‘Build back better’ – part 2: existential threat or major opportunity?

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, governments around the world were under pressure to submit more ambitious climate action pledges – Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) – under the terms of the 2015 Paris Agreement to ensure that global warming limitation targets are met.

The pandemic has intensified the pressures. Government responses to impending economic recession present what IEA executive director Fatih Birol calls an “historic opportunity” to accelerate the transition to a net-zero carbon emissions economy – and to meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).