Thirty leading politicians, academics, and environmental campaigners have urged governments crafting sweeping Covid-19 stimulus packages to eschew short-term carbon-intensive solutions in favour of those that establish a ‘real circular economy’. Green MP Caroline Lucas and Labour’s Barry Gardiner joined executives from Plastics International, The Seahorse Trust, Fidra, Born Free Foundation, and the Forum for the Future to sign today’s open letter, which was coordinated by campaign group the Real Circularity Coalition.
“As world leaders look to the economic recovery, short-term carbon-intensive solutions are not the answer,” the letter argues. “Instead creating an economy where resources are only used if they are 100 per cent recyclable or reusable represents our best route to a better future.” The campaigners stressed that a sustainable economic system delivers huge economic benefits, noting that the European Commission has estimated that investing in a circular economy could generate 700,000 jobs over the next decade in Europe. “Now more than ever before the future belongs to companies that work with nature, not against it,” the letter reads. “The economic response to the crisis must be executed in line with our global sustainability goals and put green stimulus measures front and centre.”
The campaigners join a raft of other organisations, activists, and business alliances that have appealed to global policymakers to ensure that economic recovery efforts implemented in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic do not lock in carbon-intensive solutions and instead work towards global climate ambitions.
Source: Business Green
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