US and Europe behind majority of global ecological damage, says study

Environmental cleanup crews after a major oil spill at Huntington Beach in California in October. Photograph: Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Rex/Shutterstock

The US and Europe are responsible for the majority of global ecological damage caused by the overuse of natural resources, according to a groundbreaking study.

The paper is the first to analyse and assign responsibility for the ecological damage caused by 160 countries over the last half century.