Coronavirus and Climate Change

How will the coronavirus pandemic affect our climate change mitigation efforts?

History repeats itself, if we don’t learn from it.

While the world economies come to a halt, is the earth healing for good or will it get worse once the pandemic is over? History demonstrates climate change scenarios get worse in efforts to recover the economy. After the 2008-09 crash, carbon emissions reached an all-time high of 9.1 billion tons in 2010, with a 5.8% increase from 2009. After the Great Depression of 1929, technological developments which ensured economic growth, led to a rapid increase in carbon emissions.

NASA’s Satellite data for air pollution shows China’s economy is slowly restarting. An investment of tens of trillions of yuan has been planned for major projects across the country this year, including gas pipelines and nuclear power plants.

As more nations are impacted by coronavirus and the economy continues to weaken, the future of climate goals becomes unclear. Climate goals may slide into a void as economic growth and recovery take a front seat.

Silver Lining: Our ability to take vital and drastic action to contain a crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic showed us that it is possible to take drastic actions on a government level as well as individually. It showed us that it is important to take necessary actions even when they are not easy. Tackling climate change is going to need the same kind of vigor. In the post-coronavirus world, we have an opportunity to use this momentum to both curb air pollution and help address climate crisis.  While COVID-19 and its economic repercussions are rightfully a priority of many governments today, as we look to boost the economy, we also need to plan for tomorrow.

Will we return to business-as-usual and repeat history or take responsible decisions towards a sustainable future? It is OUR choice.