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Why global citizens should care
The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has caused great economic turmoil around the world: tens of millions of people have lost their jobs, entire sectors have essentially closed and in-person retail purchases have practically disappeared.
Once the virus has been successfully contained, the top political priority for governments will shift from protecting citizens’ health to regenerating economies and getting people back to work.
But how economies open again is just as important as when they open again. The pandemic has presented countries with a unique opportunity to break with the old economic models that revolved around fossil fuels and the extraction of extreme resources. This year you are on your way to seeing the largest decrease in emissions on record. Countries now have an opportunity to continue this downward trajectory.
“A recovery from the coronavirus crisis should not take us back to where we were last summer,” António Guterres, UN secretary-general, recently wrote in a New York Times opinion piece. “It is an opportunity to build more sustainable and inclusive economies and societies, a more resilient and prosperous world.”
Following COVID-19, countries may choose to embark on a green economic recovery that focuses on climate action and environmental protection, Guterres wrote. Governments can focus on investing in areas such as healthcare, environmental restoration and infrastructure renewal, while eliminating or modernizing sectors that harm the planet.
This becomes more urgent when considering that climate change is not only a problem in itself; It also affects many other development problems, including pandemics and global health.
Already, countries like Germany and Britain are discussing what it will take to build sustainable economies in the months and years to come. Now that the coronavirus has shaken the economic order, advocates of the environment are calling for a new status quo, one that places the health of the planet and people above profits.
“Whether we like it or not, the world has changed,” Greta Thunberg recently said in a YouTube conversation to mark Earth Day. “It looks completely different now than it did a few months ago. It may never look the same again. We have to choose a new path to follow. “
Here are seven things governments should focus on to achieve a truly green recovery.
1. Go beyond GDP
For almost a century, gross domestic product (GDP) has been the primary way that societies measure progress. GDP growth is defended by political leaders, financial institutions and companies.
In this paradigm, GDP is often assumed to be correlated with people’s well-being.
In reality, GDP does not measure overall prosperity or human well-being; instead, it measures the trade, purchase and sale of goods and services, regardless of their value. Many countries with much lower GDP than the US The USA, like Portugal and South Korea, have indicators of higher quality of life.
The current commitment to GDP poses a direct threat to the environment. As economies grow in size, they consume more resources and release more emissions. Countries already extract more resources than the planet can replace; pollute and degrade large areas of land and ocean; and they have emitted enough emissions to block severe climate change.
For years to come, countries must adopt new ways of measuring progress that prioritize human well-being and emphasize decline, reducing economies in a managed manner, while redistributing wealth more broadly, to minimize the damage being done. to the planet.
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The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) argues that the decrease, along with the redistribution of wealth, is critical to achieving the objective of the Paris climate agreement to prevent temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above from pre-industrial levels.
Countries like New Zealand have begun to measure human well-being instead of GDP, and other countries are adopting the Human Capital Index as a way to measure children’s well-being. American states like Vermot and Maryland have adopted the Genuine Progress Indicator.
Meanwhile, the European Union has launched a Green Deal program that describes how degrowth efforts can also eradicate poverty by demanding more ethical supply chains and avoiding the exploitation of protected ecosystems.
As the pandemic affects economies around the world, now is a good opportunity to adopt more humane, inclusive, and sustainable ways of measuring social progress.
2. Improvement of infrastructure
The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions is the production of energy for electricity and heat, the vast majority of which comes from fossil fuels. As a result, climate change mitigation will require countries to change the way they generate energy, while improving the energy efficiency of buildings, homes and other infrastructure.
In the past, countries have been slow to make this transition. But two events during the pandemic suggest that this change may happen more quickly: governments have mobilized unprecedented sums of money to tackle the coronavirus, and societies have quickly settled for demands for social distancing.
Replacing fossil fuel infrastructure with renewable alternatives, such as solar and wind, requires equally massive investments and rapid action. The pandemic has shown that these two things can happen.
72% of the new energy used in 2019 came from renewable sources
Currently, the world gets 25% of its electricity from renewable sources, and the current timeline for reaching 100% is too late to avoid serious weather consequences. With the coronavirus response acting as a template, countries can create and finance massive renewable energy plans that accelerate the switch from fossil fuels, while employing millions of people who lost their jobs during the long-term pandemic.
In fact, the International Renewable Energy Agency recently determined that such a transformation of energy production will create at least 42 million jobs worldwide.
Countries can accelerate this transition by reallocating subsidies granted to the fossil fuel industry for the development of renewable energy. The private sector, especially financial institutions and insurance companies, can support this change by investing in renewable energy projects and divesting from fossil fuel companies. Doing everything possible with renewables in this way would help countries begin a broader shift toward decarbonizing entire economies.
