Green COVID-19 recovery packages will boost economic growth and stop climate change
6 April 2020
New research by Cameron Hepburn, Brian O’Callaghan, Nicholas Stern, Joseph Stiglitz and Dimitri Zenghelis suggests that international economic recovery from COVID-19 must be environmentally-conscious.
Their analysis of possible COVID-19 economic recovery packages shows the potential for strong alignment between the economy and the environment. They review evidence suggesting that green projects create more jobs, deliver higher short-term returns per dollar spend and lead to increased long-term cost savings, when compared to traditional stimulus packages.
Examples include spending on building efficiency retrofitting, clean R&D spending, and investment in education and training to address immediate unemployment from COVID-19 alongside structural employment opportunities from de-carbonisation. Meanwhile, unconditional airline bailouts performed the most poorly in terms of size and speed of economic as well as climate metrics.
Selected related articles and news coverage
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Reset your economy: the power of green stimulus packages (Global Government Forum)
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How to grow green (Bloomberg)
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Renewable energy projects create jobs, save money, say top economists (Sydney Morning Herald)
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Green Stimulus Finds Support From G-20 Officials, Central Bankers (Financial Post)
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China can lead a green recovery (China Daily)
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Destination: green airline bailouts (Environmental Journal)
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What On Earth - listen to Cameron Hepburn from 10m 34 (CBC Radio podcast)