The impact of the unknown
Unforeseen, of course, was the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, emissions fell by 6.4% in 2020, the largest ever reduction recorded. However, the UN’s ‘Emissions Gap Report 2020’ goes on to say that the Covid crisis offers only a short-term reduction in global emissions.¹¹ The UN’s World Meteorological Organization put it more candidly by calling it a ‘tiny blip’ in the continuous build-up of greenhouse gases.¹²
Of more significance are the staggering sums of money now being invested by governments to support economies – trillions of dollars and euros.
The impact of the unknown
This is a global stimulus package that must become a green transition stimulus package if, as coined by the UN, we really want to ‘build back better’.¹³
Covid-19 has also shown us that when we listen and act on what the science tells us, we have the capacity to pull together and achieve incredible things as we face a common enemy.
However, as we will explore later in this paper, initial findings indicate that governments around the globe are failing to seize this opportunity for the environment.
With this restart, a window of hope and opportunity opens… an opportunity for nations to green their recovery packages and shape the 21st century economy in ways that are clean, green, healthy, safe and more resilient.
Patricia Espinosa
Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2020