Think tank urges world leaders to build a low-carbon, circular economy in the wake of the health crisis. The Club of Rome has urged G20 leaders and other heads of state to work together to implement green recovery packages and fiscal stimulus plans during and after the coronavirus pandemic. Accelerating a global shift to a more local, circular, and low carbon economy must be at the core of Covid-19 recovery packages, the influential think tank said in a statement on Tuesday. It asked world leaders to prioritise investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and clean transport; nature protection and reforestation programmes; and the development of safe and sustainable food systems and regenerative agriculture.
The Switzerland-based think tank, which is comprised of 100 current and former heads of states, economists, business leaders and politicians, advocates for “long-term systemic shifts in global social, environmental and economic systems”. In its address to world leaders, the group said it was looking to “leadership to build a new global economy that ensures an equitable, inclusive and sustainable future for all. This demands that recovery packages and fiscal stimulus plans are designed to foster a Covid-19 exit and recovery strategy that gives priority to low carbon regenerative circular economic development rather than bail out policies that subsidise unsustainable and polluting industries”.
Specifically, the group called on state leaders to commit to sustainable infrastructure projects in recovery packages, to support bailouts for low carbon and circular businesses, and to design packages around reversing the loss of nature. Governments must also hone approaches to environmental accounting, it argued, by introducing “a meaningful price” on carbon emissions and rolling out natural capital accounting practices and net-zero balance sheets. In addition, a global ‘planetary emergency fund’ could redirect harmful subsidies towards solutions that promote greener, fairer and more resilient economies, the group said. Meanwhile, economic measures of social progress should be reassessed after the pandemic to include well-being indicators, the think tank added.
The group’s members also urged world leaders to fulfil overseas aid commitments and prepare urgent debt relief programmes for Least Developed Countries. And they want governments to increase investment and resilience in health care systems in order to prevent disease and pre-empt further shocks and outbreaks, ultimately working towards a system of universal health coverage. States should focus on job creation in essential public sectors such as food, health and education, it added. The Club of Rome also noted that future pandemics could be prevented by addressing its root causes, which it said could include the protection of nature and forests, more sustainable food systems, reduced meat consumption and plant-based diets.
Source: Business Green
Finnish site 
Global site