A confluence of global crises: An unprecedented learning moment for climate change from the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Global crises exhibit common patterns and interlinkages, from which critical lessons can be learned. In particular, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic offers an unprecedented moment for unearthing insights helpful for climate change response. This research aims to systematically identify, assess, and prioritize such relevant lessons. To this end, we adopted a Horizon Scanning (HS) approach to collect 553 related lessons from multiple sources, including reviewing 108 peer-reviewed journal articles and two surveys. A total of 372 respondents contributed and ranked relevant lessons, of which 31 experts across countries, sectors, and disciplines had ranked the same lessons ranked in the second survey. Adopting the HS approach was not only helpful to collect relevant lessons, but also effective in promoting the general public's engagement in scientific research, which is essential to amplify its voice regarding two major crises that are directly affecting the lives and livelihoods of people. Results of this research indicate that both participant groups (experts and non-experts) perceived climate change to be more threatening than COVID-19. However, they expressed different areas of concern regarding the two crises. Among all thematic areas, "Research and innovation" and "Policy and governance" are of supreme importance for COVID-19 and climate change. This research provides invaluable information for actors who are at the frontline of fighting both crises.