Humanity is consuming natural resources much faster than the planet can replenish them, according to new global data from York University.
Tracking Earth’s ecological limits over more than six decades, the latest figures shared by the University’s Ecological Footprint Initiative show human activity now requires the equivalent of 1.7 Earths each year to sustain current levels of consumption.
Eric Miller is director of York’s Ecological Footprint Initiative – a multidisciplinary group of scholars, students and organizations working to advance understanding of the world’s ecological footprint and biocapacity. He warns that data reflects a 70 per cent overshoot of the planet’s renewable capacity.
The figures, released on Earth Day, include what researchers describe as the most comprehensive open-access dataset to date that measures human impact on the planet. Produced in partnership with the University of Iceland, the ecological footprint dataset spans 1961- 2025 and measures the land and sea area needed to produce food, fibres and resources people use, and to absorb associated waste, including carbon emissions.
The dataset was developed through an innovative sustainability training program at the International Ecological Footprint Learning Lab, a multi-partner research initiative that brings together faculty and graduate students from York University and the University of Iceland. The program trains students to work with large environmental datasets while advancing research into ecological footprint and biocapacity.
Along with Miller, York-based co-authors include master of environmental studies (MES) alums Kiona Lo and Neha Basnet as well as MES students Bumika Srikanthalingam, Beatrice Foley and Anna Hao Long. Co-authors from the University of Iceland include Johanna Louise Van Berkum, Petra Toneva, Marina Ermina and Clara Klinkenberg.
Anchor funding for this work was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) through a $2.5-million Talent-Stream Partnership Grant.
While the data suggest the rapid rise in global ecological pressure seen in recent decades may be slowing, there is still no clear evidence of a sustained decline.
“For the world to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, humanity must reduce its total ecological footprint by at least 59 per cent over the next 25 years,” says Miller, who teaches in the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change. “This metric goes beyond carbon – it reflects a broader scale of human demand on nature.”
Looking closer to home, researchers note that Canada is rich in natural resources compared with other countries. Although Canadians only make up about 0.5 per cent of the global population, the country holds about four per cent of the planet’s biocapacity – the ability of Earth’s ecosystems to renew resources such as wood, food and clean water.
Despite this advantage, Canada ranks eighth globally for per-capita consumption. In 2025, each Canadian used an average of 6.6 global hectares, roughly four times what would be sustainable at a planetary scale, and about double the per-person footprint of countries such as China or the U.K., notes Lo. Only the U.S. recorded a higher level.
“Canada has a biocapacity advantage, but it is under pressure because of our large ecological footprint,” says Lo. “Canada’s footprint is limiting opportunities for people elsewhere in the world to live well.”
Trade is also central to Canada’s ecological impact. In 2025, Canada drew on 3.1 per cent of the planet’s renewable capacity to produce and export resource-intensive food and forest products. Each dollar of Canadian exports required roughly twice the natural resources of each dollar of imports.
About 60 per cent of Canada’s domestic ecological footprint was tied to goods produced for consumption in other countries. Globally, more than 30 per cent of what the world produced in 2025 was traded internationally – more than double the share recorded in 1961.
“Canadians consume a lot, but the footprint associated with what we produce and export is even larger,” says Miller. “Unlike countries whose ecological footprints are driven mainly by imports, Canada is a net exporter and ranks 10th globally on that basis.”
He adds the national datasets can be used to examine biocapacity and ecological footprint at regional and municipal levels, and the initiative is expanding access to local data to support decision-making.
“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.”
The initiative has launched the first open-access ecological footprint dataset for all Ontario municipalities.
The ecological footprint and biocapacity framework is widely used by governments and organizations worldwide, including World Wildlife Fund, which has incorporated the metrics into public tools and awareness campaigns.