Global Support for a Green Recovery from COVID-19

With nearly 5 million confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide and roughly 1.5 million confirmed cases in the United States, the impacts of COVID-19 are reverberating across the globe. Still, the federal and state governments have begun switching gears from managing the health crisis to cautiously considering how to best reopen their economies. According to an Oxford University study published earlier this month, the most cost-effective way to both revive hard-hit economies and address climate change is to invest in climate-friendly policy initiatives when formulating COVID-19 response packages.

The study surveyed over 200 senior economists from across the globe and suggested that investing in a green recovery will help keep emissions low, reconstruct the workforce, and keep countries on track to achieve climate goals.

“Our findings show that there is every reason for climate strategy to be top of mind for policymakers as they shape stimulus packages in the coming months,” the authors write. “The senior economists we surveyed viewed green stimulus measures as among the most beneficial for the economy, as well as having strong potential to cut emissions.”

The authors, who include Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz from Columbia University and British climate expert Nicholas Stern, recommended five policy items decision-makers should focus on: investing in building efficiency retrofits, education and training to address immediate unemployment from COVID-19, clean energy physical infrastructure (such as storage and renewable energy assets), clean energy R&D, and natural capital for ecosystem resilience and regeneration.

Some cities are heeding this advice and incorporating sustainability into their reopening plans. Thirty-nine mayors from around the world have come together to form and endorse the Global Mayors COVID-19 Recovery Task Force, which aims “to build a better, more sustainable, more resilient and fairer society out of the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.” Of the 39 mayors, 11 represent U.S. cities (Austin, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle).

Milan, Paris, Bogotá, New York, and Seattle are just a few of the cities converting miles of roadways to pedestrian spaces and expanding bicycle infrastructure in an effort to enable safe outdoor recreation while also promoting a sustainable recovery from COVID. The mayor of Seattle announced that the city will permanently close 20 miles of its streets when reopening the city.

"It is the kind of bold actions we need to encourage healthy options for recreating and traveling in our city as we deal with our current crisis, and discourage a return to high levels of traffic and associated pollution and injuries as we move into recovery," said the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board in support of the mayor’s statement. "All these actions together will help Seattle come back as a safer, healthier, and more climate-friendly city."

Author: Sydney O’Shaughnessy