Australia's and Victoria's Ecological Footprint

Australia's Ecological Footprint in the Living Planet Report 2004 was 7.7 global hectares (gha) per person1. This is over 3 times the average global Footprint (2.2 gha), and well beyond the level of what the planet can regenerate on an annual basis - an equivalent of about 1.8 global hectares per person per year.

The most significant factor contributing to the Australian Ecological Footprint is carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels (constituting approximately half of the total Australian Footprint).

1 A global hectare refers to one hectare (approximately soccer field size) of biologically productive space with world-average productivity.

Victoria's Ecological Footprint

The average Victorian needs 8.1 global hectares of land to sustain his or her lifestyle. If everyone on the planet lived like Victorians, we would need more than four Earths to support us.

Like the rest of Australia, Victorians' Footprint is large because they generally live in large cities, in relatively large houses, travel long distances, and their energy needs are currently sourced primarily from fossil fuels.

Pie graph depicting the Victorian Footprint by consumption type - Food 37%, Goods 23%, Housing 19%, Services 11%, Transport 10%

To view the results of Victoria's Footprint study in further detail, you can download either a summary (Adobe PDF file, 128KB) or the full report (Adobe PDF file, 1459KB or 1.5MB)