The COVID-19 crisis is one of the worst health and economic emergencies that the world has witnessed in the past century. As the pandemic forced countries into lockdown, the urgency to secure jobs and safeguard economic activity threatens to overshadow the looming climate emergency. Impacts of COVID-19 resulted in an 8% CO2 emissions reduction in the first half of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. But research has shown that emissions have already returned to pre-COVID levels in many markets, and we remain on a dangerous trajectory towards around 3°C of global warming above pre-industrial levels.
The current crisis offers a unique window of opportunity to put the world on a sustainable trajectory and meet our international climate goals, but we must act now or we will miss the opportunity.