawing down local resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The first Earth Overshoot Day was December 19, 1987.[3] In 2014, Earth Overshoot Day was August 19.[4]

Founding

In 2003, Mathis Wackernagel, PhD, and Susan Burns founded Global Footprint Network, an international think-tank headquartered in Oakland, California, with offices in Geneva and Brussels. Wackernagel received an honorary doctorate in December 2007 from the University of Bern in Switzerland.

Leadership

Awards/Honors

See also

References and further reading

External links