As part of these energy programs, funds can be dedicated to renovating buildings and other infrastructure to be more efficient. In the United States, for example, buildings account for 40% of energy consumption. Modernizing existing buildings with water pumps, smart temperature management systems, better-sealed windows, and more, while enacting climate codes for new construction, can dramatically reduce energy use and provide well-paying jobs in the process. .
3. Invest in transportation
As social distancing causes daily commutes and globetrotting to stop, transport advocates ask countries to reimagine their transportation systems.
First, countries have the opportunity to invest and expand public transportation systems, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI). This would not only significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but would also create well-paying jobs and mitigate economic inequality. Air quality would also improve, a concern that has become more urgent after research showing that air pollution makes people more vulnerable to COVID-19.
Cities can invest in bike and walking trails by turning busy streets into pedestrian zones, expanding car-free areas and improving park spaces, while governments can subsidize the purchase of electric vehicles in areas where cars are most essential, WRI points out.
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Meanwhile, the airline and shipping industries can be driven in their shift to more sustainable fuels and vehicles with stronger emission laws.
The transport sector is a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions, so the sooner countries minimize the environmental impact of planes, cars and ships, the less impact climate change will have.
4. Transform agriculture
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused failures in the global food system, from how food is grown to how it is processed and how it is sold.
Throughout the crisis and beyond, countries can take concrete steps to transform global agriculture to ensure food security while minimizing its environmental impact.
Countries must first support the transition from industrial agriculture to sustainable agriculture. Some distinctive features of industrial agriculture include monoculture cultivation, deforestation, water depletion, soil degradation, and declines in wildlife due to the intensive use of pesticides. Sustainable agriculture, on the other hand, seeks to grow food in harmony with nature.
Governments and farmers can support sustainable agriculture by investing in small farmers, supporting farmer cooperatives, and managing ecosystems in a way that allows wildlife to thrive.
UN agency has just launched a $ 200 million initiative to prevent the hunger crisis amid COVID-19
This change also requires the gradual elimination of industrial meat production, which is a major cause of environmental destruction worldwide, and represents a significant threat to global health security.
When animals are raised and slaughtered in unhealthy and tight spaces, pathogens can rapidly proliferate and spread to humans. The emergence of COVID-19 is a wake-up call that countries must create better standards for the production and sale of meat.
5. Support circular economies
The coronavirus pandemic has created an increase in medical equipment waste as hospitals go through personal protective equipment (PPE) at an unprecedented rate. This medical equipment is difficult to process, disinfect, and manage, and its disposal highlights the many ways that the global waste management system has become dysfunctional.
Globally, the world annually fills more than 800,000 Olympic-size trash pools in landfills. These landfills cause air, water and soil pollution, contribute to climate change, and occupy precious land in urban areas. Communities living near poorly managed landfills often face landslides.
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In addition to regular solid waste management, countries struggle with plastic pollution, electronic waste, and toxic materials. Plastic pollution, for example, has widely polluted the world’s oceans, causing significant damage to marine life.
As countries plan to reopen their economies, investing in circular economies should be a priority. A circular economy seeks to limit both the use of raw materials and the generation of waste by building systems that recycle and reuse goods. Circular economies would help curb waste pollution, while giving the planet a break from incessant resource extraction.
6. Improve health systems
Spanish soldiers from the UME (Army Emergency Unit) disinfect terminal one to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at Barcelona airport, Spain, March 19, 2020.
The COVID-19 coronavirus has overwhelmed healthcare systems worldwide, exposing a shortage of medical supplies, healthcare workers, hospital space, and more. The problem is even more pronounced in low-income countries, where people often lack clean water and adequate sanitation.
In the coming decades, the effects of worsening climate change, from heat waves to natural disasters, will cause widespread health problems that could similarly stress healthcare systems.
They could also help unleash a new viral pandemic.
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The current pandemic highlights the urgent need for massive investments in health care systems so that populations are protected in times of crisis. This includes providing universal health care in all countries so that people receive regular preventive care and do not have to worry about how much treatments cost.
7. End the conflict
The United Nations has called for a global ceasefire amid the ongoing pandemic to save the lives of millions of people and prevent further deterioration of society.
Maintaining this ceasefire would allow healthcare workers to protect communities, women and children to prevent further trauma, and would allow economies to slowly start operating again.
It would also allow environments to recover. Globally, conflict is a major cause of environmental destruction, and the military is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Focusing on peace rather than war for decades to come will benefit species across the plant and animal kingdom while allowing economies to function sustainably.
“We must act now to tackle the coronavirus globally for our good and at the same time pursue immediate, ambitious climate action for a cleaner, greener, more prosperous and equitable world,” Guterres wrote in his op-ed.
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