{"id":30258,"date":"2024-03-14T10:31:52","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T17:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/?page_id=30258"},"modified":"2025-05-23T22:47:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T05:47:32","slug":"overshoot-impact-of-companies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/overshoot-impact-of-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"Overshoot impact of companies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here we explain how the Ecological Footprint<\/a> metric is applied to companies. We: <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. outline<\/a> the rationale for utilizing the biocapacity lens, <\/em><\/span><\/li>\n
  2. define<\/a> the central research question for companies, <\/em><\/span><\/li>\n
  3. spell out<\/a> how to answer this question,<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n
  4. discuss<\/a> data needs for assessments,<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n
  5. explain<\/a> the analytical particularities when assessing B2B companies,<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n
  6. provide<\/a> background on available methods and analytical approach that allow researchers to address this research question, and<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n
  7. point<\/a> to a section describing the relevance of such an analysis for ESG.<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    1. The benefit of going beyond carbon footprints<\/span><\/h3>\n

    The word \u2018future\u2019 has become next to synonymous with climate change and artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

    On the climate side, most perceive the \u201cchallenge” as a collective choice problem about carbon emissions, characterized by tensions between individual and societal interests. However, the challenge extends beyond carbon emissions, and even more importantly, it largely does not hinge on collective decision-making<\/a>. In fact, incentives for responding to overshoot are far more powerful than most imagine<\/a>. Recognizing this self-interest to act has direct, practical implications for any investor<\/a>. The implications become even more practical and potent the less others address the problem.<\/p>\n

    \"every<\/span><\/h3>\n

    Every human activity uses biocapacity<\/a>. This competition for biocapacity is what Ecological Footprint<\/a> accounts track.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    Here below are brief explanations of how using a biocapacity lens offers more robust insights than carbon emissions only when analyzing the future-fitness of any entity, including companies.<\/p>\n

    Certainly, climate change will be part of the package that shapes our future. Just that climate change will inevitably be accompanied by many other environmental pressures. And all these pressures compound. The simple reason is that economies, and all their activities, are in direct competition for what ecosystems can regenerate.<\/p>\n

    The competition for everything nature can regenerate has become so voracious that, currently, human demand exceeds, by at least 70%<\/a>, what Earth\u2019s ecosystems can renew. The ecological consequences are\u00a0<\/span>climate change<\/a>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>biodiversity<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>loss, pollution, water stress, and food and energy insecurity.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This regenerative capacity of the planet, even though it can be overused for some time, is ultimately the overarching material factor that limits everything. Regeneration simultaneously limits:<\/p>\n