The Earth Overshoot Day describes the day on which we spent all our resources, that the nature is able to regenerate within a year.
This year the day is on Monday 29th July 2019.
That means 169 days until the end of the year; or in other words: living of the climate credit card as of today. Every year we lose track of our target more and more and we can’t reverse this trend.
This year the Earth Overshoot Day is one day earlier than last year which means the “august border” has fallen. This means that we need 1.75 earths and thus overexploit at the expense of other people and future generations. Since 1971, we consume more resources every year than we have available. Meaning, our current lifestyle requires more than one Earth, which we do not have.
Overshoot Days all over the world:
For more information on the Earth Overshoot Day check: http://www.overshootday.org/
“Sustainable development is a development that meets the needs of the present without risking future generations to meet their own needs.” – Brundtland report
What can we do to counteract this trend?
Each individual can pay attention to their own ecological footprint and try to reduce it. Starting with a responsible use of resources like energy, food, clothing, packaging and many more.
Here you can calculate your own ecological footprint and your Overshoot Day: http://www.footprintcalculator.org/
How can each individual contribute to reducing his or her own footprint?
• use reusable shopping bags instead of plastic bags
• turn off the lights, turn off the power instead of stand-by mode and switch to green energy
• buy food and the like as regional and seasonal as possible and avoid long transport routes
• reconsider air travel and long car rides, check for alternatives and decide consciously
• change to the bike for your own health and the environment or take a walk every now and again
• avoid unnecessary packaging material
• focus on reusability and recycling
However, not only individuals and households are addressed. This call is equally strong for companies because they can make a big contribution to counteract this trend.
PALFINGER also tries to make its contribution and to reduce its ecological footprint. In addition to our areas “Responsible Employer”, “Fair Economy” and “Sustainable Products”, we also deal with the area of “Eco-efficient Production”.
By Eco-efficient Production, PALFINGER primarily means the efficient use of resources and energy, climate protection as well as the reduction of hazardous waste.
We have defined four long-term goals:
• Energy efficiency index: efficiency improvement of 30% until 2030 (base year 2015)
• CO2 emissions: -25% of absolute emissions by 2030 (base year 2015)
• Hazardous waste index: reduction of 30% until 2030 (base year 2015)
• Renewable energy: 75% of electricity purchased are from renewable resources by 2022
To reach these goals we have defined measures. A detailed measures program can be found on the PALFINGER AG website.
We drive positive impAct!
Together We are Shaping the Future – PALFINGER
#MoveTheDate
