Seizing the moment: how Australia can build a green economy from the Covid-19 wreckage

(The Guardian, 14 May 2020) As the government prepares plans for economic recovery, investors and green groups alike say this is a once-only opportunity to move towards zero emissions.

There is a growing case that recovery from the coronavirus offers Australia a chance to succeed where it has failed for more than a decade: to break away from the climate wars and head in a new direction.

Here and overseas, the idea of helping jumpstart an economic rebuild after the pandemic-forced shutdown by also tackling the other great existential challenge of the time is gaining currency across the political spectrum.

It has been supported not just by climate activists and conservationists, but by industry, banks, energy companies, unions and major investors.

Kristalina Georgieva, the head of the International Monetary Fund, articulated the push in late April while addressing the heads of 30 countries at the annual Petersberg Climate Dialogue. She rejected the suggestion that the health crisis and the economic crash caused by the “great lockdown” that followed meant steps to fight the climate crisis should be paused.

External link

The Guardian, 14 May 2020: Seizing the moment: how Australia can build a green economy from the Covid-19 wreckage