The COVID-19 pandemic is being used by polluting industries to impede environmental protections and clinch billions of dollars in bailouts.
Senior figures have described the moves by the fossil fuel, aviation, and motor industries as being dangerous, with environmental campaigners describing participants in these sectors as ‘coronavirus profiteers’.
Leaders in economy and energy have said that the money being set aside for the recovery from the pandemic is a historic chance to manage the climate emergency and create a safer world. However, they warn that there is a lack of action being taken to make necessary changes.
Speaking to The Guardian, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, said: “When I look at different parts of the world I have not seen yet a major emphasis on clean-energy technologies.”
Birol highlights the mistakes made in response to the 2008 financial crisis when the stimulus packages led to the greatest jump in CO2 emissions seen for half a century - despite there having initially been a reduction up until that point.
“If we put the money in the right place, we can manage the [climate] risk, and have a much more modern, cleaner and safer energy system,” Birol said. “But if you put the money in the wrong place we will lock ourselves in a dirtier energy system, making it much more difficult to reach our climate targets”.
Former World Bank Group vice president and former UN special representative for energy, Rachel Kyte, said: “Covid-19 puts our economies at a fork in the road. Using public money to bail out firms that will take us on the road which doesn’t accelerate decarbonisation and doesn’t address inequality is not just unaffordable, it’s dangerous”.
The EU has pushed for a green recovery, unlike the US, where president Trump has scaled back environmental protections.
Executive vice-president for the Green Deal at the European commission, Frans Timmermans, said: “[Handling the coronavirus pandemic] cannot and will not throw us off course in our efforts to tackle the climate crisis that still looms large as one of humanity’s most daunting challenges.
“Bailouts should all be linked with clear conditions that the money will be used for a green economy and a green society. The very least that should be done is to ascertain that none of our commitments are used to harm our climate goals”.
Meetings are taking place this week with central bankers, the World Bank, IMF and G20 finance ministers to shape the global economic recovery.
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