FSR Climate joins IAERE Council in its call for a Green and Sustainable Recovery

In order to limit the spread of COVID-19 and its profound implications on public health across the globe, most governments have opted for closures of their economies. The current emergency is also a cruel and sudden illustration of how our negative impact on the environment has put at risk ourselves and our production models. As it is now time to think about the recovery from the Coronavirus crisis, IAERE (the Italian Association of Environmental and Resources Economists) published a statement “COVID-19, the Economy and the Environment: For a green and sustainable recovery”. In his capacity as a current member of the Council and Past President of IAERE, Simone Borghesi, who is also the Director of FSR Climate, co-signed and supports the call for action at the Italian and European levels. 

In the short term, the COVID-19 pandemic had a positive effect in terms of improving air quality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. However, the rebound effect, expected as restrictive measures are gradually being lifted and economic activities resume, may jeopardize the positive externalities and trigger environmental pollution levels higher than in the pre-pandemic period. For IAERE, “the stop enforced to curb the spread of Coronavirus must become an opportunity to rethink the development model, reconciling it with the environment”.

It is possible to stimulate economic growth with minimal environmental impacts “by further boosting energy efficiency, electric mobility and renewable energies, and by favouring smart working”. Moreover, IAERE identifies the need to “mobilize enough funding in favour of the reconversion of the production processes and of the reskill of the workforce, such to facilitate the transition towards a sustainable and circular economic system”. It is also key to invest in research in order to redirect our competitiveness perspectives, for example through financial incentives for sustainable products, processes and organizational innovations. 

In the words of Simone Borghesi, Director of FSR Climate, “as the EU Member States slowly start to open their economies, the European Union should further strengthen the EU Green Deal as the backbone of a Green and Sustainable Recovery Package so the EU can achieve carbon-neutrality by 2050”. 

Sources:

Read the English version of the Statement of IAERE here

Read Simone Borghesi’s posts on the impacts of COVID-19 on climate policies and carbon markets, as well as on the online event on the same topic from the “backstage” perspective.