🔎 What’s going on?
The International Energy Agency (IEA) outlines a sustainable COVID-19 recovery roadmap working with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for governments.
📣 So let’s break it down...
The main focus of this special report is building cleaner energy systems because of the crucial role they have played during the coronavirus pandemic. Without reliable energy, healthcare systems would have collapsed and even more, people would have been made redundant without the ability to work remotely online, whilst schools and universities would not have continued online. All of this was made possible due to an existing energy system. The only problem with this is the carbon emissions they give out.
Therefore, the sustainable recovery plan was co-created with three main goals in mind:
- Boosting economic growth
- Creating jobs
- Building cleaner and resilient energy systems
The plan analyses over 30 energy policies that governments could implement. The policies touch six key sectors - electricity, transport, industry, buildings, fuels and emerging low-carbon technologies. With a global investment of about USD 1 trillion every year over the next three years (2021 to 2023), the recovery plan could be implemented.
The potential results? 1) Boost global GDP by 3.5% over three years. 2) Saving or creating approximately 9 million jobs each year until 2023. 3) Accelerate reaching some of the sustainable development goals, such as increased electricity access to 270 million people and access to clean cooking technologies for 420 million people.
❓ Why should I care?
One of the major benefits of this sustainable recovery plan is that annual carbon emissions related to energy would be 4.5 billion tonnes lower in 2023. After every economic crisis, there is usually a rapid growth in global carbon emissions. This plan would avoid that and instead put the world on a path consistent with achieving the Paris Climate Goals. As an added benefit of the plan, air pollution emissions would also decrease by 5% - massively reducing health risks around the world.
🚦 Where do we need to be?
Every country needs to put policies into place that ensures they are aligned with the Paris Climate Agreement.
“Governments have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reboot their economies and bring a wave of new employment opportunities while accelerating the shift to a more resilient and cleaner energy future” Dr Fatih Birol, IEA Executive Director
👤 What can I do about it?
As a citizen, now that you know a sustainable recovery plan exists - use your vote – at local and national elections. This way your MP can represent your views in Parliament.
As a working professional, go ahead and put the business case forward to either invest in or switch to renewable energy.