As of this Saturday, humanity lives on credit. Each year the Global Footprint Network, a California-based research institute, calculates the day of the exceedance. This fictitious date is when mankind has caught more fish, cut down more trees than nature can offer in a year. As for our CO2 emissions, they have been greater than what the oceans and forests are capable of absorbing.
However, the index fell twenty-four days compared to 2019. This is "a historic reversal" according to the president of the Global Footprint Network while year after year we devour natural resources more quickly. This is the Covid effect: the confinements put in place in a large number of countries in response to the pandemic and the slowdown in the economy, in particular forest felling, explains this new sobriety.
Optical illusion
Good news for the planet? "No, a trompe-l'oeil which we obviously cannot be satisfied", slice Pierre Cannet, of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). “The millions of diesel vehicles have remained in the garages but if this is not already the case they will be back on the road and emit greenhouse gases; similarly polluting industries, or energy sieves have not disappeared. "
Without wanting to sound like poopers, environmental NGOs note that despite this exceptional context, humanity has won “ONLY” 24 days: “there are four months left in the red. This is a sign that we must get to work so as not to exhaust resources before December 31, ”argues Samuel Léré of the Nicolas Hulot Foundation. The Global Foodprint estimates that today we use 60% more than what can be renewed, that is to say that we consume the equivalent of 1.6 planet.
Maintain good confinement habits
At the individual level, we can try to keep "good ecological habits of confinement" as recommended by the agency for ecological transition (Ademe). For example, the French have been numerous to turn to local, seasonal products and to short circuits, "an ecological gesture" because they require less energy and have traveled less, reports the agency. You can also monitor your digital pollution by removing unnecessary emails to reduce energy consumption and networks, while 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions are due to digital technology. “Citizen action accounts for a fifth of our carbon footprint, it must be more or less the same for our ecological footprint. It's not nothing, ”recalls Samuel Léré.
A green recovery plan?
But while the different countries are planning the "next world", the ball is in the court of decision-makers, we need laws and substantial investments: in France, the recovery plan of 100 billion euros must be finalized on Tuesday … "We are counting on the Castex government to present at the next Council of Ministers a recovery plan totally geared towards ecological transition and employment", insists Pierre Cannet.
Last month, the WWF phosphorated with the Ernst and Young cabinet and made concrete proposals for a green recovery. According to this report, investing massively in energy renovation and green transport would, in addition, reduce our ecological footprint, maintain and create 1 million jobs in France by 2022.