Ecological Creditor and Debtor Initiative, developed by the Global Footprint

Network, seeks not to discourage global trade but, rather, to enable

countries to see the benefit in reducing their resource dependence on the

one hand, and increasing or maintaining ecological reserves on the other.

Understanding this new distinction of wealth can help to lead climate

negotiations and climate policy on the more productive path, empowering all countries,

whether ecological debtors or creditors, to implement more aggressive sustainability policies.