Pursuing a sustainable recovery from COVID-19 could boost economic growth, create millions of jobs and reduce greenhouse gases.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has outlined a number of measures nations around the world should pursue over the next three years to drive a sustainable recovery. These include $3 billion (£2.4 billion) worth of policy actions and targeted investments, or 0.7% of today’s global GDP, made up of both private and public funding.
This would lead to a 1.1% economic growth globally every year, as well as save or create 9 million jobs.
In the Special Report on Sustainable Recovery, put together in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, the IEA also details how such investment could reduce annual global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions by a total of 4.5 billion tonnes by 2024.
“Governments have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reboot their economies and bring a wave of new employment opportunities while accelerating the shift to a more resilient and cleaner energy future,” said Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA executive director.
“Policy makers are having to make hugely consequential decisions in a very short space of time as they draw up stimulus packages. Our Sustainable Recovery Plan provides them with rigorous analysis and clear advice on how to tackle today’s major economic, energy and climate challenges at the same time. The plan is not intended to tell governments what they must do. It seeks to show them what they can do.”
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