COVID has lost time in the battle against climate change, recovery may make it worse!

In 2019 the world at last woke up to a much more existential threat for humanity than COVID – that of climate change.

Groups like Extinction Rebellion had “woke” large parts of the population and many governments had at least greenwashed their policies. 2020 was to be the year when continued popular and legal pressure would turn eye catching but largely empty declarations by governments into real action.

Sadly despite a temporary decline in the level of *increase* in emissions due to early lockdowns the situation continues to race towards oblivion as economies re-start. Even more worrying COVID has also caused (and will continue to cause) major economic recession in most major economies.

So rather than returning to the climate battle a much more likely outcome of this is that governments will abandon their climate change “commitments” in favour of anything that will stimulate economic growth, with dire and far more serious consequences for us all in the not too distant future.

So rather than COVID presenting an opportunity to “build back better” it will more likely create a rush to “build back quickly” at almost any cost to the environment as “jobs now” will gather more short term votes than a liveable planet in the future and politicians will – as ever – do what get them most votes at the next election rather than what might preserve a liveable planet for a generation not yet able to vote.

 

 

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