The Planet Can’t Keep Up: Global Resource Use 1.7 Times What Earth Can Sustain

New Data from York University Reveals the Growing Toll of Human Activity on the Planet

Toronto, April 22nd, 2026 – York University’s Ecological Footprint Initiative, in collaboration with the University of Iceland, is marking Earth Day with the release of the world’s most up-to-date and comprehensive open-access dataset ever compiled tracking humanity's impact on the planet. The findings show that human civilization is using the planet’s resources at a rate equivalent to 1.7 Earths per year, bringing us to a 70% deficit.

For Professor Eric Miller, York University professor in ecological economics and sustainability informatics, and director of the Ecological Footprint Initiative: “For the world to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, humanity must reduce its total ecological footprint by at least 59% over the next 25 years. The ecological footprint goes well beyond carbon emission: it measures the land and sea area needed to produce what we consume, from the food we eat to the resources that sustain our daily lives.”

Data spanning 1961 to 2025 suggest that the rapid growth in pressure on the planet observed over recent decades may be plateauing, though there is no clear sign of a meaningful decline.

Is Canada wasting its natural wealth?

Canada enjoys an exceptional advantage, having 4% of the world’s biocapacity — the Earth's ability to renew the natural resources we depend on — with only 0.5% of the global population. Its forests alone generate half the country’s natural capacity to renew resources. Together with its waters, farmland, pasture, and built infrastructure, they form a vast ecological safety net. Yet Canada ranks 8th in the world for per-person consumption. In 2025, each Canadian used an average of 6.6 global hectares, roughly four times the sustainable level of the planet's biocapacity and twice the rate of countries like China or the United Kingdom, but surpassed by the USA.

“Canada has a biocapacity advantage, but it’s under pressure because of our large ecological footprint. There is no other way to say it, Canada’s ecological footprint is limiting opportunities for people elsewhere on this planet to live a good life” adds Professor Miller, who co-produced the National Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts.

Canada Is Shipping and Chipping Away Its Resources

In an era of trade uncertainty and tariff tensions, Canada occupies a unique position. In 2025, Canada's economy drew on 3.1% of the planet's renewable capacity to produce and export resource-intensive food and forest products. Each dollar of Canadian exports required twice the natural resources of each dollar of imports, with 60% of Canada’s domestic footprint exported for other countries’ consumption. Most other countries are in the opposite position, consuming more than they produce within their own borders.

“More than 30% of what the world produced in 2025 was exported. That’s more than double the exports recorded in 1961. Canadians consume a lot, but the footprint tied to what we produce and export is even larger,” says Professor Miller. “Unlike countries like the United States or France, whose ecological footprints are driven more heavily by imports, Canada is a net exporter and 10th globally.”

The national data can also be used to understand local biocapacity and ecological footprint. “We are working to create more local, open-access data that leaders and policymakers can use,” says Peri Dworatzek, Partnership Coordinator at the International Ecological Footprint Learning Lab. “The goal is to empower countries, cities and individuals to better understand their impacts and identify where to go next. We created the first-ever open-access ecological footprint dataset for all Ontario municipalities.”

Webinar: How Global Trade and Consumption Relate To National Well-being

Today at 12:00 p.m. EDT during a webinar, the Ecological Footprint Initiative will discuss how changing trade flows and trade relationships are reshaping ecological footprints, and how these trends relate to national well-being and happiness.

Many organizations use ecological footprint and biocapacity data. WWF was one of the first organizations to use and promote ecological footprint as a core tool in its work to protect the natural world. Its national chapters use ecological footprint in calculators and campaigns to this day.

About York University’s Ecological Footprint Initiative

York University’s Ecological Footprint Initiative, based in Toronto, brings together scholars, students, researchers and partner organizations to advance the measurement of Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity, and to expand the use of these tools around the world. Its work includes data production, research and training. The Initiative is supported by York University, research grants, donations and fee-for-service research projects. The Ecological Footprint Initiative, the University of Iceland and the British Columbia Institute of Technology are partners of the International Ecological Footprint Learning Lab (IEFLL).

Contact

Muriel Julien

COPTICOM, Strategy and Public Relations

438 345-7904

mjulien@copticom.ca