Partnerships and Funders

The Footprint Data Foundation (FoDaFo) is a Canadian not-for-profit corporation with a mandate to "inform the public and specific entities about how to measure Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity and how to use the data to advance sustainability."

York University is a member of FoDaFo and supports its work by producing the National Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts, and by providing administrative and technical support to its Board of Directors and its Scientific Advisory Committee.  This committee is led by York University Professor Emeritus Peter Victor and is supported by a Research Assistant studying in the MES program.

Since 2003, Global Footprint Network has offered meaningful and scalable metrics with actionable insights about natural resource consumption and capacity. It has engaged with more than 50 nations, 30 cities and 70 global partners to deliver scientific insights on sustainability that have driven high-impact policy and investment decisions.

In 2018, Global Footprint Network formed a partnership with York University to improve the independence and robustness of the National Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts, which track the Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity of more than 200 countries and regions.

The Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP) is an internationally leading research organization, drawing together expert partners from academic and non-academic institutions. Its research is focused on what prosperity means in a world of environmental, social, and economic limits.

The Ecological Footprint Initiative shares the Centre's research focus and has collaborated on research about the use of Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity as metrics of biophysical limits and of sustainability. This research has been funded by the United Kingdom's Economic and Social Research Council.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) has funded many projects of this initiative. In 2018 SSHRC funded "Developing the Ecological Footprint Research Initiative" through an Insight Development Grant awarded to applicant Martin Bunch and co-applicants Peter Victor and Mathis Wackernagel. In 2018 SSHRC also funded "Building capacity for the ecological footprint national accounts in Canada" through a Partnership Engage Grant to applicant Martin Bunch and co-applicant Peter Victor to engage with our partner, the Global Footprint Network. In 2020, SSHRC funded "Measuring and managing Canada's use of the Earth's regenerative carrying capacity" through a Knowledge Synthesis Grant awarded to applicants Peter Victor and Eric Miller, with co-applicants Peter Mulvihill and Martin Bunch and David Lin. In 2022, SSHRC funded "The Ecological Footprint Collaborative: Research, novel applications, and training".