The impact of the Coronavirus on global economies has been devastating; and of course the number of people affected and tragic number of deaths almost surreal. It is an event that we all hope will happen only once in our lifetime.
As China is now starting to show us, however, there will come a time when we will want to move on with our lives. A time to re-group and learn. A time to once again look forward to the future. The question from a sustainability standpoint is….what will that future look like.
There is no doubt that the slowdown of transportation (air, vehicle, bus, subway etc) and factory output (emissions and energy usage) have actually had a POSITIVE impact on our air quality. China reportedly saw a 25% reduction in emissions as restrictions took effect to control the virus; in the U.S. it might be more than that; in fact, the U.S. has already seen air quality improvement in major city areas of NYC and LA.
However, the real question that will rise to the forefront soon is HOW are the major countries of the world going to re-start their economies? With the disastrous economic impacts the virus has had, it’s very conceivable that these countries will try to stimulate economic growth and the easiest way to do that is likely though the expanded use of fossil fuels. In short, everyone will be putting safety first now…as they should be. But whether sustainability will maintain a front row position with global economy plans moving forward will likely vary by country and could put even the Paris Climate Accord at risk.
One key indicator will come as all nations prepare for a global summit in Glasgow in November. Prior to that meeting, countries are supposed to announce their commitment for emission goal levels to meet the Paris Accord. To make bold commitments, however, requires political funding and world leaders are likely to want to use this funding to jump start their economies after the coronavirus. Whether they dedicate part of this funding to green initiatives is the big question mark. China in particular is key to watch as they have the 2nd largest economy and are the largest carbon emitter.
The Paris Agreement called for all nations to keep the global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius by the year 2100 and ideally 1.5 degrees or less. Unfortunately, the window to do this is closing rapidly; global temperature has already rise 1 degree Celsius. The Coronavirus impact will only add pressure to an already pressure-sensitive topic— mask or no mask.
What impact with the Coronavirus have on Sustainability & Emissions efforts? Potentially a big one.