Developed in the early 1990s, Ecological Footprint and biocapacity accounts are the world’s only metric that directly compares, in quantitative terms, human demand on nature with Earth’s, or any region’s, biocapacity. Biocapacity refers to ecosystems’ ability to regenerate biological resources. Ecological Footprint measures human demand on this biocapacity.

The first National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts were published in 1997. From 2003 until 2019, Global Footprint Network maintained and annually updated the accounts before transferring them to Footprint Data Foundation in 2019, upon its inception as a not-for-profit organization in Toronto, Canada. This new set-up for the accounts ensures independent production and transparent, robust governance.

Today, York University in Canada, through its Ecological Footprint Initiative, produces the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts annually on behalf of FODAFO.