How does technology help slow down the reduction of Earth’s natural resources?

This July 24th marks Earth Overshoot Day 2025: the date determined by the Global Footprint Network when humanity exhausts the planet’s ecological resources and its regenerative capacity for the year. From that moment on, we begin accumulating waste while atmospheric CO₂ concentrations rise. Earth Overshoot Day arrives earlier each year, underscoring the environmental, climate, and social emergency we face, and highlighting the urgent need to find solutions to reverse it.

The efficient use of natural resources is a global challenge in which technology is already playing a leading role.

Technology for sustainability

Technology no longer operates in isolation but in collaboration with the world. According to the United Nations Technology and Innovation Report (2023), digital technologies can contribute to making global value chains more environmentally sustainable by improving productivity, reducing the impact of current production and consumption models, introducing greener technologies and products, and promoting circular economy business models. However, reducing global emissions and improving energy efficiency remains a complex and multidimensional challenge.

As Cecilia Conde, Head of Sustainability at MWCapital, points out: “Although these crises present undeniable challenges, we see them as a call to action. The urgency of climate change and inequalities reinforces the need for sustainable digital solutions that are designed with this in mind. That is why sustainability is a cross-cutting concept in the Foundation’s strategic plan, which promotes digital transformation through a humanistic use of technology to generate positive impact on society and the planet.”

MWCapital leads initiatives that support technology-based projects enabling the transition to a more sustainable model. One example is the MWCapital Awards, which identify and recognise innovative projects worldwide that contribute to the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In its first edition this year, 157 proposals were submitted. Among the six winners is Embrace the Forest, a project by the Brazilian company Umgrauemeio, which developed AI-based software to prevent and detect wildfires in their early stages. This technology can reduce burned forest areas by up to 85%, improve firefighters’ response time by 80%, and lower operational costs by 70%. It directly reduces CO₂ emissions caused by wildfires and helps mitigate biodiversity loss.

Innovation for sustainable digital transformation in Barcelona

Collaboration between public and private actors is also key to promoting sustainable technology projects. Through the Barcelona Innova Lab Mobility, the Barcelona City Council, MWCapital, and Fira de Barcelona support pilot programs that address the city’s mobility challenges. The most recent initiative supports the development of technological innovations to optimize urban distribution in the HORECA sector in Barcelona, aligning with the city’s goal of reducing freight emissions by 50% by 2030.

Another initiative aimed at maximising technology’s impact is the Open Innovation Lab for Municipalities, promoted by MWCapital and Aigües de Barcelona to turn municipalities into innovation hubs focused on water sustainability. The lab develops several pilot programs to explore how technology can improve water management. Some of the featured solutions include Trigger Systems, which optimises irrigation water use; Drenatura, which explores ways to increase urban permeability; and Fibsen, which applies fiber-optic sensors to non-invasively detect leaks in the urban irrigation network in Sant Boi.

Sustainability and tech transfer

Scientific research and universities are another strategic pillar in developing technological solutions that can help protect natural resources. MWCapital’s Tech Transfer area supports cutting-edge startups born from universities and research centres that address complex environmental and social challenges.

Examples include The Predictive Company, which offers an IoT solution to optimise building energy consumption and achieve savings of up to 40%; Cooling Photonics, which develops passive cooling material for electronic devices without consuming extra energy; and UniSCool, which created a liquid cooling system for enclosed spaces based on a heart-shaped heat sink. Also notable are Nanochronia, which promotes decarbonisation using graphene and perovskite IoT nanosensors to detect gases such as hydrogen, ammonia, methane, and hydrogen sulfide; and YPlasma, which has developed patented plasma actuator technology for thermal control and boundary layer management.

How is Earth Overshoot Day calculated?

Earth Overshoot Day is calculated based on national footprint and biocapacity accounts, governed by the Footprint Data Foundation and maintained by the University of York. To determine the date each year, the Global Footprint Network calculates how many days the Earth’s biocapacity can support humanity’s ecological footprint. The remainder of the year reflects the global overshoot. The date is calculated by dividing the planet’s biocapacity (resources Earth can regenerate in a year) by humanity’s ecological footprint (demand for that year), then multiplying by the number of days in the year.