Christiana Figueres, head of the UN climate change convention that achieved the Paris agreement in 2015, writes in The Guardian that lockdown won’t save the world from warming, but the pandemic is an opportunity to pursue a green economic recovery.
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The scale of the recovery package stimulus will shape the contours of the global economy over the next decade, if not longer. Climate scientists have warned global emissions will need to be cut by half, in the next decade, in order to reach a sustainable trajectory. Rescue packages should not recover the high carbon economy of yesterday, but help us build a healthier economy that is low on carbon, high in resilience and centred on human wellbeing.
The case for rebuilding our economies in line with environmental targets has broad public support. A recent poll from Ipsos Mori shows that 71% of the global population understands that climate change is as at least as serious a crisis as Covid-19, and 65% think the former should be prioritised in the economic recovery. This is not only in industrialised countries that can more easily afford to green their economies; 81% of the citizens in India and 80% of people from Mexico were also strongly in favour of a green and healthy economic recovery.
One of the first institutions to call for this dual approach was the International Energy Agency, which will publish a report this month detailing policies that governments could adopt to chart the course of recovery while decarbonising their economies. Meanwhile the International Monetary Fund is not only advising that fiscal stimulus packages should be based on green measures, but going as far as recommending scrapping fossil fuel subsidies and taxing carbon.1
The Ted Radio Hour Podcast observes that in the past few months, human beings have come together to fight a global threat. In this podcast, TED speakers explore how our response can be the catalyst to fight another global crisis: climate change.
Guests include political strategist Tom Rivett-Carnac, diplomat Christiana Figueres, climate justice activist Xiye Bastida, and writer, illustrator, and artist Oliver Jeffers.2
A video on the website of Clean Energy Canada is a discussion with Christiana Figueres on Canada's position in the global clean energy transition. In conversation with Clean Energy Canada’s Merran Smith, Figueres—widely recognized as an authority on the global clean energy transition—shared her perspective on Canada’s standing and future prospects in that transition.
She acknowledged that Canada’s historic reliance on fossil fuel exports represents a unique hurdle in building a clean economy.3
This TED talk by Christiana Figueres looks at the inside story of the Paris climate agreement. What would you do if your job was to save the planet?
When Christiana Figueres was tapped by the UN to lead the Paris climate conference (COP 21) in December 2015, she reacted the way many people would: she thought it would be impossible to bring the leaders of 195 countries into agreement on how to slow climate change.4
The opportunity to pause and reflect on the world situation offered by the slowdown of the Covid-19 lockdown allows the optimism of many of those concerned about the effects of climate change on the planet, we leave to children and grandchildren, to inspire us to act to drive political policy to a “new normal” of care for people and the planet.
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