Climate Action in a Post-Covid World

Coronavirus has changed our behaviour and the economic and political imperatives. But the climate crisis simply won’t wait.

Climate action is as necessary as ever. In my last piece, I looked at the urgent need to act on climate change, and the narrow window of time we have in which to change course and avert the very worst of the impacts of global warming, both on human society directly and on the ecosystems which are so vital to it.

But, as advocates for climate action, we must recognise the very unique and challenging environment we now find ourselves in. The public appetite for dealing with climate change may still be strong, but the economic and political calculus is much-changed from last year. As demand for a change of course on the climate has held steady, demand for politicians to quickly recover the economic damage has grown, and this is, rightly, the public’s number one priority.

Just as the economic and political situation has evolved rapidly this year, so too has our behaviour changed. Of course, as the pandemic dwindles in significance throughout the course of 2021, behaviour might regress to the mean and return to normal. But these behavioural changes are borne of fear of a disease which has taken the lives of one-and-a-half million…