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Announcements
The disruptive force of the Covid-19 pandemic opens a narrow policy window to steer economic development onto more sustainable, equitable and net-zero emissions pathways.
On 29 April 2020, panelists, including Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövin, discussed different options and answered questions from the audience.
The International Monetary Fund forecasts the global economy will shrink by up to 3% in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and calls it “the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression”. Wiping out working hours equivalent to 195 million full-time workers, the International Labor Organization warned that the pandemic will have a devastating impact on employment. Across the world, the pandemic has upended people’s lives and made more visible stark structural inequalities in society.
Many governments have started considering longer term recovery measures and stimulus packages to help boost their economies and avoid longer-term impacts. Voices urging governments to ensure that these recovery efforts are used to build economies that are geared towards the climate and sustainability commitments of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development abound and include UN Secretary-General António Guterres, as well as international organizations, business representatives and civil society.
Rachel Kyte, Dean of The Fletcher School at Tufts University (upper left), SEI US Centre Director and Senior Scientist Michael Lazarus (lower left) and Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment Isabella Lövin (lower right), joined moderator Mark Leon Goldberg (upper right) in discussing a sustainable Covid-19 recovery. The screenshot does not include Henrik Henriksson, President and CEO of Scania, who also participated.
On 29 April 2020, the question of how to make the Covid-19 recovery sustainable, just and resilient was taken up by Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment Isabella Lövin, President and CEO of vehicle manufacturer Scania Henrik Henriksson, Rachel Kyte, Dean of the Fletcher School for Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and SEI US Centre Director and Senior Scientist Michael Lazarus. The webinar is available to watch above.
The recording, moderated by Mark Leon Goldberg, was also edited into a podcast episode of “Global Dispatches – World News That Matters“.
Read here a selection of insights from the panelists.
We should not repeat the mistakes that were made during and after the 2008 financial crisis. During that crisis, emissions fell globally, but then all these stimulus packages came along and in 2011, global emissions rose by some 4-5%.
Isabella Lövin, Minister of the Environment and Deputy Prime Minister, Sweden
We're just beginning to realize what the dimensions of the pandemic will mean for economies and societies and well-being in emerging markets. We've seen commodity prices drop by over 20%. We've seen a drying up of remittances unprecedented in the history of remittances. We're also starting to see capital flight.
Rachel Kyte, Dean, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
We’re all in an unprecedented global crisis right now with Covid-19. But at the same time, we have another crisis – the climate crisis – and we cannot forget about that.
Isabella Lövin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment, Sweden
Sustainability is not a trend, it’s a condition for future business success and it’s clear for politicians and business.
Henrik Henriksson, President and CEO, Scania
There’s an opportunity to build fairer and greener sets of economies as we gear out of the current crisis.
Rachel Kyte, Dean, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
This moment poses a high risk of favouring carbon-intensive industries, especially oil and gas. That’s a product in part of not just the oil market crash we’ve seen, but the tight connections between the industries and governments around the world.
Michael Lazarus, US Centre Director and Senior Scientist, SEI
We have an opportunity to remove subsidies and consider duties on oil and gas that can help to support the sort of investments that we need to see happening.
Michael Lazarus, US Centre Director and Senior Scientist, SEI
We are aligning with other ministers in the EU to keep the Green Deal at the center of the response for the Covid-19 crisis and the economic crisis. We’re 19 ministers now that have signed up and are urging the commission to be very firm and have the Green Deal as the fundament of a recovery package, but are also working on reaching out to likeminded all over the world.”
Isabella Lövin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment, Sweden
One way to create Interest in a green transition in Eastern Europe is by way of the bioeconomy, The bioeconomy is a lever for us to create growth particularly in this region. There is a lot of contaminated land from Soviet times that cannot be used to grow crops. But it could be used for biofuels for the transport sector. That's a high-tech industry that would create high quality jobs.
Henrik Henriksson, President and CEO, Scania
Perspective / How do we make the pandemic recovery sustainable, just and resilient?
Perspective / Industry is a key sector when it comes to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. Take a look at what's needed to decarbonize.
Past event / What opportunities for transformation lie in the disruption wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic and how can we seize them? Decision makers and experts discuss.
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