Overshoot Day 2025

It is official: the Global Overshoot Day 2025 falls on July 24, even earlier than last year.

📉 This means that in only 205 days, we have exhausted all the resources that the planet can naturally regenerate in a full year. From this point forward, we are living “on credit,” building up ecological debt and heightening the risk of destabilizing ecosystems.

📆 The trend is unmistakable and concerning:

  • 2022: 28 luglio
  • 2023: 2 agosto
  • 2024: 1 agosto
  • 2025: 24 luglio

An advance of 8 days compared to 2023—an alarming warning sign.

❗ Despite countless appeals, international agreements, and green pledges, the global ecological footprint keeps expanding. Our current production and consumption model is driving us further away from sustainability.

🌿 And what about Italy? If the current trend persists, the national Overshoot Day could arrive as early as May (or even sooner), confirming our status as one of the most energy-consuming nations in Europe.

The moment to change direction is here.
Good intentions alone won’t suffice: we need bold policies, substantial investments in the ecological transition, and a deep transformation of our lifestyles.

💬 Each additional day we secure on the calendar is a triumph for our Planet.
🟢 #MoveTheDate is more than a slogan—it’s an urgent imperative.

What is Overshoot Day and How It Has Evolved Over Time

Overshoot Day: The Date We Deplete Earth’s Resources

Overshoot Day, also known as Earth Overshoot Day, marks the date when humanity has used up all the natural resources that the Earth can regenerate in a single year. Beyond this point, we begin to live on “ecological credit,” depleting resources meant for the future and causing increased harm to ecosystems.

The concept was created by the Global Footprint Network, an international organization that annually determines this symbolic date using two key factors: the Earth’s biocapacity (the planet’s ability to regenerate resources and absorb waste) and the human ecological footprint (the extent of our consumption and pollution).

An Alarming Timeline

In recent decades, Overshoot Day has occurred progressively earlier each year, highlighting an unsustainable development model. Here are some key dates:

  • 1971: 25 dicembre –the first year humanity exceeded the threshold..
  • 1980: 4 novembre
  • 1990: 11 ottobre
  • 2000: 23 settembre
  • 2010: 8 agosto
  • 2019: 29 luglio – one of the worst years on record.
  • 2020: 22 agosto – slight improvement due to the global lockdown.
  • 2021: 29 luglio – return to pre-pandemic levels.
  • 2022: 28 luglio
  • 2023: 2 agosto
  • 2024: 1° agosto

In 2024, we exhausted all renewable resources by August 1st, meaning that for almost five months, we will rely on depleting non-renewable reserves, intensifying the environmental crisis, biodiversity loss, and climate change.

What about Italy?

In addition to the global date, Overshoot Days are calculated for individual countries based on their internal consumption and local biocapacity. Italy’s Overshoot Day in 2024 occurred on May 19th, which is two and a half months earlier than the global Overshoot Day.

This data shows that if everyone on Earth lived like Italians, the planet’s resources would be exhausted by mid-May. In other words, sustaining the average Italian lifestyle would require approximately 2.7 Earths.

Here is a comparison of recent years in Italy:

  • 2019: 15 maggio
  • 2020: 14 maggio
  • 2021: 13 maggio
  • 2022: 15 maggio
  • 2023: 15 maggio
  • 2024: 19 maggio (modest progress observed, yet sustainability remains distant)
  • NDR: New decline anticipated for 2025 as of May 9th

What actions can be taken?

Moving the Overshoot Day forward on the calendar is possible, but it requires concrete changes:

  • Minimize energy use and prioritize investment in renewable energy sources
  • Transforming the food system through waste reduction and decreased meat consumption
  • Advance the circular economy and champion sustainable transportation solutions
  • Safeguard and rejuvenate natural ecosystems

The #MoveTheDate campaign, led by the Global Footprint Network, urges individuals, governments, and businesses to reconsider their decisions and embrace lifestyles and policies that honor the planet’s limits.

Conclusion

Overshoot Day serves as a crucial and sobering reminder: we must stop exceeding the Earth’s ecological boundaries. Each day we push this date further back is a triumph for our planet and the generations to come.