When one planet is not enough

By 11 May 2026, Switzerland will have used up its estimated entitlement to natural resources for the whole year. From that point onwards, we will be living at the expense of other regions and future generations from an environmental perspective. If everyone worldwide lived as the Swiss do, humanity would need 2.8 planet Earths (Global Footprint Network 2026).

The Global Footprint Network calculates Overshoot Day every year. It compares a country's ecological footprint with the per capita bio-capacity available worldwide. The footprint measures demand for biologically productive land for food, wood, fibres, CO₂ absorption and infrastructure. If consumption exceeds what can be regenerated by the Earth, then a deficit is produced. Switzerland reaches that threshold earlier than most countries.

Stagnation at high level

The world map of Country Overshoot Days shows that Switzerland is in the top third of over-consumers at 11 May and well above the global Earth Overshoot Day, which was 24 July last time around.

Source: Global Footprint Network (2026). Country Overshoot Days based on the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts 2025 Edition.overshootday.org 
* Earth Overshoot Day 2026 will be announced on 5 June; information based on 2025 data.

The 'Change from previous year' column shows the number of days by which a country's Overshoot Day has shifted due to real consumer behaviour. Positive values indicate less demand while negative ones mean increasing resource consumption. Almost all countries show only minor changes. This indicates the trend is stagnating at a high level in many countries (Global Footprint Network, Country Overshoot Days 2026).

The invisible driver – CO₂

CO₂ emissions account for around 72 % of Switzerland's footprint (Global Footprint Network, Switzerland Fact Sheet). That means Overshoot Day is primarily a climate issue. The direct link with accelerated global warming becomes apparent here.

Switzerland was already +3.3°C warmer than the pre-industrial average in 2024 (MeteoSwiss 2026). That is more than twice the global average of +1.55°C (WMO 2025). Warming is taking place at a faster pace in Europe than any other continent (EEA/Copernicus 2025). This is mainly due to Europe's proximity to the rapidly warming Arctic region and the albedo effect, for example in the Alps, where disappearing snow and ice fields expose dark soil that absorbs solar radiation instead of reflecting it (Copernicus 2025; MeteoSwiss 2025). This trend continues to gain momentum as the last ten years have been the ten warmest since records began.

Deviation of the mean annual temperature from the pre-industrial average. Sources: WMO State of Global Climate 2024; EEA/Copernicus ESOTC 2024; MeteoSwiss.

Switzerland is already feeling the impact of this warming: economic damage caused by extreme weather in Europe has increased fivefold since the 1980s – rising from an average of 8.6 to 44.9 billion euros per year (EEA 2025). Switzerland suffered one of its most expensive years in 2024 with CHF 905 million in storm damage (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) 2025). Along global supply chains, climate-related crop failures are causing annual losses of 123 billion US dollars (FAO 2023).

Overshoot Day makes an abstract concept tangible by highlighting a date. The figures indicated above show that Switzerland emits more CO₂ than the available ecosystems can absorb.

What Overshoot Day doesn't show

However, the Ecological Footprint only covers part of the ecological crisis. It measures consumption of biologically productive areas and CO₂ absorption. Here are aspects it does not cover:

• Biodiversity loss: The Living Planet Index shows a 73% decline in wildlife populations since 1970 (WWF 2024). In Switzerland, one third of all species are now endangered (FOEN 2025).
• Chemical pollution: The Planetary Boundary for Novel Entities (PFAS, microplastics, synthetic chemicals) has been transgressed since 2022 (Persson et al. 2022). PFAS are present in half of all Swiss groundwater monitoring sites (FOEN 2024).
• Water consumption: Four billion people live under extreme water stress (WRI Aqueduct 2023). This situation affects Switzerland indirectly through its supply chains.

The concept of planetary boundaries provides a much fuller picture. Seven of the nine boundaries defined have already been breached: Climate Change, Biosphere Integrity, Land System Change, Freshwater Use, Biogeochemical Flows, Novel Entities and, since 2025, Ocean Acidification (Stockholm Resilience Centre, Planetary Health Check 2025). Only Ozone Depletion and Aerosol Loading remain in the safe zone.

Systemic changes are needed

Swiss Overshoot Day is a highly effective communication tool. However, simply highlighting a date will not shift boundaries. Systemic changes are needed some of which are already under way in Switzerland:

• The Federal Act on Climate Protection Goals, Innovation and Strengthening Energy Security, which entered into force in January 2025, enshrines the 2050 net-zero target in law and sets CHF 3.2 billion aside for the transition (FOEN 2025). Achieving the climate targets would push Overshoot Day back by around 93 days (Global Footprint Network 2025).
• The CO₂ levy of CHF 120/t is one of the highest worldwide (FOEN 2025). Swiss emissions trading has been linked with the EU Emissions Trading System since 2020, ensuring equal treatment with European industrial companies.
• In the food system - which is responsible for around 31% of global greenhouse gas emissions (FAO 2024) - Switzerland is the global leader in organic consumption at CHF 468 per capita per annum (Bio Suisse 2025). This lowers the food footprint by reducing use of fertilisers and pesticides.

Companies must also bear responsibility in this system. As global warming has a direct impact on business models – from insurance risks to supply chain stability and regulatory frameworks – tackling this GDI Major Shift is vitally important from an economic perspective too - 70 to 90% of most companies' emissions are generated in the supply chain or from product use (CDP 2024).

Even individual changes in behaviour can have an impact on the footprint. However, the major levers are political framework conditions, infrastructure decision-making and the transformation of energy, food and production systems.

Overshoot Day is a reminder that time is of the essence.