Life After Corona Crisis Might Be Better for the Planet Than Before

With the coronavirus outbreak leading to restrictions in going out – even to work or school – people are coming up with low-carbon ideas in this digital age that may last beyond the social distancing period.

Universities, for example, are scheduling their classes online through videoconferencing, giving professors and students insights into real-time ways to reduce planet-warming emissions.

“It’s become de facto a massive experiment in education,” says Ian Schnee, a philosophy class lecturer in the University of Washington, USA, to the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “It’s like a crash course in new technology.”

Another strong example is in Japan, as explained by Niklas Höhne of the German-based NewClimate Institute: “Japan doesn’t have a ‘working at home’ policy. People go to work whether they are sick or not,” says the emissions reduction expert. “But now with coronavirus, they can’t do that, so they are learning to work at home – and they might continue doing it. It might lead to a consistent change in behavioural patterns and lower emissions.”

According to Kelly Levin, an emissions specialist with the Washington-based World Resources Institute, the coronavirus outbreak is also giving people “some space to pause and re-evaluate” whether it’s worth the environmental and financial costs to hold big international meetings in-person, adding that virtual alternatives gives more opportunities to disabled participants and to those who, for one reason or another, aren’t able to travel.