Luxembourg has exhausted its natural resources for 2025
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Luxembourg is once again among the countries that are fastest on the planet to exhaust their annual limit of natural resources. In 2025, the country's Overshoot Day will occur on 17 February, three days earlier than in 2024. This is the second earliest indicator in the world, second only to Qatar, where the day occurred on 6 February.
According to the Global Footprint Network, if all countries consumed resources like Luxembourg, humanity would need 7.26 planet Earths to meet that level of consumption.
Experts from Greenpeace and Médecins Sans Frontières point to several key factors. Luxembourg is a small but economically developed country, which automatically increases its energy consumption. Among the main reasons are:
- High use of fossil fuels and "fuel tourism", which brings foreigners to refuel here, artificially increasing CO₂ emissions.
- Air freight, as the country is a key European hub for cargo aviation.
- Low share of public transport in daily journeys, despite it being free of charge. Most residents still prefer personal cars.
- High energy consumption per capita.
- A diet rich in meat products, which adds to the environmental stress.
Although the country is increasing the share of solar power, introducing a carbon tax and renewing the car fleet, these initiatives have not yet been reflected in the calculations as old data is used.
According to Xavier Turquin, director of Greenpeace Luxembourg, 2024 is already the first official year in which average temperatures have exceeded 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial era. Despite this, however, the global response to the climate crisis is waning.
Thomas Kauffmann, Director of Médecins Sans Frontières, emphasised that the climate crisis is also a public health crisis. Changing weather leads to crop failures and famine, while rising temperatures contribute to the spread of infectious diseases such as malaria and respiratory infections. He also pointed out the link between environmental pollution and cancer.
Extreme weather events and biodiversity loss are already being felt in Luxembourg. According to experts, the problem can only be solved by joint efforts.
