The Global Footprint Network was created in 2003. It is an independent organization that studies and provides ideas about how to protect the environment. It was first started in the United States, Belgium, and Switzerland, and it operates as a nonprofit organization in each of these countries. The group works to create and share tools that help people understand how much natural resources are used and how much are available. These tools help ensure that decisions consider the Earth's limits and support long-term sustainability.
Work
Global Footprint Network aims to help people live well while staying within Earth's limits. The organization is based in Oakland, California. It works with more than 70 groups, including WWF International, ICLEI, Bank Sarasin, The Pictet Group, the New Economics Foundation, Pronatura México, and the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi.
Each year, the Network creates a new version of its National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts. These reports calculate the Ecological Footprint and biocapacity of more than 200 countries and territories from 1961 to the present. Using up to 15,000 pieces of data per country each year, these reports have helped shape policies in more than a dozen countries, including Ecuador, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Russia, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates. Since 2019, the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts have been created together by Global Footprint Network, York University, and the Footprint Data Foundation.
The 2022 Edition of the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts covers the years 1961–2018 (the most recent data available from the United Nations). It uses information from the Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN Comtrade database, the International Energy Agency, and over 20 other sources.
In April 2017, Global Footprint Network launched the Ecological Footprint Explorer, a website that provides free access to data from the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts. The site shows ecological footprint results for more than 200 countries and territories and helps researchers, analysts, and decision-makers view and download data.
Earth Overshoot Day
Earth Overshoot Day, formerly called Ecological Debt Day, is the day when humans use up all the natural resources the Earth can provide for the year. After this day, people use more resources than the Earth can replace, which means using up natural resources faster than they can be replenished and adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. In 2025, Earth Overshoot Day occurred on July 24.
Founding
In 2003, Mathis Wackernagel, PhD, and Susan Burns started the Global Footprint Network, an international research organization based in Oakland, California, with offices in Geneva and Brussels. In December 2007, Wackernagel was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Bern in Switzerland.
Leadership
- Co-founder and President: Dr. Mathis Wackernagel
- Co-founder: Susan Burns
- Chief Executive Officer: Laurel Hanscom
- Chief Science Officer: Dr. David Lin
- Director, Marketing and Communications: Amanda Diep
- Director, Mediterranean and MENA Regions: Dr. Alessandro Galli
- Board Chair: Keith Tuffley
- Honorary Chair: Swiss entrepreneur and investor André Hoffmann
Awards and honours
- Mathis Wackernagel received the Nobel Sustainability Trust Leadership and Implementation Award in 2024.
- Mathis Wackernagel was awarded the World Sustainability Award in 2018.
- Mathis Wackernagel received the International Association for Impact Assessment's Global Environment Award in 2015.
- Mathis Wackernagel was honored with the RECYCLAPOLIS National Sustainability Award in 2015.
- Susan Burns and Mathis Wackernagel were inducted into the Sustainability Hall of Fame in 2014.
- Mathis Wackernagel was awarded the Prix Nature Swisscanto in 2013.
- Global Footprint Network was recognized as one of the top 100 NGOs worldwide by the Global Journal in 2012 and 2013.
- Global Footprint Network received the Blue Planet Prize in 2012.
- Global Footprint Network was awarded the Boulding Award in 2012.
- Global Footprint Network was awarded the Binding Prize in 2012.