Navigating convalescence
How can we make the economic recovery from COVID-19 sustainable, just and resilient? What policies can governments and financial institutions pursue to ensure that the response to the current pandemic is green — and that these response measures help us achieve the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals?
I put these questions and more to an all star panel in a live taping of the Global Dispatches Podcast, recorded April 29.
This conversation is very timely.
As institutions and governments around the world confront this global health crisis, they are also preparing and implementing plans for economic stimulus and recovery.
The last few days and weeks we have seen a flurry of activity. In the United States, Congress is poised to debate another stimulus deal following the two trillion dollar package passed in March.
Meanwhile, in Europe, there is ongoing discussion about the size and contours of a rescue package. This includes a meeting in late April of European Union leaders to discuss a potential trillion euro package — a meeting that by all accounts was rather contentious.
And then on April 28, environment ministers from 30 countries concluded the Petersburg Climate Dialogue where they discussed how to organize a green economic recovery.
And the policies that flow from those conversations and debates may determine not only the path economic recovery, but also whether or not we reach the climate and sustainability targets that science tells us is required to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
Economic recovery will take years, but the opportunity to shape and design that recovery is now
A window to shape policy is opening now— so what do we need to do to seize this moment and put economic recovery in service of sustainability? How do we ensure that recovery is just, sustainable and resilient?
I put these questions and more to a heavy-hitting panel in a live recording of the Global Dispatches podcast. This episode was co-hosted by the Leadership Group for Industry Transition in partnership with Stockholm Environment Institute.
- Joining from Stockholm is Isabella Lovin, Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Minister for the Environment and Climate.
- Also from Stockholm, Henrick Henriksson, President and CEO of Scania
- Joining from Medford, Massachusetts is Rachel Kyte, Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University
- And joining us from Seattle is Michael Lazarus, Senior Scientist and director of the U.S. Center of SEI
To listen to this conversation, download the podcast using the links below.
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