Aug. 1 marks the day when the world has consumed the natural resources that can be renewed within a year, according to the Global Footprint Network’s calculations. For several years, excluding the pandemic year of 2020, this symbolic day has fallen in early August; in 1971, it was in late December. The message is clear: The resource hunger of a growing global economy can be offset by efficiency gains but not reversed. So far, decoupling economic growth from emissions and resource consumption has not been achieved, leading to increasing emissions and shrinking available resources each year.