Corona: Can a Vaccine Also Help the Climate?

More and more leaders are pushing for international cooperation to limit the spread of COVID-19: 140 public figures have urged governments to guarantee that once a vaccine is developed, it is swiftly produced and universally distributed for free.

One of the signatories of the “people’s vaccine” letter sent in mid-May, Costa Rican diplomat and former U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres, explains that joining efforts to solve the pandemic crisis also gives a chance “to exercise the muscle of international cooperation which is critical for climate change”.

$20 trillion in global stimulus spending is likely to be deployed, and how this money is spent will ultimately define whether the world succeeds or fails to curb the threatening effects of climate change, says Chief Executive of the UK Committee on Climate Change Chris Stark. Figueres adds that the trillions of dollars in global stimulus spending is a rare opportunity for climate action to shine amid the coronavirus crisis.