The threats of climate change are greater than those of the coronavirus. The difference is that we’ll only feel the effects later, gradually more as time passes, but with the pandemic, we were struck instantly and all at once. Amid the chaos of dealing with COVID-19, the fight for governments to do something about the climate crisis was forgotten.
EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik said:
In December many people just dismissed the first reports of Coronavirus from Wuhan because it was happening far away, a Chinese problem that did not concern us. But, before we knew it, it became our problem. This is the analogy with climate change. Many people don’t see it happening but that doesn’t mean it’s not.
Failing this time would be a lost opportunity. In December many people just dismissed the first reports of Coronavirus from Wuhan because it was happening far away, a Chinese problem that did not concern us. But, before we knew it, it became our problem. This is the analogy with climate change. Many people don’t see it happening but that doesn’t mean it’s not. We should already be talking about the fact that we need to prevent future shocks that may come with climate change.
Severe lockdown measures worldwide that had to take place to curb the spread of the disease destabilized societies and crippled the economy. Now it’s time for the world leaders to prepare recovery plans to boost their economy – and the green agenda is making its way back into the spotlight again.
Letters have been written calling for a recovery plan that doesn’t roll back environmental regulations and supports ecological improvements. The International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) wrote in its 2020 Global Renewables Outlook:
Stimulus and recovery packages should accelerate the shift to sustainable, decarbonized economies. In response to the coronavirus crisis, governments should invest in flexible power grids, efficiency solutions, electric vehicle (EV) charging systems, energy storage, interconnected hydropower, green hydrogen, and many other clean energy technologies. An estimated 2.7 million jobs could be created in the EU’s renewable energy sector by 2050. Transforming the global energy system to one largely based on renewable sources could increase GDP by an average of USD 3,000 per person per year in the EU until 2050.
Pascal Canfin, a French liberal EU lawmaker, said in a letter:
The Covid-19 crisis did not make the climate crisis disappear … If we relaunch the economy in the wrong direction, we will hit the climate crisis wall.
Many see this moment as an opportunity to redirect the economy on to a more climate-friendly path. Germany and the UK are leading the debate by calling on all nations to keep climate action and the protection of ecosystems in mind when preparing measures to boost the economy after the coronavirus crisis. On April 27-28, the 11th Petersburg Climate Conference was held online, and ministers from 30 countries discussed possibilities of a green recovery. Environment minister Svenja Schulze said the summit had shown that many countries are thinking in this direction.
Speaking at the virtual climate summit, Germany’s environment minister said it was important for economic recovery programs to fund future-proof jobs that would help reduce emissions, rather than returning to business as usual by investing in fossil fuels. She admitted it was going to be challenging to decide which business sectors need more help than others but that the focus should be on supporting renewable energies and keeping a close eye on climate protection.
She said:
We remain committed and it is still our responsibility to implement the climate Paris Agreement. The coronavirus pandemic has shown us once again, in a particularly painful way, that international cooperation is crucial in our closely interconnected world.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres added that these “dark times” could be an opportunity for the world if we come out of them in the right way. He said:
The restart can lead to a healthier and more resilient world for everyone.
The key to tackling the climate crisis is the bigger emitters. [The G20 countries must commit to climate neutrality by 2050.] Without the contribution of big emitters all our efforts risk to be doomed. The role of the G20 countries is essential as they account for 80 percent of global emissions and over 85 percent of the global economy.
Guterres also spoke at the 50th anniversary of Earth Day acknowledging the pandemic as:
…the biggest test the world has faced since the Second World War. The impact of the coronavirus is both immediate and dreadful. But there is another, deep emergency — the planet’s unfolding environmental crisis.
The current crisis is an unprecedented wake-up call. We need to turn the recovery into a real opportunity to do things right for the future. On this Earth Day, please join me in demanding a healthy and resilient future for people and planet alike.
We have all seen how reducing the use of fossil fuels lowers emissions this past couple of months. The lockdowns have shown us that. When the world returns to normal, the levels of emissions will rise again, but they shouldn’t be the same as before. They have to be less, and they have to continue to decline, and this can only happen if environmental concerns are incorporated into recovery plans. Scientists have been warning that there’s little time left to achieve the goal of the 2015 Paris climate accord — which is to keep global warming at 1.5C (2.7F) or at least below 2C (3.6F).
Andrew Norton, the International Institute for Environment and Development director, told BBC News:
While the pandemic will lead to a temporary dip in global greenhouse gas emissions, this must not distract from the urgent need for rapid fundamental changes in infrastructure, energy, land use and industrial systems to set us on a path to net-zero emissions globally by 2050 at the latest. Land-use change and deforestation are primary global drivers of biodiversity destruction. They heighten the risk of further pandemics by bringing humans into contact with new threats such as the coronavirus. Every species lost is an irreversible event that decreases the resilience of natural and human systems on a permanent basis.
In much the same way we now fight the pandemic, so the healthcare system doesn’t crash, we need to fight the climate crisis, so the planet doesn’t get destroyed. Britain’s Business Secretary Alok Sharma, who co-hosted the Petersburg Climate Conference, said that:
…the world must work together, as it has to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, to support a green and resilient recovery, which leaves no one behind.
While all of this push for a green recovery is amazing, environmental campaigners have been warning that the heavily polluting industries are already trying to seize the vast sums being lined up by governments to stimulate the economy and benefit from the coronavirus crisis.
Jennifer Morgan, the Executive Director of Greenpeace International, said:
We are seeing the internal documents from industries indicating that they are trying to use this moment where public money is being put back into the economy to prop up their industries, whether it be the aviation industry [or] the oil industry.
It’s just really important, particularly with the oil industry, to note that this type of volatility that we’re seeing right now, it’s a rehearsal for what climate chaos will bring to the oil market in the future. These are risky investments. They were risky investments before this crisis, and they are risky investments moving forward.
Also, Sébastien Godinot from NGO World Wildlife Fund commented in regards to ensuring that the European Investment Bank (EIB) aligned with the EU Green Deal:
If we get this right, we craft a resilient economy that works for people and nature. If we get it wrong, we lock-in polluting sectors which will only make us more vulnerable in the future.
The EIB has pledged to end all fossil fuel funding from 2021 and become EU’s ‘climate bank,’ so this shouldn’t be a problem.
Nothing has been firmly established yet so we’ll see what happens. At least the desire for a sustainable future is there. Hopefully, the governments will pull through.
