Harnessing international climate governance to drive a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and the global response to it will co-determine the future of climate policy. The recovery packages responding to the impacts of the pandemic may either help to chart a new sustainable course, or they will further cement existing high-emission pathways and thwart the achievement of the Paris Agreement objectives. This article discusses how international climate governance may help align the recovery packages with the climate agenda. For this purpose, the article investigates five key governance functions through which international institutions may contribute: send guidance and signals, establish rules and standards, provide transparency and accountability, organize the provision of means of implementation, and promote collective learning. Reflecting on these functions, the article finds that the process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), together with other international institutions, could promote sustainable recovery in several ways. Key policy insights:. The incoming UK presidency of the Conference of the Parties (COP) should urge Parties to present transformative sustainable stimulus packages alongside more ambitious nationally determined contributions (NDCs) at the postponed Glasgow Climate Conference (COP 26).. Specific principles and criteria for sustainable recovery should be adopted. A coalition of interested governments should work through institutions such as G20 to enable swift action even before COP 26.. The Glasgow Conference should establish a process to review the consistency of recovery packages with the Paris Agreement and their implementation, to support their sustainability and promote policy learning.. Developed countries and international financial institutions should renew their climate finance commitments, and work towards an increased long-term finance objective in the context of greening recovery packages.. At COP 26 governments could take stock of the 'Paris-compatibility' of international recovery support and adopt further guidance as necessary.

COVID-19 media coverage decreasing despite deepening crisis

“…This Comment can support ongoing examinations of the content and framing of COVID-19 stories, 5 and support considerations of the capacity to respond to science policy collective action problems. 9,10 Further research is needed to explore factors that can best explain these trends and how media coverage can effectively connect the dots between intersecting and significant crises in 2020 and beyond.…”

Implications of COVID-19 on progress in the UN Conventions on biodiversity and climate change

“…There is a herculean task of building the momentum for positive change, and preventing the global community from falling back to ineffective and insufficient climate and biodiversity actions. Calls for sustainable recovery should be enhanced at the COPs, in setting the principles and criteria for these sustainable recovery plans, and seeking that they are compatible with the Paris Agreement (Obergassel et al, 2020). Apart from the need for frameworks to cover the gaps we outline, there are opportunities to regain lost momentum and move the delayed discussions forward in a pandemic/post-pandemic environment.…”

Climate justice: priorities for equitable recovery from the pandemic

“…There is no guarantee, however, that efforts to recover from the pandemic will be 'green' yet alone 'just'; a recent UN-backed analysis of the 50 leading economies found as little as 18% of rescue spending could be classified as 'green' (Harvey, 2021). Additionally, the economic fallout of the pandemic is expected to further restrict low-and middle-income countries' access to climate finance to pursue sustainable development and climate action despite a pressing need to support mitigation and adaptation in such countries (Barbier & Burgess, 2020;Obergassel et al, 2020). In this regard, climate justice provides the framework to ask not only whether a proposed initiative is 'green', but also whether such an initiative seeks to address the root cause of climate injustices and the underlying vulnerabilities of the poorest and most vulnerable.…”