Germany and Britain said Monday that efforts to revive the global economy after (and/or during) the coronavirus pandemic will need to ensure a "green recovery" that helps the world tackle climate change.
Future-proof
Speaking ahead of a virtual meeting of officials from around 30 countries, the German environment minister said it was important that economic recovery programs invest in "future-proof" jobs that would help reduce gas emissions at greenhouse effect in the coming years, rather than aiming for a return to business as usual.
“We must not invest in technologies of the past”, he said Svenja Schulze to the Associated Press, noting that some countries are still considering plans to build new coal plants.
Domestically, other German politicians have called for incentives for car purchases to boost the country's automotive industry. European car registrations in the month of April are at historic lows (in all of Italy only 500 cars were registered last month. These are numbers from the early 900s).
Schulze relaunched by proposing incentives for electric vehicles, to be offered to healthcare professionals for home calls. “That would be many, many vehicles. Such a measure would help the economy and allow us to curb emissions".
Scientists have warned that little time remains if the world is to achieve the headline goal of2015 Paris Climate Agreement. It will soon be impossible to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius, and even if we do, there will be an increase of around 1,5 degrees for who knows how long.
Green recovery? Flatten the pollution curve
In the sea of terrible things it has brought, the coronavirus has introduced an important concept. The idea of avoiding collapsing health systems by "flattening the infection curve" makes sense even if it applies to ecological issues. In other words, the greenhouse gas emissions curve must be reduced.
Unlike the coronavirus, we already know about vaccines for the climate crisis. Renewable energy, electric mobility, recycling, reuse and low energy consumption building.
Keep calm and stop pollution
In the UK the British commercial secretary Alok sharma, states that “The world must work together to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and support a green and resilient recovery that leaves no one behind."
Environmental activists have warned that heavily polluting industries are already trying to tap into the vast sums governments are deploying to stimulate the economy.
Jennifer morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International states: “we have obtained internal documents from some polluting industries. They show us that they are trying to exploit this moment in which public money is reinvested in the economy to give grist to their mill. Even oil industries.”
Oil is a bad deal, believe me. What we are seeing today in times of crisis is just a proof of what climate chaos will bring to the oil market in the future. Investing in oil was risky even before the coronavirus, and it will get worse and worse.
