Earth Overshoot Day arrives early again: ‘Sustainability is no longer a moral luxury – it is a financial necessity’

Overshoot Day: innovation and engagement essential for a sustainable future 

Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demand for natural resources exceeds what can be regenerated. This year it will arrive on 24 July – eight days earlier than last year, showing the escalation in usage of resources.

Here, four sustainable investment experts explore how we can help push this back and build a more sustainable future.   

‘Building a more flexible, decarbonised energy system in the UK’: Ben Guest, managing director of energy transition at Gresham House   

Earth Overshoot Day is a stark reminder of the need to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy systems. Investment in battery energy storage systems (BESS) is key to this.  

Scaling up investment in battery storage infrastructure is essential for enhancing grid resilience, balancing intermittent renewable generation with demand, energy security, and reducing carbon emissions. The need for storage increases as renewable penetration increases, so as renewable penetration now rises above 50% and towards 80%, it is imperative to ensure timely deployment to avoid curtailment of renewables, high balancing costs, and ultimately increased risks of outages.   

Thus, BESS is playing a pivotal role in reshaping how the world produces, consumes and stores energy. By actively expanding the UK’s resources to build a more flexible, decarbonised energy system, we can help deliver a more sustainable future.   

‘Divesting doesn’t reflect economic reality’: Alexandra Christiansen, portfolio manager of Nordea’s Global Climate Transition Engagement strategy  

Heavy industry and utilities are among the largest contributors to global emissions. Cement alone is responsible for approximately 7% of global carbon emissions. Steel, which is essential for everything from infrastructure to renewable energy, is another high-emitting sector. Utilities, meanwhile, play a key role in accelerating the energy transition by replacing fossil fuel generation with renewable energy and modernising power grids.  

These sectors are major contributors to global emissions but remain essential to modern economies. Divesting from them may seem like a straightforward approach to portfolio decarbonisation, but this is not reflective of economic reality and risks sidelining the progress needed to reduce emissions in the real economy. Increasingly, investors are taking a different approach: backing ‘improvers’ – companies with credible plans and capacity to deliver value-creative decarbonisation.  

Divesting from these sectors would remove the opportunity to influence transition strategies and forego attractive investment returns from value-creative decarbonisation pathways. Instead, active ownership allows investors to engage with companies at a time when policy and market dynamics are creating new incentives for decarbonisation.  

‘Despite uncertainty, support for renewables in the US remains’: Giles Bicknell, deputy portfolio manager for the US Solar fund   

As long-term infrastructure investors, one of the most effective ways to address ecological overshoot is by accelerating the deployment of renewable energy across the US.  The US continues to offer unmatched scale, supportive state-level mandates and energy policies in key states, and attractive renewable resources in target geographies. Solar is strongly positioned to drive meaningful decarbonisation at speed and scale.  

While recent policy developments, including the federal administration’s ‘Unleashing American Energy’ manifesto, have introduced some federal-level uncertainty, much of the authority to regulate energy remains at state level. This, as well as sustained demand growth, supports a resilient outlook for existing renewables assets.  

See also: Investing in solar amid increasing political uncertainty

Renewables like solar remain a vital part of the US energy mix. Decarbonising the grid, enhancing energy security and supporting a sustainable future mean that despite short-term headwinds, solar’s structural role in the energy transition remains key. By accelerating investment in the space, we can help shift Overshoot Day later in the year or even start to reverse it. 

‘We can’t afford to not act’: Willem Visser, impact and emerging markets portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price  

Rising ocean temperatures, acidification, and deoxygenation are pushing marine ecosystems to the brink. Fish stocks are migrating toward the poles or deeper waters. Some may adapt. Many will not. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned the global fish catch could decline by up to 40% by 2050. Already, a third of shark and ray species are threatened with extinction – up from a quarter just a few years ago.  

This is not just an ecological crisis. It is a human one. Around 60 million people work in fisheries – most in small-scale operations. Indigenous communities, in particular, rely heavily on marine resources. In some coastal Indigenous populations, fish consumption is nearly four times the global average. For them, this is not just about food. It is about culture, identity and survival.  

The outdated belief that profit must come at the planet’s expense is being overturned. Sustainability is no longer a moral luxury – it is a financial necessity. The question is not whether we can afford to act. It is whether we can afford not to.  

See also: Earth’s oceans are suffering as our forests burn

Searching for transition enablers: Daniel Wild, chief sustainability officer at J. Safra Sarasin Sustainable Asset Management 

Overshoot Day is a powerful reminder that humanity’s current path is not sustainable in the long term, with negative consequences for the society and the economy. Addressing the associated environmental and social challenges is not merely an altruistic goal, but a prerequisite for ensuring that future generations can thrive and rely on a stable, productive economy. 

Despite current headwinds for sustainable investments and shifting political narratives, the WEF Global Risk Report 2025, based on a global survey of leaders, continues to identify sustainability threats as key risks over the next 10 years. These risks, however, also translate into opportunities for innovative businesses and forward-looking investors. 

Contributing to the reduction of the global overshoot means equally considering transition enablers (e.g., provision of transformative technologies) and companies that are in transition themselves across industries. This dual focus is a strong driver for positive contribution while enabling globally diversified portfolios.